Andy Gavin's Blog, page 41
December 31, 2022
Soulmate Study
Restaurant: Soulmate
Location: 631 N Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (310) 734-7764
Date: June 16 & September 15, 2022
Cuisine: Spanish Tapa Fusion
Rating: Hit and miss
_I adore Spanish food in general and Tapas in particular so I was excited to hear about a new “modern tapas” place in Hollywood. This report combines a normal 6/16/22 dinner with friends and a big set menu Chateauneuf du Pape dinner partially hosted by LVHM. It represents most of the menu and most of the key dishes sam...
December 29, 2022
Charcoal Checkin
Restaurant: Charcoal Venice [1, 2, 3]
Location: 425 Washington Blvd, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292. (310) 751-6794
Date: June 14, 2022
Cuisine: New American Grill
Rating: Some great meats
_Josiah Citrin’s (owner/chef of Melisse) newish more casual eatery has been open for a while — and although I bike past it weekly and went once for brunch, this is my second official dinner visit — and we are enjoying the lovely back patio.
It’s located on Washington Blvd about 2 blocks in from the ocean.
Inside ...
December 26, 2022
Quick Eats – The Penthouse
Restaurant: The Penthouse
Location: 1111 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90403. (310) 393-8080
Date: June 11, 2022
Cuisine: American
Rating: Solid execution
_Over the years I’ve gone to the Penthouse in various guises many times. Hey, I used to go to Toppers here in this space in the 1990s. Food has generally been pretty good, although hotel “trite” (aka very tame). Today was actually my birthday and we headed out for lunch with my family.
The space is lovely with great views.
The brunch menu.
Waff...
December 21, 2022
Summer Miyagi
Restaurant: Sushi Miyagi [ 1, 2, 3 ]
Location: 150 S Barrington Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (323) 382-5635
Date: June 2022
Cuisine: Japanese Sushi
Rating: Top Shelf Omakase Sushi
_Great sushi is always a good excuse to pull out the beloved Champagnes and White Burgundies.
The unassuming storefront on the largely ignored side street that is S Barrington Ave.
The space is small but attractive (these are pre covid pics).
This is chef focused serious sushi, and so we pre-ordered the largest omak...
December 15, 2022
N/Soto Goodness
Restaurant: N/Soto
Location: 4566 W Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90016. (323) 879-9455
Date: June 2 & 11, 2022
Cuisine: Japanese Izakaya
Rating: Elevated Izakaya
_The N/Naka group — the original being one of LA’s top Japanese restaurants — has recently opened a more casual Izakaya (Japanese bar food) place. One of my former cooks (and friend) even works there!
Classic Japanese frontage.
Unless you look out on the street 
in which case it’s classic LA frontage.
Nice modern (polished con...
December 13, 2022
More Old California (take 3)
Restaurant: 71Above [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]
Location: 633 W 5th St., Los Angeles, CA 90071
Date: May 31, 2022
Cuisine: New American
Rating: Awesome in all ways
_71Above is one of my favorite LA restaurants and I’ve been many times. In fact there are 10 previous write ups! Original Chef Vartan Abgaryan has moved on to his own new place, Yours Truly (which the pandemic has sadly done in), and 71Above is now seamlessly helmed by his disciple, Chef Javier Lopez. Today the location p...
December 11, 2022
Tai Siu is New
Location: 8728 Valley Blvd #101, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 307-0203
Date: May 29, 2022
Cuisine: Cambodian
Rating: Awesome meats!
_We Hedonists have been going to Tai Siu for years. I think I first came here in 2015.
But they recently moved into a new Valley Blvd space.
I guess it’s lucky they did!
This is the main dining room.
But we set up in the small private room off to the side.
Herbs for the next three of dishes. Thai Basil is great.
Sweetened fish sauce.
...
December 9, 2022
Teatime at Tata’s
Restaurant: Tata’s Cafe
Location: 12627 Hawthorne Blvd, Hawthorne, CA 90250. (424) 675-4168
Date: May 27, 2022
Cuisine: New American
Rating: Great ingredients and a lot of fun
_Our friend Jeff Bovon owns and operates this unusual restaurant in Hawthorne. He’s part chef, part food importer and supplier, being a purveyor of super high quality seafood and meats and he basically took over this little cafe and turned it into a very unusual destination. We setup a big custom group dinner.
The inter...
December 7, 2022
Lunch Quest – Dai Ho
Restaurant: Dai Ho Restaurant
Location: 9148 Las Tunas Dr, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 291-2295
Date: May 27, 2022
Cuisine: Taiwanese Chinese
Rating: Notoriously reasonably priced
_Dai Ho has been on my “to try” list forever (maybe close to 10 years). It’s a very small menu Taiwanese lunch place known for noodles and being incredibly cheap (and tasty).
Typical old school SGV frontage.
The extremely casual interior space.
Tubs for sale.
Bean curd and anchovies. Nice texture and a bit savory...
December 5, 2022
Lunch Quest – Happy Valley Village
Restaurant: Happy Valley Village / Shanlitun
Location: 1655 S Azusa Ave E, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745. (626) 669-8406
Date: May 26, 2022
Cuisine: North East Chinese
Rating: One of a kind
_This unusual “hot pot” restaurant in Hacienda Heights specializes in lamb spine and goose hot pot from the region just west of Korea.
It’s located in the usual kind of mini-mall and is as far as we can tell one of a kind in California — in that no one else offers this cuisine.
It has a pretty nice build out....
