Andy Gavin's Blog, page 44
October 18, 2022
A.O.C. Brentwood
Restaurant: A.O.C. Brentwood
Location: 11648 San Vicente Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (310) 806-6464
Date: March 10 and April 5, 2022
Cuisine: Vaguely Spanish New American
Rating: Tasty
_A.O.C. has been a Hollywood staple for two decades. Founded by chef Suzanne Goin, they’ve had this former Hamburger Hamlet space in Brentwood for years, running it as Tavern. I think the pandemic knocked out that particular restaurant and they decided to reboot it, giving the landlord back some space, as a Bren...
October 16, 2022
Amazing Angler
Restaurant: Angler
Location: 8500 Beverly Blvd Suite 117, Los Angeles, CA 90048. (424) 332-4082
Date: March 1, 2022
Cuisine: American Asador
Rating: Very pricey, very good
_Angler is a sea-life focused restaurant from Chef Joshua Skenes and Saison Hospitality located in the heart of Los Angeles. However, in 2019 Skenes seems to have “stepped back” from daily operation of his restaurants. Not sure what that means.
The location is — really oddly — in the bottom of the Beverly Center. I loathe ma...
October 14, 2022
October 12, 2022
Little Cambodia – Hak Heang
Restaurant: Hak Heang Restaurant
Location: 2041 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90804. (562) 434-0296
Date: February 23, 2022
Cuisine: Cambodian Chinese
Rating: Cambodian drifting toward Chinese
_Yarom and I went down to Long Beach in February 2022 to check out a bunch of Cambodian restaurants in a mini crawl. Alas we couldn’t convince anyone else to come with us on this particular day.
Our third stop was Hak Heang which is a Long Beach Cambodian institution.
The interior is vast, dingy, and typ...
October 10, 2022
Little Cambodia – Sophy’s Cambodia Town Food
Restaurant: Sophy’s Cambodia Town Food
Location: 3240 E Pacific Coast Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90804. (562) 494-1763
Date: February 23, 2022
Cuisine: Cambodian
Rating: Very good, huge menu of diverse dishes
_Yarom and I went down to Long Beach in February 2022 to check out a bunch of Cambodian restaurants in a mini crawl. Alas we couldn’t convince anyone else to come with us on this particular day.
Our second stop was Sophy’s Cambodia Town Food. Very odd long building with the entrance hidden in ...
October 8, 2022
Little Cambodia – A&J Seafood Shack
Restaurant: A&J Seafood Shack
Location: 3201 E Anaheim St, Long Beach, CA 90804. (562) 386-2000
Date: February 23, 2022
Cuisine: Cambodian
Rating: Well… it’s a shack
_Yarom and I went down to Long Beach in February 2022 to check out a bunch of Cambodian restaurants in a mini crawl. Alas we couldn’t convince anyone else to come with us on this particular day.
Our first stop was A&J Seafood Shack.
It’s well know, but it really is a shack.
The menu and our order. This place is basically intend...
October 6, 2022
Quick Eats – Malibu Pier
Restaurant: MALIBU FARM cafe
Location: 23000 E Pacific Coast Hwy, Malibu, CA 90265. (310) 456-8850
Date: February 19, 2022
Cuisine: Brunch
Rating: Solid quick brunch
_Today my family made a quick stop at the Malibu Pier for some brunch.
At the base of the pier is their restaurant, but it had a 2 hour wait or something. Look at this terrible February weather!
The view looking back.
So we headed toward the end of the pier and the cafe.
The menu.
The cute room.
Swedish Mini Pancakes. Whippe...
October 3, 2022
Kappo Miyabi
Restaurant: Kappo Miyabi
Location: 702 Arizona Ave Suite BB, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 260-0085
Date: February 18, 2022
Cuisine: Japanese Izakaya
Rating: Too much of too many good things
_Jeffrey talked this place up, but he tends to “over like” Japanese restaurants in walking distance of his house and work, like the middling Soko. Kappo Miyabi, formerly known as Kappo Onsen, is technically an Izakaya I guess, but it has a very wide range of Japanese food including Izakaya, sushi, skewers, ...
September 30, 2022
Paradise Dynasty Costa Mesa
Restaurant: Paradise Dynasty
Location: 3333 Bristol Street, BLM, 1 Bloomingdale’s, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. (714) 617-4630
Date: February 17, 2022
Cuisine: Chinese XLB
Rating: Way better than DTF
_I went twice to branches of Paradise Dynasty in Shanghai and really enjoyed it. This chain is like a much more interesting Din Tai Fung. Frankly, I don’t exactly get why DTF is so popular except perhaps that it’s a “gateway drug” to more modern Chinese food and is just “easy” for Americans.
Somewhat ann...
September 28, 2022
Asanebo Evening
Restaurant: Asanebo
Location: 11941 Ventura Blvd, Studio City, CA 91604. (818) 760-3348
Date: January 27, 2022
Cuisine: Japanese
Rating: Very good creative Japanese
_Asanebo has been a high end valley classic spot for a long time, so long that the last time I was here was before I started taking pictures of all my food (which was 2010).
Chef Tetsuya Nakao came to America in 1982. Him and his younger brother, Shunji, were the original chefs that helped start Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills. After est...
