Andy Gavin's Blog, page 46

Quick Eats – Casa del Mar

Restaurant: Casa del Mar

Location: 1910 Ocean Way, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 581-5533

Date: December 15, 2021

Cuisine: California Spanish

Rating: Great

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This is actually a catering test lunch that we did for a big event we were hosting at Casa del Mar in February 2022.

We setup in a private conference room.

This test menu represented a small sampling (maybe 1/5) of planned possible foods for our epic “station” based event. The Casa chef is Gemma Gray, a Spanish native and veteran of Trés,...

Xi’an isn’t Shaanxi

Restaurant: Xi’an

Location: N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 275-3345

Date: December 12, 2021

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Better than I thought semi-Americanized Chinese

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I’ve seen Xi’an on Canon for years but never even considered going into because it looked so Americanized and kitchy. But Yarom met the owner and she offered to make us a special “Chinese” menu.


The outside patio was mobbed.

But in the wake of the virus most people were scared off the inside.


The normal menu is pre...

OOToro Holiday

Restaurant: OOToro [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Location: 1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789. (909) 598-8299

Date: December 11, 2021

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (with slight nod to China)

Rating: Ends of the earth, but very good

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Chef Kaz of Totoraku, an occasional hedonist, sent us far east to this Sushi restaurant in 2016 and it was such a fun time that we had to return again for a sixth visit — it’s now become a twice a year thing. This is my second return since the pandemic — although some in the gr...

Sauvages Tesse

Restaurant: Tesse

Location: 8500 Sunset Blvd Ste B, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (310) 360-3866

Date: December 10, 2021

Cuisine: New American

Rating: Food was a miss, wine was great

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Sauvage’s series of awesome 2021 lunches continues unabated into December in which case we brought oodles of Chateauneuf du Pape to enjoy.

This is the main dining room.

And the regular menu.

But being anything but regular, we Sauvages convinced them to open for lunch and setup at this giant table in a private room...

Ginza Onodera Checkin

Restaurant: Ginza Onodera [1, 2]

Location: 609 La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069. (323) 433-4817

Date: December 7, 2021

Cuisine: Japanese Sushi

Rating: Fabulous nigiri, although expensive, not quite enough food, and minimal/no corkage

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It’s been 4 years since I visted Ginza Onodera, and while I thought it was one of the best high end sushi spots I’ve been to, collecting others willing to brace the price tag is always a little challenging. But “Sushi Series” (in which Foodie Club tries a...

Capital Lau

Restaurant: Capital Seafood [1, 2]

Location: 755 W Garvey Ave. Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 282-3318

Date: December 5, 2021

Cuisine: Cantonese Chinese

Rating: Great Banquet

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This is the first official Tony Lau dinner since the pandemic and Tony took us back to Capital Seafood in the SGV. The first time we were there with him the place was mobbed and hosting a huge Chinese wedding. This time the main dining room was completely deserted — maybe 1 table.

But we had our own two table private roo...

Truffles at Roccos

Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

Location: Santa Monica

Date: December 1, 2021

Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking

Rating: Awesome

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Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. Tonight’s dinner is another truffle themed dinner!

The dynamic Borgese team consists of Rocco, his lovely wife (and the main kitchen chef), and his daughter (helping out with service).

Their house has n...

Tasty Duck X 5

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Date: November 28, 2021

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck — rest is a touch boring

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Tasty Duck is a regular spot with my Hedonist food and  wine club. We used to come here all the time. There are other duck places and it’s always the same so it’s less frequent, but as we went here post pandemic I figured I’d give them a new write up.

The interior is jammed and the turnover is...

Kaneyoshi Take 2

Restaurant: Sushi Kaneyoshi [1, 2]

Location: 250 1st St B1, Los Angeles, CA 90012. (213) 277-2388

Date: November 30, 2021

Cuisine: Omakase Sushi

Rating: Lean mean and awesome

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Our Foodie Club “Sushi Series” continues with not one but two visits to LA Omakase newcomer Kaneyoshi. This dinner was sort of a half “Foodie Club” and half Sage Society dinner (in my mind). Mostly it’s just my serious sushi friends which happen to overlap into those two realms. This is the second dinner, and the people a...

Salty Saturday 2021

Salty Saturday is the traditional family bagel and lox brunch we do on the Saturday after ThanksGavin.

For the last couple of years it’s been hosted at my cousin Matt’s house. This year (2021), it’s a touch more subdued than usual due to cooking fatigue, the pandemic, etc.

In his sunny dining room.

Across the way is the kids table.

The more restrained spread this year.

Philadelphia bagels.

Onions.

Lox.

Cheese.

Herbs.

Snacks, cucumbers etc.

Tomatoes, capers, cream cheese, whitefish sala...