Andy Gavin's Blog, page 51
January 19, 2022
Go Go Gozen
Restaurant: Gozen Sake Bistro
Location: 521 N La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048. (213) 308-9393
Date: July 30, 2021
Cuisine: Japanese Kaiseki
Rating: Very good, but not mind blowing
_This dinner is arguably the second in (the first being here) in a vast series of epic Japanese sushi and/or Kaiseki dinners post lockdowns that all included myself, Erick, Joe and Bonnie — and often Larry, as is the case tonight. Herein we “endeavor” to visit or revisit most of the top sushi spots in LA.
G...
January 14, 2022
January 11, 2022
January 8, 2022
OC Family Crawl 2021
Restaurant: Brodard Chateau
Location: 9100 Trask Ave, Garden Grove, CA 92844. (714) 899-8273
Date: July 20, 2021
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Great
_During my parent’s first post Covid (not that it’s over yet writing late in 2021) visit we returned again for the Nth time to Garden Grove for more awesome Vietnamese food.
First stop was Brodard Chateau, which is the “fancy” cousin of Brodard.
They still have the Vietnamese/French pastries.
And an 80s stair.
“Interesting” decor.
Beef salad.
D...
January 4, 2022
The Wheel of Time (TV)
Show: The Wheel of Time (season 1)
Genre: High Fantasy
Platform: Amazon Original
Watched: Season 1 – January 2022
Summary: Captures much of the flavor, but flawed
_Everyone here know that I’m a huge fantasy fan. And of course I’ve read the entire Wheel of Time book series. It’s been awhile though, as I started reading somewhere in the mid 90s and then book by book as they came out. It’s an interesting series as I LOVED it for a while, then it hit a slow point, then rebounded, then got really gl...
January 2, 2022
Wolvesmouth Win
Restaurant: Wolvesmouth [1, 2]
Location: Los Angeles
Date: July 18, 2021
Cuisine: Modernist
Rating: Very tasty and great night
_It’s been 7 years since I went to a Wolvesmouth dinner. My previous visit was great fun, but it was for a long time a complicated “application based” dinner and I’m kinda lazy about such things. So when some of my friends decided to buy out the night and invited me I jumped at the chance and brought along my entire family, including my parents, wife, and brother.
In t...
December 29, 2021
Uncanny Valle
Restaurant: Valle
Location: 1305 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA 90291. (310) 299-9735
Date: July 17, 2021
Cuisine: Oaxacan-ish Hipster Mexican
Rating: Tasty, but the service was horrendous
_For the last several years this space was home to MTN which was a Hipster Izakaya that I actually really enjoyed. Under the same owners it rebooted during the pandemic into a sort of “Oaxacan Inspired” Mexican place. It should be noted that Valle has subsequently closed for good and the owners (part of the Gj...
December 25, 2021
Tar and Roses Redux
Restaurant: Tar & Roses [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 602 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 587-0700
Date: July 16, 2021
Cuisine: American Tapas
Rating: Has not only held up but improved
_Tar & Roses is a new American tapas-style place in Santa Monica, loosely in the vein of Rustic Canyon or Gjelina. Despite the relative crowding of this market, it’s an extremely popular addition.
The Chef & Owner is Andrew Kirschner, a Santa Monica-native who grew up in a family with a strong appreciat...
December 20, 2021
Dirty Dozen at La Paella
Restaurant: La Paella [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 476 South San Vicente Boulevard. Los Angeles, CA 90048. (323) 951-0745
Date: July 14, 2021
Cuisine: Spanish
Rating: Really tasty traditional Spanish
_I haven’t been back here in a while, but a Spanish themed Dirty Dozen seemed like just the ticket — and there aren’t really very many Spanish restaurants in LA. Wines were all served blind.
Cute little former house or something near the Beverly Center.
The bar.
Our private room and giant table (and ...
December 14, 2021
Quick Eats – Menya Tigre
Restaurant: Menya Tigre
Location: 2012 Sawtelle Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90025
Date: July 13 (and others), 2021
Cuisine: Japanese Curry & Ramen
Rating: narrow but pretty good curry ramen
_The not-terribly-great chicken only ramen place on Sawtelle closed a long time ago and was replaced at some point by this curry based ramen joint.
The small menu.
The interior — although I’ve never actually eaten inside as they have a nice patio.
Tasty Japanese salad with the zingy ginger dressing.
Takoyaki....
