Andy Gavin's Blog, page 61
December 23, 2019
OC Viet Crawl – The Sequel
Restaurant: Góc Ha Noi Corner
Location: 8516 Garden Grove Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92844. (714) 867-6665
Date: November 11, 2019
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Excellent opener
_Our previous OC Viet Crawl — in which we drive down and spend the afternoon “crawling” between Vietnamese restaurants — was such a success, that it spawned a mini crawl and this followup sequel — all new places!
First up is this place — 11am, almost time for breakfast.
Clearly some other kind of restaurant before it was...
December 20, 2019
Noodle Harmony
Restaurant: Noodle Harmony
Location: 735 W Garvey Ave, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 656-6562
Date: November 8, 2019
Cuisine: Szechuan Chinese
Rating: Pretty good — I love me some Szechuan
_My AFF group (Asian Food Friday) wanted to go to Korean but I steered them to the SGV to try out a new Szechuan place that’s been on my “list.”
Noodle Harmony. I always like to try new Szechuan places.
It’s in the mini mall at one of my favorite corners: Garvey and Atlantic. Right next to Capital...
December 18, 2019
Rayas Auburn
Location: 6703 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038. (323) 486-6703
Date: November 6, 2019
Cuisine: Modern California
Rating: Really good fine dining
_Auburn is a much anticipated recent opening in LA’s often bankrupt fine dining space. I went back in May but now I’m returning for a special Sage Society dinner featuring the wines of the illustrious Chateau Rayas.
The rarest and most spectacular of all the Southern Rhone producers.
The restaurant occupies the space...
December 16, 2019
Da Lat Rose – A Gastrobiography
Restaurant: Dà Lat Rose
Location: 468 N Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 205-8990
Date: November 5, 2019
Cuisine: Vietnamese Modern
Rating: Really interesting, more traditional, but still modern
_This year our group has struck up a friendship with Elisabeth and Catherine An of Crustacean and we’ve not only visited the main Crustacean — Hedonist style — but they have now invited us to come back just before launch to their new high end place, Dà Lat Rose.
The main entrance.
Da Lat...
December 13, 2019
December 11, 2019
Karaoke Night – Chosun Galbee
Restaurant: Chosun Galbee
Location: 3330 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019. (323) 734-3330
Date: November 2, 2019
Cuisine: Korean BBQ
Rating: Solid KBBQ fun
_Instead of a wine dinner night, this dinner is a big school parent KBBQ and Karaoke night.
We had two huge tables at K-Town classic, Chosun Galbee — above is the ladies table (guys table behind the camera).
We drank beer and solju — together in my case as I learned from some of my Korean friends 2 weeks before.
Salad.
Glass...
December 9, 2019
Second Dinner – Korean Army Stew
Restaurant: Chunju Han Il Kwan
Location: 3450 W 6th St, Los Angeles, CA 90020. (213) 480-1799
Date: October 29, 2019
Cuisine: Korean Army Stew
Rating: Hearty spicy goodness!
_After a great Brunello dinner downtown, Liz, Erick and I felt the need for some K-Town Second Dinner fun. So off to:
Chanju Han Il Kwan, a Korean Army Stew place. Notice that it’s right next to Seaweed, the Armo Sushi place I went a week or so before.
The interior is drop ceiling meets Korean classic. I like the wood...
December 6, 2019
Fiorita Centro
Restaurant: Drago Centro[1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Location: 525 S Flower St, Los Angeles, CA 90071.(213) 228-8998
Date: October 29, 2019
Cuisine: Italian
Rating:Great high end Italian
_Back to Drago Centro for “another” Brunnello dinner, featuring the wines of La Fiorita. Liz Lee of Sage Society kinda co-hosted, but this wasn’t a full on Sage dinner (hey, only 4 courses — Liz would have had 10!). But any trip to Drago is good anyway, as Celestino and I have been friends for 20 years!
Located on busy...
December 4, 2019
White Glove Dining – Get Bbul
Restaurant: Get Bbul BBQ
Location: 3189 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90006. (213) 380-7070
Date: October 21, 2019
Cuisine: Korean Seafood BBQ
Rating: First time and I liked it
_On reading this, you must recognize that this is “Second Dinner.” After a special Krug Champagne dinner event — with 5 or so courses of modern cuisine — four of us just didn’t feel full enough so headed out to Korea Town to “snack.”
Never been to this kind of Korean Seafood BBQ so I was excited to try.
The...
December 2, 2019
House of Krug 2019
Restaurant: House of Krug
Location: You wish you knew
Date: October 21, 2019
Cuisine: Modern
Rating: Great food, great champagnes
_Sage Society organizes some of the best wine maker dinners around and they’ve done quite a number with everyone’s favorite Champagne house…
Krug! This one, organized as usual by Liz Lee, featured a rare appearance by Krug family scion Olivier Krug.
They really know how to do up a place.
Krug greats you as you enter (and everywhere).
The main room of the...
