Andy Gavin's Blog, page 63
November 6, 2019
Little Saigon Mini Crawl
Restaurant: Brodard Restaurant [1, 2]
Location: 16105 Brookhurst St. Fountain Valley, CA 92708. Phone number (657) 247-4401
Date: September 26, 2019
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Solid
_Crawls are usually a lot of fun, and after the super extensive Garden Grove / Westminster Vietnamese Food crawl we did a few months ago, my brother, parents, and went down south for a smaller (3 stop) version.
We started furthest south at Brodard.
Their interior is fairly modern.
Vietnamese menus can be very long, and this is no exception.
Roasted Duck Spring Rolls (Go...
November 4, 2019
Uni All The Way Down
Restaurant: Miyabi Uni
Location: 1231 Cabrillo Ave Suite 101, Torrance, CA 90501. (424) 376-5135
Date: September 23, 2019
Cuisine: Japanese Uni
Rating: Delicious — Just make sure to take your gout medicine
_Despite the possible health consequences of eating an entire meal of Uni (sea urchin) I’ve been dying to brace the brutal 405 traffic, head south, and try out…
Miyabi Uni. Yes, a Japanese restaurant so specialized almost everything on the menu contains uni!
Welcoming portals.
And a fairly spacious modern interior.
The...
October 31, 2019
Quick Eats – Colapasta
Restaurant: Colapasta.
Location: 1241 5th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 310-8336
Date: September 18, 2019
Cuisine: Italian / Just pasta
Rating: Simple menu, but good pasta, very casual
_There seems to be a bit of a trend to opening pasta restaurants in Santa Monica.
Colapasta is a super casual small menu artisanal pasta place by Stefano De Lorenzo the main chef from La Botte years ago. The place is brand new and the concept is very similar to Uovo on the other side of the Promenade. They both have very short lists of...
October 28, 2019
Down the White Rabbit Hole
Restaurant: Vespertine / White Rabbit [1, 2]
Location: 3599 Hayden Ave, Culver City, CA 90232. (323) 320-4023
Date: September 17, 2019
Cuisine: Modern Nordic Art Food? Russian Haut Cuisine?
Rating: White Rabbit dishes were great, Vespertine ones weird
_Vespertine is a very unusual confluence of all sorts of artsy weirdness. It’s helmed by Jordan Kahn formerly of Red Medicine and currently of Destroyer across the street. I’ve generally been fond of Jordan’s unique culinary style. Tonight’s dinner is a combo dinner with Jordan hosting Vladimir Mukhin t...
October 26, 2019
October 25, 2019
Jiang Nan Spring
Restaurant: Jiang Nan Spring
Location: 910 E Main St, Alhambra, CA 91801. (626) 766-1688
Date: September 11, 2019
Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese
Rating: Very good, but probably not the best in the SGV
_Yarom and I set out on another small party SGV adventure and chosen Jiang Nan Spring (which we hadn’t been too because of this review from the LA times which asked “Does Jiang Nan Spring have the SGV’s best Shanghainese food?”
They have a newish storefront on Main in the heart of Alahambra.
Interior is clean and free o...
October 23, 2019
Mr. Miyagi’s Sushi Bar
Restaurant: Sushi Miyagi
Location: 150 S Barrington Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90049. (323) 382-5635
Date: Sept 10 & October 1, 2019
Cuisine: Japanese Sushi
Rating: Top Shelf Omakase Sushi
_Great sushi is always a good excuse to pull out the beloved Champagnes and White Burgundies.
And I was excited to hear that a new high end omakase sushi place had opened in Brentwood — in the conveniently located but anoying to park at junction of Barrington Ave and Place.
The space is small but attractive.
This is che...
October 21, 2019
SGV Adventures – Ruby BBQ
Restaurant: Ruby BBQ Food
Location: 9561 Garvey Ave Ste 1&2, South El Monte, CA 91733. (626) 279-6854
Date: September 20, 2019
Cuisine: Southern Chinese
Rating: Tasty, if a little “downscale”
_Lately, because Yarom and I are diehard Chinese Food fanatics and it’s hard to find others willing to drive all the way to the SGV during the week for lunch, the two of us — with occasional extras — have been sampling some of the more casual eateries on our list of new places to try.
Enter Ruby BBQ Food — yes they actually includ...
October 18, 2019
Vino Capo
Restaurant: Capo [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
Location: 1810 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, Ca. 310-394-5550
Date: September 4, 2019
Cuisine: Italian with Cal influences
Rating: The food here is really very very good.
_The Foodie Club comes to Capo fairly often as it’s close and really good. Atmosphere is great. Service is excellent. Only problem is a somewhat draconian wine policy. Yeah, th...
October 16, 2019
Dinner at the Borgese’s
Restaurant: Dinner at the Borgese’s
Location: Santa Monica
Date: August 29, 2019
Cuisine: Italian influenced gourmet home cooking
Rating: Dinner of the year?
_Dinner at the Borgese’s is a special backyard house dinner in Santa Monica cooked by the stunning pro-level home chef Borgese couple. The evening was set up by Michael K and because of the epic nature of the food we all pulled out some amazing wines to match.
The dynamic Borgese duo.
Their house has not only a wine cellar, but a cheese and meat larder!
Awesome backyard...
