Andy Gavin's Blog, page 65
September 23, 2019
Hedonistic Majordomo
Restaurant: Majordomo [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 1725 Naud St, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (323) 545-4880
Date: August 8, 2019
Cuisine: Korean Fusion
Rating: Big dishes amazing
_It’s with gigantic expectation that NY restaurateur David Chang opened his first LA outpost last year and since then it’s become a regular foodie and wine destination among my friends. Tonight is my fourth visit, but my first time with the Hedonists — not that I don’t see them several times a week elsewhere. We also had along...
September 20, 2019
Chun La Hao – Infernal Pot
Restaurant: Chun La Hao Chong Qing Hot Pot
Location: 5701 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 766-1230
Date: August 5, 2019
Cuisine: Chong Qing Hot Pot
Rating: Tied for best hot pot I’ve ever had
_After Yarom and I met up in March at the awesome Shancheng Lameizi for some fiery hot pot (which blows the boring mild hot pot out of… something) we decided to drag some more people to a different new, higher end Szechuan Hot Pot place.
Chun La Hao is located in the same Temple City mall a...
September 18, 2019
Mandarin Plaza Crawl
Earlier in the year, Yarom and I hatched and plotted this particular all afternoon mega crawl at the Rowland Heights Mandarin Plaza — partially at least while sucking down some serious hot pot in said plaza. This place is far from LA proper, way out 40+ miles to the east but is in the heart of the “new Chinatown”.
Restaurant: Leung Kee
Location: 18908 E Gale Ave, Rowland Heights, CA 91748
Date: August 3, 2019
Cuisine: Chinese BBQ
Rating: check: roast pig before noon
_We start at 11am, “meat...
September 16, 2019
Little Saigon Mega Crawl
Restaurant: Brodard Restaurant
Location: 16105 Brookhurst St. Fountain Valley, CA 92708. Phone number (657) 247-4401
Date: July 31, 2019
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Rating: Solid
_Crawls are usually a lot of fun, and this super far, super extensive Garden Grove / Westminster Vietnamese Food crawl has been months in the planning. I collated several online lists of the best Vietnamese in Little Saigon and narrowed it down to 5 places (plus one coffee shop) and a list of their best dishes. I love Vietn...
September 13, 2019
Second Kass
Restaurant: Kass Restaurant – Wine & Bar [1, 2]
Location: 320 South La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 413-2299
Date: July 30, 2019
Cuisine: California French
Rating: Fabulous
_Years ago I enjoyed Chef Christophe Emé’s Ortolan and have had attended private dinners he’s prepared.
So it was exciting that he opened a new place on La Brea — supposedly a bit more casual this time (as is in vogue). The Foodie Club went in June and the meal was so fabulous we are back (with a slightly diffe...
September 12, 2019
Sauvages Bordeaux
Restaurant: Private Chef, David Slatkin
Location: Bel Air
Date: July 27, 2019
Cuisine: American
_This particular entry in my series of Friday afternoon wine themed Sauvages lunches was set at…
Member Jeff’s lovely backyard and features food by private chef David Slatkin.
We dined at this lovely table — it would be romantic except this is about a dozen old winos :-).
Even Hercules, the dog, knows how to have a good time.
NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. We started with a de...
September 11, 2019
Bubbe’s Kitchen – Traktir
Restaurant: Traktir
Location: 8151 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046. (323) 654-3030
Date: July 25, 2019
Cuisine: Russian Cuisine
Rating: Delicious!
_Erick’s Russian friends told him that Taktir was the best Russian place in town and so we had to try it.
This is the West Hollywood location, there is also one over in the valley, in Tarzana. I have no idea if one is better than the other.
They have a big outside patio.
Seen from the other side.
And the interior (we sat to the lef...
September 5, 2019
Quick Eats – Red Rock
Restaurant: Red Rock
Location: 11301 W Olympic Blvd Ste 210(floor 2nd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. (424) 208-3997
Date: July 23, 2019
Cuisine: Japanese Beef Bowl
Rating: Slightly odd 2nd floor beef bowl joint
_Erick took me one lunch to this strange location upstairs in the Olympic Collection (at Olympic and Sawtelle).
This place is like a super Yoshinoya, with very beef oriented piles of meat on rice.
They also have steaks and tomahawks!
House salad. Tasty little Japanese salad.
Soup that c...
September 4, 2019
Angelini Osteria
Restaurant: Angelini Osteria
Location: 7313 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 297-0070
Date: July 12, 2019
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: An LA classic
_It’s been years, maybe even 10 years, since I was at LA classic Italian Angelini Osteria. Foodie Club member Larry goes all the time so he organized this dinner.
The frontage is located on busy Beverly Blvd in West Hollywood.
The menu.
Erick brought: 1985 Moët & Chandon Champagne Cuvée Dom Pérignon. JG 96. The 1985 Dom Pérignon is stil...
September 2, 2019
Quick Eats – Tara’s Himalayan
Restaurant: Tara’s Himalayan Cuisine
Location: 262 26th St, Santa Monica, CA 90402. (424) 744-8948
Date: July 12 and August 22 & 31, 2019
Cuisine: Nepalese / Tibetan
Rating: Salty, but tasty
_I’ve been waiting for this new place to open right around the “corner” from me.
Himalayan is pretty exotic for Brentwood (and across from the Country Mart at that), but I’m glad to have something besides boring cafe fare.
Inside is pretty much what you’d expect.
The menu is pretty big.
Ginger tea...
