Andy Gavin's Blog, page 69
June 19, 2019
Thai Tour – Night+Market Song
Restaurant: Night + Market Song
Location: 3322 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90026. (323) 665-5899
Date: May 21, 2019
Cuisine: Thai
Rating: Good and spicy
_Our Thai Town Tour continues with this 5th location (my 4th). While I’ve been to Might + Market + Sahm I have long wanted to try this one.
Kris Yenbamroong is the 33 year-old chef and owner of NIGHT + MARKET restaurants. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Chef Kris has no formal culinary training — but grew up in his family-owned restaurant,...
June 17, 2019
Perfect Atmosphere – LSXO
Restaurant: LSXO
Location: 21022-21148 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. (714) 374-0083
Date: May 16, 2019
Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion
Rating: Awesome flavors
_LSXO, a concept-within-a-concept, inside Bluegold at Pacific City, is the brainchild of Chef Tin Vuong of Blackhouse Hospitality. Cuisine is inspired by District 1 in Saigon (where Tin’s family hails from) and dishes range from more traditional to innovative amongst a stunning hideaway overlooking the Huntington Beach pier...
June 14, 2019
Shanghailander Arcadia
Restaurant: Shanghailander Palace [1, 2]
Location: 1440 S Baldwin Ave, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 348-8866
Date: May 19, 2019
Cuisine: Shanghai Chinese
Rating: Excellent – best Shanghai food I’ve had in the US
_Hedonist trips to the SGV and its requisite Chinese adventures are among my favorite dinners. Shanghailander specializes in Shanghai style cuisine (obviously). We’ve been out many times to their Hacienda Heights location, and last time the owner invited us to try their newer spot in Arc...
June 12, 2019
Thai Tour – Pailin Thai
Restaurant: Pailin Thai
Location: 5621 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 467-7715
Date: May 13, 2019
Cuisine: Northern Thai cuisine
Rating: Great Northern Thai — highly recommended
_So the Hedonist Thai Tour continues with this fourth stop (3rd for me) at well known:
Pailin Thai — in Thai Town of course, a slightly better part of it too.
The interior is still very mom and pop — and small — but there is actually a bit of decor.
The husband runs the front and the wife the back —...
June 10, 2019
Dirty Dozen at Water Grill
Restaurant: Water Grill Santa Monica [1, 2, 3]
Location: 1401 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401. (310) 394-5669
Date: May 8, 2019
Cuisine: American Seafood
Rating: Solid coastal seafooder
_Tonight’s outing to Water Grill Santa Monica is for Dirty Dozen, the sub group of the Hedonists that does periodic themed blind wine dinners.
Tonight’s theme was relatively young White Burgundy (2002-2017).
The Water Grill was chosen probably because they don’t charge for corkage (Dirty Dozen is cheap abo...
June 9, 2019
Kings at Crustacean
Restaurant: Crustacean Beverly Hills
Location: 468 N Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 205-8990
Date: May 3, 2019
Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion
Rating: Still great
_A couple months ago while at OOToro my Hedonist group dined with Catherine An of Crustacean and she invited us to come to her place to experience it Hedonist style.
I haven’t been to Crustacean in maybe 10 years — not exactly sure why — other than maybe that it’s pricey, as I do love Vietnamese food. So it’s about high tim...
June 7, 2019
Unico at La Paella
Restaurant: La Paella [1, 2, 3]
Location: 476 South San Vicente Boulevard. Los Angeles, CA 90048. (323) 951-0745
Date: May 1, 2019
Cuisine: Spanish
Rating: Really tasty traditional Spanish
_I haven’t been back here in a while, but when the Hedonists decided to do an Unico dinner it had to be here — hey there aren’t really very many Spanish restaurants in LA.
La Paella is cosy and “classic.”
We had a serious lineup of Unicos tonight, and thanks to some last minute wrangling and me throwing...
June 5, 2019
Matsumoto Maxsumoto
Restaurant: Matsumoto
Location: 8385 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048. 323) 653-0470
Date: May 10, 2019
Cuisine: Japanese
Rating: Very good, and interesting, but expensive
_Erick, Larry, and I kept hearing through the rumor mill that Matsumoto in Beverly Hills had one of the best Japanese Omakases in town so of course the Foodie Club had to saddle up and go.
They are located on Beverly in a busy strip mall — like most other good LA Sushi joints. The “Beverly Hills” location is more like...
June 3, 2019
Thai Tour – Spicy BBQ
Restaurant: Spicy BBQ
Location: 5101 Santa Monica Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90029. (323) 663-4211
Date: April 29, 2019
Cuisine: Thai
Rating: Great Thai
_This is the third stop on our great spring Thai Tour, although only the second I’ve been able to attend (the first being Sri Siam). Yarom set this in motion a couple months ago by deciding to hit up most of the top 10 recommended authentic Thai places in LA we HADN’T been to.
Spicy BBQ comes highly recommended. It’s a tiny place.
In a mini-mal...
June 1, 2019
Quick Eats – Pikoh
Restaurant: Pikoh
Location: 11940 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064. (310) 928-9344
Date: April 27, 2019
Cuisine: Peruvian Fusion
Rating: Seemed zesty given what I had
_I’ve very much enjoyed chef Ricardo Zarate’s previous offerings, notably Picca and Paiche — unfortunately now closed and the still open Rosaline. So I was excited to good with the Foodie Club guys to his latest, Rosaline on Melrose.
His own website says of Ricardo:
Born in Lima, Peru, ‘the godfather of Peruvian cuisine’ Rica...
