Andy Gavin's Blog, page 73
March 6, 2019
Petrossian Party
Restaurant: Petrossian Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3]
Location: 321 Robertson Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90048. (310) 271-6300
Date: February 8, 2019
Cuisine: Caviar +
Rating: Amazing night!
_The birthdays of my good friends Erick and Liz fall on the same day, and so have seen some seriously epic dinners over the years like this and this.
For this year’s extravaganza, Liz organized things at Petrossian, which has incredible food, and very wine friendly. She’s friends with the manager.
Petrossian ha...
March 4, 2019
Dolan’s Uyghur Cuisine
Restaurant: Dolan’s Uyghur Cuisine
Location: 742 W Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91803. (626) 782-7555
Date: February 5, 2019
Cuisine: Uyghur Chinese
Rating: Excellent execution, and closer to Afghan than Chinese
_There are a bunch of new SGV places that Yarom and I have been wanting to try so we’re making a point of heading out for some small lunches to do forward recognizance as we just don’t have enough dinner slots available.
Dolan’s, which is a new Uyghur place celebrating the cuisine of...
March 1, 2019
Still Cuts It
Restaurant: Wolfgang Puck’s Cut [1, 2]
Location: 9500 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, California 90212. P: 310-276-8500
Date: February 1, 2019
Cuisine: Steak House
Rating: Top quality
_It’s been since 2012 that the Foodie Club has been to Cut and so this year for Erick’s birthday we decided to hit it up again.
Cut is located inside the Beverly Wilshire Hotel (think Pretty Woman) and is Wolfgang Puck’s take on redefining the American Steak House. In this, it succeeds very well. While it adhere...
February 27, 2019
Crawling with an Old Friend
The SGV (or San Gabriel Valley) of Los Angeles is not only a Chinese Food mecca (best in America) but lends itself to the peculiar but extremely fun tradition of the “food crawl” or as we sometimes call it the “SGV Parlay.” This involves heading out there and visiting multiple locations in the same day. Everything is so close together and the density is very high.
My oldest friend, Brent, and I have been eating Chinese food together for about 40 years so on this particular Sunday night (Janua...
February 25, 2019
OOToro Five O
Restaurant: OOToro [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Location: 1569 Fairway Dr, Walnut, CA 91789. (909) 598-8299
Date: January 26, 2019
Cuisine: Japanese Sushi (with slight nod to China)
Rating: Ends of the earth, but very good
_Chef Kaz of Totoraku, an occasional hedonist, sent us far east to this Sushi restaurant in 2016 and it was such a fun time that we had to return again for a fifth visit — it’s now become a twice a year thing.
And by far east I mean REALLY REALLY far east — to Walnut California. 40+ mi...
February 22, 2019
Sauvage Spring
Restaurant: Spring Place
Location: 9800 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90212. (310) 591-8884
Date: January 25, 2019
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Excellent neighborhood Italian
_We Sauvages have been following chef Mirko Paderno around for a while now, from Oliverio, to Officine, to Culina, to Estrella, and now to Spring Place. The wine theme for today’s lunch is Nebbiolo (namely Barolo and Barbaresco).
This is one oddball location, a sort of business club in the heart of Beverly Hills with a...
February 19, 2019
Isole e Olena il Pastaio
Restaurant: Il Pastaio [1, 2]
Location: 400 N.Canon Drive. Bevery Hills, CA 90210. Phone: 310.205.5444
Date: January 24, 2019
Cuisine: Italian
Rating: Superb
_Liz Lee of Sage Society always puts on fabulous winemaker dinners. She focuses on making every element perfect from the location, food, wines and has some of the best winemakers in the world.
For Isole e Olena — one of Tuscany’s greatest producers — she selected il Pastaio, one of the many Drago restaurants. Normally, Giacomino Drago...
February 15, 2019
Eating Mammoth – Jimmy’s
Restaurant: Jimmy’s Taverna
Location: 248 Old Mammoth Rd, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546. (760) 934-2515
Date: January 3, 2018
Cuisine: Vaguely Greek
Rating: Nice decor, middling execution
_I’ve been to Jimmy’s once before and found it middling, as it “seems” like a Greek Taverna but doesn’t really satisfy with the hearty classic food like the real versions (I’ve spent 4 summers in Greece). They do have a nice build out and friendly service, however. Plus when I had a reservation screw up (on my p...
February 13, 2019
Quick Eats — Ippudo
Restaurant: Ippudo Santa Monica
Location: 1403 2nd St, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Date: January 17, 2019
Cuisine: Japanese Ramen and Buns
Rating: Buns were very good, ramen decent
_Ippudo is a very well hyped Japanese ramen chain moved to New York. Oddly they are owned by Panda Express (which is trying to move upmarket). They announced (and presumably signed a lease) taking over the old Taberna Arros y Vi space over two years ago!
So finally, after months of being up but not open, they finally...
February 11, 2019
Sauvages Chinois
Restaurant: Chinois On Main [1, 2]
Location: 2709 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405. (310) 392-9025
Date: January 11, 2019
Cuisine: Asian Fusion
Rating: Still good decades later
_When I first moved to LA 25 years ago, Chinois was already a vibrant pillar of LA’s hot high end dining scene. It represented the kind of cool “fusion” of east/west cuisines that was so novel at the time, and almost never seen (by me) back on the East Coast.
The interior has been kept up, and still has that funky lat...
