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February 22, 2012

Don Julio Margarita Dinner at Border Grill

Posted by the minty under alcohol education, cocktalian, dessert, events, food, foodie alert, great cocktails, hot bartenders, restaurant reviews, tasting menu | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Mexican 75

Happy National Margarita Day! A few weeks ago, I was invited to Don Julio‘s Margarita Dinner at Border Grill in Santa Monica.The four courses were paired with Don Julio cocktails and spirits. We started with the Mexican 75 (Don Julio blanco, persimmon orange puree, cava) with the lobster ceviche. All the cocktails are the creation of head cantinero (bartender) Alexander Fazio of Border Grill.

lobster ceviche with Seville orange

We started with the lobster ceviche with Seville orange, grilled persimmon, fresh ginger and crispy plantain chips. I used the chip to scoop up the chunks of lobster. Although I knew it was an appetizer, I knew I wanted more!

Jalisco Slip

The next cocktail, the Jalisco Slip, was my favorite. Made with Don Julio reposado, chai tea and honey, it was a bit sweet but mostly I liked the spicy tones to it. Later I found out it’s not actually tea but a spice mix the Chefs Susan and Mary Sue came up at their original City restaurant (which by the way, they’re doing a City Night at Border Grill Downtown on February 29– more info here). The spice mix has cardamon which makes sense since that’s the main component that makes chai so tasty.

roasted beets with greens and grains

The next course was the favorite of the night. The roasted beets was tossed with toasted Israeli couscous, black kale and a whole grain mustard vinaigrette. Chef Susan talked about putting this dish on the brunch menu with a fried egg. Yes, please. It was a gorgeous dish and mentally I wondered if I could ask for me. How embarrassing, another dish I wanted more of!

Anejo Viejo

 

The next cocktail was the Anejo Viejo (Don Julio anejo, fennel, blood orange). I found this too sweet for me so I would adjust something (or more tequila, please!).  I’m wondering if there was simple syrup in this.

Don Julio braised pork belly

 

The fennel in the cocktail was picked up by the pickled fennel salad in the Don Julio braised pork belly. The portion was enormous with an artichoke and sunchoke ragout. I actually had to take some of this home. I suppose it was a good thing the lobster ceviche was on the smaller side but I still wanted more couscous!

arroz con leche

 

For dessert, we got a shot of the Don Julio 1942 to go with the arroz con leche (rice pudding). The sipping tequila was the perfect thing for this smooth sweet dessert with crispy phyloo, dulce de leche and crema sabayon. The tequila was probably closer to an aged bourbon. And most people will tell you if you like bourbon, you’ll like the aged tequilas with its caramel and vanilla notes.

Don Julio tasting

 

You may be wondering where are the margaritas for this margarita dinner. Here are a couple of recipes from Border Grill from a few years ago. But may I suggest Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s margaritas by the gallon recipe if you’re prepping for a party to celebrate National Margarita day.

 

Don Julio

Border Grill

Los Angeles – 445 S Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90071 – (213) 486-5171

Santa Monica – 1445 4th St., Santa Monica, CA 90401 – (310) 451-1655

Las Vegas – at Mandalay Bay 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89119 – (702) 632-7403

 

February 15, 2012

Seattle: Mistral Kitchen

Posted by the minty under cocktalian, dessert, food, food crawls, foodie alert, great cocktails, hot bartenders, minty life, restaurant reviews, tasting menu, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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Bobby Burns

My 24 hours in Seattle was coming to a close. Before heading out to the airport, we had lunch at Mistral Kitchen, just a couple blocks away from our hotel. Just about everybody told me it was fabulous and after surplus of calories (mostly empty in the form of cocktails), a light meal was just what I wanted.

hamachi crudo

Bobby from 100 Eats 100 Days ordered the Bobby Burns cocktail (Famous Grouse Scotch, Laphroig 10, Dolin sweet vermouth, Benedictine, Peychaud’s bitters) and the hamachi crudo for the table to share. I’m pretty sure everyone was impressed by the barman wrapping the long peel around the round ball of ice. I do have to say I usually have seen this cocktail served up. Still, love that ice ball.

diver sea scallops

hearty winter greens, bacon lardons, parmasan

I love Seattle and how fresh the seafood is. The hamachi crudo was great as were the scallops though I preferred the oysters I ordered best. I also was dying for some fresh veg and the hearty winter greens fit the bill.

oysters

I ordered three each of the available Kushi and North Shore oysters. I liked the North Shore ones a bit more with the more traditional mignonette. The smaller Kushi oysters were just fine on their own.

proscuitto and arugula pizza

cutting and serving ourselves pizza

When our server dropped off a pair of scissors, we knew we were in for a DIY adventure. The tomato, Proscuitto di San Daniele and arugula pizza was not sliced. As shown in the picture, you cut yourself slices to eat.

pork belly, escarole, turnips, sultanas

The only dish we were meh about was the pork belly. It just seemed piddly. I wished we used the $12 to buy more oysters.

pork terrine, fermented pickles, dijon, micro greens

On the other hand, the pork terrine was very nice. We had to ask for more bread (which was wonderful) to go with the perfectly made potted meat.

wood fired hanger steak, potato, trumpet mushrooms, cipollini onions

I had a lot of steak recently the week before with dineLA (LA’s Restaurant Week) so I didn’t particularly find the steak riveting but it was well-cooked. I probably would have gone for the half chicken only because I wanted something comforting. Although we were thwarted from having daurade from the evening before at How to Cook a Wolf, we decided to keep it light because we were heading to lunch #2. Yep, back to Salumi to split the porchetta sandwich.

chocolate feuilletine torte, banana egg nog ice cream, hazelnut praline

Holly wanted something light for dessert. She chose the chocolate feuilletine. I told her it hardly sounded light with the banana egg nog ice cream! Then again, our other two options weren’t light either. The sticky toffee pudding with blood orange, pomegranate and Earl Grey creme fraiche would have been my choice but I was abstaining. The chocolate pretzel bread pudding with Pike XXX stout ice cream and barley malt syrup also sounded amazing.

It’s a good thing we walked around the near-empty Seattle Center after this so-called “light” meal.

Mistral Kitchen

2020 Westlake Ave., Seattle, WA 98121 — (206) 623-1922
 
Seattle Adventures in 24 Hours
 
Part 1
Pike Brewing Company
Barhopping in Seattle
Dinner at How to Cook a Wolf
Cocktails at Knee High Stocking Company
 
Other Seattle posts
 
Restaurants
Bars
 

February 14, 2012

24 Hours in Seattle – Part 1

Posted by the minty under alcohol education, bar crawl, cocktalian, events, food, food crawls, great cocktails, happy hour, hot bartenders, minty life, restaurant reviews, tasting menu, travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Space Needle in Seattle

If you had 24 hours in Seattle, what would you do? I had a very clear idea and emailed my cohorts an almost hourly itinerary. Of course, I’m flexible and left room for things like “sleep– worded as “crash” and “wander” (also known as “what do you guys want to do?”). Turns out the wander part meant going to the nearly tourist-free Seattle Center. The sunny but chilly February day didn’t have its usual hoards of children screaming around the fountain or lines of folks trying to go to the Space Needle. It was even difficult to tell if the Experience Music Project or the adjoining Science Fiction Museum were even open.

Salumi board- loved they doecorated for Lunar New Year

chombotta soup

meatball sandwich

Once we got to Seattle, we headed immediately to Salumi. I knew my writer friends from Southern California would love it. I knew I was going to get the meatball but was sad they were already out of my favorite porchetta. Luckily, we went back just before heading to the airport.

mole mozzarella

lamb sausage

We busied ourselves with eating until we just couldn’t take another bite. I knew we were going to get tidbits at Pike Place later so I made myself stop picking at the meatballs. Our eyes were certainly bigger than our stomachs because I was really silly and ordered soup. We also had the mole mozzarella and lamb sausage sandwiches. What we should have done was ordered 2 meatballs subs to share between four people but hey, what do we know? We’re just happy to get inside the warm and happy Salumi where everyone is cheerful about meat.

Salumi Artisan Cured Meats

309 3rd Ave S., Seattle, WA 98104 – (206) 621-8772
 

Pike Place

I’m not particularly enraptured by coffee so the original location of Starbucks at Pike Place didn’t grab me. It is of course interesting to see it, especially when there isn’t a busload of tourists rapidly snapping pictures of the storefront. Inside, you’ll find knick knacks that pertain only to this location. It’s like the Hard Rock t-shirts from the 80s. Must collect them all?

beef and onion piroshky

The four of split one beef and onion piroshky from Piroshky Piroshky but if you weren’t stuffed to the gills on Salumi, I’m sure one is good per person. I like any of the ones with onion. So savory!

Piroshky Piroshky

1908 Pike Pl., Seattle, WA 98101 — (206) 441-6068
 

4 chowder sampler from Pike Place Chowder

A couple of years ago, I fell in love with the chowder from Pike Place Chowder. It turns out late in the day is not a good time to go. Three of the chowders were lukewarm. Luckily our favorite was the piping hot clam chowder with bacon. Next time, I’m getting on this one.

Pike Place Chowder

1530 Post Alley, Seattle, WA 98101 — (206) 267-2537

Pike Place Fish Company

Then we wandered over to the stall throwing fish. Pike Place Fish Company is famous for throwing their fish around. Except no one was really buying so we may have uh, slipped them something to do it. One of these days, I’m actually going to buy a bunch of stuff to cook but this wasn’t the day.

I took some videos. Here’s one. And here’s the stall across the way goofing around. I didn’t catch them throwing chips around but you get the idea.

BTW, here’s a pin up page of their fish mongers.

Pike Place Fish Company

86 Pike Pl., Seattle, WA 98101 — (206) 682-7181
 

Bitters galore at DeLaurenti

As mentioned, I don’t cook when I’m in Seattle but if I did, I probably would have a field day at DeLaurenti. The only reason why I went in was to stare lustfully at their bitters and other drink making paraphernalia.

DeLaurenti Specialty Foods

1435 1st Ave., Seattle, WA 98101 — (206) 622-0141

tulips at Pike Place

We continued on to Pike Brewing Company and then headed to dinner after that at How to Cook a Wolf.

A couple of years ago, I also loved the enormous chicken fried steak at 5 Point. After our massive bar crawl where we hit Zig Zag, Rob Roy, Knee High Stocking Company, Sun Liquor and Canon, we stopped in for some greasy spoon love.

The chicken fried steak wasn’t as good as I remembered. Oh, the gravy was still good as well as the eggs. But the steak itself was a bit gross. I mostly ate the hash browns. I had two bites and decided it was time for that portion of the itinerary labeled “crash.”

chicken fried steak at 5 Point

The 5 Point Cafe

415 Cedar St., Seattle, WA 98121 — (206) 448-9993
 
… To be continued.
 

February 8, 2012

DTLA: Return to LQ at SK

Posted by the minty under dessert, food, foodie alert, restaurant reviews, tasting menu, wine tasting | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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BYOB - no corkage

 

LQ at SK or Laurent Quenioux at Starry Kitchen is still going strong after 6 months. I took my fine dining partner to the Downtown Los Angeles pop-up a couple of weeks ago.

 

Amuse - Dolmas, Sujuk, Tongue Pastrami

 

We started with an amuse bouche of dolmas, sujuk (ground meat) and tongue pastrami. I was looking forward to this dish as dolmas are some of my favorite things. And tongue pastrami? Get out of here! Amazing.

Congee, Confit Pork Shoulder, Blackberry Molasses & Maple Syrup Glaze, Poached Yolk

 

My fave dish of the night was the congee (rice porridge). Growing up, congee was a staple at dim sum and both my grandmothers’ houses. It was the thing we got after coming home from a vacation. I love the Chinese pork and the 1000 Year Old version but Chef Laurent’s made this upscale and at the same time really accessible. My friend who is allergic to pork and hates eggs loved this dish as well. Darn, I thought I could steal her portion!

Haddock Potato Fritters, Fava Beans

I also enjoyed the haddock potato fritters. Loved how crazy the “tentacles” of potato look after being fried. There was also a bit of a pistachio paste on the plate which was sweet and helped cut the unctuousness of the fritter.

Belize Shrimp, Morcella, Endive, Kimchi Sabayon with Soju

My next favorite dish was the Belize shrimp and the blood sausage (morcella). My friend hadn’t had blood sausage before and I had great fun describing how it’s made to her. I liked the kimchi sabayon accent. It didn’t seem too out of place or “fusion-y.”

Brussels Sprout "Casserole", Cauliflower Emulsion, Onion Jam, Scottish Partridge

Our main course was the Scottish Patridge. I haven’t had this poultry (avian?) before. It’s not quite as tender as say quail but it has more meat! Great cauliflower emulsion and onion jam.

French Toast, Candied Foie Gras, Elderflower Syrup, Huckleberry Ice Cream

Chef Laurent said it took some time to get the foie gras to marry the caramel (shown as dots on the plate). I’m just glad to have a hunk of it on top of the French toast! I can get used to this savory dessert trend.

I’m looking forward to going back more often. At $45, it’s really the best tasting menu pop-up deal in town.

LQ @ SK

Starry Kitchen

350 S Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90071

get on the list

 

 

February 3, 2012

Las Vegas: Jaleo at the Cosmopolitan

Posted by the minty under cocktalian, food, foodie alert, minty life, restaurant reviews, tasting menu, travel, wine tasting | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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cocktail at Jaleo

The best meal I had in Las Vegas on a recent trip was at Jose Andres’ Jaleo. I was in Vegas for a friend’s birthday. She loves Jose Andres and has been to all his restaurants in DC. When she found out he had several places at the Cosmopolitan where we were staying, she asked us if we could go. I had been to China Poblano last year but had heard Jaleo was the one to check out. And if possible, go to ‘e,’ his private table inside Jaleo. The process to secure a table for e had already passed but fortunately, we were able to get reservations for Jaleo.

beet salad

 

grilled asparagus with romesco sauce

 

warm Brussels sprouts salad with apricots, Serrano ham, apple

There were six of us and each of us ordered 2-3 things. I decided on the oysters, mussels and mushrooms.

ostra (oysters) gin and tonic

sauteed wild mushrooms and potato puree

steamed mussels with bay leaf, lemon, olive oil

 

We also got the paella. There are a few listed on the menu but you basically can only order what they have in the pot at the moment. For us, it was the pork paella.

pork ribs paella

 

While I didn’t love everything including the famous paella, I did enjoy the items I picked out. I felt the pork was dried out and was a bit tough to chew. It was quite sad since we got two orders of it and the orders were a bit pricey.

I particularly liked the asparagus and the foie gras cannelloni.

pork & foie gras cannelloni

But look at that, how can you not love its awesome creaminess and fatty flavors? Ah, Vegas.

fried egg with caviar

 

piquillo pepper

potato wrapped chorizo

The potato wrapped chorizo was like eating a potato chip stuffed with “slightly spicy” chorizo. Pretty manly, I’d say.

The fried organic egg with caviar was really decadent. I may not be inside ‘e’ but I was having a great time with my oysters and whiskey cocktail. I ordered the only whiskey cocktail on the list which unfortunately I don’t recall what was really in it but it basically was like a punch with orange and cucumber. It sure was pretty to look at.

seared scallops with romesco sauce

 

I regret not spending more time perusing the seafood section. The seafood was the strongest dishes like any good tapas place.

shrimp

 

Next time I’m getting only seafood! We had three orders of the scallops alone.

Service was stellar and everyone was very friendly with us. While I wanted to like the food more at China Poblano, I can see why everyone liked Jaleo more. This experience changed my mind about Jose Andres and led to my next adventure at his LA restaurant, Tres a week later.

 

Jaleo at the Cosmopolitan Hotel

3708 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109 — (702) 698-7950
 
 
Read about my other Jose Andres’ restaurants meals
 
China Poblano (Las Vegas)
Tres (Los Angeles)
 
 

February 1, 2012

dineLA dinner at 3Twenty Wine Lounge

Posted by the minty under dessert, events, food, foodie alert, restaurant reviews, tasting menu, wine tasting | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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burrata plate

For my last dineLA dinner, I went to 3Twenty Wine Lounge on La Brea (not to be mistaken for 320 Main in Seal Beach).  We were celebrating a friend’s birthday and this was her choice. When we arrived just before 7:30, the place wasn’t full yet but once we were seated, it filled up and continued to be busy all night. 3Twenty is the sort of place you’d get a glass of wine and perhaps some cheese. I don’t think they were really prepared for dineLA. We ended up staying well over 3 hours and although the food was good, I am not sure I had that much time I wanted to devote to this meal. Still, the company was very good.

pea and pecorino bruschetta

 

What made the 3Twenty menu different from other dineLA menus is you got to choose 2 appetizers, 1 main and 1 dessert. I opted for the pea and pecorino bruschetta and haricot vert (green beans) while the birthday girl had the burrata plate and bacon-wrapped prawns. Our other friend opted to go off-dineLA and got the butternut squash soup and salad.

bacon-wrapped prawns

salad

 

So far the burrata was very good with chopped olives and roasted garlic. We also liked the bruschetta. The salad was salad and the prawns were nice and juicy.

butternut squash soup

green beans

 

The butternut squash was on the thinner side. Perhaps no cream? The green beans were great though. I enjoyed the bits of garlic with them.

lamb poutine

 

As I mentioned, my friend went off dineLA and got the lamb poutine. Great albeit salty fries.

diver sea scallops with asparagus

skillet steak

 

My friend went for the diver sea scallops which came with asparagus. My skillet steak surprisingly didn’t come with any greens. I should have saved some of the green beans from the other course. It did come with a Roquefort butter but the steak was flavorful enough on its own that I didn’t smear any on. Besides, I’m not a stinky cheese fan.

orange peel and marzipan petit four

warm cookie with chocolate gelato

For dessert, we had the two choices- cookie with chocolate gelato and the marzipan. There was such a long wait they gave us an extra marzipan. I liked both but really liked the chocolate gelato. You can’t beat a warm cookie!

I’d like to come back just to try the nifty Enomatic wine machines and perhaps share a few small plates.  I don’t recommend this as a first date place especially during dineLA. This is more of an anniversary place where you can lovingly look into your adored one’s eyes.

 

3Twenty Wine Lounge

320 S La Brea, Los Angeles, CA 90036 – (323) 932-9500

 

 

January 31, 2012

dineLA dinner at Tres by Jose Andres

Posted by the minty under cocktalian, dessert, events, food, foodie alert, restaurant reviews, tasting menu | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |
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spicy gin cocktail

 

I met friends at Tres by Jose Andres last week for dineLA dinner. I had wanted to try Bazaar by decided to save that for a later time to get the full experience. We did stop by for cocktails after dinner so a sneak peak post of sorts is coming.

jasmine

 

We started with a couple of cocktails. After I told my friend vodka was dead a few weeks ago, she has resolved to start drinking more gin. She requested a spicy gin cocktail which they made with St. Germain. It was nice but I’ve been over Elderflower (and cucumber, bacon-infused) cocktails lately. I ordered the Jasmine (gin, Cointreau, Campari, lemon) which to my dismay was rather disgusting. I expected the Campari to take control of the cocktail but instead it was sickly sweet. It was out of balance with too much triple sec (Cointreau).  I should have abandoned the cocktail but I hate to waste booze.

Hawaiian Bigeye Tuna Ceviche

 

We let our friendly server talk us into the ceviche, a Hawaiian bigeye tuna that came with plaintain chips. It was a bit difficult to eat but worth it for the fresh fish.

soup of green lentils and chorizo

buttifara con setas

 

We were impressed by the starters. My friend begged for the first four ingredients of her lentil soup with chorizo. It was pretty amazing but I liked my buttifara con setas more. The sausage was a heavy starter with plenty of mushrooms and creamy sauce. I could eat this with just the wonderful house bread and the best butter I’ve had in a while.

seared wild salmon

slow roasted beef tenderloin

 

Staples of a dineLA menu seem to be salmon, Jidori chicken and steak. Tres was no except. My friend liked her seared wild salmon though. She proclaimed it just the thing she wanted.

I went with the slow roasted beef tenderloin with oxtail jus and heirloom potatoes. Meat and taters, that’s what I needed. I found the plate to be extremely hot but the actual beef itself was barely above lukewarm. I would have liked the steak to be hotter. Still, it was expertly cooked and the thick jus was almost a gravy.

Jale Berry

Whistle Pig Manhattan

 

The Jale Berry (pronounced like Halle Berry’s name) is from the Bazaar menu but they happily made it at Tres. I had a Manhattan since my disastrous run in with the Jasmine cocktail. I very emphatically told them to stir it and stir they did. The Whistle Pig was quite perfect though what’s up with the neon red cherry? For $16, I expect a nice Luxardo or something similar. Ah well, at least it was cold and boozy. /endboozenerdrant

coconut tapioca

dark chocolate cake

For dessert, we had the coconut tapioca and the dark chocolate cake. I was so full I just had a few bites. Friends raved about their coconut tapioca but I was very well satisfied with the cake. I loved the monkeys holding the giant goblets imprinted on the chocolate candy.

We left feeling very pleased with our experience. Tres is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s more quiet than Bazaar and service was great. I wouldn’t mind coming back as I loved the decor.

rifle lamp

 

Like this rifle lamp was hilarious. For more photos, check out my flickr set.

 

Tres by Jose Andres

465 S La Cienega Bvld., Los Angeles, CA 90048 – (310) 246-5551
 

January 30, 2012

dineLA dinner at Josie Restaurant

Posted by the minty under cocktalian, dessert, food, great cocktails, restaurant reviews, tasting menu | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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Last week was quite the busy week for me. I met with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while at Josie in Santa Monica for a dineLA dinner. It’s been on my list forever.  I started off with a classic cocktail, The Martinez (gin, Carpano Antica, Luxardo Maraschino, twist of lemon). It was very, very good and probably worth the $15 I shelled out for it.

amuse bouche- cheese quiche

Next we were given a cheese quiche as an amuse bouche. I was still feeling full from lunch so I ate a couple of bites of this rich dish.

cauliflower soup

oxtail ragu

I opted for the cauliflower soup with braised short ribs. I was torn between that and a salad. I was starting to feel the effects of multiple dineLA meals in a day but of course I went with the soup because it’s more interesting. It was an ideal starter, light and hearty at the same time with the addition of the short ribs. My dining companion had the oxtail ragu which she found a bit salty and thought the polenta was on the thin side.

Brittany salt-crusted Jidori chicken

I didn’t really get a good shot of the Brittany salt-crusted Jidori chicken. The round thing in front is the savory sausage bread pudding. I had a bite of the chicken and it’s fine. Probably not as juicy as other roast chicken dishes I’ve had before. I thought the Brussels sprouts that came with it tasted boiled and watery.

campfire trout

The Campfire trout on the other hand was great. I loved that they deboned the fish and I didn’t really have to mess around with it other than to take off the skin.

The other entree choice would be the short ribs but since I had short ribs with my soup, I thought it’d be an overkill.

hand-pulled apple strudel

chocolate bread pudding

I told my friend I didn’t care what we got for dessert and she ultimately picked the apple strudel and chocolate bread pudding. She really wanted to try the white chocolate puff too but I’m glad she got the apple strudel because it turned out to be my favorite dessert of the week. The light pastry had the perfect amount of butter and sugar to balance the “healthy” apples. And the warm chocolate bread pudding was delectable as well.

It’s just too bad I didn’t care for the service at Josie. I left the restaurant feeling like I was a second class citizen. Our server didn’t even look at us when he dropped off the check and rarely checked on us. I realize restaurants have a love/hate relationship with dineLA customers. We are not your regular guests but we can be. Treat us well if not better because you don’t know if you’re going to retain our patronage.

I eyed Josie Next Door and felt a bit sad I didn’t get to have as much fun as the people dining there. They were happy and it was an entirely different atmosphere than Josie. The average age of the guests were probably a good 20 years older than my friend and I. The food is good but not good enough for me to return. I can get great cocktails for $15 or less somewhere else. Maybe even Next Door.

Josie Restaurant

2424 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90405 – (310) 581-9888

 

January 30, 2012

dineLA lunch at Drago Centro

Posted by the minty under cocktalian, dessert, dtla lunch, food, foodie alert, restaurant reviews, tasting menu | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |
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steamed mussels

Rounding out my dineLA lunches, I headed over to Drago Centro. Since it was lunch, I didn’t partake in any of the fab new cocktails but their iced tea is wonderful on a sunny day.

soft boiled egg salad

yolk revealed

 

I drove the bus on this dineLA meal and picked out the steamed mussels and soft-boiled egg salad for our appetizers. The egg was perfectly done and when split, revealed a beautiful golden runny yolk. We greedily gobbled the mussels (always the best value) and even soaked some of the croutons from the salad in the mussels broth for added oomph.

mid-course ravioli

We had cheese ravioli with mushrooms as a mid-course that is not part of dineLA. I highly recommend any of their pastas as it’s some of the best in town.

grilled quail

wild mushroom and artichoke risotto

 

For one of our mains, I picked the grilled quail which sounded amazing when Chef Ian Gresik tweeted about it. I enjoyed the parsnips in the dish in particular. And the quails were practically boneless. They were stuffed and this made me think this would be a great idea for mini Thanksgiving treats.

We also got the wild mushroom and artichoke risotto which I happily ate despite the onslaught of carbs. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t ask for bread for the table because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to get to dessert!

cheesecake glace

brown sugar cake

 

When I ordered the cheesecake, I didn’t realize cheesecake “glace” would mean the cheesecake would be semi-frozen. The texture was very different and refreshing for the sunny day. Did I mention we were sitting near the window which looked out to bustling Downtown?

However, the brown sugar cake with espresso crumble and pear sorbet was my favorite. I like spice cakes of all sorts and this hit the spot.

There are a few days left for dineLA so get to it! I’m curious about the beef tongue potato salad and braised beef cheeks on the dinner menu for dineLA.

 

Drago Centro

525 South Flower Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071 – (213) 228-8998

 

 

January 27, 2012

dineLA lunch at Cafe Pinot & The Mystery of Chicken Oysters

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fried chicken oysters

It’s that time of year again. As part of my whirlwind tour of dineLA restaurants around town, I landed at Cafe Pinot for lunch.

What are chicken oysters, you might ask? Apparently it’s a nub of meat near chicken thighs. When I saw Cafe Pinot was offering fried chicken oysters as part of their dineLA menu, I was intrigued but didn’t know exactly what it was. The word “oysters” made me think of some other kinds of oysters. But happily it wasn’t those er, delicate parts.

There’s something about fried chicken that’s always good but eating the fried chicken oysters made the adventurous foodie in me very happy.

lobster bisque

tuna tonnato

The other choices are the lobster bisque and tuna tonnato for the first course. The lobster bisque was a work of art. It was almost too pretty to disrupt the Jackson Pollack-looking surface.

And the tuna was very fresh. I liked the capers and aioli it was served with.

flat iron steak

The steak looked so prominent and was quite perfect for the business lunch crowd at Cafe Pinot. It was jazzed up with candied Moroccan olives and a vadouvan goat cheese mousse. It was perfectly cooked at medium rare.

Japanese Hokkaido scallops

I chose the Japanese Hokkaido scallops. And like classic Japanese block prints, this was a work of art. The thinly shaved mushrooms, the sprinkle of spice, the garlic veloute worked wonderfully with the delicate scallops.

The other choice is the carrot braised pork. We were told it is a shredded pork with lentils and a ginger emulsion.

creme fraiche panna cotta

red currant brioche bread pudding

For dessert, I nabbed the red currant brioche bread pudding. The pudding was very light and flaky and came with vanilla whipped creme fraiche. I liked that it came with salted caramel as well. I also had a taste of the creme fraiche panna cotta. Loved the thinly sliced crab apples on top.

The other dessert choice is ricotta fritters which sounded awesome with a tangerine sauce. The ricotta is even house made.

I was trying to decide which was the best seat at Cafe Pinot. The patio overlooks the Central Library and you see all walks of life. There is another outdoors patio that is more intimate off to the side. It’s almost like a balcony and seemed really romantic and secluded.

Cafe Pinot hasn’t announced their new executive chef yet but if you go for dineLA or any other time, you just might see a certain quirky mustachioed chef. He comes from a fine dining background and it really shows in the artistry of the plating and elegance of the food.

Cafe Pinot

700 West 5th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90017
(213) 239-6500

** previous Cafe Pinot meal

 

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