Chateau Marmont

No longer at the Chateau... It was a fun bit of time there and will definitely be remembered.

There's a monkey in my drink

Providence

Wow. There are times when I get taken away. Transported? No. I never left my seat. Glued to it. Transfixed. Well, not entirely true, but I did have a really wonderful experience. My friend Mollie texted me out of the blue yesterday to see if I wanted to have a dinner adventure. You never really know what that will entail with Mollie- Could be Ghetto tacos, or Ethiopian Gelato, or Afghani Froyo. After a brief discussion, we decided on one of the three, Two Michelin Star restos in LA, Providence. I'd never eaten there, and have been really wanting to go for a long time. Free corkage Monday nights made it a necessity. Mollie brought a Champagne Rose, and a Slutty Australian Viognier. We went with the Champagne. And I brought an '02 Meursault-Charmes "Les Dessus" from Antonin Guyon. Both of 'em, STUNNING. The Champagne was light on it's feet, but substantial, and the Meusault was an inspiration, a learning experience. The Guyon was almost restrained at first, not showing too much on the intro, even a bit coy, but then, wow did it open up on the finish, maybe one of the best White Burg finishes I've ever experienced.

Mollie and I both did the tasting menu, in fact, we did one five course menu, and one full tasting menu, which overlapped perfectly. Really have to hand it to these guys, the service was perfect from start to finish, and I have to definitely put this down as the best restaurant experience I've had in LA to date...


providence market menu

kanpachi (kagoshima, japan) *
crispy rice crackers, cilantro blossoms, soy crème fraîche
txakolina, talai berri 2008

santa barbara sea urchin
champagne beurre blanc, fines herbes
(add american caviar, $20 supplemental)
crémant de bourgogne “blanc de blancs,” domaine parigot & richard m.v.

bobby’s block island sea scallop *
japanese eggplant, rhubarb, cashews, reduction of vadouvan and jurançon
riesling kabinett, kaseler nies’chen, erben von beulwitz 2007

wild halibut (sitka, alaska) *
summer squash, black olive, dried apricot, basil
chardonnay, the pinnacles, michaud 2002

wild king salmon (skeena river, b.c.)
french breakfast radish, kumquats, asparagus
rosé “albemarle,” kluge estate 2009

marcho farms veal tenderloin (franconia, pa) *
bacon, almond, english peas, maitake mushrooms
pinot noir, sangiacomo vineyard, vergari 2007

market cheeses
welschriesling beerenauslese, rosenhof 2006

melon soup
strawberries, lime granita

yuzu curd, meringue *
blackberry sorbet, jasmine
moscato d’asti “riveto,” dante rivetti 2009

Dagueneau

As it happens with wine, there are winemakers, rockstars even, who captivate us grape juice nerds, and create followings. Such is most definitely the friggin' case with Monsieur Dagueneau, who, as rockstars will, passed before his time. Didier, was definitely a game-changer, and one who helped us otherwise occupied Americans, catch a glimpse of what the Loire Valley has to offer. I've found, and no, I won't divulge, a lovely resto in LA that is offering Dagueneau's '04 Silex, on the wine list for roughly $65. IMPOSSIBLE! You can't find it retail for under $120, and any resto that still had it should be charging $200 AT LEAST! But no, these guys have it, and yes, I've tried it there. The Wine Director, Frenchman of course, brought the bottle to the table, and checked in, to make sure we knew what we were getting, (Here's where I love the French) I can't help but think, that if we weren't familiar with Dagueneau, that he would have steered us towards a less expensive, and available, bottle. It was almost, as if, he needed to be sure, we were worthy of the cork pulling to take place. But, yes, I assured him, I was familiar with Dider, and I was most expectantly hoping, and drooling, for the opportunity. He seemed at peace, especially, when I offered him to join us in a taste of the nectar. And wow. WOW! Yeah, it's true, I get overtaken with labels sometimes, and yeah, maybe I wouldn't have jumped up and down if tasted blind, BUT, knowing what it was, asking to have it decanted, and checking out the floral nuances as it opened- EXCELLENCE! Find it if you can, But I'm going to drink the place dry before I let on!

Food Trucks

So, there are a couple of things at play here. First, there's the food truck craze that's been sweeping the Nation for the past year and a half or so, which is, admittedly, the reason for the post, right? NO, WRONG. It's not about the craze and the hype, it's about the food. Yeah, maybe there's all sorts of comradery on line, and girls in short skirts, and celebrities and whatnot...


but who really cares about that? It doesn't really get me my spicy chicken taco any faster, now does it? So anyway, there's the original Kogi truck which has a twitter feed and hour long lines, while people go chasing after it all over LA like their favorite coke dealer-


And then there's BullKogi, the impostor, or new kid on the block, depending on how you view it. The marketing behind all this is not so much genius, as it is perfectly timed, for all the bullshit hipster hype of the current Mega-Generation. I say Mega-Generation because it occurs to me, that there aren't generations lately so much as an amorphous glob of unmarried, unchilded, afterschool 20, 30, and yes, even 40 somethings, that drag around LA looking for inexpensive, cool things to do. (Not that I really have any problem with that as a plan, mind you). But so anyway, back to what was, mildly, a point, I got to try BullKogi today since I categorically refuse to track down some food truck, drive 20 minutes or more to get there and then stand on line for an hour or more. In the immortal, yet timely, words of my father, "Fuck that bullshit, leave it for the morons from Queens".
So, TA-DA, Bullkogi it is. One chicken, one beef, and one pork taco later, I have to report, a solid, "Pretty Good" I'd go back, but I wouldn't stand on any line. The Yamashiro tacos at their Thursday Evening Farm Stand though, now those I'd stand in line for...


Of Course, when it comes to food trucks I need to try, first in line is Lucky J's Chicken and Waffles. This guy's been blowing up all over the Austin scene, even making network morning TV shows. Most important, Lucky J is my High School Buddy from Brooklyn, and I still need to get one of his awesome T-Shirts...

My New Toaster

Hold on to your hats, kids, it's about to get krazy up in here. After much deliberation and dissappointment, (The toaster oven which I wanted was unavailable) I decided to get the old traditional push down toaster, because, really, if I need an oven, I'll just use the oven, right? I mean, c'mon now.

I don't want to unneccessarily withhold the pay off here simply for dramatic reasons, so I'll go ahead and tell you what you've been dying to know, I got the Black and Decker two slice toaster.


Gave it a test run with nothing in it, just to cook off whatever residual factory junk, lead paint, and Chinese Dry Wall may be hiding in the thing- oh, that's right, good old Black and Decker, now proudly made in the People's Republic of China; and then woo-hoo, threw in a bagel, (Being able to fit a bagel has been an integral part in my decision making process for toasters) and boo, fail, apparently setting 4 ain't enough, even though I pressed the special bagel button, which manages a sort of top brown function, even though the bagels are vertical (Modern science). So, being the patient, intuitive, and capable man I am, I did another round at setting 4, and am proud to share with you the following results. The next step is to find a place in LA with even remotely acceptable bagels. I'm open to suggestions.

Hand roll party with Eric and Kumi.

Hand roll party with Eric and Kumi in Santa Monica, and first stop was Nijiya. I begged to come along so I could pick up the inner secret arts of sourcing good supplies and the best ingredients. Eric, my 6'3" red-headed buddy from San Diego, and his Fiance, Kumi, of Chiba, Japan, led me through the store, explaining the difference in grades of rice and nori, and how to find good fish. And then, I got a special Lychee soda with a little glass ball you push down into the drink which is a special treat for the Japanese kids at carnivals...


Always the most awesome hosts, these guys treated me to their favorite Sake, not even available in the US. I believe the translation was something like, Hatchi Shui San, or 8 Ocean Mountain, or Mr 8 Ocean- as San, or mountain, is also, our equivalent of Mister, you know, like Daniel-San... Hopefully Eric will send me some of the pictures of the meal and of Kumi preparing our magnificent feast, because it was AWESOME!

Rustic Canyon

Anybody who has a problem with this place, clearly didn't have the experience we just did last night. Or maybe they just suck. (That's the reviewer, not Rustic Canyon which kicks some quite serious ass). My friends Eric and Kumi suggested we go there, and I'm glad they did.

First of all, and I say first, because this is my greatest love, they have a SERIOUS wine list, with tons of fairly priced wines, so if you don't get a bottle for the table, you're missing out. We started with an '05 single vineyard Premier Cru Red Burg from Maranges for $55! (Click on the photo above for a closer look at Maranges and the particular vineyard, "La Fussiere", it's up in the dark red part, which are the p-cru vineyards) That's less than $15 a glass! You could easily drop that on any range of so-so Cali crap at ANY place in Santa Monica, so to be able to find what we did, and '05 no less, I consider that a nice score.

We sat at the bar with any extremely attentive, knowledgeable, and friendly guy whose name I've forgotten, but he did a great job. And when I had some overly wine geeky questions for him, rather than bullshit me, he got somebody who could answer my questions. MORE points for the team.
Onto the food: We had :

Crispy Polenta which was really pretty fuckin awesome. I got it because of the other raves here on yelp, and YUP, dopeness. Beautiful mushrooms and a sunny side up egg with some grated parmigiano-reggiano. Order this.

Kumi wanted:

The burger which I was going to pass on because, there are so many good burgers in LA, and I didn't want my new crush to fail to stack up, but no, the burger rocked too. I won't go as far as Eric and Kumi who feel it was the best burger they've had in LA, only because I can't splash all over EVERYTHING this place does, I mean, Damn, I already gave them five stars...

Next, we had:

The Chicken, which was, yeah, I'm going to say it, the best Chicken I've had while here in LA, maybe rivaled only by the prep I had in NYC at Gramercy Tavern. It was juicy and flavorful, really bursting with excellence, and cooked JUST RIGHT. Like secretly cooked just right, with a magic meat thermometer that tells you, pull it out now, cause it's not done yet, but I know you chef, and the extra 45 seconds you'll take to finish chopping will make this just regular done, and I want it awesome, so come over here right now, and get this bird out! It's true, they have magic meat thermometers at this place.

Finally, we had the Lamb Meat Balls, which, were the weakest link, being, MERELY (and notice how I stress MERELY) very good. Not the heights of awesome that the rest of the meal was, but not enough to detract. A little bit of Imperfection that heightened the love of everything else- like the faintest whisper of yellow green in the bruises on a stripper's leg at Jumbo's Clown Room. Somehow, you can infer she slipped while dancing on the roof of some unwilling taxi in last week's Lakers' riot. Those heels are slippery, who could fail to treat that little imperfection with a bit of understanding? Not me, I tell you, not me...

California Bears

Went for a walk around the Hollywood Resevoir and when we got to the dam and walked over it, I noticed from peeking over the side that there were these really great busts of Bears. Sooo, being the kinda guy I am, I hopped the nearest fence and went down to have a closer look..

My Mom is such a rascal

Remember the time she grabbed a can of Ultra Flat Black from Nix, and scrawled this message to us all? So funny.

Where is this?

I know I've seen this sculpture before, and I've always loved it. But I'm drawing a blank... I think I've seen it in Boston, somewhere along the Charles. Anybody know?

Wine and Lamborghinis

Wine tasting at the Lamborghini show room today. First time I had the chance to sit in one. You know, in all honesty, I think I'm just more of an 03 Subaru guy, which just reminds how lucky and grateful I am, since that's what I've got...
Then onto Michael Mina's XIV for a lovely German tasting. All right before heading of to work to run around for five hours...

The New Pad

A near 360 degree view of the great room. Not huge, but the price is right, and I'm home. Feels so good to have my space. I feel like I've been crashing for the last 2 and a half years.

Tokudo

Headed up to the Monastery to be there while Ducharme, Blackwell, and Kevin took tokudo ( Head shaving, and receiving of the bowl and the robes) becoming Zen Buddhist Monks.

Drawing

Found this on the net. It's a drawing Sallie Benton did of me a little over 10 years ago.

Best Movie Trailer Ever

Where does Yahoo get their crappy stories?

Yahoo, in addition to intentionally uninteresting news, also seems to have some of the all-time, most 1984-ish, clearly coming from the man, boring, pay attention to the rules, kind of newspeak I've ever heard. Has nobody questioned the editorializing here? How long until we're China? Not long...

Revenge of the Merlot

We kicked it off with a tasting panel of 7 winemakers and Merlot gurus: Jeff Bundshu of Gundlach Bundshu, Chris Millard of Newton, Russ Weis of Silverado, Chris Phelps of Swanson, Alex Guarachi of TGIC, Christopher Huber of Cakebread, and Joe Cicero of Matanzas Creek.
It's crazy to think that such a prominent grape as Merlot would warrant an entire event to re-educate the public, but I'm glad it gave me a chance to taste through some bitchin' Merlot. So what was the general opinion?
Seems the going theory is a kind of perfect storm of wine marketing. Merlot had garnered a huge following in the 80's and 90's, leading everyone to throw their hat into the merlot ring. What resulted was a sea of inexpensive, less than cared for, overgrown, under nuanced, Merlot. Add to that the perfect timing of Miles chiming in that if any body orders Merlot he's leaving and that he's not drinking any fucking Merlot, and the US economy in general taking a bath, and it spells trouble for Merlot.
Not necessarily says the panel.. what this really means, is a thinning of the herd. A drop off of the lesser Merlot, leaving the right players in the game. Good in the long run, they say, since Merlot is here to stay. And hot damn, is it ever. I'd love to do a Folger's switch in steak houses across the country. I'd like to blind all these ardent Cab Sauv lover's on a cab and a merlot and see which they'd prefer...


Gearing up for the trade tasting just before the people arrived.


The start of the after party, with Richard Blade spinning.

And it was good...

Attempt number two in recent history to actually get to understand that strange room where food is prepared. Sort of a variation on a theme this time. Same dry rub, but this time, pork tenderloin instead of lamb. Worked quite well. Used the important bounce technique I learned from grillmaster Jeff Gordley, whereby the meat is firmly grasped with tongs and bounced slightly, to assess it's internal temperature by rigidity. And then, since I don't even remotely trust myself, the use of ye olde meat thermometer.
BUT, it was successful, AND, paired with a 2006 Gundlach Bunschu Merlot, which was fucking killer. I'll get around to posting pictures and notes from the LearnAboutWine "Revenge of the Merlot" tasting, and especially the Press Panel, but for the time being, I'm just enjoying one of my favorites and a great dinner...

Art walk (Finally)

Church of Art, this guy is a lot of fun and a great performance to check out..


Motherboards and ginko leaves..


The Atrium


Very, very disturbing work from "Let's Play Dead" This is the least of it... It's not often I worry about posting stuff here, but some of this is just plain unnerving. That's the point I suppose, but wow...

Inexpensive French Wine Tasting And Farmer's Markets

A tasting of French producers looking for importers into the US... Started off with some lovely 07 white burgs, moved into some good loire whites including a Tressalier, which I'd never had before. It was similar to sauvignon, but with more minerality, maybe something like a cross between, Muscadet and Sauvignon.


Then, some of my favorites of the day. Domaine de Clairac. A rose of grenache and cinsaut, I believe, unlike any I've ever had before. It was like a rose petal and raspberry leaf infused tea. AND, the vigneron, Deborah Knowland, insists on aging it nearly a year longer than most roses. I'm going to totally paraphrase, but she said something approximately similar to:
Most makers of rose seem to believe it must be fresh, that it must be sold and consumed right away. But I disagree. I think, for my style, these wines need to develop, to take on their own characteristics that make them so unique.
After tasting her beautiful Rose, and two Marsanne, and an alicante bouche, I'd have to agree with her stylistic choices. She's clearly setting out to create her own style, that, while not untraditional, is a clear departure from many of the overpowered, tannic monsters the world seems to be demanding.
It's unfortunately overdone and trite to bring gender politics into this, so maybe that's exactly why I'm drawn to make the allusion- These are feminine wines. Endearingly, alluringly, and undoubtedly, feminine wines. Even the reds are made as if they were white wines. The Allicante Bouche grape, one of the few with actually red flesh, will make a red wine, even if pressed and treated as a white. This allows for a delicate, soft and subtle red, even at home in a sushi restaurant. Deborah's wines are beautiful, but unfortunately, none of these wines are currently available in the US, unless anyone feels like becoming an importer... Let me know, I've got a short list of producers that need representation.


So, after winding down with some Alsatian Gevurtztraminer Vendage Tardive, we headed off to the Thursday Farmer's Market at Yamashiro, a giant Sotoshu-looking series of buildings up in the hills overlooking Hollywood. What a great location for short rib, cod, pulled pork tacos and you guessed it, more wine tasting.


The flight was ok. I shoulda just gone with my gut and bought a bottle of the Edward Sellers. But hey, no complaints...

experimental dinner last night...

So, I'm quite definitely NOT a cook. Not yet, anyhow. I'd love to get better at developing recipes, and kicking ass in the kitchen, and hopefully, it's a skill I'll develop. As for now, though, I've got some progress to make. Tonight, it was my turn to make dinner. I was going to do a Pork tenderloin with pomegranate sauce, BUT, when I got to Whole Foods, they were all out, so instead, I got some Lamb Top Round and decided to try and wing it. Found another recipe, and seeing as I was lacking on a couple of ingredients, changed it up a bit...
Started off with a dry rub of cinnamon, some Searingly hot cayenne pepper Erika had picked up from some spice market, salt and pepper, flash seared the Lamb and then broiled it, and served it with a pesto yogurt sauce I grated some ginger root into. In all truth, the lamb was over done, BUT, the hot and sweet dry rub, cooled by the gingerpestoyogurt sauce was rockin'!
Then, for wine, I'd picked up an inexpensive 07 Rasteau Cotes du Rhone Villages that wasn't quite doing it for me, BUT I had a 1/4 bottle of Larner vineyard Grenache and Syrah, that on it's own was too overblown, but, when blended with the Rasteau to make my deux mondes cuvee, it was really interesting, juicy and complex, yet balanced, and a great combo for the lamb.
Some victories, some defeats, some new lessons, and now I feel like I'm ready to try some new challenges...

Whoo Boy!

Oh, how much do I love this kind of stuff? Heard about a tasting of a Movia sparkling wine from my friend and blogger Whitney, check out her blog, Brunelloshavemorefun Here is a video of opening this Puro (A sparkling which was never disgorged in the production process, so all the lees (Dead Yeast Cells) are still in the bottle) So you do this, when opening it...
I LIVE for this kind of geeky stuff!

Barbara's at the Brewery

One of my favorite places to go in LA when you've got some bottles to pop, and Even better when you don't! My friend Molly texted to say she'd have some open bottles and did we feel like heading over to Barbara's to drink and get some food. Always a treat, but extraordinarily so, when Eric, el jeffe, is sitting at your table with you, and willing to take a run through Barbara's serious, and oh so super friendly priced for wine lovers list. Barbara is a true oenophile and has stocked her cellar with beautiful bottles for years. The thing is, her love, outweighs demand at what is a great bbq and beer joint. What ends up happening, is that if you know where to look, you can find, no, I'm not kidding you, a 1996 Maison Joseph Drouhin Volnay Clos des Chenes Premier Cru for $44! That's right, you heard me, 96 drouhin p-cru for $44! Granted, not every bottle is there (sorry folks, those Jayer-Gilles are long gone) but with a little bit of hunting skill, you can find some real treasures. Get on down for the art walk coming up soon, and ask for the wine list, but give 'em time to search....

2010 Sommelier of the Year, Southern California Restaurant Writers Association

Just recently, I went down to the OC for the Southern California Restaurant Writers Awards Banquet, because I was nominated for 2010 Sommelier of the Year. I'm pleased to announce, I won!
It was a really wonderful dinner, in the main room of the Long Beach Aquarium, where we sat under a huge 80 ft replica of a Blue Whale, and ate and drank our way through the evening. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Marilyn and Bob Gourley, the President of the Association, and John and Tom Papadakis who have run their restaurant longer than I've been alive. Also nearby were Aricia Alvarado, the 2010 winner Mixologist of the year, and her Husband Hugo Molina, the 2009 Chef of the Year, for Seta.
It was really both an honor and a humbling experience to receive this award, and more than anything, really lights a fire under my ass to keep getting out there and accomplish some of what these other members of the audience have...
Click Here for the link

Fun new wines from the OC portion of the NVV tasting

LA traffic's a bitch. 2 Hours to get down to the trade tasting, so I missed it. But luckily, Maureen Taylor was there to hand me off a half bottle of her delicious 06 Diamond Terrace, and I just happened to walk by a lonely bottle of 06 Neal, half gone, sadly waiting for someone who cared to stick a cork in it and take along for the rest of the day's journey- starting with meeting Sean Larkin and his winemaker Bruce Devlin, for drinks at Charlie Palmer's, which had, get this, electronic tablets, like iPads, for a wine list, AND, a retail shop, INSIDE, the restaurant, where you could buy your wine, and then pop it right there in the restaurant FOR NO CORKAGE FEE... As a consumer I love it, but as a somm, I don't get it, Really? I mean, hooray for cheaper wine, but does this work for the resto? I guess it must. Ah, how the world changes right in front of my eyes....
So then off to the evening's event at The District, an outdoor tasting of 30 or 40 Napa wineries. Lots of winners, and for some reason, I keep noticing the Sauv Blancs. What's up with that? How can I go to a big Napa Cab tasting, and walk away remembering the Sauv Blancs? Well, it's my notes, and I can remember whatever I'd like, so this time it was Three Clicks Sauv Blanc and Entre Nous. So there. Oh wait, lest I forget, the Signorello Estate Seta, Semillon and Sauv Blanc. Ha. Take that, Napa Cabs!

The Haul

It's been a big week of tastings and it's only Tuesday. Sunday started with a cheese wine and chocolate event at Learnaboutwine.com Monday was the Napa Valley Vintners, then Mosaic Wines, then, Napa Nightlife at "Elevate", the night club for Takami, Then today it was The Gelinas Portfolio. Tomorrow is Napa Valley Vintners in the OC, Thursday is the Henry Wine Group Portfolio... I may not make it to Friday. An interesting plethora of producers to be sure, but maybe too many to mention. Highlights?
From The Napa VV: Neal, Larkin, Trefethen, Shafer, Schramsburg, Peter Franus, Lang and Reed, Gemstone, Staglin, Barlow, Diamond Terrace.
New guys (to me):
A Bordeaux blend from Tournesol.
Coup de Foudre-from Danielle Price, the director of wines for Wynn resorts, John Schwartz, the owner of Amuse Bouche, and Frank Sinatra’s three children, Tina, Nancy, and Frank, Jr.


So then, the Gelinas tasting... great small book of really top producers, like my favorites (as always) Alta Maria, Native 9, Herman Story (Russell's awesome labels pictured below, which my godfather will especially appreciate) Sans Liege, etc. These three are the guys to watch, as well as newcomer, Field Recordings, with an unfiltered Chennin Blanc that spoke to me...



The middle picture is from Russell's "On The Road" Grenache. I love that wine. It's my third favorite Kerouac novel by the way, Dharma Bums and The Subterraneans being my first and second, respectively. Butanyfuckinghow, I love that picture, and when I heard Russell was coming into town, I brought him a piece of road that I'd found and kept, a piece with a bit of the yellow line still hanging on it. It's really quite beautiful, and one of those lovely things that transports you, particularly if aided by inadvertently ingesting rotten/ing matter of various forms. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are said pieces of road. Russell's:


And Mine: