Tasting Notes: MAY 2010

05.01 - Went to the closest thing The Bay has to Alinea tonight and, not surprisingly, had a mixed bag @ Baume. First off, the concept is just, plain kewl: 5, 10 or 15-course menu...but you don't know what you're having - just a listing of possible ingredients. For example, early in the menu you have a savory, bite-size scallop dish served in a spoon and then, a few courses later, you have a sweet lychee dish that looks IDENTICAL. The main component, condiments and plating are manipulated to look EXACTLY the same, but the flavor profile is completely different. We also had a frozen licorice cloud that tasted like nothing until AFTER it was gone and an amazing pinapple/foie gras dish that they paired with pineapple wine. With ten, small "experimental" courses - a couple of our dishes had debuted JUST that weekend - you're bound to miss occasionally (yes, I'm talking about YOU, bizarre Thai influenced "salad" with coconut water and an offputting granola texture that looked just plain unappetizing when mixed together), but at least there are plenty of opportunities to make up for it later...

05.14 - Landed in L.A. and bolted to Campanile to make our nine-o-clock reservations. It was good, not great and I was expecting a bit more...something, although the "space" is a great place for a restaurant. On FRI they have a Friday Night Flights (3 wines paired with 3 small plates all served at once) for around $30, so we pretty much knew what we were going to get. The Burgers & Beers pairing went much better than the German Wines/Raw Seafood one but the star of the nite was the Sauteed Trenne Pasta which is an app that I wanted to try but our most excellent (if slow) senior server suggested getting a main-sized portion and split it 3 ways. It was the right call as it was easily the best thing we had that nite. Dessert looked uninspired and overpriced, so we headed out the have Pink's for "dessert".

05.14 - [Copy/Pasted from the LA Live Blog]
The Foodie just spent thirty minutes in line for a Hot Dog, so you can prolly guess where he is. Resisted the urge to try the Wendy Williams, Lord of the Rings and Hasselfhoff 'Hoff Dog' and went for the classic 10-inch Chili Dog (along with their battered, off-putting orange-hued fries and a bottled pink drink that claims it's peach...which it isn't...it's just really, really sweet). I must say it IS a really good, snappy dog with a good hot dog chili to boot. Better yet, unlike Taylor's Automatic Refresher where a burger runs you ten+ bucks, the Pink's dogs are all reasonably priced - mine was three bucks and change. Seriously, The Hottie would pay a lot more for the same thing in Downtown Frisco that wouldn't be nearly as good. And, unlike TAR, the wait in line is kinda fun. It's an interesting mix of tourists, locals, hipsters, businessmen, people coming FROM a bar and people headed TO a bar. The Foodie didn't really "get" Taylor's, but he definitely "gets" Pink's.

05.15 - The newer, larger Father's Office is supposed to have the best burger in LA...but I'll keep looking. Known for their beer and burgers, I was expecting a variety to choose from, but there's only one burger available. It's good, moist and flavorful but it just wasn't ALL that. I'll still take a Taylor's (now Gott's) or Nation's Burger thank you very much. Beer however wouldn't disappoint ANYBODY unless they wanted a Corona, Heineken or Bud. If you're looking for an obscure, limited production microbrew on tap, this is the place to go. Seriously, the Beer Loving Meat Guy was in Hoppy-Malty Heaven with the dozen of choices. IMHO, small plates are the way to go here: Fries (both micro-shoestring and sweet potato), Bone Marrow and the Soft-Shell Crab with a spicy asian sauce and corn salad all get thumbs up.

05.15 - I'm very sorry to say the Providence didn't bring their A game tonight. Sat us v-e-r-y late and, even then, we still didn't have a menu (or a visit from anybody save the sommelier - and he met our menu-less status with indifference) for a good 15 minutes. The Hottie finally asked a suit "Could we possibly trouble you for something resembling a menu" and got going...about an hour after we arrived. Fortunately, whatever bad juju the front of the house was having didn't spread to the back. Both my choices (Spot Prawns baked in salt and Foie Gras Raviolis with shaved Black Truffles) were 'WHOA!'-worthy. I had the Steamed Lobster @ RM Seafood (another Seafood 'Place' helmed by a Seafood 'Guy') a few weeks back and this DESTROYED that lobster - Like, LA Lakers vs. LA Clippers level of destruction. Should you ever be fortunate enough to see either of those dishes on the menu, I can't recommend them highly enough :D

05.15 - By blowing off dessert we had j-u-s-t enough time to jet across LA and make it to the Kogi BBQ Truck @ Abbot Kinney before they stopped service. This wasn't THAT big a sacrifice as we'd had the seven-course dessert tasting @ Providence before. Kogi was parked next to the very popular Brig along with the Dogtown truck. There were several other Food Trucks parked on the street (about seven total), so next trip I'll have to make a special visit JUST for the trucks and hit them all up - but I digress. I got the Kogi staple, the Short Rib Taco, and I must say it deserves the hype. It was, however, missing the "Asian Slaw" that people rave about (or, if it was there, it was such a small portion that it was invisible in the poorly lit parking lot), but I have a feeling that service @ noon to businessmen lined down the block is different that service to drunk people in Venice @ midnight, fifteen minutes before they're about to close. Regardless, the Korean-Style Beef, cooked twice and chopped up carnitas style is pure genius when paired with two tiny corn tortillas (even w/o the slaw). I <3 the old-school Taco Trucks in the 510 & I've got nothing bad to say about the Upscale Food Trucks in the 310, there's room for both in my world :D

05.22 - I Haz a New Favorite Restaurant (sorry Luce) and it's name is Commis!!! Been there twice in the last month and both experiences were transcendent (particularly for a tiny restaurant in the shadows of the Kaiser Oakland parking lot). Much like The Fifth Floor, there's too much to write in a short space, so I'll post an OT/Director's Cut Review later with all the juicy details. Mmmmm...Pork Jowl Salad...

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Live Blog: Weekender in La La Land

Since The Foodie has already lamented the fact that there was no Live Blog for last year's rather eventful trip to SoCal (The Clusterf*ck that was The Bazaar, 3 Michelin-Starred Restaurants in one afternoon (Gordon Ramsay @ The London, Sushi-Zo and Providence), Dodger Dogs @ Chavez Ravine, etc.) and the snazzy new phone has a Blogger app, this mistake shall not be repeated! Note: This is a short trip. As in, The Hottie gets off work and we IMMEDIATELY book it to the airport for a Seven-o-clock flight short. Our total time in SoCal will be less than 48 hours, but we're still going to Campanile on FRI and have rather hard to get SAT reservations @ Providence. Also on the menu, a trip to the LA “institution” Father's Office, an A's/Angels game in Anaheim and Iron Man 2 at one of those swanky, hi-end LA theaters. Plus, Tiki-Ti's, Pink's and some of those LA Food Trucks that are all the craze (I'm talking about YOU, Kogi BBQ!). So sit back and see just how much “stuff” The Foodie can cram into 48-hours in The City of Angels...

05.14.10

3:56 P.M. - Red Bull + Mountain Dew is Made of Win!!! Seriously, it may sound nasty, but it's actually a tasty concoction that's loaded with Vitamin Ca (as in, Caffeine - try and keep up with me here, it's going to be a fast paced trip!) which I'm definitely going to need tonight as we prolly won't be checking into our hotel until Midnight...

5:58 P.M. - Good News: OAK has free Wi-Fi. Bad News: It comes with a constant 100 pixel banner ad that really, REALLY blows when you're on a Netbook with 800x460 rez. Seriously, my browser is, maybe, 300 pixels tall >_< On the upside our flight is on time for the first time in the last six+ months. If only the line @ Gordon Beirsch wasn't so frelling long...

9:12 P.M. - We get a very nice seat @ Campanile and go for the Friday Night Flights which are 3 wines paired with 3 small plates. Except tonight is The Meat Guy's Lucky Night as they have a B&B pairing going on: Burgers and Beer. Long story, short, we split an entree potion of an interesting, sauteed pasta (Trenne w/a Bolognese that was reduced to, basically, a-lump-of-falling-apart-braised-meat) and the boys get the Beer & Sliders (Duck Confit, Beef & Lamb) while The Hottie opts for the German Wine & Seafood pairing - I posted a .PDF of the menu here.

11:29 P.M. - The Foodie just spent thirty minutes in line for a Hot Dog, so you can prolly guess where he is. Resisted the urge to try the Wendy Williams, Lord of the Rings and Hasselfhoff 'Hoff Dog' and went for the classic 10-inch Chili Dog (along with their battered, off-putting orange-hued fries and a bottled pink drink that claims it's peach...which it isn't...it's just really, really sweet). I must say it IS a really good, snappy dog with a good hot dog chili to boot. Better yet, unlike Taylor's Automatic Refresher where a burger runs you ten+ bucks, the Pink's dogs are all reasonably priced - mine was three bucks and change. Seriously, The Hottie would pay a lot more for the same thing in Downtown Frisco that wouldn't be nearly as good. And, unlike TAR, the wait in line is kinda fun. It's an interesting mix of tourists, locals, hipsters, businessmen, people coming FROM a bar and people headed TO a bar. The Foodie didn't really "get" Taylor's, but he definitely "gets" Pink's.

5.15.10

12:12 A.M. - Meh. Apparently there's more than one Four Points near the airport, so when I booked our trip for the same hotel we stayed at last time, I didn't. So we tried to check into the wrong hotel at midnight and end up trudging off to the OTHER Four Points that is, well, older and dingier and has no parking for The Meat Guy. The Hottie is not pleased...

11:18 A.M. - While it might be the Charlie Brown X-Mas Tree of hotel rooms, apparently there's nothing wrong with the beds. We w-a-a-a-a-y oversleep and let The Food Guy not to pick us up @ 11:30 as planned. IDK what's up with that either, we NEVER sleep in that late. Even on Vegas trips when we're up to 2 or 3 in the morning we're always up before 10. I'm blaming jet lag...

12:47 P.M. - We make it to the newer, shinier Father's Office @ Helms Bakery a little later than planned, but still manage to snag the last remaining four-top. Their extensive beer list is as advertised and they still have some of the extremely limited (and bizarre) sage, rosemary, thyme Saison brew on tap that they tweeted about last week. The fries (both sweet potato and shoestring) are killer and they have w-a-a-a-a-y more small plates than their on-line menu mentions - it could use an update. Predictably, The Meat Guy would like another beer, but we need to get going and he IS the driver this trip.

2:35 P.M. - Only in L.A.: Our popcorn and drinks are delivered to us as we watch the trailers before Iron Man 2. I guess when the city is pretty much powered by "The Industry" I shouldn't be surprised, but multiple restaurants and bars (along with the aforementioned reserved seating - like a ballgame or ACTUAL theater) is still kinda weird. As for the movie, it's good, not great and needed more Scar and less Gywnn.

5:42 P.M. - Sienna, our British GPS (No, I'm not making this up...we set the voice to 'UK Female' and had a couple of options. The one we chose was called 'Sienna') with whom The Meat Guy has a Hate-Hate relationship starts literally sending us in circles as we try and get to Tiki-Ti in time to still change for Providence. For some reason we never figured out, Sienna KNEW the addy of Tiki-Ti but, whenever we pressed 'GO' she plotted a course back to where we had just been. Maybe it was her idea of a practical joke, but I think it's more likely that Sienna's just a bitch.

6:40 P.M. - Only in L.A. Part Two: Between Sienna's hijinx and L.A. Traffic (possibly caused by a Jonas Brothers concert at a mall. No, really. The Jo-Bro's are really playing at a SoCal Mall tonight and it snarled up already terribad traffic) it took us just under an hour to travel 7 miles!!! As a result, we only have time for one drink (Shark Tooth & Cobra Fangs, for the record) at Tiki-Ti's before heading back out. So we spent 50 minutes getting to a bar that we only spent 10 minutes at. Making our 8:30 reservations @ Providence is going to be a real challenge at this point and for the second time today The Meat Guy r-e-a-l-l-y wants another drink, but we haven't the time and, again, he's driving. Oh well, at least we got a souviner Coconut Mug...

8:55 P.M. - The maitre d @ Providence brings over a small marble table to sit our drinks on and assures us that out table will be ready in a few moments, but I don't believe him for a second. We DID make it in time for our 8:30 reservations, but it's a moot point while we wait in the tiny bar area. Same thing happened last trip to Providence too. Maybe it's an L.A. thing but that sh|t wouldn't fly in NorCal - if you can't seat your table at the time of the reservation, don't take the friggin reservation. Simple. So I sit there watching my opportunity to hit Kogi BBQ slowly slipping away minute by minute. Urge...to...kill...rising...

9:26 P.M. - Providence did not bring their A Game tonight. Even after we were seated we didn't get menus for a good 10-15 minutes after we were sat (in fact, The Hottie finally just asked the manager looking dude if we could trouble him for some menus in a rather snarky tone) but we DID have the wine list...that was missing the Wines by the Glass section which made us think they didn't HAVE Wines by the Glass. That made for a rather awkward exchange when the sommelier came over and we had no idea what kind of wine we wanted because A)We didn't want an entire bottle and B)WE COULDN'T "PAIR" ANYTHING BECAUSE WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WE WERE EATING BECAUSE WE DIDN'T HAVE ANY FRELLING MENUS!
When things finally got on track, the food was what you'd expect from a Two-Star restaurant (Clam "Chowda" re-invented with broth poured tableside, Foie Gras Ravioli with Black Truffles shaved tableside and an intermezzo of Margarita and Greyhound "Bubbles" served in saw-off spoons), but it's pretty hard to come back when the front of the house has dug such a deep hole. The star of the show ended up being my Spot Prawns which were completely buried in salt, baked in a large copper skillet and then the whole thing was wheeled out to the dining room where the manager expertly dug up and "carved" the prawns with surgeon-like precision. We ended up skipping dessert in favor of going to a Food Truck parked outside a bar in Venice. Yeah, it was that kind of night for Providence.

11:56 P.M. - Even dressed for Providence we weren't the best dressed people at the Kogi BBQ Truck - there as a dude in a tux and a girl in a wedding/bridesmaids gown (she had a mens jacket draped over it to stay warm - so hard to tell) mixed in with all the drunk and soon-to-be-drunk people popping out of The Brig looking for some good, cheap, eats. Again, I didn't give into temptation of their other offerings and went for the Kogi Classic: The Short Rib Taco. The spicy, sweet flavor was distinctively Korean but the chopping of the meat to a carnita-like consistency combined with the two, tiny corn tortillas that served as it's base gave it the mexican spin. It was tasty and lasted less than a minute. Ironically, this means I've now been to more of EaterLA's top 38 restaurants (8) than EaterSF's top 38 (6) even though The Foodie has been to LA only twice in the last five years, but LIVES in the SF Bay Area. Weird.

05.16.10

2:43 P.M. - The A's have tried their best to put a damper on the entire trip. They lost 4-0 to the Halos and only had four hits the ENTIRE game, so there really wasn't anything to cheer for. Even worse, the lack of runs made for an incredibly short game, so we're stuck in the O/C with nearly five hours to kill because The Meat Guy suggested we fly out of John Wayne instead of LAX. If you're eight years old (or the parent of an eight-year old) Anaheim has lots of ways to spend your time. If you're a Foodie...notsomuch. Seriously, it's a fine dining black hole. There's a reason the SoCal Zagat Guide has 304 pages devoted to Los Angeles and 12 for all of Orange County. I'm serious! Twelve! I counted (it didn't take long). Urge...to...kill...rising...

3:13 P.M. - The Meat Guy has re-established his Hate-Hate relationship with Sienna as we head to a SoCal MegaMall to kill some time. Sienna wants him to turn right on Shoppertainment Drive which he refuses to acknowledge as an actual street name. He's yelling at her and wants to know the 'real' street name. Sadly, the name of the street actually is Shoppertainment. Nonethless, we do manage to kill some time at said mall even thought The Hottie is creeped out by the whole Disneyland vibe of it's design and decor. It's Anaheim, I think they only have the one speed. Regardless, we leave with a pair of shoes, jeans and three shirts we don't really need. Thanks A's!

4:44 P.M. - Our weekender comes to an end on a rather un-foodielike and anti-climatic note as we head into Hooters of Anaheim. Even two hours after the game, the place is PACKED with Angels fans, but honestly, we took more grief from Dodger fans last year and they aren't even division rivals! At least it's easy to kill time drinking mid-grade beer and so-so chicken wings while watching the same three channels on twenty+ tv's. At this point, I don't even have anything snarky to say about the tiny orange shorts or surprising lack of cleavage our servers are sporting. Yes, I did manage to hit ALL the spots I wanted in rather limited amount of time, but at this point Anaheim has drained me of my will to live...I just wanna go home.

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Food Porn: Saag's Big Atomic Dog

So The Foodie got a new phone (not an iPhone, as The Foodie has issues with touchscreens) which meant taking the old, dusty files off the old phone and saving them to the PC. And what image files do you suppose The Foodie found? Trips to the beach? No. Amazing art from a historic museum? No. Wedding/Bar Mitzvah/Concert footage? No. Extreme close-up shots of Sous Vide Steak & Eggs from the Las Vegas Bouchon? I think you're getting warmer :D

And so I kick off the new Food Pr0n feature with the single best thing you can get at an A's game: The Saag's Big Atomic Dog. Besides that fact that meat in tube form is awesome in general, both the cost (seven bucks - pretty fair pricing for a place where a 12-ounce beer costs nine bucks and a Pepsi runs you five) and exclusivity (you can ONLY get it at the Coliseum) make it noteworthy. Oh, that and the fact that's it's A WHOLE FRELLING POUND!!! The image doesn't do it justice, it's a massive freaking piece of meat over a foot long [Insert off-color penis joke here]. That isn't a regular old hot dog bun pictured...that's a Hoagie style roll you'd normally have a beefy sandwich on and it STILL can't contain the Big Atomic Dog! Bonus: Saag's makes good product. Just ask Hofbrauhaus, the o/g, Michelin-rated beer & sausage King of Germany. When they built their first Beergarden outside of the EU, they tabbed Saag's as their sausage provider [Insert second off-color penis joke here].

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