Taste, Melrose

One of my favorite joints to grab a nice, casual dinner on Melrose is a itty bitty restaurant called Taste. It is consistently good and never fails to leave a lasting impression on your mind and taste buds. They have the best Mac n Cheese in town, that comes bubbling in a mid-size ramekin.

On Saturday night, Angie and I had tickets to catch Donna Summers at the Hollywood Bowl (don't ask, I'm not that into disco either). Instead of making our usual feast/spread, we decided to go out to dinner instead, because it was just the two of us.

It was roughly 6pm and we didn't have reservations and we pondered where to go as we drove to the east side of town. We thought we wanted to be "spontaneous" and try someplace that we've never been before, but when it came down to it, we ended up going to old faithful, a "Taste" of the familiar at Taste.

Luckily, it was early enough that we didn't need reservations, so we stumbled into Taste and had a nice table outside on their patio, which allowed for ample people watching down Melrose Avenue. I had a glass of the St. Supery 2005 Cab (delicious) and the Edna Valley 2006 Cab (meh, but half the price) with my Kobe beef burger and pomme frittes. Ang had the skirt steak with potato puree. We also shared their orgasmic mac n chz.

Both of us asked for medium rare on our meat, but we both got overdone meat. There were parts of my burger that were rubbery, and it was cooked all the way through. However, I really think this was a fluke because I've ordered meat at Taste before and they've never fudged it up like this before.

Outside of being overcooked, my burger was good. It was served with a smoky cheese and arugula, and a garlic aioli on the side. Her skirt steak was also good, again, aside from it being overdone.

Of course I'd go back.

Taste

8454 Melrose Ave

West Hollywood, CA 90069
(323) 617-3756

Sor Tino Ristorante, Brentwood

I had a lovely lunch with my good friend Ang today at Sor Tino. We arrived before the lunch crowd filtered in and dined al fresco. One thing that I noticed was that the host, servers and a large chunk of the clients were Italian, this was appealing to me, because it spoke to the authenticity of the restaurant.

I had an Iced Tea and the Linguine alla Pescadora. Angie had the Rigatoni with eggplant. I wasn't thrilled about her dish, the pasta was a bit too al dente for me and her sauce was just okay, but I went nuts over my dish. The seafood was very fresh, the pasta was slightly al dente, but not crunchy, like Angie's rigatoni.

The dish arrived with fresh mussels, clams, prawns and calamari. The squid was perfectly chewy and the sauce was a perfect tangy tomato sauce.

Their specials list was also impressive, they had a grilled calamari salad on the menu, which sounded interesting, as well as a variety of meat/seafood dishes. I would go back to check out their dinner options.

Sor Tino Ristorante

908 S. Barrington Avenue

Brentwood, CA 90049

310.442.8466

Wine Review, aka What I'm Drinking Lately

I love finding amazing wine for under 20 bucks. I was at costco the other day and decided to try Peachy Canyon's West Side 2006 Zin. This is a definite must try for Zin lovers. We were having steak peppered with dijon seeds and pink peppercorn, manchego mashed potatos, caprese and a spinach salad for dinner, so I thought we should try out a bottle of wine for dinner that we've never had.

We started with an Erath 2006 Pinot Noir, which was too light and a disappointment. From everything I've been reading about the fantastic Pinots that come out of the Northwest, I was really bummed that the Pinot tasted like a watered down cheap Gallo wine rather than something I paid about 20 bucks for. Regardless, our guests helped us polish it off, and we moved on to bigger better things.

I opened up the Peachy Canyon Westside Zin hoping it would be better than the Pinot, and lemme tell ya, I was not disappointed. Immediately on the palette, I tasted my favorite wine-flavors: Chocolate, Cloves, Vanilla, and rich berries. The wine was full, smooth and velvety. I could drink it for days. I loved how spice-forward it was and light on the tanins. And of course-- the best part is that it is all yours for under 20 bucks.

Peachy Canyon
2006 Westside Zinfandel
Region: Paso Robles

Wine Review, aka What I'm Drinking Lately

Over the weekend, I attended a post-traditional-Vietnamese-wedding-BBQ, where we were told to bring a couple bottles of wine to the party, so I busted out with two 05 Cabs. One is slightly on the pricier side (Groth) and the other is on the cheaper side (Cameron Hughes Lot 35). In short, they were both very good.

The Groth is one of my favorite cabs, it is a little heavy on the tanins, but still manages to be smooth, chocolatey and full of blackberries and currants. I fell in love with this cab when I tasted it up in napa, and on site bought five bottles of it for special occasions. It has gotten pretty good reviews, and consistently gets ratings between 90-93 points. It is definitely a litle bit pricey, running between $45-65, depending where you go. Thus, it is not an everyday, wine, but something you can save for special occasions, especially because it ages well, it could easily be stored for another 5+ years, as the grapes still taste a little young.
Groth Vineyards
2005 Cabernet
Region: Napa Valley


The other, cheaper cab I brought was the Cameron Hughes Lot 35 2005 Cabernet, which is incredibly soft, has light undertones of Oak and vanilla, and is fragrant kind of like tea. It is definitely plesant on the palette and can be paired with either lighter or heavier meals, because the texture is soft, yet it is still full bodied. It retails anywhere from $13-16. The great thing about the Cameron Hughes was that it was a gift, and I had no idea it was so cheap until I actually looked it up. It tastes more like a 30-40 dollar bottle of wine than something that is half the price.

Cameron Hughes Lot 35
2005 Cabernet
Region: Yountville

South, Santa Monica

Let me start by saying that I recently visited New Orleans, and it was that trip that altered my appreciation for food. I have always thought that the best food originated from SF, LA, Paris, and NY, but in my recent trip, I was completely amazed at how phenomenal the food is in the dirty dirty. Obviously, there's some great talent out there, Emeril, John Besh, and Scott Boswell, just to name a few, but really, I think there's something about Creole-Cajun-Southern food that is just so damned good.

So imagine my glee when a new Southern inspired restaurant, South, hit Wilshire blvd. My friend Jessie raved about their chicken and waffles sliders and strong drinks (just like they do in the south!), so we decided to hit it up for happy hour on a Wednesday night. In a word, the food is pretty damned close to being legitimately from the dirty dirty.

We ordered the sliders, the mac n chz, jambalaya, cheezy grits with shrimp and for dessert shared the pecan pie and banana cream bread pudding. My favorite two dishes were the Mac n Chz and the Cheesy grits. The cheesy grits were really reat in texture, covered in a spicy cajun sauce, served up with five large shrimp. The mac n cheese was perfect, crisp on the top, and soft and creamy on the bottom layers.

I thought the sliders were just ok-- the chicken was a little dry and the waffles a bit soggy. The jambalaya was okay- maybe like 3 steps ahead of zataran's, but it was no Nawlins. As for the desserts, I thought the pecan pie was pretty good, but the banana cream bread pudding was just a little too much.

We each had 2 drinks, and with all that food, split the bill at about 35 bucks a piece, which is not that bad. Oh! And the BEST part is that on Wednesdays, it is Southern Belle Night, so they give the Lay-deez free shots!! Yum.

The service was not bad, our waitress was gorgeous, and very sweet, but after awhile she disappeared and it took forever to get our bill. But the good food made everything worth it.

You should DEFINITELY check this place out, it rocks.

South

3001 Wilshire Blvd

Santa Monica, CA

(310) 828-9988‎

Layer Cake, Irvine

One thing the OC does NOT do well, apparently are cupcakes (Sprinkles in Fashion Island doesn't count, everyone knows that LA is the OG cupcake center.

We decided to check out Layer Cake next door to Pho Bac. Three words: Dry as hell. Don't go.

Oh wait, that's five words. I tried the strawberry cupcake, and the frosting was dry. The cake was dry.

The only thing was that it was sort've pretty, so all form, no content. Blech.

Layer Cake Bakery

4250 Barranca Pkwy # I

Irvine, CA 92604 (949) 786-0223

Pho Bac, Irvine

There are some things that the OC does well, and there are some things it really does not. Like for example, chain restaurants and mini malls. If ever the mood for chain restaurant food in a mega strip mall with plenty of parking strikes my fancy, I hop on the 405 and head straight south behind the Orange Curtain.

Another thing that the OC does pretty well is Vietnamese food. Living on the westside, there is a dearth of good Korean, Chinese and Vietnamese food. Luckily, I can make my K-food runs to K-town, and I'm not a big fan of Chinese food anyway, so that doesn't bother me. But sometimes, the mood for some broken rice or pho or just a healthy dose of MSG realy kicks in. What do I do? I hop to the mediocre, yet overpriced pho chain, Pho 99 on Wilshire, suck it up, and have some Vietnamese food that leaves me strangely unsatisfied. At times I make eye contact with other Asian Americans who are obviously kids of immigrants who also have the sigh of resignation on their faces.

So when I was in OC over the weekend, I was excited to go have some authentic Vietnamese food. We were gonna hit up Little Saigon for our usual broken rice spot, where nobody speaks a lick of English and you basically have to point to what you want, but it was a bit of a drive so we decided to go to our other spot in Irvine, which is a little cleaner, and the staff can verbally communicate with you.

I had a big bowl of pho tai, or rare steak Pho. It was fantastic! The soup was fresh, and I could really taste the star anise, the noodles had just been made and the beef was cut into nice thick slices. I got plenty of basil and cilantro (my favorites), as well as fresh lime, bean sprouts and jalepenos. All that for about 6 bucks. The same dish costs about 9 bucks on Wilshire, and doesn't taste as good.

Someone, please, bring Pho Bac to the westside...

Pho Bac
4250 Barranca Pkwy # K
Irvine, CA (949) 857-8808‎

Yogurt Berry, Ktown

After my adventures with Korean BBQ, the guys and I decided to take a stroll down Wilshire Blvd to check out the Korean-Korean Yogurt spot, Yogurt Berry. I call it Korean-Korean because even though the surge of yogurt places (Pink Berry, Red Mango, Yogurt Land) are all Korean owned businesses, and business ideas inspired from the motherland, I wanted to see if Ktown's version of Westerized yogurt places was similar.

The place is really cute, as are most froyo places as of late. It is painted pink with black chandeliers and a funky shabby chic feel to it. The set up is similar to yogurt land where it is self serve yogurt and toppings, and they charge you after for 30cents an oz. They had about 10 different flavors, so I decided to try a triage of peach with cheesecake crumbles on top, pistachio topped with peanuts and cappuccino with chocolate chips.

I really liked the various flavors of yogurts, I think my favorite was the pistachio, then cappuccino, and lastly, peach, but they were all really good and light. I liked it because the texture was less creamy, a little more gritty, and definitely more icy. It was a perfect way to finish off a heavy dinner.

The lady behind the counter-- presumably the owner-- was also very nice, she chatted me up when I asked her about the toppings.

Next time I'm in K-town, I'd go back to this place.

Yogurtberry

3800 Wilshire Blvd

Los Angeles, CA (213) 382-5778

Soot Bul Gui Rim, K-Town

I don't make it down to k-town very often, and if I do, it's usually for one thing, and that's to GRUB on some authentic Korean food. Usually, I'll go for Korean BBQ or my other favorite, soon tofu. One of my favorite all you can eat K BBQ joints is a place called Soot Bul Gui Rim, which translates to "Charcoal Fire Meat" or something.

My friend Jangel, one of the few Korean food aficianados that I can trust referred me to this restaurant, and I've been a huge fan ever since.

I love this place for several reasons. 1. It's all you can eat at a decent price ($16.95). 2. The quality of meat is fresh and good. 3. The service is great, especially for a Korean place. So even though the wait is generally 30-45 minutes long, it is definitely worth it. And 4. They have one of my all time favorite ban chan dishes, a steamed egg that they make old school style in a stone pot.

In short: We GRUBBED. We had three orders of the cha dol, or thinly sliced brisket, bulgogi, marinated beef slices, kalbi, short rib, and a big chunk of rib eye steak, that they scissored up for us. The guys wanted to try some tripe, so we ordered it, but I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to try what resembled a white sponge of meat.

They serve their meat with duk sam, the new trend in Korean bbq, which is basically a Vietnamese inspired accessory to meat. Essentially, they are rice paper wraps that you can wrap your meat in, along with other banchans and the various sauces they provide.

We polished our meal off with four big bottles of hite beer. If you've never had Korean beer, this is pretty much one of the better of the variety, it is refreshing and light! We also shared a traditional bottle of chamesul soju, or Korean-style vodka. It is an acquired taste, as some people refer to it as rubbing alcohol, but once you start to like the flavor of it, it really pairs nicely with the meats.

The only thing I wish this place had were the moo sam, or the radish-wraps, which are basically like the rice paper wraps, but thin slices of pickled radish that really give the meat a nice refreshing taste. Otherwise, this place is great!

Soot Bul Gui Rim

3977 W 6th St.

Los Angeles, CA 90020

Sushi Kinoya, Long Beach

Okay, I'll be frank. One of my biggest pet peeves are Korean owned sushi joints-- or even worse, Chinese owned ones. So when I walked into Sushi Kinoya, even though the decor was lovely (very modern, clean, and nicely decorated), I was a bit apprehensive because it was obvious that it was a Korean owned establishment. However, it was not that bad, especially for a Korean owned place, and the service was really great.

I made a trip down to the LBC to meet my friend Richy for lunch, and to do my dry cleaning (don't ask). He lives by the beach, and my dry cleaners is inland, so we decided to drop off the dry cleaning first and find eats after. On the corner of Bellflower and Stearn, Sushi Kinoya is a recently opened Japanese place.

Right when we sat down, we were greeted with miso and a Tsukemono mixture with octapus and pickled seaweed, which was very delicious and a perfect way to start a nice lunch.

We like to grub, so we ordered a few different things. I had the Salmon Teriyaki Bento (which came with miso, salad and a 4 piece california roll, along with a 5pc spicy tuna roll. Richy ordered the sushi special which included six pieces of sushi, a tempura roll, and then ordered a dragon roll on top of that.

The sushi was not bad. It was pretty fresh. I noticed, however, the pieces of sushi were sliced really thin, which was somewhat of a disappointment. My spicy tuna roll was okay, more Korean style than Japanese style (no mayonaise), and my salmon was a little dry and over sauced.

I was, however, impressed with Richy's dragon roll, because the fish atop the K-rab roll looked really fresh and were cut into much thicker slices than in his nigiri. The presentation was also really nice, the roll was served on a banana leaf on a very nice platter.

The prices were fairly reasonable, his lunch combo was 9.95, and the additional dragon roll was $8.95. My lunch special was 12.95 and I'm not sure how much the spicy tuna roll was.

We each had a diet coke, and I was disappointed that their diet cokes came in cans, which meant no refills, and besides, fountain soda tastes better, so that was a let down.

All in all, it was not too bad, and I wouldn't mind going back.

Sushi Kinoya
5521 E Stearns St

Long Beach, CA 90815

(562) 598-8169

Primitivo, Venice

One of my favorite places on Abbot Kinney is Primitivo, a wine bar/tapas joint. Their tapas aren't purely Spanish, but rather a fusion of Latin and Asian inspired tapas. I love this place because it is cozy, kitschy, and the service is always great. And, of course, the food is phenomenal. I've frequented this place quite a few times now, but because four of us went out for a late night dinner last night, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to blog about my dinner experience.



Our reservation was for 9:00 (moved from the original reservation at 7pm that we couldn't make due to unforeseen circumstances). But when we got there, it was packed and we weren't able to get seated until 9:40ish. The hostesses were extremely nice about the situation, however, constantly apologizing and reassuring us that our table would be ready shortly. Right when we got seated, they were so nice that they brought us a free fromage platter (brie, manchego, sliced baguettes, dates and toasted walnuts with honey. It was a fantastic way to start our montage of tapas.


We each chose 2-3 different small plates. I chose the heirloom tomato salad, diver scallops and bacon wrapped dates. We also had the prime beef carpaccio, BBQ short ribs, lamb chops, shrimp sauteed in garlic, spanish omelette, and paella.

The heirloom tomato salad was delicious, it was sort of like a caprese with a citrusy and sweet twist. There were a variety of tomatoes, including heirloom, yellow tomatoes and grape tomatoes, along with whole basil leaves, fresh mozzerella, and yes, pineapple. It was drizzled with a citrus infused olive oil and some balsamic. It was refreshing and tangy. Very delicious.


My all time favorite dish at primitivo are their bacon wrapped dates, that are stuffed with a bit of goat cheese. They are the perfect mix of salty, tangy, and sweet. Their spanish omelette is also good-- much better than the one at Cobras and Matador in my opinion. Their meat dishes are good, my favorite is the lamb, which has a moroccan twist to it.


My least favorites are the BBQ short ribs and the shrimp. The shrimp is over cooked and the sauce is too watery. I am not a fan of BBQ sauce, so that is probably why I don't really like the short ribs.


As for the paella, I was pleasantly surprised. I never ordered it there, and haven't had it in a long time since my horrible paella experience at ad hoc, but it is actually really delicious. The texture is perfect (not too sticky or dry), and it is very flavorful (has a little bit of a spicy kick to it) and you really taste the chorizo, shrimp and mussels.


As usual, YUM!


Primitivo
1025 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 396-5353

Wine Review, aka What I'm Drinking Lately

Girard 2006 Old Vines Zinfandel

Whenever I go to costco, I like to peruse their wine section to see if there are any good wines for around 20 bucks. Much to my delight, they had the Girard 2006 Old Vines Zinfandel. I had heard about Girard's 2005 Old Vines Zinfandel, which received excellent reviews, so I was curious to see if the 06 would match.

Given that Girard grows their old vines in Mt. Vaca, the highest range of mountains in Eastern Napa Valley, there is no way that the flavor would be flat. The different soils in that region and higher altitudes generally ensures a much more fruitier and complex wine than some others. So when I took my first sip of the Zin, I was not disappointed. It did not even need to open up, immediately, I was pleasantly introduced to dark cherries, some plum, star anise and velvety tannins. The wine was soft and smooth and had nice long finish.

I had the bottle of wine over dinner, where I made a caprese, honey-coriander lamb, mushroom risotto and a caesar salad. The wine was really nice with the spiced coriander on the lamb, as well as light pungentness of the fresh parmesian.

Girard 2006 Old Vines Zinfandel
Region Napa Valley
Cost: $20-24

Bodega, Santa Monica

Last Friday, I got a chance to meet the girls at Bodega for some wine and eats. I'm plagarizing some of Michelle's blog on it, just because, well, I don't feel the need to be redundant.

"Bodega is one of my favorite places to go to after work for some no frills wine and food. Julie and I shared a carafe of the Malbec red, then another one of the Grenache. The 5 of us shared a Chopped Salad with some spring greens, zucchini, jicama, mushroom, and chickpeas all tossed with a light balsamic vinagrette. On came the Grilled Cheese...my favorite dish the whole menu. Bodega orders this special fig challah from some bakery, place slices of brie cheese and grill it up to melt the cheese. Mmm....I love it and luckily we ordered two of them. Next we had the Margherita Pizza...nothing too spectacular, yet just goes well with the wine. Later on we ordered another pizza...the Spicy Chicken...which was exactly what the menu said, very spicy. Not sure what the spice was that made it so hot. We also had the PLT (Portobello, Lettuce, and Tomato) sandwich. Also very good with a light spread of pesto and goat cheese."

I also enjoyed the Grilled cheese, which I thought went lovely with the Grenache Syrah, the sweetness of Grenache went well with the light brie and figs. The PLT was really delicious, the meatiness of Portobello was really nice with the lighter veggies and pesto sauce. Their spicy chicken pizza was ok. The chicken was of the frozen variety (the meat tasted processed) and was chopped into these tiny squares. I think it would have been better served if they used fresh ground chicken breast. But it was good-- a little too spicy to go well with the Grenache.

All in all, I like bodega because it is a low key, yet nice space to enjoy a glass of wine and some decent eats. I do think that for a wine bar their selection is pretty limited. Their malbec was just ok, and the grenache syrah was much better. I think they only had 1 zin on the menu and 2 cabs. I think Bottle Rock in Culver City actually has a better selection, but bodega has a nicer ambiance.

Bodega
814 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 394-3504

Ciudad, Downtown

Last Friday, I went to meet my "cousin," and good friend Tenacious D for lunch by his new law firm in downtown LA. His office is on the 52nd floor of the US Bank Tower, the tallest building in downtown, located right across the street from the LA public library. The view from his office is amazing, you can see almost all of one side of LA. And the best part of his office is that they have all the free diet cokes you can drink! It is like me and Angie's dreams come true. I even had to take a picture of the copious amounts of diet cokes because I really felt the need to capture the moments. It was kind of like a crack whore sitting in mountains of rock.


I rarely get a chance to go east of Robertson on the 10, so it was a really nice opportunity to enjoy the hustle and bustle of downtown. The area he works in is really gorgeous, it is the closest that LA gets to resembling a condensed metropolitan area, and in recent years, an increasing number of restaurants and bars have been popping up to attract more yuppies to move to that area.

We decided to check out Ciudad for lunch, a place I've wanted to check out for awhile. It is a Latin-inspired fusion restaurant (shocking, yet another fusion resto in LA??) opened by Food Network chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. All in all, it was a great dining experience, albeit the mediocre service.

I had the "Ciudad Classics," (essentially an appetizer sampler) as an entree, which included peruvian ceviche, spinach empanadas, and Piquillo Peppers stuffed with goat cheese. My ceviche was delicious. It was green I think from either tomatillos or cilantro-- or both, and citrusy. There were fresh chunks of crab and a white fish of sorts. The goat cheese in the peppers were amazing. The texture and multiplicty of flavors were really interesting, slightly sweet in varying flavors. The sweetness from the pepper went well with the slight tang of the goat cheese, which was lightly sweetened with either honey or dates. The empanadas were just ok. The spinach was obviously of the frozen variety and the crust was a little soggy. I missed my friend Christin's bolivian empanadas stuffed with either chicken or cheese. :(

Tenacious D had the "Cubano," which was a Cuban Sandwich, consisting of niman ranch pork, ham, swiss cheese, and dill pickles. It was pressed panini-style and served with french fries sprinkled with cumin. It was DELICIOUS. He was nice enough to trade me half of his sammy for half of my sampler, and the sandwich was perfect. The different types of meat with the swiss tasted really lovely, and the french fries were crisp and salty, just the way I like em.

The inside is really funky and cool looking, it kind of resembles Mary Sue and Susan's other restaurant, Border Grill in Santa Monica, with modern with Matisse-inspired abstract art. The waiter was nice at first, but at some point disappeared to the land of never never and never came back, until very later. But the lack of service was not that bad of an issue given the great food.

Ciudad
445 S. Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071
213.486.5171