Wine Review, aka What I'm Drinking Lately

A couple months ago, I ordered four bottles of Turley's 2003 zinfandels from one of my good friends. We saw each other at a wedding, and he delivered my wine in a metal suitcase which I had to drag from OC to LA. He insisted that the metal case was crucial to "protect the goods."

After having the Zin this past weekend, I can see why he wanted to protect the goods. The wine was PHENOMENAL in the classic zin sense. The reason I'm such a fiend about zins are that usually they are all just okay. Berry forward and easy to drink, zins are pretty much good to drink with everything. But sometimes, because they are so berry-forward, they can be really overbearing and jammy. But when you have the perfect zin, it is like an amalgamation of all good things in your mouth-- and I mean that in a purely non-sexual way. ;)

The wine was full-bodied, with plenty of punch coming from berries with an earthy, honey undertone. It had a slight black licorice feel, without being overbearing on the flavor. It was almost jammy, but delicious. The finish was long and smooth, and it was virtuously without tanins... but that might be because it was five years old. Lucky for me, I have 3 more Turleys just waiting to be opened on another special occasion...

Turley
2003 Zinfandel
Tofanelli Vineyard
Region: Napa
Price Range: ~$140.00

Citron, at the Viceroy, Palm Springs

For my 30th birthday (yes, 30, yikes!) J planned a lovely surprise of a nice relaxing weekend at the Viceroy hotel in Palm Springs. J planned a nice day out by the pool and a couples spa treatment, a very nice dinner at Citron (where we consequently also had breakfast the next day) and shopping the next day. Needless to say, I came back ready to face the world after a weekend of relaxing in a fantasyland in the middle of the dessert.


We pulled into the Viceroy on Saturday mid-afternoon and were mildly disappointed to see that the actual infrastructure of the hotel was a bit old and haggard. Essentially, the Kor group went in, bought a run down motel (the type of motel that has old school amenities such as wall unit a/cs), and re-vamped it in the classic Viceroy fashion of old Hollywood glamour. Thus, when walking into the Viceroy, Palm Springs, one is reminded of the Black and White decor of Viceroy, Santa Monica, but it has a more boutique feel to it, not unlike the smaller hotels in beverly hills, such as The Crescent.


The pool area is nice, there are three pools on the property, and the servers are attentive and pleasureable to talk to. We enjoyed the bar b que lunch outdoors by the pool, where I had a seared ahi club, and he had a chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo. Maybe it was the dessert breeze, or being poolside, or the fact that the meat was freshly grilled, but everything tasted delicious!


After swimming and lounging , we our spa treatments (massages, feet treatments and facials), and then got ready for dinner at Citron. The food was incredible, and I don't say that very often.

We started with a bottle of wine that I actually brought from my collection, a 2003 Turley Zin, from the Tofanelli Vineyard (review to come). This was the perfect opener for an orgasmic meal. We started with the "bucket o crab and shrimp," six kilpatrick oysters, a tomato and cucumber salad, and I had the filet with tomato risotto and he had the pork chop with the same risotto.




I tend to favor Kumamoto Oysters, that are chewy, not gooey, so when the waiter said that the only oysters they had were the kilpatrick, I was a bit apprehensive, but they ended up being very fresh and delicious. They were on the smaller side anyway, so were a nice refreshing way to start the meal, especially right before our crab and shrimp, both which were fresh. The tiger prawns were large and filling, and the crab was also served in generous portions, albeit a bit on the salty side.
I think my favorite part of the meal was the filet (which I rarely order) with the tomato risotto. The risotto was perfect in texture, not to mushy and not too hard. It was flavorful and creamy and delicious. The filet was grilled to perfection, and not overly marinated.

The waiter was super nice, and came back and chatted with us several times about this and that. He made sure our wine never ran low and that we always were well taken care of.


The food was so good that the next morning, J and I had to go back for breakfast (well, that and there aren't a lot of other options available on the main street). We both ordered the "Viceroy Breakfast," a simple but delicious combination of eggs, sausage, smoked applewood bacon and homestyle potatoes. Everything was delicious, and the service was almost too nice.

This is the perfect mini-vacation getaway for LA folks that want to escape LA for a few days. Ironically, almost everyone I talked to was from LA as well.


Viceroy @ Palm Springs
415 S Belardo Rd
Palm Springs, CA 92262
(760) 320-4117

busy busy bees at geoffrey's

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, I was about 12 or 13 years old and relegated to my older sister's definition of what it meant to celebrated mother's day. We had to dress up, my mother, the most extravagent wore something in either pink or white, with very big shoulder pads and probably fluffy sleeves. Being that it was the early 90's, the previous decade had left some bad habits among middle class women's styles, including white pantyhose (oh yes, you rocked them, just own up to it.), High high hair (thanks to the advent of aerosol cans that doused god-knows-what into your hair), and chiffon/lace sleeves on business-structured jackets. its like lingerie meets the boardroom. A jacket for all occasions. Feminist? probably not. Practical? Bet your cruxifixes on it.

But I've digressed. One such occasion of celebrating mother's day, we piled into my mom's 3 series BMW, an event that NEVER happened, as we had the buick park avenue as our daily driver, the Beemer was our "special occasion car." My father was not present, he was at work-- this was a recurring theme in my life that bears no significance now, but perhaps I'll re-visit it in another time and space. So my sister, brother, mother and I squeezed into the itty bitty bmw. My sister decidedly took the wheel and drove us north. And north. And north. I wasn't sure where we were going, but I sure was hungry, and I wanted to eat something like chicken fingers or Korean stews (Sadly my palette hasn't shifted much from childhood).

After a relentless drive that lasted about 1.4 hours, we finally were escorted out of the car and faced a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean in Malibu, CA. I don't remember much from that meal, but I do remember how expensive everything was, and how my sister told me to order iced tea because they would charge you for refills if you ordered anything else. My brother and I had 7 iced teas each. My sister was appalled. She was even more apalled when I told her the lobster bisque tasted "weird" and I didn't like it.

Speed forward about 2 decades later, after I've been around the block a bit (the restaurant block that is), and have come to learn a lot about fine dining and have, hopefully expanded my tastebud horizon. Jae and I put this to the test over the weekend when we checked out Geoffrey's in Malibu, in commemoration of my mother's day brunch nearly 2 decades ago. (Also, we wanted to go for a drive through the canyons after). Luckily we had the foresight to call in earlier to see if they had a good spot for us to sit at, and the server found us a lovely ocean-view seat behind a plexiglass fence.

Much to my delight, our brunch was excellent. I had a bloody mary (actually 2), and the crab cake benedict. He had some mojito of sorts and french toast. We shared the tuna tartare. The tuna tartare was perfectly seasoned, a nice blend of heat, fresh fish , black sesame seeds, and mayonaise, Additionally beneath the tuna were nice large chunks of avacado, which complemented the tuna and the heat-- and not to mention my bloody maries, which were perfectly seasoned with a variety of peppers, a nice generous portion of olives (3!), lemon and a healthy splash (if hurricane katrina had a splash, it was probably in the same range as that) of Goose.

The entrees were also very lovely. My crab cake benedict was nice and meaty, and I thought the texture of it went quite nicely with the softness of the eggs and creamy ness of the hollandaise sauce. My meal was fantastic.

Jae's meal, on the other hand left something to be desired. He ordered French toast for some reason, which looked ok, but it wasn't anything special. And with his french toast came these "cumin sausages," which indeed, tasted like a taco sausage. It was not my favorite.

Would I go back? Of course!

Geoffrey's Malibu
www.geoffreysmalibu.com

27400 Pacific Coast Hwy

Malibu, CA 90265

(310) 457-1519

Holy Macaroni! Drago

For my "cousin's" birthday, we checked out Drago on 26th and Wilshire. Given the consistently high reviews Drago received on yelp, gayot and other restaurant review sites that I lurk on, I was curious to see how the food actually was.

We started with a bottle of one of my favorite cabs, the Groth 2005 Oakville Cab (retails for about 50-60), a "buratini," and our respective dishes. I love risotto, so I tried their squid ink risotto. Tenacious D had the Linguine alla Mare, and J had the rib eye, which was marinated with rosemary and served up with a potato puree. We ended the night with some sort of dessert, which escapes my mind at the moment.

If I were to rate Drago on a scale of 1-10, I would give it a 7.5. The food was average, the service was above average and the ambiance was average. My squid ink risotto was a bit too al dente, and J's rib eye was too salty and over marinated. D's linguine alla mare was a little overwhelming in flavors.

On the other hand, I love burata, and they added an interesting twist to the creamy cheese with avacado and heirloom tomatoes, and a creamy basil puree.

And of course, the wine was very delicious. :)

Drago Ristorante
2628 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 828-1585