5 posts from June 2008

It is now at

We were so happy to hear that Bread Bar extended the guest chef event with Chef Sugie. The only downside of the evening was finding a parking space at Westfield Shopping center in Century City. We resorted to valet parking.

I had made the decision to get there early so we could be ahead of the rush and really have some one on one time with Chef Sugie. Unfortunately, Chef Sugie wasn’t there and I was slightly worried that this would be a dining disaster. Chef Rogelio was more than up to the task; he had worked with Ludo during Ludo’s guest chef event and he has certainly mastered Chef Sugie’s signature dishes.

Unfortunately, many of the dishes I wanted to try were not on the menu i.e. the monkfish liver and foie gras terrine, uni, shima aji, mirugai.

We told Chef Rogelio we wanted omakase, had no food allergies or dislikes and we were in no hurry.

1. Pickled Beets (several varities of red and striped), micro chives, walnuts and almonds – a great first nibble

 

2. Salmon croquettes with a Tomatillo dipping sauce – excellent

 

3. Lobster seviche served in an upside down hollowed out lime, with young coconut, jalapeno, red onion, coriander, tapioca, lime juice – this was listed on the menu as mirugai seviche, But Chef Rogelio explained that the Century City crowd were afraid of mirugai and wouldn’t order it. What do they know??? Still an excellent dish, although I would have preferred the mirugai.

 

Empty Lime Shell

Bread was then presented – a flat bread selection with shichimi pepper, nori and white sesame seeds.

 

4. Blue Fin Tuna Tartare, pickled fennel, dry capers, pistachios, sushi rice puree, extra virgin olive oil and topped with crispy fennel. This was sensational and the quality of the tuna superb. There is absolutely no stinting on ingredient quality.

 

A word on the service – it was exceptional – we didn’t want for anything – Chef Rogelio’s timing of the dishes was perfect and every server was quick to meet any and all of our needs.

 

5. Hamachi sashimi, grated lemongrass, daikon radish, hijiki, pea shoots, hibiscus ponzu – another winner.

 

6. Crab guacamole, wild rice puff, lemon confit, preserved lemon puree – a thinly sliced avocado served as the bottom and cover for the crab with the puffed rice adding the textural crunch – also excellent

 

7. Shishitou pepper, edamame, lime salt – this was boring – after a couple of bites, I had enough.

 

8. Beef Carpaccio, grated pecorino (aged and smoked in grape leaves), extra virgin olive oil, mizuna. The beef had been spiced with Chinese 5 spice and then seared. Again ingredient quality was superb.

 

9. Beet tartare (roasted), goat cheese, olive oil, cornichons. golden beets, mache salad and a tapenade sauce – good

 

10. Lobster soup with Crispy Chickpeas. This was a surprise – delicious. Chef Rogelio and I then had an extended conversation about tomalley – they have been tossing theirs. Oh No!!! One of my favorite things

 

Jasper White has a wonderful recipe for Tomalley croutons:

From Jasper White's Cooking from New England |June 1998

Recipe:

ingredients

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

2 tablespoons chopped onion

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1/2 cup cooked lobster tomalley

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 baguette (long French bread)

preparation

1. Sauté the garlic and onion in 1 tablespoon butter. Let cool somewhat, then mix with the remaining butter and parsley. Whip in the tomalley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the French bread 3/8 inch thick and toast on both sides. Spread each piece with the tomalley-butter mixture. Place on a sheetpan and put in the pre-heated oven or under a broiler until croutons are crispy and hot. Serve immediately.

 

Back to the meal:

11. Ricotta Gnocchi, brown butter, deep-fried sage. The ricotta is sourced from Norbet of the Cheese Shop in Beverly Hills, LA’s best cheese shop – again quality ingredients. The gnocchi were as light as air.

 

12. Shoestring fries (Yukon gold potatoes) with rosemary, garlic, hickory salt – this was just not good -  the potatoes were cold and basically a let down given the inventiveness of the other dishes.

 

13. 4 different Sliders - Lamb Meatball,  Crab Cake, Salmon and Beer-battered Brie served with mizuna, pickles, spicy red chimichurri – these were OK, but other than the lobster soup and the gnocchi, I much prefer the raw bar more than the cooked items. However, I have heard that the Black Cod slider is sensational.

 

14. As we had more red wine left, we decided to have a second beef carpaccio.

 

15. Sake Panna Cotta, Strawberry Coulis, granita – delicious

 

16. White Chocolate Risotto, dried fruit, almonds – also very good

 

Wines:

NV Champagne Herbert--right on delicious.

2003 Meursault, Martenot-Talbot--clean, spicy, very full bodied, great finish.

1999  Gevery Chambertin, Raphet--excellent, great nose, full of raspberries and flowery fruit...drank beautifully.

 

This was an amazing, wonderful evening – fun, good food and we were treated like the King and the Queen. We are hoping to go back when Chef Sugie is there and have him do a special meal for us, but Chef Rogelio was and is a dedicated and passionate chef. 

I was not at this meal, but my husband was. This is his take on Wolfgang's.

Disappointing is the only word for this meal.  The room is nice, very New York. The service was good and the waiter was experienced, previously he had worked at The Palm  

We were two guys out for a business-social evening and to watch the Laker game.  I had been told that the back room has big TVs and we were set up to sit there.  When I arrived, I was told by the manager that the back room was not open as they did not have that much business and did not have the staff to open it.  Oh well.

I got a table with a good view of the TV’s in the bar.  No sound, but able to see well. (My comment – Laker versus Celtic game was a must see.)

 We started with an assorted seafood platter, certainly "ok" but nothing special.

The shrimp [not pictured as we ate them before I got the shot taken] crab and lobster were fine, but nothing to get excited about.  The cocktail sauce was adequate, but I missed the mayonnaise mustard sauce that is so good at Morton's.

 

Second appetizer of Canadian Bacon that was touted as fabulous was very good with great flavor. However,  it was a bit chewy for me and I don't really see it as a appetizer with a steak dinner.

 

We ordered the porterhouse steak for two.  The maitre d' also thought we should have the creamed spinach and German potatoes as sides. The waiter brings to the table a sizzling platter of pre-sliced steak. He places one edge of the platter on the turned saucer so all the juices accumulate at one end. He and a helper served each dish.  I got a few pieces of steak. Several were better done than I wanted so I traded them in.  We clearly had much more steak than we could ever eat.  I did not get a piece from the tenderloin side.

The steak that I had was very chewy, flavor more like Kobe than New York Porterhouse. I was unimpressed.  I did not like the steak.  I'm used to very high quality, Prime New York Strip or Prime Porterhouse with age.  This steak was definitely aged and was intense in flavor, but it was very heavy on the palate so you did not feel like eating very much. 

 

The creamed spinach was banal--very little flavor, a bit watery and no depth of flavor…useless.  

The potatoes were fried with onions--ok, but I can't get too excited.

Dessert - Strawberries with Schlag (whipped cream) - absolutely delicious.

 

 

Wolfgang's seems to be a crowd from The Palm and Mastro's.  There are lots of 50-70 year old out of shape guys with younger women…and several attractive younger women in pairs or bunches who apparently expect to meet "rich" guys.

 

Bottomline--Wolfgang Steakhouse--why bother?  I will not go again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE restaurant in Los Angeles at the moment is Osteria Mozza. We went shortly after it opened and then again this May. I think we ordered much, much better the second time – more variety and the execution was spot on.

David Rosoff, who we have known for over 16 years, is the GM. He couldn’t have been nicer or more cordial. He is the consummate professional.

Amuse – on a small crostini, fresh ricotta with olive tapenade, basil chiffonade with a drizzle of olive oil – simple, nice

 

First Course – Grilled octopus with cubes of cooked potatoes (they were cold, however), celery slices, mizuna dressed with lemon oil. The octopus was absolutely perfect. It had been marinated in olive oil with wine corks for hours and then quickly grilled.

 

Second Course – Crispy Pig’s trotters with Ciccoria (a type of Italian dandelion grown and used as for Lettuce and in Mesclun mixes) and mustard. This should not be pig’s trotters in the plural as there was one pig’s trotter that was actually a small croquette. Most of the dish consisted of “salad” stuff.

 

Third Course – Burrata from Basilicata with sautéed leeks and grilled country bread drizzled with garlic and olive oil – The burrata was excellent, but a large portion for 2 people and after a few bites, I had enough.

 

Fourth course- Bufala mozzarella with small dishes of Romesco sauce, Tapenade, Basil Pesto and a Caperberry Relish sauce. Only the later sauce was truly outstanding.

 

Fifth Course – Burricotti with Braised Artichokes, Pine Nuts, Currants and Mint Pesto – the artichokes were excellent.

 

Sixth Course - Tripe alla Parmigiana with cecci – John forgot to take a picture of this – good.

Seventh Course – Fresh Ricotta and Egg Ravioli with browned butter – I was really looking forward to this dish as it had been described by many as wonderful with a wonderful runny yolk when you cut into the ravioli – our yolk was more well done than runny yolk – a big disappointment.

 

Second time at Osteria Mozza

 

We decided to try Mozza again and we were to be at a play by 8 pm nearby so this meant an early dinner.

Traffic has become unbearable in Los Angeles and we allowed 1 ½ hours to go 14 miles – ridiculous. In any case, we made it in 1 hour and 10 minutes so we decided to have a drink and an appetizer at Pizzeria Mozza while waiting for Osteria to open.

Even at 5:10, the pizzeria was packed.

Bruschette
with Chicken livers, capers, parsley & guanciale – interesting texture as the liver is roughly chopped. What sets this apart is the guanciale. Great.

 

At Osteria

 

Grilled Octopus with potatoes, celery and lemon – much better than last time – the octopus was still excellent, but this time the potatoes were warm. Delicious.

 

Burrata with bacon, marinated escarole and carmelized shallots – very good

 

Fresh Ricotta and Egg Raviolo with browned butter – 100 times better than last time – perfectly cooked – comfort food and delicious.

 

Garganelli with ragu Bolognese - a one for two portion size - a split portion - John inhaled this dish 

 

Excellent service, delicious food and David Rosoff is a gem.

We really like Comme Ca, David Meyer’s French bistro. One caveat – for us, it is better on the early side as by 8:30 the bar is 3 deep and the noise level can be deafening if you are sitting anywhere near the bar. They know our favorite table, even though we have only have been there once before, a small table by the window, but far from the bar!

 

The chef de cuisine at Comme Ca is Michael David who worked both at Café Boulud and DB Bistro Moderne.

 

Our waiter, Andre was superb and we were able to order one course at a time and have a leisurely meal. Essentially we devised our own tasting menu, ordering from the hors d’oeuvres section of the menu.

 

First Course – a dozen oysters – Fanny Bay and Malpeque. Again, like last time, these are slurping oysters, needing no sauce.

 

Second Course – Scottish smoked Salmon on a shredded potato galette with chive crème fraiche – delicious.

 

Third Course – Brandade de Morue Gratinee – we had liked this so much last time, we decided to have it again – just as good.

 

Fourth course – Escargots persillade – burgundy snails, garlic butter, parsley – this was poor – way too much parsley, chewy snails – I would not order this again.

 

Fourth course - Steak Tartare- hand cut with capers and corrnichons – the tartare was excellent, on a par with Bistro Jeanty’s in Yountville.

 

Fifth course – Roasted Beef Marrow and Oxtail Jam (the meat shredded and reduced to a soft tenderness.) The oxtail jam was served in a separate casserole and I added it to the roasted beef marrow.. Another repeat and definitely worth repeating.

 

Sixth course – Cheese – no picture and no clue.

 

BYO Wines:

1998 Smith Haut Lafite, Pessac Leognan

1998 Chateau d'Ampuis, E. Guigal

 

The sommelier was extraordinary. We had brought a 1998 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte, Pessac-Leognan. We try very hard not to bring wines on a restaurant's list. Rory, the sommelier said not a problem at all as they have the 2001 on the list. Well, we shared as always, and a couple of minutes later, Rory arrived with the 2001 and said let's taste this side by side. The 1998 blew the 2001 away, but we weren't charged for our glasses of 2001. We both thought what an incredible "going-out-of-your-way" gesture. That is what I would call going that extra mile.

 

We will definitely go back for a third visit as there are many items on the menu that I want to try i.e. the glazed sweetbreads, the mussels and the duck confit to name a few.