Author Archives: agavin

Picca Potency

Restaurant: Picca [1, 2]

Location: 9575 West Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90035. Tel: 310 277 0133

Date: September 27, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Peruvian

Rating: Really interesting flavors

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My parents were in town and I wanted to take them back to Picca, which I had recently tried. Peruvian food is on fire right now in LA, and for good reason.


The Pico Blvd frontage is hard to miss.


Picca’s Peruvian cuisine has enough citrus and Asian notes that it goes best with a lighter fruiter red like this lovely Burgundy (from my cellars as usual).


The bar was hoping when we arrived and at least ten people were waiting for tables, but they honored our reservation and seated us immediately (love to see that).


The interesting handmade cocktail menu.


“Rhubarb Sidecar.” Cognac, pisco, fresh lemon juice, rhubarb gastrique, shake violentyly (and they mean it), garnished with spiced sugar.”


Today’s menu. There are so many dishes that I took to underlining the ones we wanted. Saved on recitation to the waitress.


“papa rellena. stuffed potato, slow cooked beef, boiled egg, rocoto aioli.” Tasted like potato and chilli (known in Texas as a super-spud).


“empanada trio. beef, chicken, eggplant, salad.” I tried the chicken one, it was good. Not too heavy (considering).


“jalea mixta. crispy mixed seafood, tartare sauce.” Some really good fried seafood. The tartare sauce was fantastic too.


Parker 93 points, “The 2008 Vico made from 100% Mencia with 30% whole clusters and aged for 9 months in seasoned French oak. Opaque purple-colored, it offers up a slightly reticent bouquet of damp earth, mineral, incense, black cherry, and black raspberry. Dense and loaded on the palate, the flavors are already complex and mouth-filling. Impeccably balanced and with a 45-second finish, it has the stuffing to blossom for another 2-3 years but can be approached now. It is a great value.”


“ceviche criollo. seabass, rocoto leche de tigre, choclo, sweet potato.” The leche de tigre (vinegary lime sauce) makes all these cerviche‘s taste fairly similar, but this one had big soft chunks of seabass.


“ceviche crocante. halibut, leche de tigre, crispy calamari.” And this followup was rendered considerably different by the addition of crunchy calamari.


One of the menu’s many sections is “terceras – antichuchos” which are mostly grilled skewers, sort of Peruvian yakatori.


“tomatoes. burrata, black mint pesto.”


“beef filet. sea urchin butter, garlic chip.” Good stuff, with just a hint of the classic Uni flavor.


“scallops. aji amarillo aioli, wasabi peas.” Lightly cooked, very nice.


“black cod. miso anticucho, crispy sweet potato.”


Then we have a round of “causa sushi,” with yellow Peruvian potato replacing the rice. In general, as I’ve mentioned before rice is more successful, but these are still tasty.


This is the “unagi. avocado, cucumber, eel sauce” and it’s pretty much your eel sushi. Of all these causas this was my favorite as the polenta is heavier and stronger flavored than rice and the eel held up to it best.


“spicy yellow tail. spicy mayo, green onions, wasabi tobiko.”


“smoked salmon. hijiki, shallots, aji amarillo yogurt.”


“shrimp. pickled cucumbers, yuzu kosho guacamole.”


“albacore. garlic chip, ceviche sauce.” My second favorite of this set.


“scallops. mentaiko.” Certainly tasty, but it would have been better with rice.


“snow crab. cucumber, avocado, huancaina sauce.”


“seabass tiradito. thin slice sea bass, soy sauce, lemon dressing, sweet potato puree.” Very nice. Bright fish, even further brightened by the bold flavors.


Our server was very perky and friendly. Although she got caught up talking to lots of other guests and took a while with the check :-).


“chicharron de costillas. crispy pork ribs crostini, sweet potato puree, feta cheese sauce, salsa criolla.” This however was pretty spectacular, one of the best pork sandwiches I’ve tried.


“arroz chaufa de mariscos. mixed seafood, peruvian fried rice, pickled radish.” This was a nice version of paella. Brighter and more citrusy (by far) than it’s Spanish cousin. The ingredients were very fresh.


“sudado de lenguado. halibut stew, peruvian corn beer sauce, yuyo.” This really added some flavor to the nicely cooked fish.


“pollo saltado. chicken, onion, tomato, ginger, potato fritters.” This was also a tasty chicken. Like a south american stir-fry. With fries!


“chanfainita. braised oxtail, mote and potato stew.” This was our least favorite dish of the evening. There was a lot of bone on the tail, and a lot of fat. Not that it tasted bad or anything, but I think we were done for.


I love even street cart churros but these were pretty supreme. The churros were stuffed with some kind of dulce de leche custard. It kept squirting out but was intensely good. The carob sauce was surprisingly amazing. I remember carob from the 1970s as the horrible chocolate bars that weren’t. This could have been caramel.


“Lemon tart.” This was a pretty amazing dessert. Light and airy, almost foamy, the intense lemoness paired nicely with the sweet pineapple stuff on the side.


Picca was just as good the second time. We rounded out the menu and ordered mostly new stuff. As long as you are of the “bland is banned” school like I am, there really isn’t anything not to like about their solid implementation of this bright and flavorful cuisine.

For my previous review of Picca, click here.

For more LA dining reviews, click here.

Updates

Just another quick update, more than doubled the number of dishes pictured in The Hungry Cat review. Sorry for the small posts, but my parents have been in town. But I have lots of gluttonous photo sets queued up. Picca, Saam, Ultimate Pizza, and more. Coming soon.

Rivera – Nuevo Nuevo Latino

Restaurant: Rivera

Location: 1050 S Flower St, Los Angeles, CA 90015. 213.749.1460

Date: September 26, 2011

Cuisine: Neuvo Latino

Rating: Kicking out the hits for decades

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When I first came to California (in 1994) one of the earlier “fancy” restaurants I went too was Abiquiu in Santa Monica, by Chef John Sedlar. This place blew me away with its fusion take on southwest cuisine. Dishes like “flying lobster dude ranch sushi” and “chocolate chili releno” were ahead of their time — and delicious. So I was very sad when it closed down and was replaced by a series of increasingly boring joints. But a couple years ago chef Sedlar came back with a vengeance Downtown, with Rivera. Here he extends the work begun at some of his earlier restaurants into a full blown homage to all foods Latin.


The downtown frontage.


The Playa bar. Like a sushi bar — but not.


One of the other rooms.


And one of the other bars in this maze-like complex.

Even on normal nights, Rivera comes with a bewildering array of menus. Supposedly they are associated with each of its three rooms, but in practice you can order from any of the three in any of the rooms.

Above are the three normal menus.

For September of 2011 the restaurant is running a special 80s retrospective, and includes a complete menu (but only about 50% of the dishes, marked with the circular icon). These are faithful reconstructions of dishes served at Saint Estèphe (in South Bay) during that most glamourous of decades.


The cocktail menu. Rivera has really interesting molecular-style cocktails.


Like this “Barbacoa. Tequila, chipoltle, bell pepper, ginger, hickory smoked jerky!”


Parker 94. “The 2007 Laurel, a blend of 65% Garnacha and 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, is deep purple-colored with a bouquet of wet stone, Asian spices, black cherry compote, and incense. Dense and sweet on the palate with tons of spice, it is super-concentrated, rich, and smooth-textured. Give this lengthy effort 2-3 years of additional cellaring and drink it from 2013 to 2027.”


“gazpacho blanco. PRE-COLUMBIAN WHITE GAZPACHO, BLACK GARLIC, GARLIC FLOWERS, MUSCATEL GRAPES.” While not really pre-columbian, this is tasty. It has a strong garlic tang and is quite sharp.


“GÂTEAU D’AVOCAT AU TOMATE ET MAĬS, SERVI AVEC DES FLÈCHES DE MAĬS JAUNE 9.00 Cake of Avocado Mousse with Tomato and Corn, served with Gold Corn Arrows.” From the 80s menu. Ahead of it’s time, and with a little heat, this is a really fine guac!


“ecuadorian crudo. HIROMASA, KUMQUATS, FRESNO CHILIES, CHIVES.” Hiromasa is just yellowtail, which always makes a nice carpaccio.


“piquillos rellenos. STUFFED SPANISH PEPPERS, CHORIZO, GOLDEN RAISINS, GRUYERE.” A variant on the spanish classic.

“tortillas florales. HOUSEMADE NIXTAMAL TORTILLAS, INDIAN BUTTER.”


The “indian butter” is more or less, guacamole. A simple dish, but good.


Tandori-type Seabass with quinoa I think.


“ensalada semana santa. SEVILLA-STYLE SALAD OF BEETS, BLOOD ORANGE, GARBANZOS, MOORISH SPICES, PISTACHIO DUST.”


A special empanada, with mushrooms on top. Tasty.


“chile guero relleno. TEMPURA CHILE STUFFED WITH CRAB, CORN, SOY, GINGER, SCALLION.” Heavy but good.


“flan de elote. CORN CUSTARD, BLACK QUINOA, SQUASH BLOSSOM SAUCE.” Wonderful light and flavorful stuff. Perfect fluffy texture and the sweet taste of corn.


“CHILE RELLENO, FARCI AVEC UNE DUXELLE ET SERVI AVEC UNE SAUCE DE CHÈVRE ET D’AIL 11.00 Chimayo Chile Relleno stuffed with Mushroom Duxelle and served with a Garlic Chevre Sauce.”  From the 80s menu.


“TAMALE DE MOUSSE DE SAUMON, CUIT Á LA VAPEUR DANS UNE GOUSSE DE MAĬS, NIXTAMAL, BEURRE AU CILANTRO. Tamale of Salmon Mousse steamed in a Corn Husk with Ground Nixtamal with Cilantro Crème Sauce.”  From the 80s menu. This has a texture like a tamle! But tastes pleasantly of sweet salmon.


Parker 94. “The Clos Martinet, is a brilliant offering from this increasingly fashionable appellation. Fatter, fleshier, and lower in acidity than the 1999, the 2000 Clos Martinet does not have the same precision, but it does reveal a more voluminous mouthfeel with gobs of fruit, oodles of glycerin, and a long, concentrated finish. Give it several more years to evolve and reveal additional nuances. Enjoy it over the following 12-15 years.”


“choros al vapor. MUSSELS, CHORIZO, AJI AMARILLO PISCO BROTH.”


Seasame coated chicken skewers.


Rack of lamb.


“RAVIOLÍS AU STYLE DU NOUVEAU MEXIQUE, SAUCE CRÈME DE CHÈVRE ET D’AIL. New Mexican Style Raviolis stuffed with Carne Adobada (Red Chile Ragout) served with a Cream Garlic Chevre Sauce.”  From the 80s menu. Pretty yummy. It’s hard to go wrong with good ravioli.


“Frejoles negros.” Takes your basic beans up a notch.


Parker 89. “A super value, this deep ruby/purple-colored St.-Emilion offers aromas and flavors not too dissimilar from a top vintage of the famed L’Evangile. Sweet blackberry and wild mountain berry fruit is interwoven with hints of raisins, plums, and white flowers. Medium-bodied and fleshy, with excellent purity and sweet fruit, this is undoubtedly a sleeper of the vintage. As the wine sits in the glass, more black raspberries seem to emerge. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2015.”


“yucatecan puerco pibil. BANANA LEAF-WRAPPED PORK SHOULDER, BRAISED SOUS-VIDE.” Soft and flavorful.


“venezuelan arepas. TRADITIONAL FRIED CORN CAKES WITH SOFTSHELL CRAB IN THE STYLE OF CARTAGENA, COLOMBI.” Also good, but we each only got a tiny bite!

“duck enfrijolada. BLUE CORN TORTILLAS, BLACK BEAN PUREE, CHEVRE, RED WINE CHILE SAUCE.” My (and several others) favorite dish. Just rich in flavor.


“puerto rican mofongo. WHITE SEA BASS FILLET WITH PLATANOS REFRITOS, GARLIC, LARDO IBÉRICO.”


A trio of various south western classics. Corn, quinoa, black beans.


“patates xips. CAVIAR, CHIPOTLE-LIME CREMA, KENNEBEC POTATO CHIPS.”


“gitano. RIB-EYE, PIMENTÓN, JEREZ VINEGAR, PATATAS BRAVAS.”


The dessert menu.


“mil hojas. 70 PERCENT COLUMBIAN CHOCOLATE LEAVES, RIPE BANANA, CABRALES QUESO AZUL, SPANISH RED WINE REDUCTION.” Sweet and salty!


“estudio en flan. THREE MODERN VARIATIONS ON THE CLASSIC DESSERT, THREE COMPLEMENTARY SAUCES.” Some very good flans.


“torta xocolata. CHOCOLATE TORTE, PINEAPPLE BORRACHO, CARAMEL.”


More interior.

Rivera is full of bold flavors. The multiple menus can be a little confusing, but it’s hard to go wrong as nearly everything is delicious. I highly recommend.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

In case you need an audience before you conquer the lamp below.

Quick Updates

Just some quick updates today. I added a bunch of new dishes (i.e. photos) to the last Sam’s by the Beach review and an extra Omakase to Kiriko Sushi.

Jaleo by José Andrés

Restaurant: Jaleo

Location: 3708 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109. 702.698.7000 (Cosmopolitan)

Date: September 24, 2011

Cuisine: Spanish Tapas

Rating: Fun Tapas Bar

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So what does a true Foodie Club member do after eating a 22 course tasting dinner at é by José Andrés? Why have a second dinner of course!

This is the final part of my mini-Vegas series. Be sure to check out the opulent Twist and é reviews.


é is the “secret” 8 seat restaurant located within the more mainstream Jaleo, a small chain venture of José Andrés’ bringing moderately authentic Spanish tapas and paella with a modern bent to America.


Certainly the build out in the swank new Cosmopolitan hotel in Vegas is well… swank.


Tapas bar — literally.

Seems pretty Spanish.


They have an elaborate paella station. Racks are situated here where the traditional big pans can brew up this good stuff over wood fires.


Oooh, and the wine list is an iPad app. Which is a cool idea but at current is slightly slower and more awkward than a traditional paper list.


One of the staff from é (who secured us our no wait table) recommended this excellent and approachable Spanish red. “The 2000 Dehesa la Granja Seleccion received malolactic in French oak barrels followed by an additional 2 years in the oak. It offers more complex aromatics (mineral, cedar, spice box, smoke, leather, and black fruits) but is compact, a bit too structured in the mouth, and the finish is somewhat abrupt. If time pulls this wine together, my score will look conservative.”

The menu. Many of the dishes are variants of Spanish classics.


“Endives, goat cheese, oranges, and almond.” Bear in mind that we did JUST EAT a huge four hour tasting menu — and there are only two of us eating this “post dinner snack.” So we started light. These were very tasty, with bright bright flavors.


“Gambas al ajillo.” In Spain usually called Gambas pilpil. Basically shrimp boiled (fried?) in olive oil and garlic. These were very typical of what I must have had 30 times in southern Spain. The quality of the shrimp here was higher than is often the case at cheap places in Spain.


Here is photo of a typical example of this I got one afternoon in Cordoba. At Jaleo, they plated them out of the crock, but in spain it’s always served sizzling right off the stove.


Now on to the paella. Which, like rissoto, is all about the rice. In this case Bomba. This rice absorbs a lot more liquid than lamer rices.

The only problem with the Jaleo implementation is that in the interest of expediency they don’t cook the paella as long as they should (at least 45 minutes). Instead they force it at a little higher temperature. This doesn’t allow for the maximum paella effect.


“Arroz a banda con bogavante.” Rice apart from the lobster. The lobster was excellent. The paella itself a tiny bit bitter from the saffron. Still, a very enjoyable dish.


“Arroz con cosillas de cerdo iberico de bollota.” Made with the famous black-footed iberico de bellota pig. Ribs in particular. This was an amazing paella, and the sweetness of the pork leant the rice a sweet meaty goodness. Yum!


The dessert menu. Even “after dinner snacks” need three courses.


“Helado de aceite de oliva con cítricos texturados. Olive oil ice cream with grapefruit.” Two flavors of ice cream, a bit of grapefruit.


And a drizzle of olive oil.


Interesting contrast again of the sweet and slightly oily salty. A satisfying conclusion.

Overall, Jaleo seemed good. I can’t quite judge it fully as we didn’t have a real meal, just a “snack,” but I enjoyed what we had and having spent a month recently in Spain I have a pretty good palette for the stuff. It tasted pretty Spanish — filtered through a bit of internationalization.

Click here for the 22 course meal that proceeded this — the same night!

For more Food Club extravaganzas.

For more Vegas dining reviews click here.

é by José Andrés

Restaurant: é by José Andrés

Location: 3708 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109. 702.698.7000 (Cosmopolitan)

Date: September 24, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Spanish

Rating: Mind blowing dinner theatre

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Our continuing epic Foodie Club Vegas venture brings us to é, José Andrés’ latest restaurant within a restaurant in Vegas. Earlier in the year we hit up Saam, a similar concept in LA. For those of you who don’t know, José Andrés is one of America’s leading chefs, a disciple of the world shatteringly original Ferran Adria. He apprenticed at elBuli in Spain before moving to Washington DC. My parents found him there at Cafe Atlantico fifteen or so years ago and we’ve been fans ever since. He is certainly America’s leading practitioner of modern Spanish cooking. But you can find some other examples here and in Spain. Calima, La Terraza, his own The Bazaar, Trés, and Saam.

é is a secret 8 person (2 seating) restaurant located in the back of Jaleo, also by José Andrés, which is a more conventional tapas and paella restaurant.

Half of the tiny room.

Behind the counter. One of the cool things about é is that the food is plated and prepped right in front of you.

One of the young chefs at work stirring a witches brew of nitrogen and alcohol.

Then finishing off the starter cocktails.

A kind of deconstructed nitro gin and tonic. We have nitro frozen gin, lime, and “tonic foam.”

This is a version before the foam was added so you can see the gin itself. Nitrogen is cold enough that alcohol can be frozen without ice (water). This leads to an ultra-smooth texture and a much higher alcohol concentration.

At work on the next course.

Presented in a cast of José Andrés’ hand is “Spanish Clavel” (some dehydrated fruit thing shaped like a flower) and to the left, caramelized pork rinds. The rinds were sweet and crunchy, very light and airy (for lard). The “clavel” was more about a bit of flavor burst and texture than any massive substance.

Our vegetarian was treated to a pringles-style version of potatoes-bravos (potatoes in spicy mayo) instead of the rinds.

Next course. Is that food?

Due to the difficulty in matching this cuisine with wine, we ordered the beverage pairings. These mix all sorts of cocktails, beers, wines, and who knows what with additional fun theatrics. There was even a non-alcoholic variant available.

This particular “flight” was Spanish cava in a machismo decanter where you are supposed to raise it as high as you can and pour it into your mouth. Due to my full-on lack of machismo and concern for my shirt, I didn’t lift it very high.

“Apple Brazo de gitano” is like edible styrofoam filled with a white apple filling.

 It melted in the mouth and was actually quite delicious. Pairing nicely with the apple was a stripe of caramel.

A non-alcoholic tomato and watermelon drink.

More action.

“Nitro almond cup.” The black stuff was caviar, the cup itself (but not the rocks) edible and cold. Inside was a kind of almond foam. I’m not sure what the cup was made of. It had about the consistency of nitro-frozen foie gras, which possibly it was.

“Crispy chicken skin in escabeche.” This was a lump of chicken on some chicken skin with a complementary foam. It tasted very chickeny — in a good way.

“Membrillo and la serena cone.” A little edible cone filled La Serena cheese and membrillo (quince) paste. So it’s like slathering this paste on cheese and toast, which is amazing by itself. This is typical of this cuisine, taking these traditional combinations and blending them in new shapes and textures.

“Black Olives Ferran Adria.” Instructions on how to make these can be found here. The pureed juice of the olives is coated in a thin gel. The olive bursts easily in the mouth, exploding intense oliveness into the mouth.

“Bocata de calamares.” This is a mini brioche sandwich containing Uni, mayo, cucumber, and scallion. It’s a riff on a traditional beach food. It was certainly delicious, as almost any hot seafood in such a roll would be.

An inside peek.

A really whacky tasting blend of sherry and beer!

“José Taco.” Jamón Ibérico de Bellota with a blob of real caviar. This ham is regarded as the best in Spain, and among the best in the world. They are fed on acorns. Salt on salt here. A very savory combination.

Sphere making at work.

“Cava sangria.” This is a sphererized white sangria (made with cava). Inside is a bit of watermelon and mint. Basically like a burst of the drink in your mouth.

A ginger beer.

“Artichoke puree with vanilla.” These are little hearts of artichoke with vanilla foam.

“Lobster with citrus & jasmine.” Delectable. I can’t remember if the foam was the citrus or the jasmine. The mousse was the other. The lobster itself was tender and succulent.

The vegetarian version, eggplant instead of lobster.

A surprise visit from the executive chef, José Andrés himself!

“Cel phones and cameras are the bane of the modern chef,” he commented. 🙂 But he was game to pose with everybody in series.

A non-alcoholic carbonated sangria.

Plating.

“Chickpea stew with iberico ham.” The garbonzo beans were sphereized which makes them pop in your mouth. A sort of ham and bean soup — and a very good one.

The vegetarian received José’s amazing gazpacho.

This stuff is so good I’ve taken to making it at home.

Cucumber, sugar, and fruit “margarita.”

The show goes on.

There is an egg under that crispy thing.

Then a kind of bouillabaisse broth is added.

“Catch of the day.” A turbot steamed, with black garlic and little citrus spheres. Very nice and light.

One of several nice Spanish wines.

Pouches at the ready.

“Rosemary wild mushrooms in papillote.” Sautéed, then heated with a rich cream and mushroom sauce in the bag.

Pop. These are “lobster mushrooms” with a really thick meaty texture and almost lobster/abalone like flavor.

The rosemary foam complemented perfectly.

Finally a red!

To go with the “secreto of iberico pork.” This is Spain’s most famous pig, here roasted with rosemary and garlic. The cut is fatty, from behind the shoulder.

And served with chanterelle mushroom, black truffle, and balsamic.

The vegetarian got Vegetarian Paella.

And close up.

A medium sweet sherry.

“Orange pith puree with la serena cheese and crisp.” The cheese (which you can’t see) is like a Spanish goat Vacheron (one of my favorite cheeses). So this stood in as the “cheese course.”

Pineapple juice!

More nitro.

And tweezer work.

“Flan.” Flan with a granite of fruit. In any case it tasted like amazing Hawaiian shave ice (the kind with the ice cream).

A kind of chocolate coffee.

Back to work.

“Pan con chocolate aceite y sal.” Basically a big blob of whipped cream, crispy nitro frozen chocolate and high quality Spanish olive oil and salt. You’d think this wouldn’t work, but boy does it.

The sweet and salty and olive oily combo is very interesting and very Spanish.

“Arroz con leche.” A little cone of creme and fruit (lime?) fillings. Yum.

“25 second bizcocho.” This is a 25 second microwave version of some kind of traditional pastry. It was light, fluffy, with a soft citrus cream (the yellow blobs).

“Gin and Tonic.” This is a lovely and more traditional variant on the drink. The bitter tone of the tonic was actually kind of settling.

“Air chocolates.” Puffed white and milk chocolate rice crispy treats (without the rice crispies). Somehow the texture is manipulated into this form.

“Fizzy paper.” This is a crispy sugar confection that tastes like citrus pop-rocks. Very pleasant actually.

Overall this was a staggeringly fun meal. The combination of the playful yet delicious food, the theatrics, and the intimate little cluster of eight people (all of whom were diehard foodies — this being a very hard reservation to get) made for a really fun evening. I’m heading back to Saam in a few days so I can get a head to head comparison, but as it stands é seems to have a leg up on it, particularly in such as the smaller format with the plating in front of you is more intimate and fun.

Another amazing fact about this seemingly immense meal is that it was not in the least overwhelming. In fact, afterward us hardcore foodies went and had an entire second (albeit smallish)  three-course meal outside at Jaleo. Those less dedicated to gluttony went to gamble. It’s also worth noting that the service was fantastic and very attentive in é, they may have had four or five staff members to our eight guests!

It’s also worth noting that é only allows non-flash photography. And it’s fairly dark. For me, with my 5D mark II, a fast 2.5 F-stop macro, and 6400 ISO this was no problem. But if you’re trying on a snapshot or with a cellphone, forget it.

Overall an 11/10. Different, but a little more playful and approachable than the previous night’s Twist.

For more Food Club extravaganzas.

For more Vegas dining reviews click here.

Wynn Breakfast Buffet

Restaurant: Wynn Breakfast Buffet

Location: 3131 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89109.  (702) 770-7000

Date: September 24, 2011

Cuisine: Breakfast Buffet

Rating: Quantity over quality

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What would a Foodie Club trip to Vegas be without at least one buffet. Being as we were staying at the Wynn Encore, and the Wynn buffet should theoretically be one of the nicer ones in town (and it was comped) off we went. This is the weekend brunch.


The room is pretty enough (by Vegas standards). The buffet is fairly reasonable at $32 on the weekend, $10 extra for all you can drink cheap champagne (we skipped).


Just part of the main service hall. This buffet goes for serious quantity and variety, at the expense of quality. Not that it’s bad, but it isn’t superlative either.


Fruit.


Salad.


Cesar salad.

More fruit.


Soups.


Meats.


Bagels.

Cheeses.

Salmon in pastry.

Fish dishes.

Fish cakes and potatoes.


Heat lamp pizza, four types.


Pancakes, waffles etc.

Sauces for above.

Pastas.

Eggs and good old fashioned pig products.


Pulled Pork sliders. Actually pretty good.


Veggies.

Prime rib, super fatty bacon, etc.


Sketchy mexican dishes.

Toppings for nachos.


Cerviche. Had me frightened.


Eggs with chorizo.


More mexican.


Chung King Chinese.


Now this is different. Congee. For those that don’t know, congee is a typical Chinese (and other Asian) rice gruel (like oatmeal) that you spice up with toppings. They didn’t have grubs, but they did have 1,000 year old egg. In China, I often saw grubs.


A few bits of dim sum. The center pork thingys were okay.


Cereal.

Veggies.

Lox and toppings bar.


Shrimp. Not the best shelled shrimp in the world, but edible.


Various cold salads.

The usual assortment of mediocre sushi rolls.


A made to order omelet bar.


Now dessert fared a little better. Maybe because cakes are more forgiving of sitting around.


I’ll let the pictures do the talking here.

Candied apples and chocolate covered marshmallows.


Gelato. That was interesting. It wasn’t up to Italian Gelato standards, but wasn’t awful either.


Chocolate covered marshmallows.


More cakes.


Cakes. The Dulce de Leche was pretty good.


Cookies and cupcakes.


More goodies.


Fruit. Eww!

Pastries.

More.

And even more.

Cinnamon buns and coffee cakes.


Fat is flavor — my plate.


And a dessert sampling.

Overall this buffet suffered greatly from too muchness or quantity over quality. The LA based Tres buffet is an example of trying to do much more with many less dishes. Here, dabbling into every conceivable type of cuisine (Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.). So much that nothing could be well done. They should have just concentrated on classic brunch food perhaps. Who knows. But a lot of the stuff had that scary sitting around in chaffers factor. Yes, I’m a snob. Still, I was able to find some perfectly edible items. It just wasn’t great. The desserts were pretty decent though.

For more Vegas dining reviews click here.

Vegas with a Twist

Restaurant: Twist by Pierre Gagnaire

Location: 3752 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109. 888.881.9367

Date: September 23, 2011

Cuisine: Avant Garde French

Rating: Brilliant, Confusing, Tasty, Orthogonal

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Pierre Gagnaire is one of the elite crew of three-star Michelin chefs of a generation with Alain Ducasse and Joël Robuchon. And he’s the latest to venture forth into Las Vegas with an oddball new high end venture. Twist is mostly avant garde haute cuisine restaurant, with a little bit of a bent toward steakhouse? Maybe. Or at least he has a page of steaks and sides on the menu. I have to assume this is just Vegas pandering. We ignored it and went for a mega tasting.

Both the $7 million dollar build out (in the Mandarin Oriental) and the food itself is playful, intellectual, odd, and beautiful. Executive chef is of course, Pierre Gagnaire, with the onsite Chef de Cuisine being Pascal Sanchez.

In any case, the Foodie Club hit it with aplomb.


The distance cella of this culinary temple as seen from the approach.


The globes hanging above remind me of a non-magical Hogwarts cafeteria.


The bar. Notice the cracked egg wall decoration.


Echoed in the cover plates.


Tonights menu. We of course opted for the tasting. Seeing as six courses didn’t sound like enough (little did we know that most of the courses were in fact 3 or 4!) we threw in a foie gras supplement.


The wine list had some good offerings, but at the typical painful Vegas markups. We opted for a split of both the “classic” and “grand” wine pairings (depending on the person). One of our diners had a mostly vegetarian and fish menu, which the sommelier customized the classic pairing to.

So we open with a glass of classic champagne.


A series of amuses. Crispy lollipops filled with date purée and aged balsamic.


Chinese rice buns with carmelized onions, a bit of eel, and caviar.


Poquito pepper sauce. You just extract the little bread sticks and eat. Not so far off from a Spanish Romesco.


Gorgonzola and fig lollipops. Yum!


These were really good. Goat cheese and something. Sorry again!


Then to clear the palette, gelled anise. Like liqourish jello!

Overall, the amuses were very successful.


The bread was fantastic. From the crispy baguette (front left) to the amazing walnut raison bread in the back. The front right is a multigrain. Butter (not shown) was imported from Normandy.


A rose to go with the this first course.


These next three dishes together form the “twisted bouillabaisse.” This one is “Veloute of Cauliflower, ice cream of artichoke and olive oil.”


“Fish and saffron cocktail.” Red mullet, snapper, and sea bream rest in a gel of bouillabaisse! Had curious similarities to the bouillabaisse milkshake at Ludobites 7.0.


“Marmalade of red pepper, fennel confit and candied garlic.” This stands in for the traditional garlic toast.


Parker 90-91. “If Pascal Cotat’s 2009 Mont Damnes is not the place to look for sheer refreshment, that caution applies in spades to his 2009 Sancerre La Grande Cote, which pushes 15% alcohol and displays virtually inevitable finishing warmth as well as opulence. Musk melon, Persian melon, and passion fruit are wreathed in elder flower and narcissus. A sense of chalky underpinnings emerges on the wine’s silken, lushly-fruited palate. I would plan on enjoying this over the next 2-3 years and if I held any for longer would be vigilant.”


“Scallop & langoustine. scallops cerviche, mimosa langoustines, jerusalem artichokes gelée, celeriac & horseradish cream.” Like many of Twist’s dishes, very intellectual. The bottom is an artichoke gelée. The scallops like sashimi, but the real winner was the langoustine potato salad like stuff on top.


Yet another while to pair with this next dish.


“Kombawa Cod cake.”


“Bloody Mary Sorbet, ratatouille bavaroise.”


“Vegetable Gnocchi.”


With a spinach sauce.


Another rose.


This series forms the “surf ‘n turf” motif. This is “fanny bay oyster, scented with coconut milk and seasoned ginger, sapporo foam.”


“Nabrasaka Prime Beef Carpaccio, florida clam salad, shaved foie gras.”


“Chestnut soup, razor clams, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized hazelnuts.”


The soup being added.


And in its final form. This was the most successful of the trio.


A very fine medium sweet 2009 Riesling.


“Tomato and fig tart.” Lovely buttery pastry.


This being a “californian duck foie gras trio.” “foie gras terrine, rum glazed, served on summer fruits chutney with banana tartlet.” Certainly an excellent expression of solid strait up foe.


“Shaved foie gras, black currant sorbet, mustard seasoning.”


“Foe Gras Parfait, toasted sesame, red port syrup and diced duck breast.” By far the best of the trio, this was pretty amazing.


Parker 91. This highly unusual Italian white tasted like cloves! “The 2007 Cervaro della Sala (Chardonnay, Grechetto) is an especially fat, juicy version of this wine, with generous ripe fruit and a soft-textured personality. The oak is still rather prominent and the wine needs at least another year of bottle age, although it will always remain a very ripe, opulent, yet beautifully balanced Cervaro. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2015.”

Alaskan halibut. Shown table-side before plating.


“Alaska Halibut. Grilled halibut, smoked in the cast-iron cocotte, chicory fondue, fennel and Orange.”


With a beure blanc sauce.


And finished. A nice dish. A slight charcoal smokey flavor to the fish and the interesting fennel, orange, butter pairings.


The sommelier/wine director (Julie Lin) preps a bottle.


The next wine.


The Intermezzo. “Sorbet of red wine-pear, onion cream with roquefort, grated yukon turnip scented with walnut oil.” This wasn’t an entirely successful pairing. I like roquefort but it came on very heavy handed against the refreshing red wine sorbet.


Working the crazy decanter.


A chardonnay for the loup de mer.


“Brittany Loup de mer. Slices of loup de mer a la meuniere with green pepper. Shiso leaves & oyster plant, sauce champs-elysee.” No small amount of fish here!


“Carmelized shallot agnolotti with grapefruit juice.”


Two reds. Sant’Antimo Summus is a French-oak aged blend of Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. It is a rich, weighty wine with a soft-textured expression of fruit, excellent length and fine tannins.


A blend of 25% Garnacha, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 15% Carinena, and 10% Syrah and aged for 12 months in seasoned French and American oak. Dark ruby-colored, it has an attractive perfume of cedar, red and black currants, black cherry, spice box, and mineral. In a relatively lean style for Priorat, this medium to full-bodied wine has some elegance as well as good depth and length.


Don’t stab me with the decanter!


“Wisconsin veal crepinette. Tenderloin Crepinette, pumpkin & shallot Gratin and Osso-Bucco Jus.”


“Fritto-Miso of Zucchini & Eggplant, San Daniele Ham.”


A trio of sticky yummy dessert wines.


In the glass. The right most like a medium sherry. The middle slightly carbonated and sweet, the leftmost botrytis (moldy grapes).


“Plums, Caramelized Plums, red currant gelée, Brandy Ice cream.” Like brandied cherries and cream.


“Amelie, green tea opaline, lemongrass ganache, glace royale citron.” Fantastic!


“Apple Royale, Cinnamon Gala Apples, Green apple-lime Granite, Cinnamon syrup.” Tasted like apples and cinnamon. Refreshing.


“Biscuit Chocolate Rue Balzac, chocolate glaze, banana-lime coulis, mojito sorbet.”


“Roma, parmesan sable, ginger confit, mascarpone cream, fresh figs, pisachios.” Vaguely sicilian in vibe.


Petite fours. A fruit thing front. A little macaron middle, and a chocolate square with pistachio cream in the back (my favorite).


Whacky stylings.

Butterfly bizarre.

The shofar decanter.

I have to agree with my colleague Kevin (his review of twist here) when he says that this cuisine is “unconventional, surprising, jarring even, with some truly unique combinations of tastes, textures, temperatures, and ingredients.” There were some “out there” dishes here, and I was a bit at a loss as to how the entire meal, and even individual dishes, or pairings or trios of dishes, fit together. But many tasted great, and even the ones that were confusing were highly interesting. Not everything work perfectly, but yet at the same time didn’t seem to suffer from an inferior palette. This is highly intellectual food, best perhaps compared to avant garde art that you enjoy, but don’t quite understand.

Service and presentation was top top top notch here. Everyone was very accommodating and skilled. It’s rare in the states to get this level of service. The wine pairings were superlative and interesting.

For more Food Club extravaganzas.

Weekend Draft

I just finished the rough cut of the third major draft of my new novel, Untimed. Just in time too to get out of town.

This weekend will be quiet and post free. I’m off to Vegas with the Foodie Club for some more high end gluttony. Namely Twist by Pierre Gagnaire and  É by José Andrés (my review of the comparable Saam here).  You can expect detailed coverage when I get back.

For more on the revision process, see this recent post.

Or for more posts on writing, click here.

Revision Slog – Novel as Algorithm

As I slog toward the end of my third major draft of my new novel, Untimed, I felt the need for brief procrastination in the form of detailing the process. Most people seem to discount how much grind and sheer time investment is required in writing (and revising) a novel, even a vey steady workaholic like me. Let’s do a little breakdown.

Untimed is actually fairly short, currently at 83,000 words and 38 chapters. This is MUCH shorter than my first book started out. Length is a factor because you have to iterate (i.e. read through the book a LOT of times).

Think of each major draft as a loop (I am a programmer) with various sub loops.

. Generate Idea (for the most part this kind of happens or doesn’t)

. Character Design and High Level Plotting (you could spend who knows how long on this, I don’t find it that useful upfront, most of it just comes to me while doing other things)

. The First Draft:

. Initial drafting: For each chapter (1..38) loop:

. Plot the beats in the chapter. This takes an absolute minimum of 1-3 hours even if you know exactly what’s supposed to be in there. Sometimes it takes several days of banging your head and talking to others.

. Pound out a first draft. I can do 2000-2500 words of new draft in one 8 hour day. I generally make this a chapter. Occasionally I’ll be on a roll and do two.

. Reread it to catch really stupid typos, phrasing, and make sure it makes sense (1 hour)

. Subtotal. For above book that represents 50-60 workdays (NOTE: if you take days off, it’s chronologically much longer). Notes on finishing the first draft, here.

. High level pass:

. It’s impossible when writing a chapter or two a day to see the big picture in the book, so you have to do at least one faster pass through afterward.

. I can do about 10-15,000 words a day like this, which is actually fairly brutal

. Subtotal. About 7 workdays. 1-2 full reads.

. Quick read:

. If you want to judge pacing you have to read it all in a day or two like a normal book, not on the computer

. Subtotal. 1-2 days. 1 full read.

. Draft total. About 60-70 workdays. 4-5 full reads.

. Wait for feedback:

. Since you have to finish something and send it to someone, even a paid editor will take some time to read it and return feedback. This usually takes several weeks. I try and overlap it with the cleanup passes, but it’s tricky.

. Revision Drafts (I’m currently finishing the third major redraft) so I’ve done two of these so far on Untimed:

. Plan, outline, and organize changes.

. Can take from a couple days to a couple weeks. Some thoughts on this with Untimed HERE.

. I can do about 2-3 chapters a full day of revision. So for each block of 2-3 chapters loop:

. Do the actual revision. This can be fairly grueling, involving initial big surgery, a smoothing pass, then a cleanup pass

. Reread it to catch really stupid typos, phrasing, and make sure it makes sense (2 hours)

. Subtotal. Plotting 7 days, revising 15 workdays. Generates 2-3  extra reads per chapter.

. Medium Quick read:

. Checking for consistency

. Subtotal. 3-4 days. 1 full read.

. Total for each revision draft. Approximately 25 workdays. 3-4 full reads. Notes on the second draft HERE.

. Wait for feekback. You have to find out from others, often people who have never read the book before, how a draft comes across. This takes awhile. A reader who gets back to you in a week is amazing. It often takes several and some gentle (or not so gentle) prodding. Or tossing them some money. Sometimes that doesn’t even work. I had one (paid) unemployed beta reader tell me that they couldn’t start it because it interfered with their watching TV! NOTE: Said individual did not get paid.

. Line Editing:

. When the big picture is all settled out one sends it out to an editor for Line Editing. This involves more editor time than author time, but still chunks of the book come back and one must go over the edits and install them.

. My editor will request a “compression” pass before sending it to her. This is an extra pass to try and self edit it first.

. I can do about 8000 words a day like this. Approximately 10 days. 1 read. This is brutal but can be overlapped chronologically with the editor’s line editing. I.e. I can self edit a chunk and then send it out, meanwhile self editing the next chunk while the editor is working on the previous one, then also fit in the next part (processing) of returning chunks in a pipelined fashion.

. I can “process” returned line editing at about 6,000-8,000 words a day. For each chunk loop:

. Read over the track changes version of the line edit in word, approving and rejecting various edits and making cleanups

. Copy over each scene in into the real draft. Cleanup formatting.

. Do a quick read of the chunk or chapters to make sure nothing got screwed up

. Subtotal. Approximately 12 workdays, but spread across more chronological time as the edits can’t churn out this much per day. 2-3 full reads.

. Quick read:

. If you want to judge pacing you have to read it all in a day or two like a normal book, not on the computer

. Subtotal. 1-2 days. 1 full read.

. Total for line editing. approximately 24 days. 4-5 full reads.

As you can see. This adds up to a LOT of days and a lot of passes. Finishing up the third draft here, I’m already on eight months and at least 12 read throughs, and I can look forward to several more of each.

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