Tag Archives: pasta

Piccolo – A little Italian

Restaurant: Piccolo [1, 2]

Location: 5 Dudley Ave, Venice, Ca. 310-314-3222

Date: February  26, 2011

Cuisine: Northern Italian

Rating: Neighborhood Italian, hybridizing toward modern.

 

Piccolo is a neighborhood Italian located in a rather sketchy area of the venice boardwalk. For a previous review, look HERE. I few years ago it was a very Italian place with a veronese regional menu. It’s still very Northern Italian, but under a new chef has been growing more bold and modern. Mostly this consists of deconstructing classic dishes.

The menu.

Parker gives this an 89, “The 2003 Brunello di Montalcino is a pretty, supple wine with sweet red fruit and an accessible personality. The heat of the vintage is felt in the sweet notes of fruit and oak that linger on the finish. Ideally the oak could be a little more integrated and the tannins might be more finessed, but this is a nicely poised effort from Altesino. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2015.”

I would have given this a 90 or 91 myself. It’s a very nice approachable Brunello.

“caprese rivisitata, heirloom tomatoes, burrata, revisited. basil, ligurian olive oil.” Notice we have more or less the traditional ingredients of the Caprese, but they have been deconstructed and reassembled in a new form, as a sort of gelled parfait.

“Tortelli di prosciutto cotto. ravioli filled with truffle-prosciutto cotto, Italian mascarpone sauce, micro celery.” Piccolo has very fine, very fresh egg pastas. This one is stuffed with a bit of ham, and served on a very buttery cheese sauce. The pasta was nicely al dente.

“Large ricotta gnocchi in a butter sauce sauce with a mascarpone foam.” Also a rearrangement of traditional elements.

“agnello al rabarbaro. boneless, natural lamb shank slow-braised in rhubarb-port, tuscan melon-foe gras risotto cake.” At some level an osso bucco with risotto, but with lamb. And slightly deconstructed, the meat is off the bone and piled in these little cylinders. The meat and its sauce was very tasty. The risotto though felt dry and crunchy, and didn’t have that creamy texture I love in good risotto.

The dessert menu.

“Bignole. Pastry puffs filled with Belgian Gianduja chocolate cream.” Close to profiteroles. The inside was mildly hazelnuty, the sauce a classic creme anglais.

“Semifreddo. Imported Amaretto cookies soft-frozen cream.” This was really good. The semifreddo itself a gelato-like ball of Amaretto, with some nice texture too. I love Amaretto, and this tasted very strongly of them, with that nice cold texture. The stripe of sauce is carmel, which made for a lovely convo.

Sicilian Style – Drago

Restaurant: Drago

Location: 2628 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90403. T: 310/828-1585

Date: February 5 & October 15, 2011

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: One of LA’s top Italians!

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Celestino Drago and his brothers have a bit of a mini Italian culinary empire here in LA with a number of different restaurants and concepts. These include the flagship Drago, a branch in Pasadena, Il Pastiao, Enoteco Drago and Piccolo Paradiso in Beverly Hills, Drago Centro downtown, Panzanella in the valley, a bakery, catering, and probably something I missed. All of these places are top notch and despite the expansion there is a real attention to quality.

Originally from Sicily the family blends tradition with the modern to make some of LA’s best Italian. Having eaten all over Italy I have to say that the two areas with the best food are in my mind the Piedimonte/Venato and Sicily. And the later wins hands down for desserts. Celistino doesn’t purely stick with Sicilian cuisine anyway, but very much pulls in the latest Italian culinary trends. In particular, the pastas, usually homemade, are phenomenal.

He’s also incredibly creative and adaptable. He’s catered about 8 or so of our events and that includes some whacky stuff. In 2006 we even did a party themed after the Ancient World where all of the dishes were based on the ancient Roman cookbook by Apicius. I just gave Celistino a copy with circled dishes and he adapted these VERY OLD (1900 years old!) recipes and brought them to life. Very interesting.

Anyway, Drago is the flagship restaurant of the empire, and its most formal. They have a big Menu well represented in every category, including good hearty meaty dishes. Certain favorites persist, but it’s always being adapted and changed (something I like), and includes seasonal stuff.

As usual I brought wine. Parker gives this 92 points, “The 1999 Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta Nuova, from newer vineyards near Castelnuovo dell-Abate in the southern part of Montalcino, is sweet, spicy, and weighty on the nose, with the aromas given additional push and penetration from the alcohol. The important volume and length, the solidity of the structure, and dense, liquorice-laden finish are those of a wine destined for long life. Drink: 2005-2018.”

For January, the theme is game! We don’t see it as much here in America, but Italians love meat and game, and no one in LA does it as well as Celistino and crew.

Because the group owns its own bakery, they always have really good bread. This is just a small selection, at the bakery or catered events they can go nuts with grain.

An amuse. Arincini, which is basically a friend risotto. In this case one with a bit of cheese, tomato, and ground beef. Inside it retains the creamy cheesy quality of the risotto, paired with a hot crunchy outside. Now I prefer my risotto in normal form, but these certainly are tasty.

A vegetarian squash soup.

“Elk carpaccio, candied walnuts, mache, spiced pear chutney.” You can see a dusting of fresh pepper. This was a wonderful and different carpaccio. The elk meat had almost a spicy quality to it, certainly more gamey, and the sweetness and crunch of the walnuts paired perfectly.

Panzenella. My wife loves this salad. It isn’t on the dinner menu and they made it up for us on the fly, so it actually doesn’t look like it usually does. At lunch the “normal” version can be had, and several of the other Drago Group places have it all the time. Its crunchy bread, tossed with tomatoes, mozzarella, cucumbers, etc.


A mixed tri-color salad of greens with goat cheese.


“Burrata, market beets, arugula, pistachio, fried shallot.” Most Italians have a beets and burrata these days, but this way a particularly good one with a very interesting sweet dressing.

Another favorite and a Celestino classic. This is pumpkin ravioli in a parmesan cream sauce. Inside is a pure of pumpkin, slightly spiced. A homemade spinach pasta, and then a rich cream and cheese sauce. This is a varient on the truly tradition tortellini de zucca where a slightly smaller normal fresh pasta is used, and the stuffing mixes pumpkin and amaretti cookies, and then the sauce is just butter and sage. This version is richer obviously.


“PAPPARDELLE AL FAGIANO. Pappardelle, roasted pheasant, morel mushroom.” This is one of my favorite Drago pastas. A rich winter dish of hearty fresh pappardelle, chunky pheasant, and morel mushrooms.

“Cavatelli al ragout di capriolo, venison and porcini ragout, chestnut.” This is one of the reasons I come here: for dishes like this. While this is a special, there are always many great pastas, and this is a level of pasta perfection that you WILL NOT find at 95% of LA’s Italians (although we certainly do have some other great ones: Angelini Osteria, Capo, Georgio Baldi, and many more). This particular dish is a homemade larvae shaped Cavatelli (pasta perfection) coupled with this incredibly rich winter ragout. The chestnut adds a little crunch and further winter cheer — chestnuts being very popular/traditional in Italy in Dec/Jan. Stylistically I would have to say this is more a Roman or maybe mountains near Rome kind of dish than explicitly Sicilian, but I could be wrong. Doesn’t matter, it’s great.

“Risotto alla quaglia, foie gras stuffed quail, pearl onion, port reduction.” Pink Risotto! This was a slightly weird dish. Good, but unusual. The quail was great, perfectly tender and who can fault a little fois gras thrown in? The risotto itself had a kind of tart sweetness too it, and the onions added even a bit more sweetness. It was also perfectly cooked, and overall a very pleasant dish, just not as orgasmic as the cavatelli — and the color is amusing, like the weird pink pizza one of my friends made the other week.

In keeping with being Sicilian, Drago always has fantastic desserts.

Gelato, chocolate and maple sugar. Really very fine gelato, I’m sure made on premises. It’s hard to find good gelato in LA, but this is.

“Dolci di nocciole, hazelnut brown butter cake, praline crunch, salted caramel gelato, apple rum puree.” This is perhaps a deconstructed version of a more traditional Italian dessert, not Sicilian perse as most of those use fresh Ricotta and almonds (yum yum yum!). This was nice, but a tad dry. When all the flavors combined they did so excellently, but I would have loved more gelato as it was SUPERB. Hell, just the gelato and some candied hazelnuts would have been incredible. The ice cream itself tasted a bit like the incredible Gjelina butterscotch budino. So while really good, I think this dish could perhaps be better served by a slight format change.  Perhaps piling the cake into layer separated or covered by gelato. Or maybe just more gelato would solve it :-).

This was just a simple little meal (for Drago) with only the family, so we never even really made it to the excellent meat courses. Rest assured, you can’t go wrong here (or at any of the groups places). Sometimes I’ll come here with a really big party and get tons of stuff, so I’ll have to document that next time I do.

Click here to see Eating Italy posts.

Or for more LA Restaurants.

Capo Valentines

Restaurant: Capo [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1810 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, Ca. 310-394-5550

Date: February 14, 2011

Cuisine: Italian with Cal influences

Rating: Well done, particularly for a special night.

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Valentines is tricky restaurant-wise, and rarely shows off a place at it’s best. The economics of the situation tend to force them toward set menus (at high prices) and to rush the service so they can get 2-3 seatings in. We decided to try Capo, which I have reviewed on a normal night HERE.

Normally, Capo boasts of being a “slow food” restaurant. Tonight they hustled a bit, although the food was very good. We had a 7:15 reservation and they had us out of there (7 courses later!) at 9! Actually, we didn’t really mind, but that certainly wouldn’t be the case here on a normal night.

The have good bread. I particularly like the flatbread.

And this probably chickpea based dip.

For Valentines there were two menu choices, the regular on the right, and the truffle on the left. Both had two choices per course (more or less). Click to embiggen.

The amuse, a cone of tomatoes. Essentially like a tomato bruschetta — in a crispy cone.

To start we got two glasses of white. A muscat on the left and a Sancerre on the right. Other than having a rather hefty per glass price tag they were very nice wines.

“Baby red beet, ricotta ravioli.” The first of many Beurre blanc type pasta sauces. They have very nice fresh pasta here, and well the butter sauce is hard to go wrong with.

“Russian Beluga caviar, linguini.” Again with the butter. A very simple dish of pasta, butter, and caviar. It worked. The sauce was bread dipping good. This might not be the BEST venue to show off the caviar, although it certainly wasn’t overwhelmed, lending a briny note to the whole thing.

I love Amarone, as it is very grapy, and that’s one of the things I like in a red.

Parker gives this 92. “The 2004 Amarone is beautiful and understated in its wild cherries, sweet herbs and flowers, all of which come together with unusual finesse and clarity. Silky, ripe tannins frame the exquisite finish. The 2004 is already approachable and should continue to drink nicely for another decade or so. This is a very representative vintage for Allegrini. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2020.”

“Bluefin tuna tartar, caviali.” This is a very nice sushi grade tuna, essentially chopped like you might find in a tuna handroll. The bread is very toasted.

“Gnocchi lobster, truffles.” Again with the Beurre blanc! The gnocchi were perfectly pillow-like, the lobster tender, and the truffles do go spectacularly with the butter — really one of the best ways to show them off. Everyone but my arteries thought this was a fantastic dish. Again, I lapped up the butter with yet another piece of bread.

“Heirloom tomato vegetable, burrata.” No faulting this combination. Capo always has a lot of burrata, and you know I love it (HERE FOR MORE ON THE BEST FRESH CHEESE!).

“Jamon Iberico de Bellota.” Spain’s best ham (see leg below). My biggest beef with this dish is that the bread is too toasted. It has a nice charred flavor, but that overwhelms the subtle salty-nutty taste of this very fine pig product.

Oink! How did my leg get from Iberia to American?

“”BBQ Wild King Salmon.” My wife, a salmon aficionado, loved this salmon. It had nice accompanying veggies too.

“Cote de Boeuf, truffle potato puree.” This was my least favorite dish of the evening, but this is just because I’m not really a steak guy. It was very rare, more than medium closer to rare. That was good. But I’m just not that into simple meat. I like things jazzy. If one were a steak lover, I’m sure this would be awesome. As it was for me it was good, but not mind blowing or anything. The mashers were really good though, and went particularly nicely with the black truffles.

“Fruit Crostata, zabaglione.” They described this as a pear tart. It tasted like apple pie. I wonder if they mixed it up and gave us “Hot apple tart, truffle honey ice cream” except that’s whipped cream (zabaglione?) and not ice cream. In any case, it was good apple pie, although it tended to fall apart.

“Chocolate creme brulee.” Yum! This was very good, rich, creamy, nicely chocolatty!

Some various petite fours. Mostly simple nut cookies and a couple fruit cream filled chocolates.

And they even included a rose!

Overall, this was one of the better Valentines dinners we’ve done. Really, just like with the flowers one can expect to pay more for less on this special night. But Capo did as well as could be expected. The choices were good, and every dish was very well executed.

Fraiche take on Franco-Italian

Restaurant: Fraiche

Location: 9411 Culver Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232. 310-839-6800

Date: January 29, 2011

Cuisine: Cal French Italian

Rating: Interesting, Tasty, and surprisingly reasonable.

 

My office was in Culver City in 2007 and 2008 and somehow I never tried Fraiche. I always meant to, but it seemed more a dinner place than a lunch place. Nighttime Culver city proved to be just as hopping. There has been a pretty serious boom in restaurants around the main drag in the last 10 years.

Anyway, yesterday was my mother’s birthday, and I decided to Fraiche a try. Glad I did. Interesting hybrid of Cal, French, and Italian.

Pretty open space. The only problem was all the hard surfaces made it loud — lean in someone’s ear to hear the conversation loud.

More goodies from my cellar. Parker gives this Tuscan wine 98 points!  “The dense ruby/purple-colored 1997 Percarlo is compelling. Enormous in aromas, flavors, and persistence on the palate, it exhibits profound levels of concentration as well as unbelievably dense, black currant, blackberry liqueur notes infused with new saddle leather, licorice, truffles, and toasty oak. Enormously thick and viscous, with low acidity, and mouthcoating levels of extract, this wine’s tannin level is high, but largely obscured by the wealth of fruit, glycerin, and extract. It is an amazing accomplishment! Anticipated maturity: now-2020.”

The Menu.  Click to enlarge.

We decided to order tapas style and just get a lot of dishes and all share. So we didn’t dip heavily into the “mains” section but pulled most stuff from the appetizers, “shares,” pastas and salads. Truth is, appetizers and pastas are usually yummier than entrees, and I love meals with lots of tastes.

A very Spanish sentiment.

A note on the service. A+ for effort and attitude. They were extremely nice and accommodating, and really tried. Buit they had some pacing issues. We waited for 45 minutes for any food, and then 7-8 dishes came out in like 2 minutes. As we had ordered about 14-15 dishes all to share, and it would have been much better one or two at a time — but it was still a great meal.

Campari and soda. They made it too weak at first and we had to ask for an extra shot of the red beetle-juice.

Olives on the table. Despite the French-Italian thing there was a definite Iberian vibe here too. So man Latin: Franco-Italian-Spanish.

Several types of bread. A number of the “shares” are spreads of various sort — which is also sort of Spanish.

Fraiche seems to like mason jars.

“Eggplant Caviar, Raisins / Marcona Almonds” on the left and “Piquillo Cheese Spread, Chorizo / Manchego” on the right. The eggplant was very middle eastern in taste, cumin and other spices, almonds and raisons.  Good though. Nice texture, very exotic overall flavor.

The cheese was really good too, like the Spanish version of the southern “pimento cheese.”

Fanny Bay oysters. Nice set of the classic three sauces. Vinaigrette, cocktail, and horseradish. Solid oysters, pretty much how nature made ’em.


“Belgian Endives, Coppa / Apple / Goat Cheese / Pecan.” The pecans were really good, nicely candied. The whole thing was very bitter, salty, sweet. A very interesting interplay of textures and flavors.

“Wild Arugula, Mushroom / Sunchoke / Tomato / Pecorino.” There was nothing wrong with this salad, but it was certainly more boring than the above.

“Baby Beets, House Made Ricotta / Orange / Pistachio.” Sweetness of the beets meshes with the cheesy sauce. Beet salads have become very passe, but when well done (like this one), I like them.


Given the more Iberian taste slant I’m glad I brought a Spanish wine. Parker gives this blockbuster 96 points. “The 2008 Flor de Pingus had been in bottle for 2 weeks when I tasted it. It offers up an enticing nose of smoke, Asian spices, incense, espresso, black cherry, and blackberry. On the palate it displays outstanding volume, intensity, and balance. Rich, dense, and succulent, it has enough structure to evolve for 4-5 years and will offer prime drinking from 2015 to 2028.”

“Seared Daurade RoyaleFarro / Black Rice / Arugula / Tangerine.” My wife gave this the big thumbs up, primarily for the fruity sauce.

“House Made Agnolotti, Wild Mushroom / Mascarpone / Truffle Butter.” Really nice fresh pasta, intense mushroomy qualities, nice creamy truffle butter sauce.

 

“Vialone Nano Risotto, Porchini / Arugula / Pine Nuts.” Soft, cheesy, and mild. A very nice subtle risotto. The chef her has a good sense of texture.

“Bucatini Carbonara, Poached Egg / Pancetta / Pecorino Romano.” Classic cabonara. The bacon was great, very smokey, but rich as this was, it didn’t have the cheesy richness that a truly great carbonara should have. Good, but not great.

“Lamb Papardelle, Tomato / Olives / Onetik Goat Cheese.” Nice. Tangy almost, with a the black olives penetrating the sauce a bit like a provencal dish.

“Taglierini Neri, Maine Lobster / Cherry Tomatoes / Basil.” The pasta was sweet, the sauce a basic lobster sauce, nice chunks of lobster. Also good but not great.

“Paccheri Genovese, Beef & Pork Ragù / Scallion / Gruyère.” This one was great. basically a Bolognese, but really good. Close even to one of my ultimate pasa favorites, the lamb ragu at Capo (SEE HERE).

The dessert menu.

“CHOCOLATE COULANT, toffee / peanut butter ice cream.” Very nice variant on the flour-less chocolate cake. Nice and moist, comboed with the peanut ice cream and hazelnut. I really liked the chocolate/nut double whammy.

“Carmel Budino, Vanilla Mascarpone, Sea salt.” Mildly carmel/creamy with that nice salt factor. Good, but not quite as good as the similar dessert at Gjelina (SEE HERE).

“Vanilla Panna cotta, mango / passion-fruit / pop rocks.” This one was fantastic though. Mango chunks, passion-fruit gel, creamy vanilla panna cotta, and the weird wild card that worked: pop rocks!  Yes, the candy that didn’t kill Mikey (I still remember the original urban leegend from the 70s). Tingles on the tongue.

A view from the outside.
Overall Fraiche was pretty impressive. Great flavors, great textures, and a pretty reasonable tab for such an elaborate meal. They feel like a 12 cylinder Ferrari with one cylinder not firing. Sexy, fast, you don’t really miss the power, but not completely in tune. Still, there is also a nice originality here, it’s different than the bulk of places — in a good way. Also we have what is essentially pretty elaborate cuisine, but a more casual space. This seems to be a big trend, probably both culturally and nudged by the recession. The “formal” spaces are getting few and far between. Bistro LQ, where I had a 20+ course truffle meal 10 days before is also fairly casual, and the complex food at Red Medicine (REVIEW HERE) is placed in a very bar like setting.

Quick Eats: Divino

Restaurant: Divino

Location: 11714 Barrington CourtBrentwood, CA 310.472.0886

Date: Jan 07, 2011

Cuisine: Italian

Summary: Solid value.

 

Divino is another of Brentwood’s seemingly endless supply of Italian eateries. I find this one in the upper middle of the pack. It’s pretty good, and very reasonably priced, but not brilliant. The menu can be found here.

I ordered this “super tuscan.” Very nice wine actually, grapey in the extreme. Parker gives it 92 points. “This is a superb set of releases and I can’t recommend the wines highly enough. The 2003 Testamatta (70% Sangiovese, 15% Colorino, 12% Canaiolo and 3% Moscato Nero Malvasia Nera) is a deeply concentrated, expressive wine packed with the essence of black cherries, licorice, smoke, minerals and underbrush. It is a surprisingly fresh, finessed and elegant wine for this vintage, even if it can’t quite match the sublime 2004. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2018.”

They have regular bread and this “pizza bread.” This is just pizza dough baked in the pizza oven with no toppings, and then drizzle with olive oil. I do this extensively myself at home during the course of Ultimate Pizza (see here for more).

“Mozzarella Divino. Slices of fresh mozzarella & roma tomato, with extra virgin oil and basil.”

Beet and burrata special. Yes, even after going through two whole tubs of Burrata at home this week (CLICK FOR DETAILS), I ordered this. Nice burrata prep. The cheese was in perfect soft ripeness, and went well with the beets.

A “free” intermezzo of tomato, goat cheese, and eggplant, with basil. This was tasty.

“Ravioli Zucchini. Freshly prepared pasta filled with ricotta cheese & spinach topped with fresh zucchini sauce.” These were perhaps a little mushy, I like my pasta a bit firmer.

Another special. Spaghetti with lobster. Very nice. There was a bit of celery in here that lent this a very slightly asian noodle salad flair.

We didn’t order desert, but they gave us for “free” these little Italian cookies. The only sugar was the… sugar. They would have gone well with expresso.

All in all Divino does a nice job for the money. They aren’t revolutionary, but the food is solid and reliable, and they are considerably way modern than some of the Italian joints that haven’t changed their decor (or menu) since the 60s.

Lasagne Bolognese Minus the Meat

Layered between our obsessive holiday restaurant forays we did sandwich in a little home cooked meal. As the main course was lasagne I reached into the cellar and pulled out some Italian.

Parker gives this Barolo a 93, “The 1997 Carobric, also tasted from magnum, presents a more evolved set of flavors including tobacco, earthiness and over-ripe, cooked fruit. Though it shows excellent length it is the wine that most clearly reflects the adverse conditions of the hot vintage in its wilted, somewhat tired quality. 90/Anticipated maturity: 2006-2012.”

Parker gives this one 90, “The 2000 Barolo Bricco Rocche is fragrant with important aromas of roses, anisette, and cinnamon. Polished and elegant in style, it benefits from the additional freshness and continuity provided by the sensations of mint and tobacco on its lingering finish. Drink: 2005-2016.”

This second was smokier than the Carobric.

A little Campari and soda was also in order, with fresh blood orange from one of our trees.

As we cooked (and drank) this 2 year old vermont cheddar was enjoyed by all — including my 2 year old.

The lasagne in the oven. We wanted a vegetarian Lasagne Bolognese, so the “meat” is actually soy. In searching low and high for some fake meat that actually tastes decent — the Boca was the best we found. By making a from scratch Bolognese sauce with the fake meat, it inherits a more complex flavor and does a decent job pretending.

Nicely browned.

Salad, with apples, mushrooms, and walnuts.

Dressing, a lemon vinagrete made with meyer lemons.

Some Broccoli Rabe, blanched, then sauteed with garlic and peppers.

Finished up.

And a fruit salad to finish. The grapefruits were from our tree too.

Rustic Canyon Redux

Restaurant: Rustic Canyon [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 1119 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, Ca 90401. 310-393-7050

Date: Dec 20, 2010

Cuisine: Farmer’s Market Californian

ANY CHARACTER HERE

When I first moved out to California in the early 90s LA cuisine was typified by Asian influences and whacky fusions — all of which I enjoyed. In recent years fusion has become more subtle — and more prevalent — and more and more top restaurants have become ingredient driven. Those whose chefs have a knack are really good, and Rustic Canyon is one of them. My review of a previous meal is here.

Another gem from my cellar. Parker gives this 95. “Another unbelievably rich, multidimensional, broad-shouldered wine, with slightly more elegance and less weight than the powerhouse 1996, this gorgeously proportioned, medium to full-bodied, fabulously ripe, rich, cassis-scented and flavored Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a beauty. It should be drinkable within 4-5 years, and keep for 25-30. This classic Pauillac is a worthy rival to the other-worldly 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2025. Wow! What extraordinary wines Grand-Puy-Lacoste has produced in both 1995 and 1996. At present, I have a marginal preference for the blockbuster 1996, but I am not about to argue with anybody who prefers the 1995! Both are compelling wines.”

The menu here changes daily. Very little is the same as the last time I visited and reviewed.

Like in Spain, olives on the table.

“Squash blossoms, goat cheese and mint.” Fry is always good. This is a Roman dish, specifically, it’s a Jewish Roman dish that’s centuries old — and it’s still great.

“coleman farms lettuces pickled shallots, parmigiano-reggiano, mustard vinaigrette.” Tasted more like pizza than salad!

“panzanella hierloom tomatoes, green olives, red onion, country bread, arugula.”

“ricotta gnocchi braised duck ragu, parmigiano-reggiano.” These melted in the mouth, and were as good as a similar dish at any Italian joint.

“niman ranch burger sharp cheddar, onion fondue, bread and butter pickles, herb remoulade 18 hand-cut french fries.”

“niman ranch pork chop roasted pears, pancetta, porcini, sage.”

“niman ranch burger, breakfast style. With confit bacon, sunny side-up egg, hash brown, tilamook cheddar, 18 hand-cut french fries.”

Zoom in here for the heart stopping view.

If you read regularly, you’ll have seen this favorite before. Parker gives this 96. “Beaucastel has been on a terrific qualitative roll over the last four vintages, and the 2001 Chateauneuf du Pape (which Francois Perrin feels is similar to the 1990, although I don’t see that as of yet) is a 15,000-case blend of 30% Grenache, 30% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, 10% Counoise, and the balance split among the other permitted varietals of the appellation. This inky/ruby/purple-colored cuvee offers a classic Beaucastel bouquet of new saddle leather, cigar smoke, roasted herbs, black truffles, underbrush, and blackberry as well as cherry fruit. It is a superb, earthy expression of this Mourvedre-dominated cuvee. Full-bodied and powerful, it will undoubtedly close down over the next several years, not to re-emerge for 7-8 years. Anticipated maturity: 2008-2025.”

The desert menu.

Coffee ice cream, more like gelato.

“Pear ginger sundae, pear riesling sorbet, gingerbread crumbs, caramel sauce.” Not your classic sundae. The pear sorbet and the breadcrumbs tasted like pear pie. The creamy looking stuff was more a creme fraiche than a whipped cream. Overall delicious.

“Passion fruit posset, creme fraiche whipped cream, toasted pistachios.” Tasted like passion fruit pudding. I love passion fruit.

Again Rustic Canyon proves it’s chops. And Ron Howard was there too.

The New Cal Cuisine: Rustic Canyon

Restaurant: Rustic Canyon [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 1119 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, Ca 90401. 310-393-7050

Date: Aug 25, 2010

Cuisine: Farmer’s Market Californian

ANY CHARACTER HERE

Having lived for 16 years in LA I’ve watched the evolution of California Cuisine. When I first came here we were still in the fading years of the 80s eclectic, typified by places like Spago or 90s fusion like Matsuhisa or the much missed Abiquiu. Today, it’s all about being ingredient driven, and Rustic Canyon is one of our many fine examples of this trend.

Burrata with peaches. You can pretty much never go wrong with Burrata or Fresh peaches.

An heirloom tomato (this very buzz word a legacy of the trend), cucumber, yogurt, goat cheese salad.

Tonight’s pick from my cellar. I love my burgs. RP gives it 93, “The dark colored 1997 Latricieres-Chambertin has profound prune, plum, and licorice flavors. This satin-textured, explosive, deep, masculine wine is tannic, structured, and powerful. Blackberry juice, mint, and plums can be found throughout its deep flavor profile and opulently flavored, persistent finish. It will require cellaring patience yet has the potential for mid- to long-term aging. Projected maturity: 2003-2012+.”

Sweet corn soup, with Pistou. This dish had an unctuous foamy texture, and brought out the very best in sweet corn flavor.

A trio of crustini. Each with very interesting (and delicious) flavor profiles. Tomatos and basil, new style. Anchovies (not the over salted sort) and a sweetish tapanade, crisp goat cheese and olives.

Homemade Gnocchi, with fresh Genoese pesto. This brought out the lovely brightness of the basil.

Sweet corn (again :-)) Agnolotti. Yum. Fresh pasta, which you never saw 10 years ago.

Cinnamon beignets with a foamy chocolate cappachino sauce. This is really a variant of the traditional Spanish churro with chocolate. And that’s not a bad thing because both are delicious! These were hot hot out of the frier.

Quick Eats: Piccolo

Restaurant: Piccolo [1, 2]

Location: 5 Dudley Ave, Venice, Ca. 310-314-3222

Date: Nov 5, 2010

Cuisine: Northern Italian

Rating: Much above average neighborhood Italian.

 

The location of this upscale neighborhood Italian has always been weird. You turn on Rose, and find it about 30 feet from the seedy boardwalk on Dudley, conveniently located near the drug dealers and others who hang out on the Venice boardwalk at night. Don’t worry it’s well lit, and they recently installed their own valet.

A couple years ago my wife and I had gone when the place had been under the shepardship of Antonio Mure, a talented local chef whose cuisine instantly said to me: “Verona” (certainly not a bad thing). Most Americans don’t realize how much Italian cuisine varies by region. In those days there were no reservations, only an hour long wait standing with the other yuppies watching the pot clouds drift by. Now you can reserve, even on Open Table. The space seems larger too. Mure moved on to various other restaurants, including the much lamented by me, Il Carpaccio. In any case, they new chef is named Bobo, and he’s also from the Veneto, a good thing, and totally obvious from the cooking.

I apologize for the picture quality as I forgot both my 5D Mark II and my little S90 backup camera and had to resort to the iphone 4, which really has come a long way for a cel phone camera.

You can see by the dishes that he is an innovative cook, and this is neither an old school italian menu, nor even a typical example of modern LA Italian. “Caprese Rivisitata. heirloom tomatoes, burrata, revisited microbasil, sicilian olive oil.” Here Burrata (one can never go wrong with Burrata) tops layers of tomatos, some even pureed.

The wine list was pretty reasonable, and had a wealth of northern Italians. I didn’t bring wine as it was just a quick dinner, and so settled on this reasonable 2007 Marcarini Barbaresco. It was only $40 for a half bottle and was very pleasant for such a young wine. If I’m going so young, I often prefer Barbaresco over Barolo as it’s more approachable early on.

The group that spawned Piccolo originally, and at various points included La Botte, Wilsons in culver city, Il Carpaccio, and Ado — I’m not fully educated on how they’re all connected — has always had good bread. Excllent for sopping up those buttery northern Italian sauces.

I ordered this odd pairing slightly skeptically. Warm seared Hamachi over buffalo mozzarella with clover, olive oil, and a kind of basil Pistou. It was good. Very good. Usually fish and cheese pairings don’t work. It was the pesto-like sauce (just off camera, in little blobs) that really drew all the elements of the dish together.

Pumpkin ravioli. This is the Chef‘s interpretation of my wife’s most favorite pasta, a specialty of Mantua (less than an hour from Verona). In the most traditional dish the ravioli are stuffed with a mixture of pumpkin or squash and Amaretto cookies, then lightly covered in butter sage sauce. These had a slightly different shape, and no Amaretto. They were perhaps a tiny bit too al dente, and the sauce coverage not quite a 100%, but still good.

This is a risotto with sausage and a fontina-butter sauce around the edge. I’m very partial to certain kinds of risotto when done right. This one was excellent. In a good risotto, the buttery flavor is so intense that it encourages very small bites. The rice had just the right texture. The sausage was good, but I’ve had slightly better (there is this joint in Philly’s little Italy which has been grinding it’s own since the 19th century — their slogan is something like “nothing but the pig.”)

LA has a lot of very good Italian places, a lot of mediocre ones, and a lot of terrible ones. This one is very much above average and worthy of being in the rotation. It’s different too, being a little more experimental and modern, typical of Italy’s bustling north. Many other places have stronger Sicilian or Tuscan influences. I happen to love Sicilian food too, it’s just different, which is a good thing. It’s nice to have some Veneto in the mix. For some reason, as beautiful as Tuscany is, it’s never been my favorite region on the culinary front, perhaps because of it’s emphasis on heavy meats. Not that it’s bad, food is never bad in Italy, but many of Italy’s other regions are more to my taste food-wise. I still long to find real Sicilian deserts in the states. In Philly or NY you can get a real Cannoli, but I’ve never, ever, found a real Cassata alla Siciliana in the states. Even Celestino Drago who is a world class Sicilian Chef, and a friend of mine, makes a modernized version (which can be seen HERE). It’s good, but I prefer the totally old school one with the Ricotta that separates and goes bad in 8 hours.

A second review of Piccolo can be found HERE.

Food as Art: Capo

Restaurant: Capo [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1810 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, Ca. 310-394-5550

Date: April 30, 2010

Cuisine: Italian with Cal influences

Rating: The food here is really very very good.

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Capo has always given me slightly mixed feelings. Not about the food, that part is great, but they have a bit of an attitude at times, and it’s too expensive. I just don’t expect Italian to be super expensive, which Capo is, unless it’s Northern Italian Haute Cuisine, which we have basically no real examples of in Southern California. And they’ve given me trouble several times about my wine (which I always bring), as they’ve an unusual and restrictive corkage policy that is enforced with great zeal. But the food is fantastic, and one of their pastas is the best ragu I’ve ever had — and I’ve spent a lot of time in Italy.

It’s a lovely restaurant too, with a fun intimate atmosphere, and the very high prices give it a full-on star factor. A couple years ago I sat next to SKG (Spielberg, Katzenberg, and Geffen). Spielberg seems to love high end Italian, because I’ve seen him four or five times at said establishments — not that I blame him.

Entering, they now have a pig leg on the counter. I have to admire that. It’s “Jamon Iberico de Bellota,” which is extremely fine ham from Spain. The downside is $60 for one little plate! One time when someone else was picking up the tab I tried it here — with a side of Burrata. It was good, but no ham — as much as I like it — is worth $60 for a few slices. Particularly after having spent the month of June in Spain where every restaurant has a wall of pig legs and you can get a plate of the stuff for $6-10.

This isn’t from Capo, in fact it’s a store in Madrid known as “Museo del Jamon.” This is a chain, and such displays are commonplace in Spain, a land in which pigs live in mortal terror.

I brought this wine, Parker gives it 94 points, saying, “Luciano Sandrone’s 1998 Barolo Cannubi Boschis is another of the standouts in this tasting. Layers of perfumed dark fruit flow effortlessly from the glass with wonderful depth and purity. The wine offers a long, intensely harmonious personality and a refined, aristocratic finish. The 1998 is an excellent choice for readers who may also be cellaring bottles of the 1996 or the 1999, two wines that offer considerable upside potential. Anticipated maturity: 2009-2019.”

Now this brings me to my little corkage rant. Capo’s corkage policy is that you can bring one and no more than one bottle, and that it must not be on their list. It’s enforced — I’ve been rejected for having a wine on the list twice — so it requires me to download the list before going and research which wine I can bring. They have a huge list. It’s not bad, but it is VERY OVERPRICED. I once went through all 112 pages on paper at home with the Parker website and couldn’t really find any good price/value ratios. I know making a profit at a restaurant isn’t easy, but a have several beefs with this kind of list. I know a lot about wine, and have a very experienced palette. Lists like this are stuffed with wines that are good on some aspect, like winemaker, but fail in another, usually vintage. When there’s a crappy vintage in Bordeaux where do you think all the “cheap” Pauillacs go? Restaurant wine lists, priced as if they were from 1982. But the real problem is that a wine I would pay $150 for — and I buy carefully at auction or from well priced dealers I know well — is $400 or more on these lists. It pains me to pay $150, and there is just no way I’m going to pay $250 dollars extra for the privilege of a waiter mangling my cork with a stupid leverage corkscrew when I have thousands of bottles at home. When I have to order off the list it means I have to drink vastly inferior wine, and still pay $150-200 for it — and my friends are so appalled at the price anyway that I automatically pick up the tab. So until Capo (and the couple others that have even worse policies. Giorgio Baldi you know who you are!) modify their lists to only markup by about $40 I can’t be fully satisfied. Frankly, I would go to both all the time if they had open corkage policies. Enough said.

Capo always puts out this little humus-like spread. I suspect it’s fava beans, and it was mostly eaten by the time I got my camera on it. It’s addictive though. We settle down to examine the MENU, which is big, and always a difficult decision because there is so much great stuff on it. They have an odd menu format, in which each item is identified by only it’s principle ingredient, forcing you to guess or ask how it’s actually prepared. Plus they have “fill in the blanks” on the menu which are filled in by a separate sheet of daily specials. No big deal, but it’s kind of bizare. Doesn’t matter though, as the food is great.

Lest you think I’ve been all negative, let’s get to the real meat of the matter, the only thing that really makes a restaurant — the food. “Maryland crab torta.” This really is Crab Norfolk, and it’s probably the best one I’ve ever had, and I spent summers as a boy in Oxford Maryland, land of the blue crab. This is a big juicy pile of delicious blue crab, drenched in butter, and their special touch is a little Meyer lemon in the mix. Bellissimo!

My wife got to this faster than the camera did. But you can see the egg in this fresh pasta. I LOVE fresh pasta. When I went to Italy first in the 80’s, when Italian in the States pretty much meant lasagne, chicken parm, and red and white table clothes, the pasta was a revelation. It never gets old. Some kind of cheese tortelloni in butter sauce. I snagged one. Yum!

This wasn’t my dish, and I can’t remember what it was, I’m sure it was good.

“White corn ravioli.” You can’t beat fresh pasta in a butter sauce.

This is “buccatini with lamb ragu,” and it’s one of the best pastas I’ve ever had.  I’ve come back like three times for it. I love a good ragu, and the buccatini (spagetti with a tiny hole in the middle) is perfect. The dish is rich and meaty, divine.

We had to switch up to the overpriced wine list because of the above mentioned corkage policy. Another problem with most wine lists is that the wines are too new. Capo does have some older stuff though, and often there are some tolerable deals (relatively speaking). This is an example, a 90 point Barbaresco, and the list had it for $120. Well, I’d generally get a 94-96 point Italian for that price. I try not to buy things under 92. This is a nice wine, and drinkable, but it isn’t a great wine. I can’t afford great wines off the list, and that bums me out. My cellar is full of great wines. Parker says, “1998 Vignaioli Elvio Pertinace Barbaresco Nervo—Dark ruby in color, this superb Barbaresco features an intense nose of spices, menthol and minerals, and flavors of crushed raspberries, plums, and strawberry jam. It is a gorgeous, multi-layered wine, with plenty of structure and length on the palate. The three wines I tasted from the Nervo cru are irresistible, alluring wines with great personality. They are superb values as well. 90 points/drink now-2010.”

This was a chocolat creme brulee, the deserts here are just as good as the food.

And this. This was to die for. “Meyer lemon semifreddo,” with a blueberry or blackberry sauce. Everything about this was spectacular, one of my all time favorite deserts. The cold-soft texture, the bright lemon flavor, and the tart sweetness of the berries. OMFG!

A nice plate of little petit fours, not so usual at American Italians, more french. In Italy sometimes you’ll get treated to little almond cookies and shots of grappa or sambuca.

So to conclude, Capo is hands down delicious. I didn’t show it, but they also have this huge wood grill fireplace and sizzle up killer Tuscan-style porterhouses and other grilled meats. The food is VERY VERY GOOD, and the service is top notch. The intimate little atmosphere is great also. My only beefs are with the high prices, and the annoying corkage policy.

For another review I wrote of Capo, CLICK HERE.