Kiyokawa's New Sashimi-centric Omakase

Kiyokawa had been on my to-try list for some time since Jonathan Gold loved it so much, but I had sort of forgotten about this little place in Beverly Hills and stored it in the back of my mind. I recently dug it out and made it a point to finally go.

There are two omakase options at Kiyokawa, a full omakase (kaiseki) for $78 or a sushi-only omakase for $48. As I sat down and read the omakase menu there were things like miso black cod and other cooked items, but then they told me to ignore the menu. They had just started a new omakase menu and it was completely different than what was written. They recently changed the omakase menu to be more sashimi-focused rather than cooked dishes. Sounds even better to me.

Sushi Chef Satoshi Kiyokawa

Our first course came in an orange sitting on ice. Inside the orange was some halibut sashimi with cucumber sunomono and tomato


Albacore salad topped w crispy green onion

This was a rather big plate for a second course with plenty of albacore. As the ponzu sauce that normally comes with albacore tends to be too astringent for me at times, I preferred this.

Live sweet shrimp and Hama Hama oyster topped with uni

Did I mention the amaebi was a live? The legs attached to the head were still moving on the ice! (Sorry PETA)

Still, the oyster with the creamy uni stole the show for me.

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Ramen Bull Pops up at BreadBar with Beef and Oxtail Ramen

BREADBAR and Chef Noriyuki Sugie of Ironnori brings back ramen to BREADBAR's 3rd Street location. Not the pork-based tonkotsu ramen, but beef ramen, dubbed Ramen Bull. The menu is simple but diverse (as far as beef go). There's the oxtail, beef tongue, spicy ground beef, even a vegetarian ramen.

Oxtail Ramen

I was recently invited to taste chef Nori's ramen creations. I had gotten there early and my +1 was running late, so I ordered a plate of Corned Beef ($6) to munch on.

The slices of corned beef was topped with charcoal oil, adding to the flavor. Texture-wise, I prefer the tender beef tongue that comes next.

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Happy Hour at The Capital Grille Beverly Hills

The Capital Grille in Beverly Hills recently launched a happy hour, with $6 drinks and bar food every weekday from 4:30-7pm. To spread the word, they offered to host a happy hour for my friends and readers with complimentary food and happy hour-priced drinks! There's a bar next to the main restaurant downstairs, but you can drink while getting fresh air at the Terrace upstairs.

The happy hour food turns out to be a really great deal! For $6 you will get two mini tenderloin sandwiches, each with a thick, juicy piece of tenderloin steak and sauteed mushrooms. Who needs burgers when you can have steak?

Or, two lobster and crab cake burgers. That's $3 each for a lobster-and-crab-cake burgers! Last time I had crab cake I paid $13 for one. These were not one of those crab cakes that are mostly flour, these are filled with crab and lobster.

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Join Me for Happy Hour at The Capital Grille!

The Capital Grille in Beverly Hills has offered to host a happy hour for my readers, in promotion of their new happy hour bar menu. For those who join me during this event, The Capital Grille will provide free passed bar food including their lobster and crab burgers, mini tenderloin sandwiches, and lobster salad sandwiches (usually $6 during happy hour). The drinks (wine, beer, signature cocktails including Hemingway Daiquiri) will be $6.

The event will be on Tuesday June 14, from 5-7 pm. We will be partying it upstairs on their Terrace. Additionally, you can drop in your business card to win a $100 gift certificate!

The Capital Grille

8614 W. Beverly Blvd.

 Los Angeles, CA 90048

(310) 358-0650

www.thecapitalgrille.com

Bring your friends, but remember to RSVP to me at gourmetpigs @ gmail by Monday 6/13, so they can prepare for the right number of people. You can also RSVP on this Facebook event page, but please only do one or the other so I don't double count!
Looking forward to seeing you guys there and sharing some food and drinks!

PS. There is complimentary valet (separate from the Beverly Center), enter off of Beverly just past San Vicente.

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Scarpetta (Beverly Hills, CA)

Scott Conant's Scarpetta was one of the hot restaurant openings last year, and his famous spaghetti became one of the must-try items in town.

Spaghetti, tomato, basil ($24)

On a nice day, sit on the patio, overlooking the courtyard and fountain of the Montage. The dining room is equally pleasant. Spacious with its high ceilings, and quiet.

Dive in early into your bread basket to find the bread wrapped around salami and cheese.

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Endless Chocolate Indulgence at Oliverio's Chocolate Salon

I'm a self-professed chocoholic, and so was my companion. Yet we both had to wave the white flag after morsels and morsels of chocolate desserts were brought out to us at Avalon Hotel's Oliverio. I don't think I've indulged in so much chocolates in a while!

Photo courtesy of Oliverio

About a month ago, Oliverio started Chocolate Salon, a chocolate buffet spread out next to the pool of the Avalon Hotel every Friday and Saturday nights. For $28 per person or $50 per couple, guests can partake in offerings such as the triple chocolate truffle pizzetta, chocolate martini, white hot chocolate, spicy chocolate pot de creme, and all manners of chocolate dipped goodies.

I was invited by the restaurant's PR to try it myself, and my companion and I came ready for battle. It was raining so instead of setting up a buffet at the pool, the restaurant plated everything. We sat at the small lounge/bar area which extended from the restaurant instead of in the cabanas.

We thought we should have a light dinner before digging into dessert, so we ordered some appetizers. On one hand, it was good to have something savory first. On the other, if we hadn't we would've had more room for more chocolates.

When you go for dinner, do try the smooth and creamy Tortino di Cavolfiore (cauliflower souffle, parmesano sauce) - $14

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Blanc Haute Yogurt: The Rolls Royce of Froyo in Beverly Hills

After Pinkberry, there was Yogurtland, Red Mango, all the way to Fro Play (no I'm totally serious). Thinking that frozen yogurt had pretty much jumped the shark, when I heard about Blanc back in 2009 I didn't pay much attention even though it touted being a "premium" yogurt, organic, etc with "premium toppings". It wasn't until I finally went to their summer launch party did I find out - it really is an upgraded, sophisticated version of froyo.

Appropriately located in Beverly Hills, the modern decor is stark white and minimalist - my kind of place.

Blanc offers four flavors everyday, at least half of which would be 100% organic, and none of which uses high fructose corn syrup. The owner and founder, Leo Leonard, personally works on the recipes with the dairy factory who makes them in small batches.

You can find the usual fruit topping suspects (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, mangoes) except that everything is organic and looks fresher and plumper than anything I've seen at Pinkberry or Yogurtland recently. They don't even peel and cut the bananas until you order them here.
On the not-so-expected side: black mission figs! And juicy amarena cherries (these are amazing with the vanilla) along with chocolate-dipped truffle-stuffed figs, Rabitos. Not into fruits? Top your creme brulee yogurt with Valrhona chocolate pearls, truffles imported from Spain, or organic carrot cake made by a local baker.

Some of the rotating flavors you can find here include creme brulee, chai tea latte, organic peach passionfruit, and of course organic vanilla and some sort of chocolate. There's no tart flavor in their vanilla, unlike Pinkberry's plain, because apparently that tartness comes from the addition of citric acid. If you want tart, get the peach passionfruit.

In about a month or so they will be rolling out the "crepe flute". Forget waffle cones, this crepe flute is crisp and more delicately crumbly than thick waffle cones. It complements the vanilla yogurt very very well.
The prices here are a little more expensive than, say, Yogurtland, where the small yogurt is $4 and each topping is $0.40 but the higher quality of the yogurt and especially the toppings shows, and is worth it.

Blanc Haute Yogurt
9465 Charleville Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 281-2633
www.blancbh.com


Disclosure: This was a free tasting hosted by Blanc.

Crudo Finds a Home at Culina in Beverly Hills

Let's face it, I love raw seafood. Even after watching The Cove, I still went to Culina to try their crudo (but I have been avoiding tuna more, and definitely am not planning on eating whales or dolphins). While I managed to indulge in crudo heaven at Marea in NYC, in LA this dish is still relatively hard to find. I was bummed when the now-shuttered Blanca in Newport Beach stopped serving crudo.

Luckily, the new restaurant at The Four Seasons in Beverly Hills, Culina, moves in to fill the gap.

The place is large and swank, of course, being Four Seasons and all. Dimly lit, dark leather chairs, the whole lot, with an almost equally large outdoor dining area.

They also have a crudo bar where you can watch them slicing your raw fishies a la a sushi bar.


To start: breadsticks and olives.

By the way, the olive oil here is supposed to be so good that they sell it by the bottle in case you want to take it home.

I wanted a glass of wine and asked the sommelier what would work best with the crudo I'm ordering. She recommended the 2007 Vermentino (Tuscany), which did work well for some, though not all, the crudo.

I can't go to Culina and not have the crudo. Unable to make up my mind, I just ordered the Crudo Sampler: three choices, $22.
My three choices:
Salmone - loch duart salmon. caper salt. blood orange.
Ricci Di Mare – Sea Urchin, Lemon, Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Yellowtail, Star Anise Oil, Orange Sea Salt
I liked the acidity and sweetness that the blood orange lent to the fatty salmon. The olive oil added another layer of richness to the sea urchin. The yellowtail was prepared simply which worked even better, focusing on the wonderful flavor and texture of the yellowtail itself.

Another crudo order: Aragosta (lobster. pink peppercorns. grapefruit & chive oil. $13)
It's amazing how food changes texture between its raw and cooked state.

Polipo Harissa – Baby Octopus, Harrisa, Ceci Beans ($14)
This was easily my favorite dish besides the crudos. The harissa gave the little tender octopus a wonderful flavor. I would definitely order this again.

Ravioli (sweet corn packets. mascarpone. sage brown butter, $18)
Stuff anything with sweet corn and I will eat it. This was made even a tad bit sweeter with the brown butter coating. We enjoyed this dish quite a bit, although $18 for 4 corn raviolis did not seem as good a deal as the previous $14 octopus.

Gnocchi Di Patate, Lobster Knuckles, Pea Shoots, Black Truffle
I found this way too "mushy" for me - I felt like I was eating mashed potatoes. It was meant to have that texture, however, and my dining companion enjoyed it, so it may just be a matter of personal taste.

We also ordered pappardelle with lamb ragu, which was good albeit a bit salty.

A couple of mignardises to end the night.

The strength of my Culina meal was definitely the seafood, both the crudo and the polipo harissa. The pastas were more hit and miss, and even the hits weren't as high as other Italian restaurants around town. But there's nothing wrong with a restaurant with a specialized strength. I know where to go for crudo in LA, and that's enough for me.


Culina at Four Seasons Beverly Hills
300 S Doheny Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 273-2222
www.culinarestaurant.com

Luksusowa Vodka Seminar & Tasting: Can You Taste the Difference?

"Vodka is colorless, odorless, tasteless." I pretty much believed that too, so when an invitation to a vodka seminar and tasting set up by Luksusowa vodka came along, I was intrigued. Will I really be able to taste the difference between different vodkas? I wanted to see.

The vodka seminar is appropriately held at at Nic's Martini Lounge, a shrine to vodka in Beverly Hills and the home of the "vodbox" where you can enjoy their extensive vodka collection in a private chilled room while wearing their stash of fur coats.

Luksusowa Vodka. Photo courtesy of Shelley Buck

The seminar portion started with the history of vodka. Believed to originate from Poland (the first written evidence is a 1405 Polish manuscript), potato vodka became more popular in the 18th century because it is believed to be superior although the filtration method is more difficult. Charcoal filtration was started in Russia and is now believed to be the best method. (Luksusowa is supposed to be the highest rated potato vodka in the world, with a score of 94 from the Beverage Tasting Inst.).

The World War II destroyed the economy in Poland and Russia and many distilleries came to be sold to independent owners.

Vodka originally wasn't very popular in the US and they had to market it as the "white whiskey". It was apparently all thanks to Smirnoff that really popularized "vodka" and made it what it is here today. In 1975 Smirnoff outsold American whiskey.

Leading the tasting was the owner of Nic's himself, Larry Nicola a.k.a. "The Vodkateur."

On each table were a variety of items/nibbles meant to represent the more common flavor profiles of vodka (I was hungry and thought they were apps so I'd been eating them. Oops!).
Anyway, there were rye bread, potato chips, sour cream (acidity), pop corn (representing butteriness of some vodka), dark and white chocolate chunks (bitterness), and "licorice."
The British bartender Charles Vexenat who was making our cocktails was talking about these flavors, and he was looking for the licorice - which here came in the form of Red Vines. "That's licorice? Why is it red???". Beats me, Charles ...

We sniffed and sipped six different vodkas at room temperature (since chilling it often masks the underlying nose and flavor - this way you can more easily tell the differences).
Some of the vodkas we tasted you are probably already very familiar with:

1. Smirnoff (beet root, Russia). Nose: licorice. Pretty harsh going down, and tasted like licorice too. Maybe it's trauma but I still don't like it ...
   
2. Svedka (wheat, Sweden). This smells more subtle and also tasted creamier, smoother.
3. SKYY (wheat, USA). Odorless, tasted clean. Pretty much tasteless but went down pretty smoothly.
   
4. Sobieski (rye, Poland). Smells slightly sweet. Had a nice flavor profile but harsh.
5. Finlandia (barley, Finland - obviously). I was surprised that it does actually taste like barley. This had a full bodied flavor.
6. Luksusowa (potato, Poland). Smells ... like water, really. Clean, without a harsh finish. Definitely the best of the bunch, and I'm not saying that because they're sponsoring this event.

Charles Vexenat, author of Mixellany's Annotated Bariana: A Practical Compendium of All American and British Drinks and a London-based bartender, was behind the bar making cocktails for us.
The first cocktail I tried (left) was made with vodka, OJ, fig jam and lime juice. A sweet cocktail, but not cloyingly so. It's actually pretty good and balanced. The other drink was made with strawberry and basil. Less sweet with more depth.

After we finished the tasting, Nic's provided some appetizers, all of which were supposed to complement vodka. You'd notice ingredients like rye and potato over and over again and if you're lucky, caviar.
A nicely crispy roasted potato with sauerkraut and kielbasa sausage, "vodka salmon" on rye bread, potato latke topped with apple compote and caviar - and can't remember exactly what the last one was.

Vodka definitely gets a bad rap among my cocktailian/bar-regulars friends, but this ended up being a pretty cool seminar and taught me that I knew so little about vodka and I can't just dismiss it without learning more. I learnt a lot of about the history of vodka and I was surprised at how distinct the different vodkas tasted. Among the six, Luksusowa was definitely the crowd favorite and I was pleasantly surprised at the prices I found online, but I really need to have Larry guide me through more different vodkas in the vodbox.

Harajuku Crepe: A Bit of Rolled Up Tokyo in Beverly Hills

A recent Groupon for 50% off at Harajuku Crepe piqued my interest to try this Tokyo-style creperie. Mochi in their batter? Green tea or Earl Grey flavored batter? As a tea and sweets lover, count me in.

Harajuku Crepe took over the small former Fulfilled space along the rows of high end shops of Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills. Street parking is hard to find but there is a metered parking lot behind the building one block over.

Harajuku Crepe offers organic crepes, sweet or savory. They add mochi powder in their crepe batter, giving it a more elastic and chewy consistency that I really liked.

Choose among four batter flavors: original, buckwheat, green tea, or earl grey tea. Fill it with fruits, red beans, nutella or chocolate sauce, and ice cream - or for the savories choose between tuna/ham/egg/turkey/etc.

I tried the green tea crepe with red bean, banana, whipped cream, and vanilla ice cream. All the crepes here are rolled up into a cone so you can just grab it with your hand and eat it that way. No need for forks and knives!
As I've said, the batter here is unique and worth a try.

Harajuku also has a small but good selection of teas which are all brewed at the right temperatures for the right amount of time. And the topper? Free wi-fi!


Harajuku Crepe
9405 S Santa Monica Blvd
Beverly Hills, California 90210
(310) 285-3946
http://www.harajukucrepe.us/

DineLA 2010 Quickie: Fogo de Chao

When I saw Fogo de Chao on the Restaurant Week list and their price point, I was immediately interested. I had never been there but I knew that their lunch regularly costs $34.50 and dinner $56.50. And that doesn't even include dessert. During dineLA Restaurant Week, weekday lunches cost $28 and dinners cost $44, both include a choice of dessert (although not all choices are available).

I thought this was a really good deal and I had been wanting to check out this place for years now. Since the meat selection is the same for lunch or dinner, I scheduled a lunch with Wandering Chopsticks here.


I had the same problem I always have on buffet lines: I get everything. The veggies were fresh - I was impressed considering it was a "buffet".

Fresh spinach, big and sweet asparagus, juicy tomatoes to go with your burrata. Nothing outstanding, but definitely meets the standards.

Their pão de queijo were warm, big, and nicely cheesy. These were much better than what you may get at a random chain store in Brazil (especially if you're at the airport ...).
I could eat a lot of these, if only I didn't need to make room for meat.
Flip your card to the green side and the men will come bearing skewers of various meats to your tableside.

Fogo de Chao offers a variety of cuts and meats - 15 to be exact. Besides your typical sirloin, rib eye, beef ribs, pork ribs, they also have bacon wrapped pork and chicken, etc etc. For more details, you should check the dine LA's Fogo menu here.

Among our favorites were the picanha (prime sirloin flavored with sea salt and garlic) and the lamb chops.
Not that I've gone for all-you-can-eat Brazilian bbq that much before, but this is definitely one of the best I've had. Just make sure you ask for it to be cooked the way you like it - that's medium rare for me. I couldn't eat that much so towards the end I ended up sticking to just my two favorite cuts above.

With the meats came three sides: mashed potatoes, fried polenta, and plaintains.
This is the one place where WC noticed the difference between restaurant week and a regular experience - we got all our sides, but she said that usually they refill your sides when you get low or run out. Not these 2 weeks, apparently.

Today's selection of desserts were only the papaya cream or the key lime pie. WC got the key lime pie.
The key lime pie was actually pretty nice - rich and tart.

I got the papaya cream, which is papaya pureed with vanilla ice cream, topped with creme de cassis.
Yeah, okay, so it's a pretty simple dessert, and it tastes exactly as it's described: papaya pureed with vanilla ice cream, but I liked it since I like papaya and rarely gets it in the US.

To recap the deal: Lunch $34.50+dessert $10 = $28 during dine LA week, you do the math. Even if the service isn't as good, I'll live with it for the savings.


Fogo de Chao
133 N La Cienega Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(310) 289-7755
www.fogodechao.com