CUT: 100% Wagyu Beef and a $200 Meal

I was coaxed by the 100% Japanese wagyu beef! By a reservation that suddenly becomes available. At any rate I found myself at what is purported to be the best steakhouse in LA, Wolfgang Puck's CUT, with fellow bloggers Pepsi Monster, KevinEats, and tangbro1.


We started with a variety of bread including these Gougeres,
and a bottle of champagne: 2002 Jose Dhondt Champagne Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Mes Vieilles Vignes.

We pretty much dined family style, sharing everything from appetizers to steaks. We ordered a series of appetizers according to CUT veterans Kevineats and tangbro1.

Prime Sirloin "Steak Tartare", Herb Aioli, Mustard ($22)
A classic but well-done preparation of steak tartare, with high quality meat. This was delicious and rich with the addition of the quail egg.

#1 Grade Blue Fin "Toro" Tartare, Wasabi Aioli, Ginger, Togarashi Crisps, Tosa Soy ($32)
This was a good quality tuna and a well-done dish, but quite the "classic" preparation - in other words, rather boring.

Kobe Steak Sashimi, Spicy Radishes ($22)
I enjoyed this dish quite a bit and wished I could have more. The meat tasted fresh and had a nice flavor and texture.

Warm Veal Tongue, Marinated Artichokes, Cannellini Beans, "Salsa Verde" ($17)
Perhaps my favorite appetizer of the night, tender flavorful tongue and delicious tomatoes. This was the most interesting of the appetizers. The tongue was gamey which might put off others but I personally love.

Maple Glazed Pork Belly, Asian Spices, Watercress, Sesame-Orange Dressing, Rhubarb Compote ($16)

Since we couldn't decide on a red wine, I chose a 1997 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape, because I've never had a Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This one was not particularly smooth - I thought it was okay.

We also shared 2 non-steak entrees:

Kobe Beef Short Ribs "Indian Spiced", Curried Sweet Pea Purée, Garam Masala, Slowly Cooked For Eight Hours ($39)
Sashimi Quality Big Eye Tuna Steak ($42)
Surprisingly, the tuna takes the win in this competition. The short ribs were quite tender but a bit too sweet. The tuna was excellent - high quality fish and seared just right. The middle rare part was delicious.

As for the steak, we decided to get each one and divided it evenly among everyone (6 people total). These are the 4 steaks, in the order of least favorite:

4. U.S.D.A. Prime, Illinois Corn Fed, Aged 21 Days; Bone In New York Sirloin 20 Oz ($56)
The cheapest, and weakest, of all the steaks. It's probably good by itself, but after having the other three, I'd stick with one of the other three no doubt.

3. American Wagyu / Angus "Kobe Style" Beef From Snake River Farms, Idaho; New York Sirloin 8 Oz ($75)
Before trying the 100% wagyu, I quite liked this. After a while though, it isn't as meaty as the dry aged, but not as amazingly-fatty as the wagyu. Feels like it's just stuck in the middle for me.

2.U.S.D.A. Prime, Nebraska Corn Fed, Dry Aged 35 Days; New York Sirloin 14 Oz ($59)
Flavorful, juicy, and meaty. If I had to eat more than 2 oz, this would be my favorite any day as the 100% wagyu would just be too fatty. An excellent piece of steak.

1.True Japanese 100% Wagyu Beef From Saga Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan; New York Sirloin 6 Oz ($120)
What we came for. Let's take a look:
In the middle is the American Wagyu while to the right is the 100% Wagyu. The difference in marbling is strikingly noticeable (pardon the flash, but I had to capture it). And aye, it's that fatty. Yes, it is delicious. If you're eating 2 oz or less. Anything more and I would have a heart attack :P (Well, I may be able to handle 3 oz).

Indulgence does not end there. It's time for some dessert!

We started our dessert courses with a Brooke Cherry Toasted Almond Crumble, Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream ($14)
They scoop the crumble onto the bowl tableside. I'm very much partial to berry cobbler/crumble and thus really enjoyed this.

Dark Chocolate Soufflé, Whipped Crème Fraîche, Gianduja Ice Cream ($14)
I've heard about the Valrhona chocolate souffle at CUT and thus have been looking forward to this dessert. A well done souffle with a rich chocolate flavor.

Warm Brioche Doughnuts, Huckleberry Compote, Butter Pecan Ice Cream ($14)
The simplest turned out to be the table's favorite. The doughnuts were warm and fluffy, they were perfect with a bite of the nutty, creamy ice cream.

To finish the meal were three types of dessert bars: lemon, caramel, and chocolate.
I liked the lemon bar the best, though I've always been against caramel because it sticks to your teeth ...

Kevin says that this was the weakest of his CUT visits thus far, which was unfortunate since it was my first. I still had a good impression overall, though, and would probably come back another time. This meal cost $184 including tax and tips. At first I was proud for spending less than $200, but then I went to pay the valet .... which cost another $16 :P
So there you go, $200 even for a grand tasting at CUT.


CUT
9500 Wilshire Blvd
Beverly Hills, CA 90212
(310) 276-8500

MxMo: Ginger Sangria (My first MxMo!)

For some reason I told Rumdood I'll join in on the Mixology Monday. I don't know why ...

"Pick a recipe with ginger in it, write a blog post on it."

Sounds easy enough, and I've been wanting to try making a ginger sangria. So I went to TJ and got some fruits. Suddenly I find myself with a pot of sangria in the kitchen and sipping a glass before 6 PM on a Monday. How dangerous ...
Ginger Sangria

1 bottle dry white wine
1 oz Tuaca
1 tbsp Honey
2 Navel oranges, sliced
1 Peach, sliced and diced
1 Red Apple, sliced and diced
1 fresh ginger (abt 3 oz), peeled. Slice and dice 3/4 of the ginger, and grate the rest.

Throw everything in a pot, let soak for at least 2 hours. Easy schmeazy. Oh yeah, and chill.

Add a dash of Angostura bitters to your glass if desired.

Fresh & Cheap Seafood on the Pier

Walking through the Redondo Beach Boardwalk, every whiff of air you take smells of the ocean. Yes, I meant "fishy" but I thought this might be a place of euphemism. You're right by the ocean surrounded by seafood restaurants, so it's no wonder it smells fishy. But ... you smell more ... could it be ...? Yep, there they are! Live tanks of fish and shellfish at Quality Seafood.

Quality is the place for cheap fresh fishy treats.
They have fish, crabs, etc, but we went straight to this tank here:

Live uni. They opened it up and the spikes were still wriggling as the guy put the uni on the plate. One live uni served on a styrofoam plate, $5.60. Oh yeah.
They also have a pretty big selection of fresh oysters, I remember about 10 types, ranging from $1.50-$1.90 each! I got three oysters, including two Kumamotos at $1.90.
It's so fresh, all you need is a squeeze of lemon and slurp it!


Quality Seafood
130 S International Boardwalk
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 374-2382
www.qualityseafood.net

Strawberry Fest! 2009

We kicked off summer and its lineup of food festivals with the Strawberry Fest in Oxnard (and, hey, it's right by the outlet stores ...). I went with some friends including former roomie turned fellow blogger Kat's 9 Lives.

Various food and arts stalls abound, including your typical festival foods such as corn on the cob, smoked turkey leg (which was delicious, btw), and even some chains that surprised me like Jamba Juice.


And of course, there were tons of strawberry-related food and drinks, including strawberry beer/wine, strawberry lemonade, and strawberry crepe shown below:
This was a pretty good and heavy duty crepe! Filled not just with fresh, sweet, strawberries but topped with chocolate whipped cream and powdered sugar! We're definitely not counting calories here.

Choclate-dipped strawberries were not cheap at about $2 each (or $10 for 6) but those big strawberries looked good so we got some that were made by this temple organization.


Umm, delicious, juicy, sweet strawberries covered in good, dark chocolate.
Let's take another look :P


No festival is complete without funnel cakes. There was only one funnel cake vendor, which was operated by a local high school, so we got in the long line and got one to share.

The funnel cake had perfect thickness such that it had a crispy fried outer layer but moist dough inside. The syruped strawberries were so-so and lacking in quantity -- the funnel cake with just powdered sugar was already so delicious, but just wished we hadn't paid extra for the strawberries.

Naturally we can't go home without buying at least a flat of strawberries to take home! We saw two farms selling fresh strawberries right next to each other. One had strawberries that are bigger and juicier, but the other had ones that are sweeter.

Oh, the decisions ... we bought 3 flats to take home :P

Smell that Coffee. Intelligentsia Roasting Works Tour

The roaster's and barista's job is to bring the natural flavors of the coffee beans to the customers, without messing up the steps in between. This was (rephrased per my memory) what Nick Griffith from Intelligentsia (also recent Western Regional Barista Champion) told us during our tour of their roasting facility in Glassell Park.

Thanks to blogger friend Mattatouille, I was able to tag along on this tour with other foodbloggers Choisauce, Diglounge, LA&OC Foodie, and Teenage Glutster. If Los Angeles is having any sort of 'coffee movement', Intelligentsia is undoubtedly in the forefront. If it isn't, Intelligentsia is definitely working hard to change that.

The roasting facility is pretty noticeable with the Intelligentsia logo painted on the wall and their trucks parked outside.
Naturally our initial focus is drawn to their roaster - a beautiful vintage (from the mid-century) contraption attached to a giant vacuum (to suck out nails or whatever else that might've accidentally made their way into your beans).
Even though it's a vintage, it's been outfitted with modern technology to fit their needs here at Intelligentsia. It can roast up to 40 kg of coffee.
The roasting machine, along with many other things there, is decorated with the Intelligentsia logo.

Right near the roasters were the green coffee beans that Intelligentsia uses for its Black Cat Espresso blend, which now has become a standard for espressos at many restaurants and establishments.
The Black Cat blend is not a fixed blend of beans - they are modified depending on what high quality ingredients are available (since all produce is seasonal!) at the time to ensure high standards.

We also got a sneak peek at the individual barista's "station" which will be operational at the new Intelligentsia Venice on Abbott Kinney.
The idea behind these stations are individualized attention for each customer, and Nick Griffith likened it to choosing your hair stylist when you go get a hair cut. The stations have adjustable height to accommodate each barista. I'm definitely excited about checking this out when they open - I just hope this doesn't make the wait even longer :P

The tour ended in their training room a.k.a the lab, which is equipped with a La Marzocco espresso machine from the 1970's. La Marzocco has been producing handmade espresso machines since 1927, and while as of late there are quality competition entering the market, this Florence-made machines have pretty much been regarded as the top-of-the-line (at a price, unfortunately. Their home machine, the GS3, runs around $7500 ... ).
Trainees and also the baristas who are preparing for regional/national competition practice here. This Marzocco machine has a programmable water temperature to ensure proper brewing of different types of coffee blend - how fancy! I wish I can afford one (and know how to use it properly).

At the very end we huddled around a white board where they have left a graph of roasting temperature - you have to modulate the temperature properly so as not to bring out the best flavors. The conversation at this point became quite scientific (starch break-down, acid, caramelization, etc). We'll leave it to the experts here at Intelligentsia to do the proper roasting and brewing :)

I'm pretty much a coffee amateur but this tour was very interesting and educational. I can see why Intelligentsia has the reputation that it does. Thank you Nick Griffith for taking the time to show us around!

Checking out Ludobites (Twice in a Week)

The second time I went to Ludobites, the waiter stared at me and said "Weren't you just here ...?" Hey, that was 5 days ago! It's not like I come every day ...

The first time I checked out Ludobites with LAist's Sam Kim, they were still offering their 3-course prix fixe for $39 and a small selection of appetizers you can order separately.

We started with an order of Gougeres with Mornay Sauce ($4)
Cheesy puffy pastry with creamy mornay sauce. Yum! I've had gougeres that ended up falling flat or became soggy, but these as you can see from the photos, weren't like that at all.

Next, we ordered the Foie Gras Miso Soup and Radish ($10)
Yes, it worked! I've been very curious as to how this would taste. Well, it tastes like miso soup! The cubed foie gras only made a much richer and denser "tofu" and giving it more body.

After the soup. we started with our prix-fixe meal.
Appetizer choice #1:
Sauteed Diver Scallop, Curry-Yogurt, Spinach (on a la carte menu: 2 scallops for $12)
This was one of my faves from the first night and I ordered it again when I went back. The yogurt curry is not overwhelming and pairs well with the fresh scallop.

Appetizer choice #2:
Tuna, Multi-Color Beets, Watermelon, Balsamic Pearls (on a la carte menu: $12)
This was a very pretty-looking dish with bright red, well, everything! Quite an interesting dish although towards the end I think it was too sweet for me. Both appetizers were good, but we ended up preferring the scallop.

Entree choices were black cod (which neither of us ordered) and
Braised Lamb "Seven Hours", Black Curry, Rosemary Polenta
Overall a good dish, although I expected a more tender lamb considering it was braised for "seven hours." The curry flavor was definitely there but not dominant - mostly we were tasting the lamb.

For the dessert options you can also get a cheese plate. Sam Kim ordered the cheese plate which consisted of three cheeses. The one I remember the most is the creamy, rich, oh-so-deliciously-pungent black-truffled goat cheese!

Strawberry Soup, Rhubarb, Hibiscus, Marshmallow Ice Cream (on a la carte menu $7)
I really enjoyed this strawberry soup. The soup by itself is sweet and thick enough that I won't drink it on its own, but along with the light and cold marshmallow ice cream, it was perfect. The ice cream's coldness cuts the sweetness just right and you end up with a refreshing bowl of dessert.

During my first trip I wasn't able to try the famous duck-fat fried chicken, so naturally I made my way back (5 days later). Especially after hearing they changed their concept from prix-fixe to small plates to share. And yes, the duck fat fried chicken was on the menu.

The menu was largely the same with some changes here and there. It's time for me to try thins I didn't get to try before!
Poached egg, Mayo, Black Olive bread ($5)
The poached egg was fairly well done - I like it better that way, less messy. A nice starter which I'd love to have for breakfast too.

Cheesy Rosemary Polenta, Oxtail Beef, Yellow carrots ($10)

The oxtail was buried within the cheesy polenta:
The cheesy polenta was delicious - rich and aromatic with a nice slightly-gamy taste from the oxtail. The oxtail was pretty tender but could be more tender for my taste, but definitely flavorful. Overall, a dish worth getting.

Calamari, Avocado, Lime, Fresh Almonds ($9)
This was one of those good-but-not-memorable dishes.

And last but not least, I made sure to get the now-famous Fried Chicken in Duck Fat, Basquaise Vegetables ($13)
Not just because 'everything fried is good', but because anything fried in DUCK FAT must be that much better. First of all, this was dark meat chicken, which in my not-so-humble opinion just tastes waay better than white meat. And fried. And fried in duck fat. From the crispy skin you can taste the richness of duck fat but it wasn't overwhelmingly fatty or greasy. The meat itself was tender and juicy and very flavorful.

The dessert choices were the strawberry soup (as above) and chocolate mousse with bell pepper sauce. The chocolate mousse was rich and delicious, but I'm not so sure about pairing it with bell peppers. Others might enjoy it but I personally am not a big fan of spicy and all this capsaicin stuff, so while it was definitely interesting, I tried to eat as little of the sauce as I could.

On both occasions Ludo comes out to greet the customers and asked how our meals were and we talked a bit about how often he's going to change the menu (about every 2 weeks or so).

As I was leaving the waiter waved and shouted out "See you next week!"
Not next week, I'll come in 2 weeks, when you change the menu :P

Ludo Bites (@ Breadbar)
8718 W 3rd St
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 205-0124
www.ludolefebvre.com

NYC: Gramercy Tavern

I've been making my Michelin rounds in NYC. Gramercy Tavern was another amazing dinner from my last NYC trip back in November. With a much more casual ambiance than Jean Georges or Le Bernardin, this was the perfect choice for our big group dinner, as we can all talk and enjoy ourselves.

Gramercy Tavern only had one big table (bigger than 6) so the only time we were able to snatch a reservation for 8 was at 5:45 pm since there was another party coming later that night. We stayed waaay late and felt bad for the incoming party, but they didn't rush us at all. Instead of the tasting menu, we went with the prix-fixe $86 for 3 courses.

As usual, some of the first courses made it around the table so we can all sample.
Veal Cappelletti (Cauliflower and sage)
Tender and flavorful veal with al dente pasta. I liked the slightly herb-y sauce due to the sage. In a cold night in NYC, this was one satisfying comfort food. This was a good start and a good intro to the Gramercy Tavern meal. Simple, flavorful, well-executed.

Black Tagliatelle (chorizo, mussels, and calamari)
The black tagliatelle is typically made black using squid or cuttlefish ink, which also adds another layer of flavor. I only had a bit of this dish but really enjoyed it. The calamari was nice and chewy and went very well with the pasta.

Lamb Pappardelle (Olives, lemon confit, swiss chard)
This was another great dish with shreds of tender lamb. It was very flavorful, if not a tad salty. As a warning, the last two pasta dish was definitely a little on the salty side, but not overwhelmingly so.

For my second course, I ordered the Sea Bass (spaghetti squash, sherry sauce)
This is rather unlike me to order a fish (instead of my usual red meat), but boy was I glad I did! In my opinion, this was the best dish of the night! The fish was very moist and had a great texture, and I absolutely loved how it paired with the spaghetti squash! Compared to the first courses, the sauce here is slightly more delicate but still has a lot of flavor. This was definitely a hit.

As far as desserts go, there were two that stand out. The first stood out because it's unique and interesting:
Coconut Tapioca (Passionfruit and coconut sorbet, passionfruit caramel, and cilantro syrup)
I thought this was a creative and well-executed dessert. The flavor is fairly light. I like the flavor combination - the cilantro added a refreshing kick for me (though I know some people don't like cilantro).

The second stood up simply because of how awesome it was:
Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding (Cacao Nib ice cream)
It was warm. It was a gooey rich chocolatey goodness. It was comfort food dessert to the max. Simply put, it was an amazing chocolate bread pudding.

We finished off with a nice little plate of petit fours.
Gramcercy Tavern was a no fuss meal. No foam, no spherical liquid. Just straight-up a delicious and satisfying meal you enjoy among friends. It's a total comfort food for me back in that freezing New York "fall".

Gramercy Tavern Reserve Now!
42 E 20th St
New York, NY 10003
(212) 477-0777
www.gramercytavern.com

Justa Taste, Justa Laugh!

Just letting you guys know about the fundraising event coming up next week for the California Women's Law Center ! My advisor has been going to this since its inception and takes his female students with him (he told me to bring "any rich boyfriends [I] have available" to participate in the silent auction :P ).

Called Justa Taste, Justa Laugh, this fundraiser features food samplings of various restaurants (with women chefs and/or women-owned!) in LA and free-flowing wine. Last year's event even had an oyster bar!There will be a silent auction going on benefiting the CWLC. Last year's auction includes items from children's toys, restaurant gift certificates, all the way to an original sketch by Picasso, Miro, Degas, etc. The comedy show (this year featuring Latina lesbian comedian Reno) will start at 8:30.

Tickets are $125 and includes all food and wine and comedy show.