Larry's in Venice

Larry's in Venice was one of the most anticipated openings recently, with Chef Brendan Collins from Waterloo and City overseeing the menu and kitchen. He still spends most of his time at Waterloo, but he left his right hand man in charge at Larry's. Chef Joe Cook at Larry's has worked w Brendan Collins since his time at Melisse (6-7 years ago).

I've been twice - one right after they opened with LA OC Foodie, and a second recent visit that shows even more promise. The seating is all outdoors and I've only been on warm nights. Hopefully they have ways to keep them warm during the fall and winter.

Since it was our first visit, we kind of went crazy with the foie gras.
Potted chicken liver and foie gras parfait ($12), sweet potato jam on top of parfait, housemade pickles, toasted brioche

A winner that I will probably order over and over. So rich and smooth, and I love the sweet potato jam on top, as well as the crispy, toasted brioche. We didn't really try it with the pickles, though, it seemed strange to us.

BBQ eel and foie gras terrine ($14) sounded quite interesting and we had to try it.

The eel and foie were good separately, but the combination didn't wow me as I had expected. Since one can only eat so much foie gras in one night, I'd stick to the parfait.


Larry's only has a beer and wine license, and they do serve a handful of wine/sake/shochu based cocktails. I tried their mango chai "cocktail" made with moscato. It leaned towards the sweet side and I didn't get a strong mango or chai flavor. With 26 beers on tap, beer is obviously the drink of choice here.

Plus, beer goes well with their fried appetizers, like the Zucchini blossom and shrimp maracas, piri piri sauce, seasoned black vinegar ($12)

My favorite from the first visit was the Shrimp and Maine Lobster ragout, capellini pasta, lobster tomato sauce, basil, truffle ($15)

I'm always in favor of thin noodles, and I certainly liked the texture of this one covered in thick tomato sauce and chunks of shrimp and lobster.

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Unlimited Caviar for Charity

These days, seems like it's not enough to just ask for donations to raise money for charity. You have to do it in style.

It starts with a limousine pickup, driving you to a mansion in Bel Air. After a cocktail reception, you partake in unlimited caviar (from the "entry level" to the Russian Osetra sturgeon) and champagne, three courses from Top Chef Marcel Vigneron, smoked alligator, and more, listen to live string quartet and piano performances. You leave with a gift bag supposedly worth $1000 in restaurant gift certificates (and caviar facial serum?).

Extravagant? Yes, indeed. And it will costs a pretty penny, starting from $500, but if this sounds like a great night to you, be assured that your money is going to a good cause. The Beverly Hills Caviar Charity Event benefits the Harold Robinson Foundation, which provides free, nurturing camp to inner city and underprivileged children in Los Angeles. Each year, HRF sends thousands of children to an 81-acre facility in the Angeles National Forest.

The deets:
Tickets start from $500pp. Buy them here.
Date: Thursday, November 15th.
6pm cocktail reception, party starts at 7pm.
The parking location will be disclosed to RSVP'd guests. A limo will take you from the parking lot to the mansion (VIP ticket includes limousine pick up at your home).

Keeping Up the American Tradition: Moonshine!

What is America's oldest drink? Why, it's moonshine. This clear corn whiskey all started in 1612 in Jamestown (apparently excess corn production is an old issue in this country) and really took off in the early 1900s during the prohibition. These days, it seems to have disappeared, but now it's starting to make its way back into mainstream America.

I met with Chuck Miller, co-owner and distiller of The Original Moonshine, and his wife Janette. We talked about the history and process of his corn whiskey - over some moonshine, naturally.

Chuck Miller's grandfather started making moonshine in Virginia in the 1930s. In the mid 80s, Chuck started thinking of starting the production back up again using the same recipe his grandfather had used. It took a couple of years to get the license but they finally got up and running in 1987. The whiskey and brand at its current state didn't come until later, though, when a restaurateur from New York, Adam Perry Lang, looked around to start making and marketing moonshine. He had Chuck experiment with the distilling and filtering for flavor (he found that the best was distilling it four times and filtering twice).

Can you picture it?
The Millers grow their own corn for the Moonshine in their farm/distillery in Culpeper, Virginia. They boil the corn mash (the leftover corn mash goes to their cows) and make their whiskey in the same copper tanks his grandfather used during the prohibition. It's boiled twice until it becomes 150 proof, then they filter it through charcoal.

The distillery is open to the public but the roads are closed during the winter. They do plough snow so they can make their shipments.
Sounds like what it might've been like back in the day.

The Original Moonshine at 80 proof is some strong stuff, but still smooth and drinkable. It's aromatic, yet tastes clean.
Some places around town have started using it in cocktails, as well. We tried two Moonshine cocktails from The Hudson: the "Hitman" is made with muddled blackberries and a peppery one called the "Spicy Shine" (which was everyone's favorite).