I've installed the new Wordpress and it's time to say goodbye to this vintage version of Movable Type. There're new 'tags' function, which'll be fun to use.

It was a Tuesday night and the restaurant was full. Love the butter soaked almonds (easier for the salt to stick?) and olive. All the dishes on the menu sound interesting so it was quite difficult to choose.

We share the appetizer: colorado lamb carpaccio with fried potatoes, romesco and green garlic aioli . I've had beef and fish carpaccio before but never lamb. Very good! The raw lamb meat is easy to chew and not musky at all. Nice Parsley.

Jon got the Grilled liberty duck breast with black rice, blood orange and ginger-mint chutney. The technique was very good, the duck was cooked perfectly. Though Jon also found the astringentness of the blood oranges and spices weren't adequetely offset by the black rice. He felt something like potatos or parsnips might have worked better. I thought the dish taste Thai.

I got the Braised beef short ribs with sautéed greens, cippolinis and horseradish cream. The dish is like something you might find in a quality restaurant in central Europe, it's more traditional than haute-cuisine wild juxtapositions. The execution was nonetheless very good. We like it better than the duck. The meat was juicy, tender and came off the bone easily.

Both of us were too full to order any cake type of dessert. We should have gotten a salad for the appetizer so it's less meat heavy. Also their gelato cost $8 which I found to be too much, so we ended the night with Scoop's $2 gelato. ^^;;. I enjoyed the dinner a lot but I didn't think it was the best I've ever had. I want to go back to try their $35 prix-fixe 3 courses dinner on Sunday night.

Lucques
8474 Melrose Ave, West Hollywood, CA 90069
Phone: (323) 655-6277

A champagne cart roll by when we sat down, we got few glasses and wasn't aware they cost $23 per glass. o_O;

My dear friends decided to treat me the $125 chef's menu.

A yummy bean puree dip for bread. Amuse Bouche: soup in test tube ("ready for experiment"?). The green ones have sour fruity flavor on top then creamy avacado at the bottom. The red tube is more citrus juice flavor.


Macaron of Foie Gras Confit with Quince Gelée, Fig Chutney. After the initial shock, the foie gras actually goes well with sweet macaron. Since i like savory + sweet when it's done well, this dish is like my childhood + adult fantasy in one.

Almond Gelée with English Pea, Red bell Pepper Parfait with Tomato Water. The dish looked like a set of playing blocks. The mint on top of the Almond gelée is a very heavenly combination. The white square is also sweet almond mousse. I was starting to suspect every course will taste like dessert (and look pretty and toy-like).

Egg and Caviar Cooked in Hot Ash, with whipped Cream and Vanilla (Fresh and smokey, very good) and Roast Langoustine with Pineapple, Spinach Gnocchi, Crispy Potato. (The lobster is very delicious, the gnocchi is so light and the crispy potato taste like gourmet snack).

Roast Scallop with Artichoke Jerusalem Chorizo, Herb Caviar. A less memorable dish of the course (why is it always the scallop one).

Roast John Dory with Spaghetti Quail Egg and Bacon Emulsion The grapefruit on top and sweet glazed roasted fish unified the ongoing sweet + citrus theme. The spaghetti are too beautifully layout to take apart.

Duck "Laqué" with Fennel, Rosemary Panisse with Kumquat Very good tender duck. The kumquat goes delightfully well with duck (almost taste like the plum sauce that goes with Chinese roasted duck). The 'roll' on top seems to have chocolate fillings. Maybe I remember wrong, but that's pretty telling that 'sweetness' was the dominating flavor in pretty much all the courses.

Cheese Plate:
Herbed Goat Cheese with Olive Oil and Mint Sorbet. We were pretty full by then, but the cheese was so fresh and flavorful to resist.

Panna Cotta Pear "Caviar" This one was definitely one of the most 'highlight' course because of its concept and presentation. There are pear slices at the bottom, I wish I can keep the container.

Citrus in Five Ways Gelée, Confit, Powder, Parfait and Sorbet. Citrus heaven!

Petit Four We were too full by then, so I get to take these home to enjoy slowly. They're all very good. The soft candies are soaked with dense and rich juicy flavor, incredible!

To be honest, I felt like I just had 11 course of dessert. I can see why someone might get turn off by it. I don't mind at all as I tend to like sweetness and all the key ingredients are my favorites. The dishes are artfully designed like art piece, the food are presented in graphical shapes. There's something very sweet, toy-like cute and girly about the overall course, it made me happy and all of us giggled like little girls. :) Keywords: citrus, sweet, tiny cubes, mint, green onion,

Ortolan (323) 653-3300
8338 W. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048.

Coeur des Rois. Vanilla mousse, raspberry gelee and kirsh brandy. I think there could be a bit more raspberry gelee to give a even stronger punch to the sourness.

Doux Chocolat: white and dark chocolate mousee. Very good!

Since this is my first time trying, my impression is that Southern Thai food seems to be more complex in flavor. They use more turmeric and Arabic spice, hence it's more exotic tasting than their Chinese-influence Northern counterpart. There are a lot more seafood dishes on the menu as well. Jitlada also don't tone down the spice level for the American palette. So if you have lower tolerances (like me) for spice ask for mild.

Green Mussel. The broth is incredible! Really really delicious. The mussels were fresh. If I have higher spice tolerate level I would gulp down the broth like soup. So many flavors in one. One of the top dishes of our meal.

súp hang wûa Southern Thai-style oxtail soup. It's got oxtail, lemon grass, shallots, scallions, and cilantro. Amazing! My 2nd favorite of the dishes. I've had Indonesian oxtail soup before so I was expecting something similar, turned out it's very different. This clearly taste Thai.

Poo Nim Pad Pong Karee: Deep fried soft shell crab sauteed with curry powder and vegetable. Unexpectedly delicious! This was probably my most favorite of all the dishes we got. The soft shell crab is deep fried so you can eat the shell too. So much flavor. I love the curry sauce a lot too.

Moo Nua Mae Chan: Grilled beef, southern style with papaya salad and sticky rice. Best papaya salad I've had! But it was spicy so I couldn't eat too much. The beef was really good too. Seafood combination, a bit normal but still good.

Dry curry chicken. The dry curry taste very different from what I'm used to. It took me few bites to get into it, few of my colleagues couldn't get into it at all though. I think there're a lot turmeric in it so it reminded me of Indian's curry.

Owner Jazz (yes that's her name ^_-) shows us great hospitality and was very friendly and helpful to us. I can't wait to go back to try more. They have a lot of "generic" Thai dishes (i.e. Pad thai, Pad see ew) on the menu for those who prefer to stay at their comfort zone. But for those who want to try something different and unique, flip the menu to the last page which list out all the signature Southern Thai dishes on one page.

Jitlada Thai Restaurant
5233 W Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 663-3104

My friend and I celebrated her birthday at the popular and acclaimed LA restaurant Hatfield's. Even with reservation, we have to wait for almost 20 minutes to be seated. It was a crowded Friday night.

The restaurant is at a stucco wall building with simple mostly white interior; indie rock was the soundtrack.

We both got their Daily Market Menu, $46 each

Amuse Bouche: Quail egg and Cauliflower puree.

Appertizers: Wild arugula and Beets salad, Chèvre goat cheese, caramelized walnuts and fig vinaigrette. Flavorful and delicious!

Entree: Roasted kanpachi with Meyer lemon and basil crust, smashed purple potatoes, baby broccoli, and pickled ramp vinaigrette. After the wonderful salad, the expectation was a bit let down as the fish was slightly overcook. but the combination is pretty good overall (somehow taste Chinese to me).

The server saids we can choose their regular desserts over the market menu one (which was a butter tart), so we both change our choices.:

Fresh citrus napoleon, crispy phyllo, almond cake,
mascarpone, tangerine sorbet. Very good~ one of the best Napoleon I've had. Light, crispy, the mascarpone not too heavy either. Perfect combination with the fruity

Chocolate mousse tartlet, chewy caramel, chocolate coffee crumble, espresso ice cream. This is heavenly. The bitter cocoa is combined with melty chewy caramel underneath, creating a wonderful contrast of sweet vs bitter. The expresso flavor from ice cream and chocolate enhance it even further.

Hazelnut candies.

The desserts are definitely the highlights. My friend who's been here told me they enjoyed thee appetizers very much. Maybe one of us should have tried their regular menu (now I'm curious...). They also offer a $79 7 course tasting menu, it wasn't terribly expensive compare to other equally ranked place.

Gyros $10.95: sliced ground lamb and beef, dressed with tzatziki, onion, tomatoes served with feta salad and lemon potatoes. A pricey one but very good! The ingredients are fresh, even the potatoes was so good.

Vegetarian: Spanakopita, Dolmades, Tzatziki, and pita 10.95, Good plate to try them all, so full. Though the dolmades (Grape leaves) are a bit too warm for my taste. The "Spanakopita" (spinach and feta cheese in filo) is good and fresh.

Not authentic but fresh and tasty, and you can get your gyros fix here (a bit $$), but now I know why it's a popular spot. :D

Since the place is call The Waffle, we mostly try the waffles. Though there're breakfast dishes, burgers and sandwiches on the menu too.

Date Nut Waffle: Multi grain waffle mixed with chopped dates, raisins, nuts, spices, served with spiced cream cheese. It's good! I liked it more than the Classic malted Belgian waffle (not in picture) which was kind of bland and rather dry in comparison.

Cornmeal jalapeno waffle: served with crispy boneless chicken breast, old school greens and sawmill or brown gravy. The savory waffle with pieces of jalapeno inside was delicious, went well with both syrup and the brown gravy. The cripsy chicken was pretty good.

Waffle fries and The three-egg Deli with house corned beef, onions and Gruyere. At first I thought "waffle fries" is fries made of waffle...apparently not. It's so so. The eggs and corn beef were not too greasy, taste was just alright, nothing special.

Perhaps due to the fact that the place is still new, the service was a bit lacking. The food took a long time to come. Beware if you don't have a lot of time or have to go back to work in an hour. This place is basically a diner for hipsters. The food is good enough but wasn't as cool, though, as the custom made trucker hats the waiters wore.

The Waffle
6255 W Sunset blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028
(323 )465-6901

We tried two dumplings: Pork and Celery and pork and shrimp. Juicy and delicious! The skin is the thick Northern kind. They also have fried dumplings which every table seems to have an order of. I'll definitely try it next time and hopefully the soup dumplings won't be sold out.

Luscious Dumplings
704 W Las Tunas Dr, San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 282-8695

Kentucky Mint Julep. Whisky + fresh mint + crush ice + sugar syrup. Like a sweet alcoholic snow cone! The bartender showed quite a performance crushing the ice and layering them into the cup.

Jon and his friend got the Rye Manhattan, the reason we came to this bar. Most bars usually scrimp on the ingredients and/or its made without any skill. Edit: Seven Grand's rye manhattan is made with 100 proof Rittenhouse rye, sweet vermouth, and maraschino cherry (not those corn syrup marinated cancerous red abomination) which deliciousness balanced the earthiness of the whiskey.

Previous visit: 1, 2.

Pumpkin Fried Rice Noodle and Oyster Pancake. They also have an extensive menu of flavorful teas and fancy drinks (Aloe tea, Jelly Tea...etc). Overall it is a good place for snacks and cheap eats if weren't for the crowd.

There're 3 different choices under each of the 3 courses. For the 1st course:

Black bean and chicken pea dumpings tomato-ginger sauce, charred tomatillo puree and citrus crema. Very delicious!

Lemongrass skewered chicken: coconut Thai chili marinade, grilled pineapple and lychee. Braise pull pork empanadas: Eggplant bell pepper sofrito, mancheago cheese, citrus salad, smoked chili dipping sauce. Both were very good. I especially love the citrus salad that came with the Empanada: thinly slices of mango, cucumber and red bellpeper with chili powder. What an interesting side! I was very impressed with all three of the first courses.

2nd course:

Miso cured Alaskan butterfish: Cuban black bean and edamame salad, tempura shisito peppers. Amazing! Those of us who got this dish agreed that it was the winner of table. The butterfish was perfectly cooked, the meat was so moist and airy that they melt in your mouth. It's cooked with just the right balance of sweetness and saltiness from the miso with a touch of chili powder. Highly recommend!

Mediadia (Cuban pressed sandwich of the day), Cuban BBQ chicken: Thai coconut sticky rice and avocado fruit salsa, tamarind sauce.

3rd course:

Sorbet of the day: House made tropical sorbet served with seasonal fresh fruit chopsticks and chili fruit sauce.

Cuban Opera: Rich chocolate cake layered with milk chocolate buttercream and coffee mousse with coffee-brittle ice crea, chocolate and caramel sauces. The opera was a little "hard" and heavy.Caribbean Carrot cake: carrot cake layered with pineapple cream cheese with lemongrass rhum raisin ice cream.

What a fantastic and satisfying meal for $22. The combine of Asian and Latin cuisine's ingredients on some dishes are interesting and quite inventive. The service was surperb. And there're plenty of food, unlike my previous two dineLA experiences (see entry: Vin Bar Valentino, NOÉ at the Omni) in which they significantly cut down on the portions. Though I wonder if I would be as impressive with the meal if I have to pay the regular price (very $$$$)? The drinks are all at least $15 and above (ex: $15 for a small average-at-best Mojito, just...) It's definitely a place for special occasion only.

Asia de Cuba
8440 Sunset Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069
(323) 848 6000

12 Pieces Gift Box $28. You can select from their many flavors they offer. We choose all of the tea flavor ones (Oolong, Jasmine, Earl Grey, etc). I have to admit I prefer chocolate in solid form, rather than flavored creamy fillings.

The Canele $3, have two flavors, vanilla and chocolate. They're very well made, crispy outside and semi-firm but light inside.

The Macaron (from $2-2.5) have many exotic flavors, some are seasonal only. They are Saffron Green Tea (the brown one with candied lemon, oh so good~), Meyer Lemon, Apricot Ginger, Rose and Blood Orange. They're so light, delicate and very good.

Cured Arctic Char with Fennel, Apple and pomegranates. Pomegranate, pretty and delicious~

The Oyster Stew wasn't a regular item. Instead they have the Smoked Haddock Chowder with Leeks and Yukon Gold Potatoes. It's very flavorful, though the smoked fish get a bit too salty (no bread to go with).

Pretty Cocktails (very good) Grapefruit Cooler

Pacific Blue Prawn Carpaccio with Peppercress, Cilantro, Scallion, Peanuts and Sambal, colorful and multi-texture, pretty good.

Oyster on Half Shell, so good, sooooo good~

House smoked salmon, beluga lentils, arugula, poached Jidori Egg and Saffron Aioli$14 and Roasted Dorade, Grilled Radicchio, Endive, Blood Orange, Arugula and Pistachios $17. The grilled radicchio was a bit too burnt, but the overall dish is very tasty, colorful and not boring.

Seems like we've pretty much tried most of their seasonal menu, I can't wait for more new dishes.