montgomeryrossmore's Profile
Visiting LA--where to eat?
One nice dinner: Providence in Hancock Park
Moderate choices: Beacon in Culver City and Soot Bull Jeep in Korea Town.
Lunch spot: BLD on Beverly near Hancock Park
Sunday Brunch for people-watching: Jar on Beverly
Authentic Mexican: Cactus on Vine and Tere's on Melrose
Deli: Larchmont Wine & Cheese Shop: definitely the best sandwiches in L.A... also La Brea Bakery for fantastic panini's.
California/seafood: Providence
The best wine shop in L.A.: Larchmont or Silverlake or...?
I once asked Sergio how the shop started and if he owned it... he said 'yes'... he started the shop with his dad in the 90's... and Simon came on as an owner around 5 or 6 years ago. So Sergio, his dad, and Simon are all owners but there could be yet others with some sort of stake in the shop.
The best wine shop in L.A.: Larchmont or Silverlake or...?
I have frequently visited all of the major wine shops in L.A and have found very prominent problems with most of them.
A breakdown of such shops and their issues:
2020 Wine Merchants: An excellent selection of wine, including a very, very vast assortment of old, rare, and collectible wines such as varrying encompassments of high-end California Cab producers such as Opus One and Caymus, as well as the best broad selection of aged, quality French Bordeaux and Burgundy in the city. Their problem:? The owner of the store acts as 1/2 of the staff... he and his assistant run the store on a daily basis and lack the advisory skills needed to guide the commonly-inspired wine-drinking enthusiast. 2020 is usually right for the collector seeking a specific acquisition, but very, very wrong for the not-completely-educated wine-enthusiast.
Wine House: Very bad staff. With exception to one or two of their wine salesmen, their staff is categorically uneducated with their selection, unavailable for help & guidance, and half-the-time possessing qualities of disinterest in helping the customer. Great selection and great prices apparently do not come with their toll at the Wine House...
Wally's: A very vast selection, comparable to that of the Wine House whilst contained in 1/3 the space, but the store is ridden with prices that range from "a little too high" to "way too high" and a floor-staff that is not immediately aware of what the shop has to offer. Shopping at Wally.'s, unless you're there for premeditated purchases, is a very disconcerning experience.
K&L: The newest L.A. wine shop in a Hollywood-area that very-much lacked a decent wine shop. A very standard, whilst broad, selection make the experienced wine-buyer like & hate this wine shop all at once. ...K&L is like a condensed Wine House with slightly higher prices, albeit a flourishing selection of Italian reds but not that much new in the avenues of French & Californian wines. The problem lies in K&L's effort to be an extensive wine shop without having much anything to offer that's not available elsewhere. K&L's staff's knowledge of the wines they carry fails to cover ALL of the wines in the store. It's an ambitious and smart startup, but so far poorty executed.
Silverlake Wine: A very unique selection of wine, especially given that its market is people of trendy drinking philosophies - drinkers with a broad wine-consciousness. The selction, in my opinion, is ambitious but not entirely successful. They have a great staff --
Randy in particular -- expressing a good deal of firm confidence behind all the wines sold there. Unfortunately, not all the wines have proved worthy of the wine salespersons' very adamant selling points.
Larchmont Wine: a similar concept to Silverlake -- a very personalized selection from the mind of Simon, one of the shop's owners. The entire store, in fact, is a collaboration between Simon, the genius behind wine buying, selling, and pairing, and Sergio, the expert with cheese, meats, and their applicabiltiy to the fine wines that Simon chooses. Again, Larchmont wine is very similar in its intentions and spirit to Silverlake Wine, but it's far more successful in the execution of said goals.
To put it simply, Simon & Sergio @ Larchmont wines pick excellent wines to sell at very decent prices, and their wines could not be found at most other shops around the country. This all seems to be reliant upon the intensive research and dedication they each invest in their respective field, which, in this case means buying wines based upon taste rather hype.
K &L Wines on Vine
It is my very honest opinion that K&L has a very standard selection. Yes, their selection of Italian reds is impressive, and they allow you to order any bottle down from one of their Northern Cal. stores... but it is a generally broad selection whilst not expanding into any risk-taking territories.
I believe that Trader Joes has pandered to the supermarket selction type-of-consumer... they hardly carry anything you can't find in a Ralph's or Vons, and for what they do carry that IS different, there has never been any reason to trust that it might be good. In a nutshell, I think they carry a plethora of very mediocre wines.
Given the wide arrangement of stores in this city, and the wide selection of "renowned" stores (Wine House, 2020, Wally's, Silverlake, K&L) I very firmly believe that the best assortment of good wine exists at Larchmont Wine, Cheese, & Spirits.
--This is primarily due to one of the owners, who acts as a wine-salesman 6 days a week, Simon. He chooses most of the wine sold at the small, hand-selected store... but his selection is genius. He initiates an insurmountable level of trust in the devoted wine-consumer by the mere fact that he only sells a strictly approved, rotating assortment of wine.
No other consultant, salesman, or advisor at any Los Angeles wine establishment comes close to the level of expertise possessed by Simon @ Larchmont Wine. And this includes all the sommeliers at our favorite restaurants. I strongly suggest all wine devotees a trip to Simon. You won't regret it.
Beacon - 3/18/07
We tried Beacon for the first time tonight...
We arrived 10 mins before our 8:15 reservation, were seated right away at a great table for 2 in the back by a window.
Our server tended to us right away. He was excellent all night -- knew what he was talking about, friendly, and prompt.
We ordered:
Kushiyaki - chicken skewers with shiso and ume paste
Stirfried mushroom salad - with mixed greens, manchego cheese and yuzu dressing
Grilled organic chicken - marinaded in some sort of thai sauce with green-papaya mango salad
Grilled hangar steak with scallion-ginger potato salad and wasabi-relish. The steak was served in some sort of sweet, asian-inspired sauce.
Side of stirfried eggplant with coconut milk, chilis, cilantro, nam pla (and I'm pretty sure jalapeno)
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Trio of creme brulee - coconut, azuki, black sesame
Beacon "ring ding" - an upscale "ding dong" with chocolate-chip ice cream and white chocolate & raspberry sauce.
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wines: (by the glass:) cava sparkling wine, albarino, cabernet, orange muscat
Overall, the experience was nearly perfect. We had high expectations, given that our favorite wine consultant gave the recommendation. Each dish was refined, presented well, served at appropriate temperatures, and tasted very, very good. The wine was very impressive, especially considering the prices.
Everything came out to 130 before tip. We spend this much when we go to BLD, which has a very similar decor with slightly lesser food and slightly higher prices (not to mention red wine served way too warm), and we're ready to go to Beacon any time we desire this sort of meal. It certainly was asian-fusion, not authentic, but the atmosphere, service, and flavors were entirely impressive. Our only discrepancy was the side papaya-salad that came with the chicken, but it was a forgivable flaw within a wonderful dining experience.
tv.winelibrary.com.......
he's no funnier than a bad comedian... at least to my tastes. and unfortunately he doesn't get many wine-related thoughts across due to his insistence on injecting "humor" into his videos. anyhow, i'm quite sure this topic will be removed by the chowhound team since it's not related to any one subject other than likes-or-dislikes.
Best Meal In My Life - Providence
There seems to be a bit of confusion here regarding all the different types of "tasting menus."
When we went this last Thursday, there were two available kinds of "tastings:" the printed (on the left side of the menu) 5-course tasting menu, and the Chef's Menu -- an unprinted, extensive serving of the Chef's most inspired dishes that evening.
I'm not sure any other sort of tasting menu exists... you can have the printed tasting menu, which, on any given evening might be 5 courses, perhaps on some nights 7, and on some nights 9, or you can have the Chef's Menu, which is an unset number of courses, customized to the available ingredients that evening, how long you are able to stay, how long you are able to continue courses, etc.
Regarding the "Chef's Table".... it is merely a table that overlooks the kitchen... its' "rule" is that you participate in the Chef's Menu. The advantage of sitting at the Chef's Table whilst enjoying the Chef's Menu is that you get to watch the restaurant's preparation of all the evening's food, and you are visited by chef Michael after many / all courses. However you are not served an exclusive tasting... you can receive the Chef's Menu at any table in the restaurant, as long as you arrive at the restaurant early enough (generally before 8:30) for the Chef's Menu to be available.
Last Thursday, we ordered the Chef's Menu and sat in the main dining room, and had an eye open to another table who ordered the printed 5-course tasting menu. We happened to get a LOT of dishes that night, none of which we saw go to the 5-course table... we can only assume that entirely different dishes are served to patrons of the two different tasting menus.
I understand that the Providence website advertises a 5-course tasting menu and a 9-course tasting menu... we gathered that last Thursday there was the 5-course, and the Chef's Menu (any # course)... we paid 150/pp for the food and 110/pp for the wine pairing and after 18 phenomenal dishes we felt that the $$$$ paid was every bit deserving.
Hence the website might be outdated... and to answer a common question... Yes, they do ask that everyone at the table participate in the tasting menu, whether it be the printed tasting menu or the Chef's Menu.
Best Meal In My Life - Providence
I'm sure they can do something a bit quicker with the Chef's Menu. They require you to be there by 8:30 if you want the Chef's Menu, and they close up at midnight, so if you prefer 3.5 hours to 4.5 hours, I'm positive it can be done.
Best Meal In My Life - Providence
We asked for the Chef's Menu, which is different than the "on the written menu" Tasting Menu, which I think is only 5 or 7 course. You are in for such a treat. The damage was extensive...the Chef's Menu was 150/pp. The wine pairing was 110/pp. And we got one bottle of sparkling water and one cup of coffee, 5 or 6 each. Before tip came out to 574. So worth it.
I think if you ask for the Chef's Menu, you won't be disappointed. Ask if Nancy Hill's Diver Scallops are on the menu. They were probably the best of all. Give a full report back, would love to hear how your dinner goes.
Best Meal In My Life - Providence
Last night, the lady and I experienced the single most creative, delicious, mind-blowing meal we have ever had. A year ago, my lady would never have opted to head for a "primarily seafood" special occasion dinner as she barely enjoyed a simple piece of fish. However, over the last year, scouring the food boards, blogs and reviews we came to understand that the Providence chef's menu is clearly one of the most highly regarded "special occasion" dining events in Los Angeles. So, enough introduction. Best meal of our lives, hands down. A formal breakdown follows:
1st: Oyster w/ Seaweed Gelee ...with heavy citrus (lime?) accent
2nd: Santa Barbara spot prawn tartare covered with yellow beet gelee, accompanied by lime foam and red beet ....**a highlight
3rd: Abalone with Abalone mushrooms (from China) and thinly sliced cucumbers, prepared like noodles, served atop an abalone shell placed on a bed of red salt ...this tasted incredibly buttery, sea salty and the abalone mushrooms really DO taste like abalone
4th: Kanpachi rolled around a soy gelee with yuzu foam, shiso leaf and cucumber ...absolutely refreshing (and the lady has a "thing" for kanpachi/shiso/yuzu combos - we didn't think Spago's sashimi dish w/ the same flavors could be beat...but it was)
5th: Snow crab topped with caviar (can't remember much else but it should be noted that we chose to do the wine pairing with the meal so by this point, things were becoming an elated, tipsy blur)
6th: Foie gras ball with pink pepperberry foam, foie gras powder (!!!) and cherry powder ...not that any dish here was even less than good but this was the weakest to our taste
7th: Uni sabayon - a single brown eggshell, inside of which was uni, champagne and vermouth, egg yolk foam and black truffle with shaved black truffles on the top ...words don't do justice to this crazy, savory little dish **highlight
8th: Maine lobster with beet agar-agar (jelly) and topped with caviar ...I thought the caviar *made* the dish
9th: Nancy Hill's Diver Scallops w/ Big Island heart of palm, pistachio and spinach chiffonade. ok, we don't know much about this Nancy Hill but we DO know that these scallops were mother-effing out of this world. THANK YOU NANCY **highlight
10th: Niman Ranch pork belly with cinnamon-soaked quince, salsify, oyster plant, ashmead apple and Australian pepperberry **highlight
11th: John Dory with flowering broccoli, carrot vavdouvan and Weiser Farm purple haze carrot
12th: Chitarra pasta with *last of the season* white Alba truffles, freshly shaved at the table ...Oh my god, this beat out any other white truffle, the pasta was so perfectly chewy and buttery and the truffles wonderfully aromatic - a true highlight of the meal)
13th: 28-day, wet-aged, Prime New York steak from Nebraska (served in a 1"x 5" rectangular strip) with sweet onion and bone marrow on brioche
14th: 4 cheese plate (total blur) (very drunk)
15th: white chocolate lollipops filled with rooibos/cardamom blood orange liquid ...wow
16th: Kalamansi soda poured over a bowl filled with vanilla ice cream and mango gelee ...YES!!
17th: Frozen banana capsule filled with some caramel-like substance topped with cinnamon caviar
18th: Chocolate cremaux, toasted marshmallow, graham cracker something or other (ok, we are now recapping this dessert based on the written breakdown our server gave us. in all humiliating honesty, we were both quite intoxicated after our 15th serving of wine)
...and of course, the homemade petit-fours (which, a day later, are still sitting in a box in our kitchen as we haven't quite recovered)
After 18 dishes, hundreds of flavors, 17(?) servings of wine, 4 and a half HOURS and 3 months salary, we were the last ones in the restaurant and got a mini-tour of the wine cellar and kitchen.
We haven't done Spago's Tasting menu but we have had a 17(?) course tasting menu at L'Auberge in Carmel that until this point we thought couldn't be surpassed. At Providence, each dish in the Chef's menu was artfully, delicately prepared by a true master (Michael Cimarusti), the service was impeccable and the sommelier's wine pairings quite impressive. Providence served us the best meal we've ever had.
New Yorker coming to LA - Hollywood
For your requirements... I'd say Jar your might be your wisest choice (www.thejar.com).
The food can be occasionally amazing... on most nights fantastic. They have a good selection of meats, delicious appetizers and sides, and a good wine list.
However, the most attractive quality of the restaurant, to you, might be the acoustics. Jar is completely wooden and carpeted inside, with a very light paint job and soft lighting. It always feels warm... remains moderately subdued during its busiest hours, and plain-out beats nearby restaurants as far as food and ambiance.
The decor, ambiance, and *steaks* (espeically the kobe-styled specials) are top-notch. If you're willing to spend $27-42 per entree and $6-10 per side, Jar is the best choice.
Good Burger in Hollywood
25 degrees is a tad inconsistent, but on a good night (most nights are good), a burger ordered medium-rare is hard to beat. It's only rivaled by the dry-aged beef burger atr BLD... and I'm afraid neither spot is good for takeout. But for eat-in... it's very, very, hard to beat.
For take-out, my favorite is the sirloin burger or greek burger from Joseph's @ Yucca & Ivar. They use good meat, good toppings, and they wrap it up well for takeout. Definitely worth a try. (But be warned... their fries are mediocre)
BLD on beverly blvd.
I've been to BLD between 10 and 15 times... my general opinion is that it's slightly inconsistent as a whole, but the best dishes do remain consistently great.
The dishes I love are the beef burger (as good as 25 degrees), the self-constructed steak (fabulous steak value at $25), the crab burger, both the pork sandwiches, and the steak salad.
However, I was definitely disappointed with the turkey burger, the pork burger, the tofu salad, and the special pork-hanger-steak.
If you stick with said recommendartions, you'll likely enjoy your entree. The wine list is fantastic, the cheese selection also fantastic, and the salumi is usually great. BLD is worth several visits.
What to eat at Angelina Osteria?
A common recommendation around town for Angelini is the lasagna appetizer. I believe it's a lasagna with beef and veal... and it used to be a slight variation known as "Lasagna Verde."
I myself have tried it... and can agree that it's amazing.
Best Romantic Restaurant?
Absolutely Grace...
I went there for my 1-year anniversary with my GF... they asked if it was a special occasion and were appropriately accomodating in every which way.
The best table is #60... which is only available when the private dining room is open...
BUT when table 60 is available, it's the most romantic table in town. It has a low-cushioned bench in a corner so you can practically lie-down next to your significant-other as you enjoy a very good dinner.
Nothing else, romantically, comes close.
Need a fun, good food place for new LA young cousin
A.O.C. will be expensive if you let yourself enjoy the place. I'd steer away if you're looking to not spend too much.
BLD seems like the perfect spot for you. Great food... sometimes phenomenal food... priced low, and served in a very hip atmosphere.
I couldn't recommend anywhere else based on your criteria.
Top three red wines at TJ's
TJ's is slowly amassing the selection of your ordinary supermarket. It'd be tough to recommend 3 wines from TJ's in that price range that are exclusive or near-exclusive to TJ.
The only one I can think of the Rosenblum Syrah (2003)... which should be priced at $27 if the particular store carries it.
Besides that, everything else that's decent may be a wine you could find at your local Vons for a similar price.
Need reccomendations for Cool Restaurants that serve great food in L.A.
You can't make reservations for parties smaller than 6... You'll probably have to wait on a weekend.
You can always put your name down and then hover around the restaurant with a glass of wine from their pretty great wine list. The wait is worth it.
Need reccomendations for Cool Restaurants that serve great food in L.A.
If you seriously need the food to be great, BLD absolutely meets the bill. Beyond the hip atmosphere and the very nice decor and the always-crowded-with 21-32 year-olds, the food is the best for the price in L.A. The steak, at 25 dollars inclusive of a sauce and two sides, is the very best steak value in the city and the hamburburger, if desired and ordered at medium-rare / rare, is among the best two or three burgers in the city.
And then there are all the other amazing dishes... pork sandwich, crab burger, short rib sandwuch, steak salad, blue cheese iceberg salad, all the salad specials, the pork specials, etc, etc.
The other option is Jar... very cool and comfortable inside... feels very exclusive and posh, whilst relaxed. It's quite expensive but the food is just about as good as it gets in L.A. If they are serving a kobe-style-beef special it's definitely the best steak to order... otherwise get the kansas city, and then order anything else on the menu that looks appetizing, 9 times of of 10 its phenomenal.
Good winery clubs?
Justin is great. They make fantastic wines all across the board. Their Reserve Chardonnay is effing fantastic.
They do send their best wines as well as their experimental wines in their club. I recommend taking whatever they want to send.
But be sure to let the cabs sit for a year.
Suggestion for a small Wine Refrigerator
I think the Danby wine fridges are the best.. They are built with excellent materials, feel good quality, look very nice, and best of all do their job right. They make a very slim (no wider than 1 ft) fridge that holds about 18 bottles. It's fantastic, gorgeous.
I would say avoid Haier. A friend bought their 14-bottle model and it completely died after 6 weeks. Their service was just about impossible.
Mozza -- Two for three
i have not tried the lardo pizza because it hasn't been on the menu any of the 3 times i've been.
and each time i've been, i couldn't get the word "overrated" out of my head. it was so strange.
Vietnamese for non beef eater
Dearest emosbaugh,
I encourage you to make a bee line to Michelia on 3rd near Robertson. It's a "fancy" Vietnamese restaurant (price range 8-20) but it's not as americanized as the location would suggest.
Absolutely order:
Saigon Rolls
Seared Steak Salad
Maybe order:
Crab Cakes
Sweet Chilli Chicken
--And it's not too far from Olympic & Beverly Glenn.
