Archive for May 19th, 2008

Il Piccolino – West Hollywood

Monday, May 19th, 2008

Il Piccolino Trattoria
350 N Robertson Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90048
Tel. (310) 659-2220
Credit Cards: All Major
Moderate-Expensive

Eddie Kerkhofs who owned Le Dôme (Now BLT Steak) for many years and Silvio Di Mori who was involved in restaurants Cafe des Artistes & Mimosa among others, joined together and turned a little-known Mexican café on Robertson into a chic meeting place for the Hollywood crowd called Il Piccolino, serving—you guessed it—Italian cuisine.

It is the simple, casual feeling of the place in combination with the long-time restaurant history in L.A. of the two genial owners that attracts an up-scale crowd to Il Piccolino, who would rather spend time here than in the more elaborate and stuffy restaurants in the area that seem to be rapidly disappearing.
At night you can easily find the restaurant, which is hidden by dense foliage that blocks the view of the patio from busy Robertson Blvd, by looking for the hundreds of white, sparkling lights intertwined in the shrubbery.

The food is mainly Italian mixed with a few California-style salads and a few French touches to some of the dishes. Overall, everything comes off well and having dined there once you certainly will return.
They have a good wine list with proper representation of Italian, French and California selections.

In Paris: Takeout Escargots

Monday, May 19th, 2008

Paris: Doreen Carvajal has information on where to buy “Snails To Go”.

La Maison de l’Escargot, with a history dating back to 1894, is located on a tranquil side street of Rue Fondary. There is no longer any competition so the sole survivor in Paris is La Maison l’Escargot.

She says, “I usually buy my escargots from snail farmers at weekend markets. But with an escargot emergency for a celebratory dinner, I ventured out in search of the maison where I half expected to see live snails crawling around in basins and pots of bouillon. Instead I found an airy shop with baskets stocked with two common varieties of wild French snails—bourgogne and petits gris—rated and priced according to different calibers.”

Wine: Good News and Bad News

Monday, May 19th, 2008

Hong Kong has done away with their 40% import duties at the end of February, Thailand should take a hint from this, and reduce their outlandish 400% tax on imported wine, they would sell a much greater quantity of wine and in time, do away with gray market and black market wine trade.

The wine markets have soared as Asian and Russian collectors are hoarding vintage wines. The most disturbing news is that hedge funds, investment banks and others are buying wines to hold and sell at a later date at a higher profit.