Archive for the ‘Los Angeles’ Category

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Los Angeles Restaurant News – New Trader Vic’s to Open; Shut Brentwood Hamburger Hamlet Goes to . . .

Thursday, June 12th, 2008

The Hamburger Hamlet in Brentwood has been shut many months ago. Though the latest announcement is that Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne of Luques and A.O.C. fame will open something in this location, with H.H. as a silent partner, but they are not saying what but the latest news is the name will be Tavern

On another front; it seems as if Trader Vic’s will be opening in an undisclosed location somewhere in Los Angeles in 2009, presumably on the Westside?

Yamashiro Restaurant

Yamashiro Restaurant, situated off of Franklin Ave. in Hollywood, is now an official landmark along with the Magic Castle. The land is now on the market however, if the property is sold the buyer cannot demolish either structure.
CC Commons photo by Flickr user CC Chapman

It appears that Gordon Ramsay is struggling with problems at his Restaurant, Gordon Ramsey in the London Hotel West Hollywood. This is an inevitable occurrence in every newly opened restaurant operation. It was mentioned in the press that after the opening night soirée at his restaurant he was spotted dining with David Beckham at Cut in Beverly Hills. His reply, “the staff are under enough pressure without my looking over their shoulders.”

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Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s – Orange County, Los Angeles

Monday, June 9th, 2008

South Coast Plaza
3333 South Bristol Street
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Opening Hours:
Lunch: Monday – Sunday 11:45 to 2:30
Dinner: Sunday – Thursday 5:30 to 10:30
Friday – Saturday 5:30 to 11:00
Tel. 714.352.2525
Fax. 714.474.2368
Credit Cards: All Major
Expensive-Very Expensive

Charlie Palmers at Bloomingdales, Rendering: Courtesy of the CMS DesignI first sampled Charlie Palmer’s cooking at the River Cafe in New York at some point during the mid-eighties and thought it was very good.

After Palmer served some time at Georges Blanc in France where he was impressed and inspired by the small artisan producers that brought their home-grown or produced goods to the kitchen door of the restaurant. It so happens, that I have spent a few nights dining at Georges Blanc and spent the night in the well-run hotel on the premise in Vonnas, and previous to that I dined at his mother’s famous restaurant in the same location called La Mere Blanc, one of the great gastronomical shrines, at the time, of France.

In 1988 Charlie Palmer opened Aureole in New York and a collection of other restaurants followed across America.
He firmly believes in using produce from small farms and is inspiring farmers, cheese producers and others in food production to keep quantities small and quality high.

This reiteration of Charlie Palmer has just recently opened at the South Coast Plaza and I trust that the tradition will live on in Orange County and I will keep tabs and report on the results.

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Cafe Talésai – Beverly Hills, California

Sunday, June 8th, 2008

Thai restaurants - Beverly Hills9198 Olympic Boulevard
Beverly Hills 90212
310 271 9345
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Inexpensive – Moderate

Located in a small shopping strip on Olympic Blvd. just west of Doheny Dr., the diminutive Cafe Talėsai is one of my favorite Thai restaurants on the Westside. The cooking is authentic and consistently good. Thai restaurants - CaliforniaI have known the owners, the Yenbamroong’s for years, since I first reviewed their wonderful restaurant Talésai on the Sunset Strip near Doheny, many years ago, long before they opened this more informal and casual branch called Café Talésai.

A few of the more interesting dishes follow and the star indicates that the dish is spicy:

Thai Latkes
Deep fried shredded taro. Served with tamarind sauce

  • Chieng Mai Wrapped Chicken
    Spicy minced chicken, chili, lime, and fresh mint.
    Served with romaine lettuce.
    Talesai corn fritters
    with cucumber sauce.
  • Larb Lanna
    Chicken or pork with
    roasted dried chili.
    Authentic Northern Style.
  • Isan Classic
    Combination of BBQ chicken or
    grilled garlic pork, papaya salad
    and sticky rice.
  • Jungle Curry
    Up country style red curry with
    eggplant, green beans, bamboo shoots,
    with or without coconut milk.

    Chicken
    Pad Thai
    Thai noodles pan-fried with
    chicken, tofu, peanuts, egg,
    been sprouts, and scallions.

    Talesai corn fritters
    with cucumber sauce.Corn Fritters

  • Red Devil Noodles
    Spicy rice noodles pan-fried
    with chicken, chili, and
    fresh basil.

    Spicy Rice Noodles Pan-fried
    with chicken, chili, and
    fresh basils.

  • Papaya Salad
    Shredded green papaya, tomato, green beans
    & cashew nuts in a chili lime garlic dressing.
  • Glass Noodles Salad
    Warm glass noodles with
    snow peas, mushrooms, carrot
    cilantro & spicy lime dressing.

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Palate by Octavio Becerra – Glendale (Los Angeles)

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Tel. 818 662 9463
933 Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91204
Website: www.palatefoodwine.com
Opening Hours: Mon-Thurs, 5:30-10 pm, Fri-Sat 5:30- 11 pm; Wine Merchant Bar + Lounge Mon-Sat, 11 am – 10 pm
Prices: Moderate
Wine Prices: Reasonable

Octavio Becerra, a long time chef working for Joachim Splichal at Patina and other outlets in Spichal’s empire, is set to open on the ground floor of the enormous Wine Vault, on the site of the former Cinnebar, located on Glendale’s Brand Boulevard, which is car-dealership row and according to the website of Palate “is a wine-centric, passionate, and down-to-earth”. . . “restaurant, a wine merchant, a cheese cellar, a tasting bar and lounge and an eno-gastronomic library occupying the ground floor of a seven-story Bekins moving depot (circa 1928) turned wine-storage vault.”

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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.

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Gordon Ramsay, Michel Richard, Tod English Open in L.A.

Friday, May 16th, 2008

Gordon Ramsay will open his restaurant in Los Angeles in the London Hotel, formerly the Bel Age sometime in May or June according to press releases. Also, in the news: it is possible that he might open a second restaurant in L.A. in joint-venture with David and Victoria Beckham while three of his restaurants have been shut in the past six months. . .

My friend of many years, Michel Richard, has opened a restaurant in Los Angeles called Citrus at Social located on the site of the former Hollywood Athletic Club. He also owns Citronelle in Washington D.C. and a new casual-style operation called Central in Washington D.C. both of which are doing extremely well. He will not be moving to Los Angeles quite yet but will monitor the new restaurant by visiting himself or sending a chef monthly to check on the operation. . .

On Hollywood Blvd and Ivar Tod English’s new Latin-style restaurant Beso, helped out by heavy, publicity hype due to the involvement of investor Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) is opening to lukewarm – to really “horrible” reviews.

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Wolfgang or WOLFGANG PUCK?

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

Wolfgang Zwiener, a former head waiter at Peter Lugars in Brooklyn, opened a couple of Steakhouses in Manhattan called Wolfgang’s and has recently opened one on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. This location is uncomfortably close to Spago and Cut, owned by Wolfgang Puck and is the cause of much disputation and confusion!

I believe, due to the fact that one of the former licensees of the Spago trademark in Japan, which Wolfgang Puck chose not to renew, is involved in the company of Wolfgang Zwiener to be cause enough to believe their company is trying to benefit from the enormous name value of Wolfgang Puck. The fact that they have put Wolfgang Zwiener in such small font in their advertising and promotions and even on the entrance to the restaurant, might be construed as trying to cause confusion. Evidently, also in contention is a 2007 agreement in which Zwiener agreed to use his full name if he opened restaurants outside of Manhattan.

I think that Wolfgang Puck is absolutely right to defend his 32 years of “goodwill” against perpetrators, especially, in his home turf. I sincerely hope that he wins the lawsuit with minimum litigation.

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AOC Restaurant & Wine Bar, Los Angeles

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

8022 W. Third St. (Crescent Heights Blvd.)
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Tel.323-653-6359
Opening Hours: Mon: 6-10pm, Tues-Fri: 6-11pm, Sat: 5:30-11pm, Sun: 5:30-10pm
Credit Cards: All major
Prices: Moderate

AOC BarLocated on a quiet section of Third St. this wine bar is usually crowded and well it should be; it made tapas-style small plates of basic Mediterranean fare fashionable.
I have brought many Japanese people here and they just love the great variety of small portion choices. For everyone else it is great fun to be able to pair different dishes with their diverse selection of wines available by the glass.

This operation is the brain-child of Susan Goin and Caroline Styne of Lucques fame.
Look for interesting items such as: brandade (A pounded combination of salted cod fish, olive oil, garlic, milk and cream), boudin noir and a large selection of charcutrie and cheese.

One evening as I sat at the bar, I looked up to see in the middle of the back bar a Cruvinet Wine Preserving Machine, being put to very good use. The original company Cruvinet I founded along with partners Jean France Mercier, presently owner of Tixa Wine Cellars the top custom wine cellar designer in the U.S., and Nick Bassill Luxine Ltd., a cutting-edge manufacturer of induction cooking units for commercial and home use. We put together this company in the early eighties, and it was, from the onset the quality leader in the industry, with as many as nine copy-cat competitors turning out inferior and less costly machines within one year. We all went our separate ways, for individual reasons, five years later.

This machine is ideal for this type of situation however, one of the employees after all of us dispersed, and basically without permission, usurped the technology, therefore I cannot vouch for its integrity today.

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Pane e Vino Restaurant, Los Angeles

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

8265 Beverly Blvd.,
Los Angeles
323-651-4600
Opening Hours: 11:30 am – 11:30 pm; Sunday, dinner only
Valet Parking
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Moderate

Restaurants L.A.Descend a few steps into a beautiful walled patio with tables laid out around a centerpiece tree, where on most days at lunch you will find owner, Rod Dyer holding court at a table under this tree. Making your way to the reception area, you’ll feel as though you are reenacting one of New York’s former luminaries’ famous entrances into El Morocco—all eyes look up from plates as diners intently peruse each new arrival.
Pane e Vino Trattoria has a fine-looking, booth-filled dining room, but more attractive and popular is their enchanting garden patio. This authentically Mediterranean setting has terra-cotta-hued walls and tiles, and is adorned with bougainvillea and glimmering candlelight at night.
The bar is conveniently situated midway between the garden and dining room. An open kitchen and wood-burning pizza oven dominate one side of the main dining room. The opposite wall is decorated with a muted earth-tone mural.
Pane e Vino is one of the few restaurants in Los Angeles to serve Certified Piedmontese beef, Costata long bone rib eye (two lbs.) carved table side for two persons.

Pane e Vino Trattoria has garnered awards as the best patio dining in L.A. for many years running.

Footnote: This is an article that I originally wrote for Wine & Dine Magazine and is currently being used in part by Pane e Vino’s public relations department. It has been edited to include or delete various changes that have occurred over time and condensed, in keeping with this blog’s effort to keep posts succinct.

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