The fun times will continue on there. Stop on by and say hello!

and while we are at it:

Enjoy a bottle of wine from Domaine LA.

See you over at www.djjewelz.com

- julian

Assuming there is some truth in that statement (I believe it), then people really only come for the pictures. I’m cool with that.

I share with you Grace Restaurant’s Tasting Menu, sans commentary.

Dungeness crab salad with apple, celery root, potato crisps, curry aioli

Pumpkin ravioli with cavolo nero, san andreas

Saddle of Scottish hare with bread pudding, spinach, sesame

Braised beef short rib with red wine risotto, fennel, red wine sauce

Braised pork shank with rapini, smoked shallot & chorizo home fries, cider sage sauce

Apple fritters with vanilla ice cream, mulled cider reduction, bourbon soaked raisins

And since no one actually reads the words, I just want to say that I think the Lakers will repeat, don’t sleep on Houston making a run for Lebron in the offseason, Atlanta will make a deep playoff run, and does anyone know what happened to Blake Griffin? Will he ever come back from his knee injury?

Grace Restaurant
7360 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
323.934.4400

Who says we don’t have a skyline?


Recently painted over, this sign symbolizes the hope and reality of Downtown LA.

The Bendix Building, built in 1929.

The new J.W. Marriott/Ritz Carlton Towers.

A festive 4th and Spring Street, the heart of gallery row.

It’s a big bus stop.

Staples Center

From my desk: Evo South, Staples Center, and J.W. Marriott/Ritz Carlton.

The secret temple that I always see when I’m having lunch at Daikokuya.

The view from my future seat at LOC

Lazy Ox Canteen is a great addition to downtown LA. It feels like your neighborhood corner restaurant. While Rivera, Chaya, and Drago are important for DTLA, LOC is making good food in a relaxed, cozy enviroment that makes downtown LA feel like a real neighborhood.

LOC was loud (not overly so), lively, and fun. With its small space and open kitchen in the corner of the dining room, there was constant activity as the runners and waiters/waitresses worked the room. People seemed excited to congregate, eat, and interact and the result was a positive energy you could feel throughout the restaurant. The whole staff was very friendly and made us feel welcomed and relaxed as soon as we stepped in the door. While this was opening night, I hope that the great staff and their friendly demeanor stay a part of LOC’s DNA. It’s what makes you feel like you are at your neighborhood restaurant.

But what about the food? Let’s get to it.

Peruvian Corn Nuts

Between the three of us, we had maybe 6 servings of nuts. That’s a whole lotta nuts.

Khlii (Moroccan-style beef jerky) with a fried egg and salsa verde

I’m not sure I’d order this again only because there’s not a lot of beef jerky. The beef jerky almost felt like a garnish for the egg and toast. When I did catch bits of the beef jerky, it was tasty. Off to the side (not in the picture) was a small dollop of pesto. We couldn’t figure out what to do with it. I ate it. That’s my philosophy around food: when in doubt, just eat it.

Cod brandade fritters with yuzu aioli

These were some tasty fish balls.

Bacon wrapped terrine with pickled cucumbers

I lost you at bacon wrapped. I was going to write that this was good, but anything bacon wrapped is always good. We ordered the terrine as part of the first course, but it didn’t arrive until midway through our main entrees. We attributed it to opening night issues.

Sashimi of yellowtail with castelvetrano olives, pomegranate and fuyu persimmon

There was a lot going on in your mouth when you took a bite of this.

Beef tartare with juniper berry, fried quail egg and olive oil toasted bread

I usually have this with a raw quail egg a la Father’s Office. It was nice to mix things up with a sunny side up quail egg.

Sage mountain farm greens with blood orange, roasted beets and buttermilk dressing

We needed some fiber to balance out dinner, so we had a salad. It was drenched in dressing. It needs maybe half the amount of dressing so that it doesn’t overpower everything on the plate.

We were all impressed with the entrees ordered.

Braised beef paleron with cream of wheat, kumquats and red wine

Seared branzino with olive tapenade

The branzino was my favorite of the night.

Grilled beef petite tender with kennebec frites and warm marrow butter on toast

The cut was cooked to a perfect medium rare.

Onto dessert.

Lemon cake

Tangerine custard

We weren’t big fans of the desserts. The lemon cake was a little burnt and dry and the tangerine custard just didn’t work for us. The desserts need some work and hopefully they’ll be improving it over the next few months.

La Chouffe Golden Ale

If opening night was any indication, the Lazy Ox Canteen is going to be a popular downtown spot. It has the right mix of food, drinks and energy that is needed for the area. Will I be back to Lazy Ox Canteen? Most definitely. With a diverse menu, good food, good drinks, decent prices and a friendly staff, how much more can you ask for?

Lazy Ox Canteen
241 South San Pedro Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213-626-5299

There are advantages to a prix fixe menu. People who know me (and have gone to Ludobites with me) know that I like working through the whole Ludobites menu, even if it’s only two people (Thanks Hanh). And why wouldn’t you? There is a lot to explore. The problem is that it’s sometimes hard to figure out the order in which you should try the dishes. Even with the best laid plans, it can be thrown off if the waitress doesn’t input your dishes in the correct order, which to no fault of the Royal/T staff, will happen. So really, the best way to address this would be to have Chef Ludo control the experience. The prix fixe menu makes this easy: sit down, shut up, and eat. I can live with that.

Since my dinner date doesn’t imbibe in alcohol, I thought it would be better to go with a beer rather than Domaine LA’s awesome winelist.

Amuse Bouche – Monterey squid, chorizo oil, kimchi puree, red onion

The squid returns from week one, in bite size form.

Tuna sashimi, sushi rice ice cream, soy sauce-yuzu gelee, smoked ginger

I felt pretty lucky because the prix fix menu consisted of all new dishes. And yes, you read that right, I had sushi rice ice cream. Chef Ludo’s at it again.

Caramelized cod, citrus powder, celery roots and mustard

Funny story about this cod. My dinner date doesn’t eat cooked fish. Sushi and sashimi yes, cooked fish…nope. And not for the twenty plus years I’ve known her. Well, Chef Ludo broke her. She tried the cod and loved it. Will she eat cooked fish elsewhere? We’ll have to see.

Fried chicken, grilled baby corn, brussel sprouts, bacon and mole

This is my take on Chef Ludo’s fried chicken. Forget the pop up thing, screw the permanent restaurant idea. Stick Chef Ludo in a food truck and get him to serve this fried chicken four to five nights a week. This will work. People will eat it up. It must be all the KFC “research” he and @frenchchefwife do on their off time. All I know is, I want a six piece order with a side of red beans and rice. Is that too much to ask for?

We had two options for dessert, so we went with one of each:

Chocolate mousse, lichis and sesame paste

A remixed version of the chocolate cake from week one.

Fourme d’ ambert tourte, red pear and honey-balsamic

No remix here, Chef Ludo sticks with the original.

What will week three bring? Who knows? For you folks with reservations, it looks like the a la carte menu is back, so plan accordingly, enjoy and have fun!

Ludobites 3.0, in which the cock attacks.

Since there will be at least 30+ blogs about this place, what’s one more to toss in the heap? When you think about it, isn’t that really the marketing genius behind Ludobites?

I did not plan on going to Ludobites until 12/10 (and this had more to do with my slow thinking brain when the reservations opened up), but as luck would have it, Hanh from Hungry Hungry Hanh happened to have a reservation on opening night and was gracious enough to invite me as her backup +1. If it wasn’t for her date canceling, I’d be at home watching Top Chef. On top of that, a friend wanted to grab dinner Thursday night, and Krissy, the famous FrenchChefWife, was kind enough to accommodate us for an early reservation Thursday. So two doses of Ludobites within a 24 hour period? Why not?

Ludobites 3.0 is a full frontal attack on your senses. Folks with ADD, you’ve been forewarned. To start, the 20 yard walk from the door to the check in brings you by a set of visually intriguing exhibits.

Got balls?

As you get closer, the hip hop music adds a second layer of stimulation. Gone are the days of David Guetta’s “F**k Me, I’m Famous,” replaced by the lyrical prowess of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and others. This is good, because the plexiglass and high ceilings combined with David Guetta’s style would’ve been just a bit too much aural stimulation.

The trick to not being overwhelmed by it all is to get an early reservation (assuming you can somehow bribe Krissy and still get one.) Otherwise, you’ll be in the hot and heavy throes of maids, art, food art, hip hop, large vibrant parties, a lightbox, foodbloggers and…Ludo. The menage a trois of Ludobites, Royal/T Cafe, and In Bed Together should not be taken lightly.

Ready to get laid?

The fun really begins once you take a seat.

The soundtrack for your mouth

The challenge to enjoying LB3.0 (Ludobites, not Lebron James’ 3rd season) is in trying not to compare it to LB2.0. LB2.0′s menu felt more whimsical, but that was due to Chef Ludo’s tweets each morning, which gave a lot of insight into the mind of a chef as he took a concept and idea and turned it into a dish each day. There is not as much transperancy with LB3.0, but that does not detract from the creativity of the LB3.0 menu. The menu has benefited from the ethnic culinary excursions Ludo has had a chance to experience in Los Angeles since LB2.0.

Chef Ludo on acid

Enough talk from me, onto the food.

Scallop, brown butter, pineapple and black powder

You could say this was prepared ceviche style. What was the black powder? Squid ink.

Bread soup, poached egg, gruyere marshmallow

Where is the bread? I’ll let you figure that one out.

Monterey squid, chorizo oil, kimchi puree and red onions

The squid was perfectly cooked and the oils and purees made this an explosion of flavor in your mouth. The kimchi puree appealed to the pseudo-korean in me.

We interrupt this post to take pictures

Veal, udon, kombu dashi, mushrooms and sesame seed miso

Maybe it has to do with the colder weather, but this was my favorite. If only they could serve this in a giant ramen bowl. Ludo always seems to include a comfort food dish on his menu and this was it. I’d put it in the same category as the oxtail polenta from LB2.0. I’d love to have one of each after a long day of work.

Foie gras beignet and yellow celery roots remoulade

If it’s Ludobites, there will be foie gras somewhere. Great execution and balance between the rich foie gras, the sweet beignet, and the celery. Talk about having too much foie gras in a two week period (two beignets and the foie gras terrine from Bouchon will be the death of me.)

Confit pork belly, pickles mustard tartine and frisee

It’s hard to dislike pork belly and this one doesn’t disappoint. This was like an open faced pork belly sandwich and reminded me of Mendocino Farm’s popular kurobuta pork belly banh mi sandiwch. The knife was unfortunately not up to the challenge of carving up the bread.

On day two, the bread was magically gone, replaced by vadouvan apples. Which one is better, that’s subjective. And honestly, I didn’t even know there was anything else on the plate until the pork belly was gone.

Wild striped bass, garden vegetables and yuzu aioli

On opening night, the top of the bass was slightly undercooked. On day two, this dish was perfect. One thing about this dish, it is visually stunning. Food art, or more appropriately…food porn.

This was the artwork displayed next to our table. Stimulation everywhere.

Now let’s get back to the food.

Marinated hanger steak, crunchy escargot, baby corn, bok choy and black olive mole

Hanger steak is not my favorite cut of meat, but the temperature for this was perfect and made it a great steak. The mole, which Chef Ludo learned from Teenage Glutster’s mom, was a good pairing for the dish. It would be nice to understand Chef Ludo’s vision as to how everything comes together on this dish.

Fourme d’ ambert tourte, red pear and honey-balsamic

I can’t read or speak French, but I figured this was some kind of cheese tart. Flaky and mellow, it was a good transition to dessert.

MC FrenchChefWife

This is something you will constantly see, Krissy working her magic around the room.

Now, onto dessert.

Pistachio rice milk & pound cake

Remember the lightbox I mentioned? I’m still too new to photography to feel comfortable using it, but i did take this dish into it to see what could happen. Looks good to me, although it makes the dish look a little…sterile? I think I’ll survive with the dishes staying in their natural, unrestrained habitat.

Chocolate cake, coconut sorbet soup and pink pepper meringue

With my recent coconut froyo kick, it was a good thing this was a small portion. I could probably inhale a few bowls without thinking twice, which led me to this idea: coconut + chocolate froyo at yogurtland. I guess that will be an acceptable substitute for this dessert. On day two, the pink pepper meringue was replaced with banana rum lime.

One thing to keep in mind with Ludobites is that the menu IS constantly evolving, so by the time I go back on the 10th, there will probably be a completely new menu and accordingly, a whole new review.

Domaine LA coupon

When the check arrived, we received another surprise, a 10% off coupon to Domaine LA!

The winelist was put together by Jill at DomaineLA. Make sure to check out the store, which is in the SoHo FoZo area of LA.

Chef Ludo really challenges your senses. LB3.0 in partnership with Royal/T and In Bed Together makes this an over the top experience. Whether or not you like Ludobites upon leaving, you won’t forget about it. And when you sit down and think back through all of meals you’ve forgotten about in your life, that’s not such a bad thing.

And with that, completes our journey of Ludobites 3.0.

Ludobites at the Royal/T Cafe (showing on select dates)
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

I guess you could consider this my first official Jonathan Gold stalking. His ebullient review on LA Weekly combined with my near obsession with sushi as of late (thanks @sinosoul) made going to Kiyokawa an easy choice.

If you’re like me, or pretty much everyone else, you will miss this place on first pass. The easiest way to find it is not to look for the restaurant itself, but to look for the Blockbuster Video store located directly across the street, or if you are familiar with it, the Beverly Hills Playhouse, both of which are across the street. Alternatively, the restaurant is at the T-intersection of Gregory Way/Robertson, so that’s another way of finding it. I pretty much covered its location using both landmarks and streets, which should suffice for both my male and female readers curious about its exact location. See, I always knew psychology would come in handy.

Kiyokawa bills itself as “natural and organic japanese restaurant” which I hope is true, considering most of my dinner would be raw. This would be my first attempt at going “organic.” And since we couldn’t both settle on an omakase course, we did what was most appropriate: order both the omakase special and the sushi omakase.

Miso soup in a wooden serving cup.

With its dark colors and minimal lighting, Kiyokawa is a good place for a date if:

A. your date likes LOVES sushi. While Chef Satoshi-san will make a philly roll (saw it with my own eyes), don’t subject your dinner party or him to it. Just go to Kabuki or something.
B. you have some $. This isn’t Urasawa, but it also isn’t Famima.
C. you have time. A good sushi meal is meant to be a form of relaxation, not something to be rushed through. The meal is in the details, and those take time.

The location is small and intimate, but in being so allows the chef to see all of his diners, measure the tempo of the meal and control the flow of your eating experience.

But enough jabbering on my end, I’ll throw in a few random words here and there, but with all the sake we drank, it’d be easier to just show you the pictures.

Contrary to popular belief, proof that I do in fact eat vegetables.

East coast halibut, snapper, and two other cuts of fish that I cannot for the life of me remember right now.

This freshy grated wasabi was like crack, if crack could clear your sinuses. Maybe the more appropriate analogy would be “this freshly grated wasabi was like cocaine…” Nevermind.

My sashimi course included maguro, toro, uni, thin slices of halibut shaped like a rose, and mr. mackeral, in whole and sashimi.

Yuzu and wasabi waiting gracefully for Chef Satoshi-san.

Clockwise from the top: foie gras, marinated uni, snow crab nachos (my words, not the chef’s), seared halibut, oyster, and jalapeno with hamachi

Kumomoto oyster topped with caviar and gold flakes

Dude, you got fried up.

This soup was amazing. The daikon, even better. I played the whole “this daikon is just ok, don’t waste your time eating it” gig with my dinner mate. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy I left her with one daikon bite. You snooze, you lose baby!

Blowtorches are fun.

Eating this miso marinated cod was akin to eating a stick of butter, in a good way. McDonald’s needs to think about updating their filet o’ fish sandwiches with these bad boys.

Not simply content with showing us the abalone was alive and fresh (which it was), he sliced it up and served it to us. Yes, it does taste good just after the kill.

Abalone wrapped with shiso leaf topped with plum marmalade. I can’t decide if I liked this. Just a lot of things going in the mouth at once.

You know why Jonathan Gold called this a matzoh ball in his review? Because Chef Satoshi describes it that way when he serves it. I call that localization. The matzoh ball is made of scallops and tofu. Kosher? Probably not.

Clockwise from the top: tuna, super toro, halibut fin, uni, canadian salmon, and ginger. Why mention the ginger? It’s housemade and really good. You can eat it like candy.

At this point, I was stuffed, but there was still a chopped hamachi handroll to be consumed…and consumed it was.

Somehow we then got into a deep discussion around ginger. Chef disappears under the counter and produces a tin, out of which appears this piece of baby ginger. Let’s just say that the chef has a fascination that borders on obsession with ginger. Next time you’re there, ask him to let you try his baby ginger and you’ll see.

Not content to just let us walk out, Chef Satoshi-san decided to sear some super toro for us. Who’s going to decline toro???

We finally made it to dessert. While the ice cream is not housemade, the chef adds sesame to the vanilla ice cream, which makes it feel like you’re eating a chinese sesame dumpling. Score.

And while enjoying ice cream, we had a chance to chat with Chef Satoshi-san. He shared that Kiyokawa has been open for four and a half years and prior to here, he was a chef at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena, CA (which is now the Langham and helmed by Michael Voltaggio.) When he mentioned this, it brought up memories of Thomas Keller working as an unknown chef at Checkers in downtown LA. Look where Mr. Keller is now.

He also told us the story of Jonathan Gold’s countless visits (at least 6 based on my count), the phone call from the LA Weekly, the photos, and the anxiety of waiting for the review to go up. Business has definitely improved since the review, but the pressure to produce an exceptional dining experience has increased as well. If our dinner was any indication, he’s adjusting just fine.

How would I describe Kiyokawa in five words: delicate, intense, detailed, rich and intimate.

Kiyokawa Restaurant
265 S. Robertson Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
310-385-1900

The whole photoset is on Flickr.

But the simplicity of the restaurant belies chef Toshi-san’s artistry.

I think this is the way Toshi-san likes it. He spent 16 years on the East Coast and managed his share of large, successful restaurants in Hartford, Connecticut. Family brought him back to LA and while this location is exponentially smaller, Toshi-san is happy. You can see it on his face and in the way he interacts with his customers. What you can expect from a meal at Toshi Sushi is good food and great value. The omakase delivers, by my count, 23 different pieces of food, which by my awesome Chinese mathematics skills comes to about $1.91 a piece, a great deal. So without further ado, and not much more writing, my omakase meal at Toshi Sushi.

Amuse Bouche

Appetizers

First sushi course

Amuse Bouche

Miso broiled fish

Seared beef

Chutoro

Eat the head, as Yao Ming suggests

Clam soup

Main sushi course

We finally get to dessert

Toshi-san breaking it down

There isn’t much to say aside from that fact that I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Toshi-san would occasionally check on me as I worked from one course to the next, always making sure that things were just right. When I got to dessert, we spent some time talking about time we both spent in New England.

As I walked out of the restaurant, I came to realize that Toshi-san was both a good storyteller in both verse and food.

Toshi Sushi – The best deal in town
357 E 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 9001
(213) 680-4166

As full as I was, I can’t resist a food truck, especially one with no lines, so I trucked my ass across the street and ordered two items off their menu.

Braised Pork Belly Buns with red onion escabeche, sesame cucumber. Reminded me of David Chang’s pork belly buns, without the wait. Actually, this IS David Chang’s infamous pork belly buns from momofuki ssam bar. The buns were warm and soft, the pork belly tender and flavorful. Tasty little package. $3 each.

Beef and pork sliders with daikon sprout and banana mustard. Not bad, but the meat was a tad bit dry. I don’t know if it was the combination of pork and meat or the feeling that it was already cooked and just reheated. 2 for $5.

Mad friendly crew handling this flying pig. Nice peoples.

While I wouldn’t drive out of my way for this truck (or any truck for that matter), if I happen to run into the flying pig again, I would definitely pick up pork belly slider or two and maybe try a few other items on their menu. It’s certainly cheaper than flying my ass out to NYC and dealing with the no reservation BS that is momofuku ssam bar.

Figure out where you can see pigs fly here and check out their menu here.

Oink Oink.

“I love the design.”

“I hate the design.”

“It’s too bare.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“All the hosts/hostesses/managers are good looking!”

“It’s loud!”

“What? I can’t hear you!?”

Bottega Louie is loud. Bottega Louie stands out. Bottega Louie screams to be noticed. And why shouldn’t it?

Love it or hate it, you have to give c0-owner Daniel Flores credit for the risk he undertook. It’s a huge 10,000 sq. ft. space. It’s a restaurant, a market, a bar, and pattisserie all wrapped in one space.  Bottega Louie is grand, even more so in light of economic challenges facing Downtown LA.

Bottega’s getting all festive and stuff. These gourds brought memories of this piece that was posted on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency that TheDelicious tweeted last week.

Got deli food?

I prefer my food straight from the open kitchen.

I love the open kitchen as I’m walking in, but I HATE the open kitchen when there’s a wait, staring at dish after dish going out to the tables as you starve. One thing I noticed though is that you need to look good in an open kitchen. Take note of the cute salad prep girl. Smile, everyone is looking at you! I could also easily pop 100 of those grape tomatoes as a snack. I’d probably also get sick, but that’s ok, it’s a fruit!

Let me just get this out of the way: I like Bottega Louie. I like it for breakfast, brunch, lunch, a drink, dinner, a late night snack. It’s just one of those places that feels right. Bottega Louie reminds me of a place I could step into and relax at when I’m in NYC. I love the floor to ceiling glass panes. It brings the light in, connects you to the outside and vice versa. I can people watch inside, people watch outside, have a drink, or grab some coffee. Bottega Louie’s just doesn’t fit the LA scene, which makes it all the more enjoyable for me.

The magic check in table. I wonder what they do with that book once it’s filled? How many times did mr. jewelz eat here?

There’s nothing special about this slice of bread, except for the fact that I macro’ed the crap out of it and wanted to share it. Shall we break bread?

Lunch with my colleague at Bottega Louie is a serious affair. I’m talking a three course meal, pass out afterward serious. Ready?

Burrata with grape tomatoes. One of our FAVORITE dishes here.

Tomato Bruschetta. Normally we order the portabello fries, but decided to be healthy today. The tomatoes were fresh and juicy, drenched in olive oil, extra virgin I hope.

My “artistic” shot of the day. Thank goodness my eating partner doesn’t care what I do with my food, so long as it doesn’t interrupt her dining experience.

Fettuccine Belmondo: housemade pasta, cherry tomatoes, garlic, arugula, extra virgin olive oil and Reggiano parmesan. This dish was simple but had a wonderful flavor profile. Housemade pastas for the win!

Trenné with braised prime rib-eye and Tuscan  black kale. I love when the Trenné is a over sauteed, crunchy and chewy at the same time.

Dessert time: vanilla and chocolate Bulgarini gelato. The almond flavored gelato is also really good.

Peanut butter terrine, or as I would like to call it: The $7 snicker bar. They use to serve this in three squares and leave it undrenched. Now it’s painted in chocolate sauce. Too rich and too much, yet we still order this everytime we are here. Why!?!?!

The service, the selection, and the price make Bottega Louie a great choice anytime you are in downtown. Just remember, they don’t take reservations, but that’s just an excuse to grab a drink at the bar while you wait for your table.

Bottega Louie