SAAM

Zhu Zhu Hamster told me long ago that SAAM was amazing.  I was a little surprised because The Bazaar was just good but overpriced.  She said "No, its different.  It's the special chef's dining room so the food is way better."  Zhu Zhu Hamster piqued my intrigue to say the least.  So SAAM has been floating in the back of my mind for all these years now.  We finally chose Mama H.o.P.'s birthday as the occasion to celebrate at SAAM.  The place ain't cheap so it's not like you're going to eat here on any random Tuesday.

We started the meal with a hot wet towel scented with lavender.  It was refreshing and aromatic.  This wasn't to eat, just to clean up!

Snowball st. germaine, mezcal, lime, cocoa bitters
We started off with the most interesting aperitif in the form of these little white puffs.  They looked like scoops of ice cream, but they were these foamy maybe spongey balls of alcohol.  There was citrus, tartness, and definitely some smokiness going on here.  A for originality, but what an odd texture.

Beet Meringue

Smooth Obturator really likee this simple creation.  Beet jus was made into light, airy, but crunchy meringue filled with a delicately tangy and creamy center.

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Holdfast

The Gunner and Perpetually Underwhelmed spoke very highly of Holdfast, a pop up dining experience to recently enter the culinary scene in Portland.  Pop ups are fun, but they can be unpredictable.  There's a lot of experimentation that goes into any given night's menu.  Sometimes items are being served for the first time, which can result in something spectacular or something poorly executed.  Holdfast has been holding steady in KitchenCru, which is a rentable kitchen space near the Pearl District.  It does not make for the best dining ambiance, but the pop up is more about the food than service or experience.  For $90 we had a 9 course meal with 5 wines. 

Crab beet, horseradish, dill

We started off the meal nice and light, a little crab salad topped with thinly shaved beets, drizzled with beet sauce.  I don't believe I've had beets and crabs paired together.  More dill would have elevated the dish.  

Razor Clam fennel, apple, sauerkraut

Another refreshing combination of flavors with ingredients never tried together by myself.  Some parts of the poached razor clams were off-puttingly fishy.  Apples and fennel are always good together.  All together, I'm not sure if these ingredients really sung.

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Atelier Crenn

It seems like with every visit to SF, I go big and then I go home.  I know some heavy hitting foodies in SF, so eating well is always a big part of my visits.  The Pouter is always my go to girl for any of the big meals in SF.  We were inspired to hit up Atelier Crenn after seeing Chef Crenn on Top Chef.  She seemed so hip, so cool, so SF!  SF has quite the fine dining food scene going on.  The restaurants can range from traditional institutions like Gary Denko, to more modern and contemporary places pushing the boundaries of food and science.  Atelier Crenn definitely falls into the latter category.  The ambience was clean, minimalist, modern.  On the weekend, you can only do the tasting menu.  So I was shocked to see a couple there with their 7-8ish year old daughter!  I really wonder what she was eating.  Did she partake in the fancy ass tasting menu?  Did they make a special menu with molecular gastronomy chicken nuggets??  I'm sort of on the fence about bringing children to such fancy places like this.  I guess I'll leave it at that.  On to the food!

Kir Breton coco butter, cassis liquor, apple cider

I love these little liquer amuse bouches.  They usually have some interesting texture and then burst in your mouth.  The spheres were delicately thin but with some crunch and sweetness.  Then the apple cider provided some tang and refreshment.  Such a fun way to start.

Uni custard caviar, smoked potato gel, licorice

Uni seems to be making a splash on every menu these days.  It was an oceanic delight tempered by a smooth creaminess.

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Grace

Grace came highly recommended by Buff Bear, who has been living in Chicago for the past 2 years.  He said it was better than Alinea.  Dems strong words there Buff Bear!  So of course I had to try the place out, on my now third visit to Chicago.  Triple F never heard of the place, I guess because it hasn't been open for even a year!  It definitely falls under the category of fine dining, with a tasting menu costing $185.  Yes, I know, really steep, buuuut you only live once right??  After the wine pairing, tax, tip, oh god, it was a killer to the wallet to say the least.  Buuut, it was good.  Modern, innovative, tasty.  Better than Alinea?  I guess we'll see...

Amuse Bouche
Alaskan king crab, encapsulated butter
The plating here is so beautiful, I almost didn't want to eat this but it was a delicious, more elevated version of steamed crab legs dipper in butter.  The buttery sphere burst in your mouth with an intense butteriness.  It was a tad too salty overall but still good.

Black pepper melon juice, caviar, mint

This was another ball that exploded in your mouth.  This may be the first time where I didn't find the caviar too salty.

Plum sodaTriple F didn't seem to like this refreshing palate cleanser as much as I did.  It wasn't that sweet, it was more tart and watery.  I like the little seed pulps swimming in my mouth.

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Commonwealth

Ok, moving on to some SF eatings.  I met up with some good friends to get my SF grubbin' on, now that Triple F and Running Man are out of the eating game with twins girls.  The Pouter was kind enough to make reservations and pick me up for our dinner at Commonwealth.  Now, I did not know this, but living in the Bay Area, is not the same as living in SF.  Non-SFer's hate to come into the city.  It's a hassle, you have to pay tolls to cross the bridge, parking is difficult, road conditions suck, etc etc.  So by the time we got to dinner, The Pouter was in quite the mood.  She has some MASSIVE road rage, so I'll be sure not to make her come into the city again!

Housemade Potato Chips dusted with seaweed
I was so hungry that I really gobbled these up.  They weren't particularly special, but tasted like really good kettle chips but oilier. I can't say I tasted much seaweed.

Malt Vinegar Foam
Dipping the chips in this gave the instant flavor of salt and vinegar chips.  It was clever and tasty.

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Alinea

Alinea is a place that, to most food aficionados, needs no introduction.  As of the 2012 Chicago Micheline Guide, it is the ONLY restaurant to garner 3 stars.  As of today, its number 7 on San Pellegrino World's Best Restaurant List, only trumped by places like Noma and Per Se.  It is known for its modern twist on classic flavors, with a heavy emphasis on whimsy and creativity.  One might say its chef/owner, Grant Achatz, is a bit of a "molecular gastronomist."  Reservations can be pretty tight.  I actually called 3 months in advance!  Two or three weeks later, when I tried to increase the party size from 2 to 3 to accomodate Ho Bag, there was no budging.  Fortunately the day before our reservation, I got the phone call, and Ho Bag was set to join us.

For the whopping price tag of $210 per person, you will be served 19 courses.  While some courses are just a single bite and other courses are more whimsy than nutritive substance, I can guarantee you will be so full by the end of it all.  I was head over heels excited to get the chance to eat here.  It seems like you haven't really made it in the foodie world until you've eaten a place like Alinea.

Steelhead Roe carrot, coconut, curry
I've never really been able to see how roe makes anything better.  It's just salty and fishy.  The sweet curry sauce and carrots were a nice contrast.  The meaty coconut flesh was also an interesting textural contrast.

The next series of course was presented as a "tasting of the ocean" and was presented on a piece of driftwood draped in real seaweed, the real ugly kind that floats in the ocean.

Oyster Leaf mignonette
Don't be fooled.  There's no oyster here, just a leaf that was supposed to taste like an oyster coated in a traditional mignonette.  Ehh, I didn't really get much of that here.  I was moving on to the next bite, I mean course, hoping for something better.

King Crab passionfruit, heart of palm, allspice
Now we're talking.  A succulent piece of crab, with some fruity accompaniments.  It was tasty for sure.

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Blackbird

Chicago turned out to be one of the best gastrotourism trips I've ever had.  Granted it was actually supposed to be an educational trip because of the conference Dumpling Man was attending, I made it my mission to make sure we ate only the very best for our sorta of mini vacation.  I did my research and with the help of many recommendations from foodie friends, I was able to plan out a really great line up for eateries.  I'll have to admit that every place we ate at thoroughly satisfied our hunger for the delicious, creative, and inspiring, EXCEPT Blackbird.

Why oh why did you have to disappoint me so?  Blackbird came so highly recommended by Triple F and many others.  It was also one of the more expensive meals of the trip, and it completely fell flat.  Interestingly, it happened to be Restaurant Week in Chicago, and Blackbird was offering up a special 5 course pre fixe for the night.  Could that be the reason it was so disappointing?  We didn't know about this until after we went ahead with the chef's tasting menu of 10 courses, which came at a hefty price tag

Smoke Sable Fish salsify custard, marcona almonds

A smooth custard paired with some pretty smoky fishy fish.  The theme of the night was not understanding how a lot of the components played together.  The almonds?  Not a clue.

Confit Baby Octopus fennel, chestnut, lime, chili
The waiter really made a big deal about the octopus, so of course we were intrigued.  It definitely didn't have the expected snappy texture, which I guess was the whole point.  It was tender without being mushy, but I think I prefer my octopus the normal way.  It had a nice bit of saltiness to it, but again I didn't see how the other components highlighted anything.

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ink.

I'm a Top Chef and less so a Top Chef Masters fan. I've been watching from the beginning.  I've experienced some of the contestant's culinary talent (here, here, here, here, and here) , but never have I been able to taste the food from a winner.  Ink has finally changed all that for me.  It's the new restaurant from Top Chef season 6 winner, Michael Voltaggio.  Season 6 has to be one of the best seasons because the contestants were all REALLY talented, while other seasons has some pretty mediocre talent.  The competitiveness that season was insane.  Anyways, I'm really glad Michael Voltaggio won becausethe man is talented.

Since it's opening, it's probably been the hottest ticket in LA.  Reservations are TIGHT.  Seriously, the best we could do for a Friday night was a 9:45pm reservation.  Let's just say we all had a 2nd or 3rd lunch that day.  Once we got to the restaurant we actually had to wait maybe 15-20 minutes for our table.  There's not much standing room, and as a group of Asian people crowding the entry way, I can imagine we stood out, at least to Mr. Voltaggio we did, but more about that later.

Fluke caesar tempura, tiny romaine, fennel pollen, togarashi

We kind of wanted to order almost everything, but we were limited because Triple T and Triple F went and got knocked up.  Damn them.  So no raw stuff for them, but luckily that didn't stop Running Man, Smooth Obturator and myself from getting some goodies.  The fluke was refreshing, but I can't remember much else.  It was

Shishito Peppers house shaved bonito, tofu mustard
I don't know why Triple F likes shishito peppers so much.  I see that she orders it a lot when she goes out.  They're like bell peppers but more concentrated and softer in flavor and texture.  The tofu mustard was interesting, but more creamy and light than pungent and sharp like mustard.  The bonito added some nice saltiness but overall, it's just shishito peppers.

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Castagna

As I've said before, Portland's dining scene can be summarized as seasonal local ingredients prepared deliciously without the frills, gimmicks, and pretention as you might experience in LA.  It's just good food that makes you feel really warm and comforted inside.   Castagna doesn't really fit the mold of your typical Portland restaurant.  It's modernist cuisine with techniques that are far beyond simple prep, braising, stewing, grilling, etc.  It's the kind of complex preparation, presentation, and plating that makes you think twice about whether what you're putting in your piehole is actually going to be tasty or not.

Zhu Zhu Hamster made reservations for Castagna but did not realize it was a pre fixe menu and tried to make a last minute switch to Castagna Cafe, its next door, more casual sister restaurant.  Unfortunately, there was a wait, I was too hungry, and the menu looked pretty uninteresting.  So Zhu Zhu Hamster, Little Pet, Dumpling Man, and myself walked back over to Castagna and we actually had to wait while the staff chose from the one of MANY open tables to seat us at.  I was like, "SERIOULY?! SERIOUSLY?!"  Ok, maybe many of those open tables were reserved for a later seating...they were NOT.  Anyways, it was not a big deal, just something comical.

Amuse Bouch chicken liver pate on house made rye cracker
I should have taken a wide shot of the presentation of this.  It came as 4 little cracker bites perched precariously on long branches.   The pate was quite smooth, almost mousse like, while the rye cracker presented a contrasting crunch.  A nice bite, but the cracker had too much texture.  A little too "multi grain" if ya know what I mean.

Cauliflower Mousse pickled orange, parmesan truffle granola.

Talk about a complex treat from the kitchen.  The mousse could have been smoother, but tasted very distinctly of cauliflower.  It had a very savory vegetal taste.  The pickled orange packed a punch of course.  Now that granola was different if not strange.   It was a bit on the dry side, kinda like how the rye cracker was dry.  The parmesan and truffle were just subtle hints.  Overall the bite was nice, but I couldn't find the harmony in it.

Beignet gruyere, mustard

The kitchen was quite generous that night! Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans ignited my love for beignets, over 15 years ago.  Since then, I've never been able to find a beignet that could match up, sweet or savory.  I wish these beignets were served hot, if not just a little warm, but these were room temp.  Texture wise they were light and airy.  Flavor wise, the gruyere was interesting, but the mustard was out of left field.  It was like the beignets were rolled in a powder form of mustard.  It had that sort of heat that goes straight to your nose with a mild sweetness.  I can surely say I've never had mustard take this form.  Dumpling Man was a fan, but I just couldn't get over the room temperature nature.

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The Bazaar

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like food is like the new "it" thing.  By that, I mean food seems to be on everyone's minds.  Whether it's talking about favorite foods, eating at the best new restaurants, or checking out foodie events.  Food is everywhere!  Dumpling Man voiced a similar sentiment.   Maybe food has always been "in" and I'm just coming late to the party.   Maybe this is just a natural process of getting older, appreciating fine dining and having a bit more cash to spend on it.

In any case, you'll need a lot of all of that (especially the cash) to dine at The Bazaar.   It's one of those places that has been the talk of the LA foodie scene since its opening in 2008.  Most people rave about it, but I have run into a few non believers.  One thing, that I think most people would agree on is that the restaurant itself is beautiful.  It is in the SLS hotel, which is about as trendy, hipster, and "LA" as it gets.   The crowd ranges from Hollywood beauties to wannabe hipsters to flaming douchebags.   Unlike most other trendy LA eateries, The Bazaar actually has some credibility rooted in its famous executive chef, Jose Andres.

The H.o.P. descended upon The Bazaar for Smooth Obturator's birthday.   To make sure no member of the H.o.P. went hungry, we made sure to order multiples of many of the dishes since the restaurant offers tapas style dining.

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Andina

So Andina has to be one of the most popular restaurants in Portland.   It serves modern Peruvian cuisine.  It was just a regular weekday and the place was paaaaaaacked.  There seems to be 2 parts to the restaurant.  A quieter sit down part, where all the old stuffy people were hanging out, and then a place adjacent to the bar where it was loud and crowded.  I don't think they mean to separate the restaurant like that, but what do you expect to happen when you're near the bar?  In the central part there was a cool guy playing ethnic tunes.   The vibe was really energetic.



The amuse bouche was a fried cheesy risotto ball.  It was lightly crunchy on the outside, and deeply unctuous on the inside.   A good amuse bouche, always says a lot about the meal to come.

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Hatfield's

I'm making good headway on my lists of "To-Try restaurants." This list is mostly of higher end restaurants, which doesn't mean I only want to eat fancy foods. It's just that these types of places are good to keep in mind in the event of any special occasions that happen to come up. Our outting to this particular place was just that, a celebration for Dumpling Man's graduation from residency and a bon voyage to Portland.

Zhu Zhu told me Hatfield's was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo good, like soooooooooooooooooooooo good. Zhu Zhu has been to many restaurants in LA, so I trust her. It was a rather large group of us: my mom, Dumpling Man and his parents, Triple T and her mom, and RCM. We tried to have an earlier dinner, so that Triple T could get her mom to the airport in time to catch her flight to the great country known as Canada! We got there around 6:15 and it was rather empty, but of course come 7-8pm it starts to fill up.

Hatfield's recently moved locations to this newer and larger space. It has this beautiful completely open kitchen. I was quite fascinated at how clean and orderly the whole place was. It didn't really seem like a restaurant kitchen, but maybe more like a test kitchen? There just didn't seem to be a lot of "cooking" going on. I guess I imagined things to be more on a large scale. Like giant pots of things, or large open flames, or multiple ovens with things being put in and pulled out. If you paid attention more closely you could see people working with small pots and saute pans on the stove. Maybe this is just how high end restaurant kitchens operate.



The amuse bouche was a salmon tartar served on a cabbage slaw. It was just OK I think. I'm not a big fan of slaws that much.

After reading a lot of the Yelp reviews, it seemed imperative we try the Croque Madame, their signature dish. It was not part of the seasonal pre fixe we went with, but I figured it was a good idea everyone order it in addition. Unfortunately given our later than planned start to dinner, our waiter did not think the kitchen could get 8 orders of the Croque out in time, so he instead suggested 4 orders to split. The waiter was a wise man. This dish was heavenly!! The brioche bread was perfectly crisped and buttery. The yellowtail sashimi was slightly warmed through from all the other accoutrements which I didn't like so much but I'm sure was what they were aiming for. The prosciutto added a great saltiness to the dish. The sauce served as a great binder for all the flavors. The sunny side up egg contributed more richness which probably was unnecessary but I think thats what makes it a croque madame. All in all, it really was as fabulous as everyone said it would be.

For the remainder of our meal, the majority of us went with the $59 Seasonal Pre Fixe which consisted of any combination of 3 courses plus our choice of dessert. Between me and Dumpling Man, we tried all possible courses.

I started off with the Monterey Bay Squid Salad served with sauteed blue lake and yellow wax beans, ginger chermoula. The dish had good flavor, I suppose from the chermoula although I don't remember much ginger going on. The BIG downside, the beans for overcooked! A place like this overcooking something as simple as green beans? Tsk Tsk. Also the squid was tender, maybe too tender? Overall the dish was lacking any punchy texture.

Marinated Yellowfin Tuna served with mint, watercress, Urfa Bieber creme fraiche. I had only a few bites, but this was a far superior 1st course than the latter. The tuna was fresh and the flavors were clean and simple. I don't remember much to the yellow stuff on the plate although I'm sure it went well with the dish.


Charred Octopus served caramelized fennel, saffron vanilla braied palm of hearts, red wine olive puree. I do like octopus, but theres always the fear you might end up with something chewy and tough. This was at the other extreme. I dunno what they did to that octopus but it was like super duper soft, unpleasantly so. I enjoy the bit of chew to octopus, but this was so soft, bordering on mushy, I had to remind myself what I was eating. If I ignored the lack of texture, I could really enjoy the taste of the octopus which was really enhanced with the char. The palm of hearts had this odd flavor which was probably the vanilla, and it didn't fit in with the rest of the dish. As for the puree? I dislike olives for the most part.

Santa Barbara Black Cod "En Croute" served with oven dried tomato, kalamata, roasted eggplant puree. The fish was well cooked, moist, and light on flavor. Another puree missed the mark again. At this point my brother was beginning the place liked to serve baby food.


Pan Roasted Wagyu Flat Iron Steak with yukon gold potato puree, herbed fava beans, maitake mushrooms. One of the more solid dishes of the night. The meat was perfectly cooked, tender, flavorful. And the baby food on this plate was actually tastey and complimentary. How can you go wrong with mushrooms too?


Mama Dumpling Man did not go with the pre fixe because she can only eat chicken and cooked fish. So she got the Pan Roasted Alaskan Halibut with herbed asparagus, hom shimeji mushrooms, pickled scallion vinaigrette. Another solid, well cooked fish. Don't think I'm much a fan of fava beans, but they went well with the dish.



Braised Pork Belly with carrot vadovan puree, caramelized corn and barley, sweet and sour onions. The pork belly was pretty tender, but the skin lacked any sort of crisp to it. The puree actually did have a baby food taste to it because it was so carroty and sweet. I didn't like the barley either. And the sweet and sour onions? I thought it was sauerkrat! The dish wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. My brother got the same dish but was sitting in a different part of the table and his picture came out way better than mine.



Ahh, dessert! One of the best parts of dinner. Because of our late start, half the party had leave to go to the airport before dessert was served. Boy did they miss out! Dessert was just amazing. Papa Dumpling Man was in heaven. I never seen him smile so much.

Cinnamon Swirl Brioche Pudding with pear confit and maple syrup ice cream. This was probably the most special dessert. The bread pudding was served warm, it was moist with light cinnamon flavor. I also loved the ice cream. All ice creams served in these fancy restaurants have such interesting flavors and always taste so rich, creamy, and smooth, not anything you could get in your grocery store aisle.



Hot Chocolate Souffle Tartlet with chicory chocolate chip ice cream. This dish was good, but nothing special. Just a good chocolatey cake.

Some sort of lemon tart. If you like lemon things, this tarts for you. It had a sweet but wonderful tartness. The ice cream really complemented it well.


Sugar & Spice Beignets with Venezuelan chocolate fondue, preserved ginger milkshake. These were so nice and crispy (maybe a bit too crispy?) on the outside yet still pillowy on the inside. The chocolate fondue made a nice dipping sauce, but it was the milkshake that was the most special. Papa Dumpling Man looooved it. He was drinking it up with a big smile on his face. Ginger in sweet things is a more common thing I'm coming across these days. I think it really works.


Banana Cream Daquoise with pecan toffee, bitter chocolate sorbet. I don't like bananas thaaat much so I didn't actually taste this dessert, but my mom didn't think it was so good.



Tangerine Semifreddo Bombe with honey nougat glace, fresh citrus compote. I just had a bit of this and it just tasted like orange ice cream, haha. Nobody seemed that impressed.


We parked on the street, but some parked in the valet lot. I thought this was great.

I doubt they would ever take more than 2 minutes to get your car considering its just behind the restaurant, but its nice they put it out there.

Overall, the Croque Madam and desserts really won me over and I would definitely come back just because of them. In retrospect, it would seem I thought the majority of the dishes were just OK if not total misses. This is true, but for some reason I really enjoyed myself here. Our server was friendly and accomodating, better than our server at Grace who didn't even attempt to engage. The ambiance was very comfortable. If I come back I'll try to avoid dishes with any purees and I'll send back any dishes that have overcooked beans.



Hatfield's
6703 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 935-2977

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