Jean-Georges Beverly Hills

We celebrated Gary's birthday last night at Jean-George Beverly Hills in the beautiful Waldorf Astoria. He had dined there a couple of weeks ago but did not have the Tasting Menu and he had indicated that he really wanted to try it so the nice sister that I am, indulged his request. The venue is the typical Beverly Hills scene; beautiful cars, young women with older gentlemen, established older couples, boobs galore and gawking men. We got there early for our reservation. By 8:30 p.m., the restaurant was packed.

There were a lot of interesting items on the menu but we already decided on having the Tasting Menu but without the wine pairing. We just ordered a bottle of Justin wine which had to do some heavy breathing before it was satisfactory to me. Our main server was Greg who was the best. He was knowledgeable, professional and had a great sense of humor. There were other servers who were equally attentive.

We were presented with a cold melon soup for our amuse bouche. It reminded us both of what we had on hot days which was practically every day, in the Philippines. Our first course was a beautiful Toasted Egg Yolk with Herbs topped with caviar. I was speechless, my eyes almost rolled back. If our friend Ana was with us, I am certain her eyes would have crossed! The second course was Ahi Tuna Tartare with crushed avocado, radish and ginger dressing. The tuna melted in your mouth, it had a mild creamy flavor and the radish with the ginger dressing woke it up and exploded in your mouth.

The third course was a salad of  Heirloom Tomatoes and Fresh Berries with olive oil and black pepper. The combination of the vegetables and fruits were nice. There was an unidentifiable cute little veggie which was the size of a large grape but looked like the skin of a watermelon. It turned out to be a vegetable from the cucumber family. It was crunchy and had a nice taste to it. Our fourth course was the Black Cod with broccoli di ciccio and spicy herbal broth. The cod was flaky and delicious.

The main entree was a Roasted Wagyu Beef Tenderloin with crunchy potatoes and tangy-spicy stewed peppers. This was the "real" wagyu, tender as can be, juicy and perfect with the sauce. We were happy that we were able to consume all of the above considering we also ate some bread with a delicious butter. I asked Greg if he could find out the brand of this wonderful salty butter. He later informed me it was Organic Five Star Butter.
Dessert was a Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream and cocoa nibs tuille. After we devoured the chocolate cake that oozed more chocolate from inside, they brought Gary a special fruit sorbet with berries and peaches for his birthday.

During dinner, there was a bit of a commotion in a table with 5 women. They seemed to be entertained by this lady talking to them. It turned out to be Charo, (cuchi-cuchi) singer, musician, and actress. Later on, LeBron James walked in with an entourage.

I have been to the Jean-George in Las Vegas many years ago and remember loving the food. This one at the Waldorf Astoria did not disappoint. I had the pleasure of meeting the general manager, Diego Ruiz e Porras a very humble nice gentleman from Barcelona. Gary and I felt bad and gave him our condolences from the recent horrific event that took place there.

Jean-George is a welcome addition to the Waldorf Astoria. He also has The Rooftop by JG and the Jean George Bar in the hotel. The beautiful Waldorf Astoria is located at 9850 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills, California.

Ruth's Taste Maker Dinners

I received an email with a picture of 2 champagne glasses bubbling away with champagne. Below it read: Steaks that sizzle, champagne that pops. this pairing is like music to your palate." This got my attention. It was from Ruth Chris Steak House. The champagnes to be featured were: Ruinart, Veuve Clicquot, and Moët & Chandon. The menu looked too good to pass. What's not to like?

Mertz and I attended this event the other night at the Marina Del Rey Ruth's Chris. I have never been there before. I was not even aware there was one there as I used to go to the one in Beverly Hills. The restaurant was quite big. They had an impressive wine display. The dinner was held in a private room. They had the champagnes on display and an attractive table that featured a nice yellow bag and champagne from Veuve Clicquot to be raffled at the end of the evening.

As we walked in we were handed half a glass of champagne to whet our appetite. Our first course was Butternut Squash Ravioli  & Sage Mascarpone Sauce. The pasta was aldente. The crispy prosciutto on top was a nice touch.  This was paired with Domaine Chandon Brut Classic. I would have been happy eating just the ravioli for my entree but with a slightly bigger portion. This was followed by the anticipated Black Truffle Soup with a white truffle flan and Parmesan shortbread. As soon as they walked in the room, I could smell the aroma of the wonderful truffle. We loved the soup but unfortunately, it was not hot. It was just lukewarm. The soup was paired with our second champagne, Veuve Clicquot Brut Yellow Label. I enjoyed this champagne but I already knew I would since I am familiar with it.

Our third course was a salad.  Medjool Date with Goat Cheese with Baby arugula, heirloom carrots and pretty slices of watermelon radish made this very appealing to our taste buds. Mertz and I enjoyed this salad. Different textures and flavors from the radish, sweet pecans, bitterness of the arugula were just delightful. The champagne picked for this course was Moët & Chandon; Moët Impérial. This was Napoleon Bonaparte's favorite champagne.  I found this to be a fruitier champagne. I could see why it was his favorite. Our main entree was a Petite Filet Mignon with Romesco Crust. The steak came sizzling with butter. My steak was medium though it was more well done for Mertz which they quickly corrected. The crispy top was wonderful. I have never had romesco crust before and didn't even know what it was. It is made with red peppers mainly with herbs, garlic nuts, and breadcrumbs. We couldn't really taste the red peppers but it was delicious. As a side dish, they served a slice of onion, endive and radicchio galette and broccoli with roasted red peppers. I could not finish the steak as I was getting full. The champagne we had with the steak was the Ruinart Brut Rosé. It was a perfect pairing.

Dessert was a Lemon Cheesecake with toasted walnuts topped with whipped cream and a scoop of Raspberry Sorbet.  This was the only thing I was not excited about. I expected a little tartness from the cheesecake, it was just too sweet for me. The raspberry sorbet was very good. It was a nice finale to this very enjoyable and satisfying meal. We were back to Veuve Clicquot for our last pairing. The Veuve Clicquot Demi-Sec. (semi sweet), which was very smooth. It was like icing on the cake.

Mertz was sure she was going to win the drawing. I secretly wished she wouldn't and hoped that I would win it. Needless to say, someone else won the nice bag with the yellow champagne goblets and Veuve Clicquot Champagne.

I haven't been to a Ruth's Chris in a long time only because our last experience was not good. After this experience, I know I will want to go back and maybe try their Rib-Eye!

Sticky Rice and Mango

We had dinner at Ubon Thai Kitchen yesterday.  I have previously blogged about this Thai restaurant in Torrance. What I wanted to write about was the dessert. It is seasonal depending on the mango season. It's the sticky rice with mango. The sticky rice is made with coconut milk. The key to this dessert is that you have to have ripe sweet mangoes and just the right consistency with the rice. Ubon gets that right on the money.

Ubon is located at 24631 Crenshaw Blvd. in Torrance, California. It is in the Torrance Crossroads Center.

Rosé Gummy Bears

I recently read that it is very easy to make Rosé Gummy Bears. That sounded good to me. I have had Champagne Gummies and thought they were good but it didn't have much flavor. I imagined that rosé gummy bears would have a bit more flavor.

I ordered 2 gummy bear molds from Amazon last week and received it the day before yesterday. I got my ingredients from the market and opened a bottle of Rosé wine. It indeed was very easy to make and filling the individual gummy bears with a dropper was fun. Somehow a fertility doctor came to mind. My molds were full and still had some left over liquid so I filled 3 silicone mini muffin liners.

The gummies were ready in 2 hours but for good measure, I left them in the refrigerator for another hour. The time had come for me to check on my little baby bears. They were so cute. I tasted one and it hardly had any taste to it. So I tried the bigger piece. I had a bite and I had a hard time getting a grip on it in my mouth because it kept slipping away. I would try and chew on it and it slipped to the other side of my mouth. It was a crazy experience. I guess they are not meant to be eaten in big pieces. Nevertheless, the gummies were nothing to get excited about. I tried so hard to love them since it was a labor of love but it was just o.k.

I think I will use Prosecco next time. That would make them sweeter.   I even thought I should experiment with Port wine. I will try another batch sometime soon. In the meantime, my favorite gummy bears are the chocolate ones made in Germany. They are still the best.

Bakerly Chocolate Filled Crêpes

I was at Bristol Farms last week buying bread when I spotted a package of Strawberry filled crêpes.  I took the package and started to read the information when a voice behind the counter asked: "Are you looking for the chocolate"? Without thinking I said: "Yes". I didn't know they made chocolate filled ones which to me sounded a lot more exciting. He informed me that he just received a box and was just opening it. He handed me 1 package.

I conducted an experiment. I had one out of the package without heating it in the microwave because as a rule, I don't like warm desserts. There are exceptions to the rule of course. I enjoyed it as the crepe was light and thin and the chocolate was not too sweet, it was just perfect.

The man from Bristol Farms told me he liked to put the crêpe on the pan to heat it a bit. I tried that by heating a small amount of butter in a non-stick pan then adding the crêpe. I left it in the pan just enough to heat it. It was also delicious. The chocolate did not melt but was warm enough. The crêpe had a different consistency. It was a tiny bit crunchy with a hint of saltiness. The saltiness could have been from the butter. It was interesting. I think it would have been a very good dessert served with ice cream.

Bakerly is a great snack. It has 150 calories, no preservatives or artificial flavoring or coloring.  It is a product of France and manufactured in New York. There are 6 individually wrapped crêpes in a package and they are available at Bristol Farms.

le Bon Garçon

I heard about these wonderful caramels from le Bon Garçon. Naturally, I had to see for myself how wonderful these caramels are. I went on their website to discover that they have several flavors. One is the Salted Caramel, Honey Lavander Caramels, and Lemonade Caramels. I wanted to order all three flavors but the Lemonade was sold out. Before I received the caramels in the mail, I went back to the website to further investigate what these caramels were all about. Chef Justin Chao is the man responsible for these tiny pleasures from heaven. This master chef went to culinary school in Paris at Bellouet Conseil and ended up working at Le Meurice. Here is a short video of his creations.
https://www.lebongarcon.com/pages/how-our-caramel-is-made-video-2-16

The long awaited caramels finally arrived. The Honey Lavander really tasted like lavender. I loved the flavor. The caramel itself was soft as caramels should be. The Salted Caramel was magic, very creamy and you could really taste the salt which was great. I was immediately hooked on these caramels. I was disappointed that the lemonade caramel was sold out. I will have to try that as soon as they are able to fill an order.

The caramels are made with heavy cream, butter, lemon juice, buttermilk, salt, spices and other natural flavors. You will be able to tell this is premium quality and the taste will speak for itself.

Le Bon Garçon is located at 481 E. High St. Moonpark (Simi Valley), California.

Petros

It's been almost a year since we've been to Petro's in Manhattan Beach. This past weekend, we were at the Westfield Century City Mall. It was lunch time so we looked for restaurants around the mall. I spotted Eataly which turned out to be still closed. The next option was Obica but I spotted the restaurant Petros from the directory. The only one we've been to is the one in Manhattan Beach.

We ordered the Super Salad; chopped romaine lettuce with carrots, radish, red onion, tomato, cucumber, olives avocado, capers and Epirus feta with their homemade red wine vinaigrette. The salad was a bit tangy but it went well with the Lamb Flatbread Pizza which was thin and crispy. This had braised lamb, tomato sauce, tomatoes, grilled bell peppers, red onion sprinkled with Spius feta and Reggiano Parmesan cheese. We've had this numerous times in the past and have always loved it.

We were both full but I was reminded by Sandi that we both loved the Bougatsa dessert. Vanilla bean and Semolina custard wrapped in phyllo served with vanilla ice cream and topped with walnuts. Though the dessert was good, we did not think it was as good as the first time we had it at Petros in Manhattan Beach.

As the afternoon got later, the lunch crowd began to thin out. I have to mention that our server was not very good. We tried to get her attention and when we did, we asked for a refill on our soft drinks. She brought one and we told her we needed another one. She never brought the other one. It was time for us to go and our efforts to get her attention was not noticed. Finally, I had to flag someone else down to get our check.

Petros has numerous locations: the original is in Manhattan Beach. There's one in El Segundo, Santa Barbara, Solvang and Century City.