Erik "Fishyyyy" S.'s Profile

Everyone knows this is a huge store with a nice selection.

Other thing you should know: Lance, imo, is one of THE MOST helpful and generous persons with his time in the industry.  

Really cool guy, and he eats at the best restaurants in LA.  I suggest if you go there... you seek him out.   Lately I told him I'm making a couple weird things.

-Watercress & Wild arugula salad, bacon lardons, fried-ground chicken liver, crispy blood sausage, sherry vinaigrette, poached free range egg
-Crostini of Organic Chicken hearts, bacon-fat mayonnaise & spicy paprika, balsamic & simple syrup reduction
-Crow (yes crow...served rare)
-Wild Mallard duck Crostini

His pairings so far have been really nice, and his help will always come with a discussion, not a "you GOTTA DO IT THIS WAY" kind of attitude.

Tell him what flavors you like. Tell him what you're cooking.
Just not when I'm there, because then I gotta wait.

Ah who cares. Pour me some wine.

You'd think that I love to burn through money but my mom would be so proud of my being Chinese today.

I've officially loaded up cleaning supplies for the next 2 years.  yes they have good stuff - Lysol, disinfectant wipes, oven cleaner
1000 cotton swabs (the quality is almost that of Q-Tip)
Purell w/ Lubriderm moisturizer
Dial handsoap
Epsom salt for salt-baths
Visine for your eyes
and Monster energy drinks
I've purchased
-Caribou Coffee (mid-west equivalent of Starbucks) among other cool things.

Oh I got candy, too, Can't forget Candy!

Bill was $25. The above if I purchased elsewhere would be $75 easily.

Taste/seasoning of the noodles is fine and like molecular gastronomy where you are surprised and dazzled - well, shit. I was surprised.

I never knew beef (on the pad see ew dish) could have the texture of cardboard and rubber!

Spent $550 for 985054380590 courses - a meal at DelFina (brought the wines, too). The meal was pretty good, with some flaws. Early reservation.

Then late night ate my $5 pork chop rice and banh mi's and had a new appreciation for life.  How many banh mi's? 2 in the restaurant and 1 to go.
flawless.

p.s. I don't diet.

{SPACE}
The space is nice, clean, and the service is what you would expect at a white tablecloth, 1 michelin in Napa.  

Wine service was rather abysmal, as we ordered a Barolo, got our initial pours, and yet the rest of the wine wasn't brought out from the back room until after dessert? "I'm sorry we forgot about the wine"

Is this why we pay 300% markup + for you to provide service for wines? It's fine for a $2 beer but a bottle of wine where it's not just the proportion but the actual cost becomes more of a factor...Bad.  

{++ GOOD}
The crispy skinned Chicken thigh was fantastic with a nice skin (almost as crispy as double fried Fried Chicken).  I liked this Chicken thigh better than the Chicken Confit @ Jean Georges, if that's any barometer of good food.  The Celery Root Soup was delicious.

{- - - - - - BAD }

Where this restaurant failed miserably was any seafood dish.  

Hamachi sashimi was plated nicely, but encumbered by random crap on the plate and the fish technique + taste was not as good as any number of LA Sushi restaurants - Sasabune, Wa, Echigo, let alone Hiko & Zo  It was unseasoned and the extras did little to pick up or enhance the natural flavor of the fish.

Scallops looked sad, with no char on the outside, and the taste was chewy, oversalted, and again a lot of random accoutrements and failure to execute on the protein.  They looked to be size U-20 or smaller.  Really? I could buy and make better using Costco Scallops which are Frozen.

Lobster risotto tasted like chinese Porridge (jook), with sad, over-watered, non al-dente grains. I realize risotto is a difficult thing to make and extremely hard to perfect, but hey we're not all easy judges :)

Overall I could see this place being much better than what I experienced, but it wasn't.

a redeeming factor is the pasta portions (which offer a choice between half and full portions) are a nice size.  the half portion was a full portion at most other fine dining restaurants.

There are some places you go for the view, the romanticism of the view, the birds and butterflies and listening to the chirps and flutters in solace.  Or with someone.  Well I guess that's not completely fair to say, because you are never alone if you're with a glass of wine. :)

Much like restaurants, I prefer less decor and better food if one had to choose between the two, I prefer good wine to good views, though if you're drinking enough of the former you may have more of the latter if you know what I mean.  

As for vineyards and the Winery "experience" IMO no better tasting "experience" than Quintessa's in Napa, and once per day at a vineyard is okay with me.  Give me wine and no BS.

Buccella fit this bill exactly(boo-kel-ah, it's Latin, not Italian, meaning "mouthful"), and had been on my list of places to go for a while, if not solely for the reason that the maker also works on Scarecrow...one of the amazing Napa cult wines up there along with Screaming Eagle and Harlan.  Buccella's tasting room is in an industrial park in downtown Napa, and for whatever reason when I called, I had no idea it wasn't open to the public.  How we managed to be so fortunate to score a tasting on a Saturday (when they are only open M-F) bewilders me, but I won't ask questions, just tell you that the wines were delicious.  

Erin came on a Saturday to tell us the Buccella story, pour us the Buccella wines (4 bottles, one sauvignon blanc, a delicious Jam-smelling Merlot, 2 Cabs, one from a single block.  She worked at Harlan among other extremely noteworthy wineries, and was very pleasant as a host.

{Prices, Tasting, & Purchasing}

-The price range is unavailable for the Sauvignon Blanc (sometimes a free gimme for wine-list members, but otherwise can't be purchased - production low), $70 for the Merlot, $110 for Cab and single block cab $195.
-Buccella's name mean mouthful, and since we dominated 4 bottles, nothing could have been truer. It wasn't 4 - 1 oz pours, it was 4 bottles! Yes, they were empty by the time we left.
-If you want to buy bottles, they are available in 3-packs or more; not available by the single bottle.

After Buccella, I watched that amazing 49ers game, and the day could not have been more perfect :)

I just spoke a mouthful, but really I wish to have more Buccella.

+1. Great service at this & the NY location(SOHO). Fantastic frames speak for themselves. :)

review for the RESTAURANT
Auberge is one of the places you go to impress.  Whether it's the spa, hotel, restaurant..

Expensive for the quality of food.
View is spectacular :)

Funny note on their menu
Why on their menu it says slow cooked "hen egg" is bewildering.
Do roosters lay eggs?

Would people get confused that it would be turtle eggs if they didn't specify?

ri-tardz would.

I had a great experience at Charlie's fixtures. It was the 23rd of December and I arrived at 2:05. Who would know that they were closing that day at 2:00pm (It was a friday) for a company holiday party?

While most of the staff said "we're closed", one dude(i'm determined to get his name up on this yelp review) said no problem and was very patient while I grabbed a lot of Carbon/Blue steel pans - Paderno (Italian brand).

Sautéing is the best in these carbon steel pans; even better than All-Clad.

Thanks for keeping the doors open after closing :)

yo pienso que este lugar dispensan el mejor tacos de pescado en los angeles.

El Mundo? No.

Oops hi.

I'm not in Mexico? Oh, California?

(same thing)

these are the best fish tacos I've had outside of Mexico. Not to say they aren't flawed.

The batter in Mexico is crispier and when it's done, you get it served.   In Mex, they don't wait to complete your whole order before they serve you.  You eat, then you pay.  Here, I got the baja taco (flour tortilla, 2x the size of the regular fish taco), the Fish taco(corn), and the massive shrimp quesadilla.  I was disheartened to see my poor fish tacos sitting on the prep station for 5 minutes while my Quesadilla was being prepared.

Just serve it to me already, damnit.  

A few minutes makes a big difference. That's what she said.  

The roadside taco joints in Mex are often within vicinity of the water, getting daily deliveries, and it's not pollock or tilapia being served up in a taco. You taste the freshness of the ocean.  for $2 (in USA) how good 'a quality 'o fish can you get? Not very.  With the fish that Tacos Baja Ensenada used, it was as good as it could be.

The same problem with the shrimp quesadilla.  Absolutely LOADED with shrimp (probably 30 small/medium shrimp), but you don't taste the shrimp nor the fish because it wasn't killed that week let alone that day.

IMO there's no better fish taco than a fresh leopard grouper taco in Mexico.
This will have to do for here :)

E