Join The Ozzy Foundation this Wednesday February 10th for an evening of strong drinks, tasty eats, drag queens and Legendary Bingo at Hamburger Mary’s in West Hollywood, all to raise funds for the Ozzy Foundation. Event proceeds will provide emergency grants to pet guardians who cannot afford to treat their chronically ill pets.

Celeb ball caller Zach Selwyn joins Bingo Boy, and the ever Fab Miss Bridget of Madison County for what promises to be a fun and wild ride of an evening.

A $20 donation at the door gets you 10 bingo cards and chances to win great prizes (gift baskets, portable DVD player, designer handbags, and more!). The fun starts at 9pm, but get there early to grab a table!

The famed Sunset Marquis is a beautiful Mediterranean-style all-suite hotel in the heart of West Hollywood. It’s known as a favorite for musicians, record execs, and celebs alike for it’s first class amenities and secluded nature. Musicians can go directly from laying down some vocal tracks in the recording studio located in the basement, to downing some Jack Daniels at the bar.

I had only previously been to the Sunset Marquis one time in the late nineties. In typical Hollywood fashion, I met with some music friends who where there to meet up with a possible record investor at the Whiskey Bar (now called Bar 1200). And like a true Hollywood story, he died of a cocaine overdose several years later, but that’s another story. I had never made it any further than the bar, until this past weekend, when I attended a Bordeaux dinner at the Restaurant inside the hotel.

The bread with olive tapenade would be our base.

I got the invite from a friend and Sommelier at Regency Wines for the dinner. Regency Wines is an importer and distributor of fine wines here in Los Angeles. They also host events occasionally, and this one was a special one indeed. A five-course meal, each course paired with Bordeaux from Chateau Lagrange, Chateau Rauzen-Segla, and Chateau Canon, prepared for us by Chef Guillaume Burlion.

The Restaurant is beautiful, a garden oasis in the middle of a concrete jungle. The outdoor bar is perfect for a pre-dinner cocktail, and most everyone is eating outside on this warm spring evening. We’ve got the entire indoor seating area to ourselves, but the large glass doors in the dining room opened up to the patio, letting a cool breeze into the room as we’re served our first course. To start off, a glass of white Bordeaux 07 Les Arums de Lagrange. It’s served with a sautéed langoustine with foie gras over a petite herb salad. I’ve never had a white Bordeaux before and it’s really quite nice. The wine was light and refreshing, not too sweet or dry. The langoustine and foie gras were delicious and paired well with the wine.

07 Les Arums de Lagrange

Sautéed langoustine with foie gras over a petite herb salad

The second course, and my favorite, was the morel crusted sea bass with a roasted garlic confit. The delicious mushrooms and mild garlic confit were simply heavenly on the tender sea bass. Paired with the fish were a 03 and 05 Chateau Rauzan Segla Bordeaux. That’s right, you heard correct, when we hit our second course they were pairing each dish with two different vintages of the same wine. We were able to taste and compare the different nuances of the different vintages.

Morel crusted sea bass with a roasted garlic confit

03 and 05 Chateau Rauzan Segla

Lucky for us, the wineries were there to help talk us through the complex differences of the wines. Some with mellower tannins due to extra years in the bottle, some more fruit forward because of weather the year the grapes were harvested. Or second course came with a Chateau Lagrange 95 and 01. It was paired with crispy suckling pig in potato crust in a fresh sage fumet. As good as this sounds, the dish itself was bland, a little mushy, and not crispy at all. It was too complicated, and I couldn’t’ tell what exactly I was eating.

Crispy suckling pig in potato crust in a fresh sage fumet

The next dish, a filet of Canadian Elk was apparently hunted from a Helicopter. Unfairness aside, I guess it’s better than our typical slaughter houses where we buy most of our store bought beef from. It was paired with a 98 and 05 Chateau Canon. The elk was similar to buffalo, almost no marbled fat, slightly tough, but decadent and flavorful with the sea pike quenelles and a Bordeaux reduction sauce.

Canadian elk with sea pike quenelles

For dessert, a cannele de Bordeaux with crème anglaise served with a Tariquet Bas Armagnac dessert wine. The cannele was delicious, but not being much a dessert wine fan, and after consuming 7 other, very generous tastings, we opted out of the final glass of wine.

Cannele de Bordeaux with crème anglaise

Chef Guillaume Burlion came out to chat with us.

24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs. Dig Lounge was one of the lucky selections for Food Buzz’s highlights as one of the 24 food bloggers, “From San Francisco to Sydney, Feast on it!”

We feasted on a wonderful wine paring dinner at Gordon Ramsay at the London. I hate to admit it, I’m a fan of Gordon Ramsay. I watch both Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. Some are turned off by his aggressive and over bearing personality, but what I see is a love for everything that makes a great restaurant, amazing food, good presentation, pleasing ambiance, and flawless service. They’ve cut none of those corners at The London, and it shows. While S Irene gave it a so-so review in the Times back in July of last year, my experience proved to be much more exciting.

The restaurant itself is beautiful. As you enter through the hotel lobby, the floors are lined with shimmering marble, white mosaic tile, with glowing hues of cream and gold. We’re seated immediately, and begin to plan our multi course dinner. The menu is set up, from light to heavier dishes, and you are encouraged to order a few plates, which I love because I can never choose just one item. The food is a mix of french and asian but with a definite California twist. We briefly chat with the waiter, and Eric the Wine Director to help plan our meal. We prefer red wine, but Eric talks us into mixing it up a little.

To get the palate going the start us with a small taste of Short Rib Dumplings and Eel Roll. It’s paired with a taste of Foreau Vouvray Brut. The dumplings were very tasty, and the brut was well balanced, with tropical fruits along with under-tones of honey and mineral flavors.

The amuse bouche for the evening is a delightful Steamed Bamboo Shoot and Shiitake Mushroom Chawanmushi paired lovely with a Yuki No Bosha Daiginjo Sake. The custard was light, but with rich mushroom flavors finishing on the tip of the tongue. The sake was light and airy with upfront notes of white pepper that fade into dried apricot and citrus. It went great with the custard, sweet, with no bitter aftertaste.

A little something to wake up the palate.

Amuse-bouche, a shitake mushroom custard.

Even though we both prefer red, for our second course Eric mixed in a glass of Domane Wachau Gruner. Gruner comes from Austria, and while Austria is known for it’s selection of Riesling wines, there is actually more Gruner planted in the country than there is Reisling. While it’s not as sweet as Riesling, I’m still not a huge fan of white wine. But it pairs well with our first course. We order the Dressed King crab, avocado and cucumber, with basil purée and paddle fish caviar. The king crab is fresh, the cucumber roll with king crab and caviar is decedent. We also got the Ballottine of rabbit and apple smoked bacon, vegetable piccalilli and toasted brioche. Everything on the plate came together very well, the rabbit, smoked bacon, rich piccalilli and toasted brioche were superb.

The Ballottine of rabbit.

Dressed King crab with paddle fish caviar.

For our second course we ordered the Mushroom Veloute with short ribs and a herbed sour cream and the Jerusalem Artichoke risotto. Both dishes were outstanding. Eric paired an excellent Pinot from Sea Smoke to go with the dishes. It was a perfect pairing to go with the rich and creamy dishes.

Rich and creamy Mushroom Veloute.

Perfectly cooked artichoke risotto.

Our 3rd, and “main” course, is paired with two different Syrahs. An Ojai Vineyard and L’hiver. Forget Pinot, Syrah is my current wine obsession. Rich and deep in color and flavor and both Syrahs are excellent, although the Ojai Vineyard Syrah edges out as the favorite. My Pacific black cod with honshimeji mushrooms, braised leeks and kalamansi lime broth, was a little boring, and didn’t have much flavor beyond the lime broth. But our other dish, the Top sirloin and confit shoulder of Sonoma lamb, with glazed pearl onions, and rosemary jus was cooked to perfection. The confit shoulder of lamb was fork tender, and the rosemary jus was heaven.

A somewhat bland Pacific black cod in lime broth.

Medium rare top sirloin, confit of lamb shoulder, and a rosemary jus.

With the small bites of the first three courses we both have room for a little dessert, and it didn’t disappoint. For dessert, Eric brings out some late harvest syrahs. Late harvest wines are made by harvesting the grapes a little bit later, allowing them to ripen on the vine. It’s a perfect match for the Chocolate cream savarin with malted milk emulsion and salted caramel ice cream and the Roasted banana parfait with lime sherbet and a vanilla cream beignet. Both deserts were pure decadence. A great plate of three deserts, coming into one flavor.

The banana parfait with lime sherbet and vanilla beignet.

A chocolate cream savarin with malted milk emulshion and a salted caramel ice cream.

People might scrutinize the fact that Gordon Ramsay isn’t actually in the kitchen every night. But trusty Chef De Cuisine Andy Cook’s years of experience behind Ramsay show through in the execution of every dish. It was a meal to remember, from the great flavors, to the amazing wine pairing and attentive service from the entire staff.

If you’re looking for a nice brunch place for this Valentine weekend, look no further than Comme Ca in West Hollywood. Their French twist on the American Brunch is fantastic. Steak tartare, a wonderful Comme Ca burger, Croque Monsieur, Pork Belly Baguette, Eggs Benedict, Quiche, cheese plates, and so much more (full menu below). Hair of the dog cockatils include champagne, a carafe of wine, or choose from one of their specialty drinks like the El Diablo or East Side Cocktail. Or, S’il vous plaît, sip on some delicious Intelligentsia coffee with desserts from Boule. Bon appetite!

The Pain Perdu, creme brulee french toast.

The Prosciutto and Brie Baguette

The delectable Comme Ca Burger

Comme Ca brunch menu, click for a larger version

Chicks With Knives is a secret dinner club hosted at various undisclosed locations. It’s put together by, who else but a couple of chicks (Rachel and Pace) with very sharp knives and keen chef skills. They feature sustainable, organic food and and use local, farm-raised produce and meats. This month’s supper club, taking place in a undisclosed location in West Hollywood is on Jan 25 at 6:30pm, features a 4 course meal for $48.

On the menu this month, Carrot-Fennel Soup, Smoked Mushroom Salad, Steamship Style Beef Short Ribs with Root Vegetable Mash & Hash, Sticky Almond Cake with Blood Orange Curd & Meyer Lemon Sugar Glass. Email invite@chickswithknives.com for the link and password if you want tickets.

On Wednesday, Sept 17, check out a night of Legendary Bingo to help raise funds for the furry friends of the Ozzy Foundation. Actress/comedienne Debra Wilson Skelton and a drag queen extraordinaire will be the, ummmm, ballcallers for the evening. There are some great prizes for winners too. Hamburger Mary’s full bar and menu will be available. Suggested donation at the door is $20. Bingo starts at 9pm but arrive early if you want a good table.

I’m still not exactly sure how to pronounce it, but as word of mouth quickly spreads about the new David Myers French brasserie Comme Ca, it wont matter what it’s called or how it’s pronounced. Because it simply is… all that. Yes there are kinks to work out as with any new place, with new employees and new menus. They completely over booked for that night. I waited 30 min past my reservation time before finally settling for a seat at the cocktail bar, which I do not regret as you’ll hear in a bit. But the overbooking is probably caused by the amount of time it is taking people to get their food. I saw one table of two leave without getting their food, and even a few people with reservations leave because the wait was too long. Rightfully so, it took nearly an hour for my main course to come out (The bartender comped my wine, nice touch.) But it was worth the wait.

Everything you’ve heard about the restaurant being loud, is true. But not so loud that you can’t hear the people in your party. The bar is one of the livelier places in the restaurant. The bartenders are friendly and entertaining. Plus they are loaded with cocktail making talent. They are drink masters, professional mixologists. Whipping up classics like Manhattans and Side Cars, or creating their own concoctions if you ask for the “dealers choice”. Tell them what kind of booze you prefer and how sweet you want it and they create something out of hand crushed block ice and fresh juices.

The menu is classic French. They were out of the Beef Marrow and Oxtail jam, so I order the Steak Tartar ($14). Hand cut and delicate but full of flavor and ever so tender. For the main course I order the New Zealand Snapper ($27). The skin is crispy and full of flavor. I am always reluctant to eat fish with the skin still on, but I couldn’t resist the flavors grilled into the fish, it was salty, but I love salt. It was served on a bed of diced carrots, artichokes and potatoes, drizzled with a light pesto sauce. It was simple, but amazing. If you like cheese, you will love the cheese bar.

I will be returning, soon hopefully. It’s a special treat, especially with the high prices and wait times. But well worth it. Just sit back, enjoy your wine and cheese and enjoy the time with your friends.

Comme Ca
8479 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 782-1104

Libertine Lounge opened this weekend in the previous Wet space (the old Union) and I was able to get a sneak peak at it’s “soft” opening. I apologize and none of my camera pics came out all that great, so instead of showing blurry pics, I’ll just move on to the review. The decor is very simple, plain stark walls with flat screen TV’s hanging here and there, broadcasting some sort of archived NASA footage. There are couches all over the place, which is great if you can snag one before it gets too crowded. There is a back patio with an extra bar downstairs, which seemed unfinished, but was good for the smoking contingent. The music that DJ Catrina Davies was playing wasn’t the kind of music I prefer, so I tried to block out the dance and R&B pumping from the speakers.

Overall you had the feeling you were at someone’s house party. There was a wide variety of people there, Ed Hardy Hollywood hipsters, older guys in suits, the barely legal Sunset strip crowd with barely legal short skirts and then dudes with lots of hair product and cologne. It’s not a place I’ll be back to probably. I prefer my places to have a little more personality than Libertine had. Especially with the $25 parking fee in the lot next door. I’m sure with time, it will find it’s niche of Sunset Blvd hipsters looking to lounge on couches all night and stare at each other. There were still wires hanging from fixtures in the ceiling and you could smell the paint on the walls. A small selection of draft beers are offered, including the champagne of beers, Miller High Life. Drinks from from $7-$12. Pretzels were free.

Libertine Lounge
8210 W. Sunset Blvd

I love Tinto. It’s very approriate too, as Tinto translated from Spanish means red wine and I love red wine. But what I’m talking about here is the new tapas restaurant in West Hollywood. After a soft opening last month, the place is in full swing now.

We arrived at 8:30 thinking that we could sit ahead of our 9pm reservation. No luck, the place was packed and a bit on the noisy side with it’s concrete floors and exposed brick walls. We opt for the slighly less noisy bar and slide into one of the very cozy bar stools.

The friendly bartender recommended a great spanish wine as we browsed the tapas menu. The menu is designed by chefs they hired directly from spain, so we know we are in for a treat. The food did not dissapoint.

My favorite item was the patatas bravas ($8), fried potatoes with paprika emulsion and aioli. I serisouly could have just eaten those with my wine and been perfectly happy. But we also ordered the albondigas sorpresa ($9) (meatball surprise), setas al ajillo ($10) (mushrooms with garlic) and iberico cabrales ($11) (pork with an apple glaze). They also had a main dish with lobster and black truffles that I will be trying on my next visit. Along with everything else on the menu.

Tinto
7511 Santa Monica Blvd (at Gardner)
323-512-3095

Other reviews:
Urband Daddy
Metromix
Citysearch

Had dinner last night at the Dolce owned, trendy Ketchup. I love the idea of fancy comfort food, so I was excited to finally try it. The decor reminded me of what the Standard was doing 10 years ago, sort of a fancy diner meets minimalism thing happening. The place is not that inviting, despite the glowing tomato red lighting. Bottles of Heinz decorate the walls. Which I thought was odd, considering their own line of “homemade” ketchups. They don’t even give you Heinz at the table. Unless their homemade ketchup is just Heinz mixed with other ingredients?

The dining area was very loud, so we had a hard time hearing each other and the waiter. So after asking the waiter to repeat himself a couple of times, we finally ordered our food. We decided to go with the Barking Dogs ($12) and 3Some fries ($12).

The Barking Dogs are these miniature kobe beef hotdogs, served with cheese, chili, cheese and drizzled with their homemade ketchup. The dogs themselves were tasty, but the buns seemed chewy and stale. Almost like they were sitting in a steamer for too long. The 3Some fries are a tray of their 3 choices of french fries and their 5 signature ketchups. Their Ketchup Fries, tossed with a garlic-parmesan mix, were cold and under cooked. The Sweet Potato Fries were overcooked, soggy and also not very hot. Then the Fire Fries, which come spiced with cayenne, weren’t very spicy and were very greasy. Although, these were hot in temperature at least.

We decided to split the main course, Momma’s Meat Loaf ($20). This was just OK and had an odd flavor I couldn’t quite nail down. I guess that’s the “secret” part of the recipe the menu talked about. The service was fine, but like I said I just nodded my head every time the waiter came by because I couldn’t hear him. We skipped dessert. I wasn’t in the mood to pay 8 bucks for a ding dong and ice cream.

Valet parking is available for 10 bucks, or park the car yourself in the parking garage below for 10.50 and spare yourself the tip.

I think next time I want comfort food, I’ll stay home and make my mom’s meatloaf and open a package of Ho-Ho’s. But just in case you want to try for yourself…

Ketchup
8590 Sunset Blvd (Cross Street: Alta Loma Road)
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(310) 289-8590