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Il Pastaio authentic Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills

The chef Giacomino Drago is from Sicily, yet his cooking is influenced by all regions of Italy. He is a businessman and he knows how the best Italian restaurant should look even in Los Angeles. Busy, vibrant, lively and homey. The diner has to feel like eating at a family table. And, that is exactly how we felt at Il Pastaio. Staged in the midst of the fancy shopping frenzy of Beverly Hills, Il Pastaio brings normality into the fake façades of the rich and surgically beautiful living and driving to this affluent LA area.

You almost feel like in Italy. I love the busy and noisy chatter inside Il Pastaio reminding me of my favourite restaurants in Italy. That is why I am always happy to be seated inside. The service was friendly, attentive and speaking the charming ‘Italiaglish’.
In fall, the truffle season menu flies in the temptation to order some specials enhanced by this intensely aromatic fungus. Like the Carpaccio di Bue al Tartufo was out of the world expensive ($62) but the tender beaf with truffles were exquisite. Served with porcini, arugula, fresh black truffle, shaved parmesan and fondue dressing it was opulent and I would recommend it as a main course to alleviate the high price.

For a lighter start the Carpaccio di Pesce Spada, a swordfish carpaccio with arugula, fennel, baby frisèe salad, capers, olive oil and lemon dressing was fabulous and refreshing.
Linguine con Crostacei, the linguini pasta with half lobster and crab meat in a light and slightly spicy tomato sauce were slightly disappointing. Unfortunately, the pastas were not cooked al dente.

We shared Risotto with fresh truffles ($55), again the aromatic mushrooms added up to the price, though this time it was not worth it as the rice was too undercooked! A balance needs to be weighed into the pasta and rice cooking time at Il Pastaio.
We shared three desserts. The Tiramisu was perfetto – the creamy mascarpone between the layers of a spongy cake soaked with liquor (fortified marsala from Sicily) and sprinkled with dark chocolate powder. With cappuccino it was a double shot.
The Apple pie with vanilla ice cream is not the most typical Italian sweet treat, but which country does not have its own adaptation of an apple pie? My favorite dessert at Il Pastaio. The perfectly crisp crust nesting the caramelized apple melted together with the vanilla ice cream like lovers kissing each other for the first time.
An extra scoop of the house Vanilla gelato was a refreshing yet creamy cherry on the cake left for the last bite.

The wine list is very good sporting iconic Italian wines such as Ornellaia and Sassicaia, but also more friendly-priced bottles around $30. We started with a bottle of Sicilian Chardonnay from Planeta, which never disappoints. It has a fuller body thanks to oak ageing. From the reds we got a less pricier version from the Antinori family – Tignanello (it is still a hit with almost $200, yet a three times less than the Antinori’s iconic Ornellaia). It is a wonderful wine, elegant and rich at the same time. With pasta and desserts is a great wine. Il Pastaio also passed my expert test with their cappuccino, which had a frothy thick foam and slightly milky body as it should be.
The savvy chef cum businessman ventured into Japanese cuisine with Shu Sushi and Yojisan Sushi.
400 N.Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, US
+1 310 205 5444
Mon-Wed: 11:30am – 11:00pm; Thu-Sat 11:30am – midnight; Sun: 11:30am – 10:00pm

Urasawa: the most exclusive Japanese restaurant hidden on Rodeo Drive

Hiroyuki Urasawa is often praised as the best japanese chef in America. I have not dined at all of the thousands of Japanese restaurants in the US, but if one has to choose one place to dine before you die in California, Urasawa could win the highly competitive contest. Intimate, exclusive with an attentive service, this can easily be one of the top restaurants in Tokyo and Kyoto.

Born and raised in Japan the chef’s food preparation stems from a respect for tradition, striving for the highest quality and meticulous hand-crafting of each dish. The results are mind-blowing.

A curious feature decorating most of his minuscule dishes is a golden leaf signifying the highest quality of ingredients used in their preparation. Urasawa uses the best fish, seafood, vegetables and condiments at his super-exclusive restaurant hidden in an office building in Beverly Hills’ ultra-luxurious Rodeo Drive. When I refused his mackerel sushi (I’m not a fan of raw mackerel), he rebuked saying “this is the best mackerel on the world.” Underscoring that he chooses only the best food stuff he can find. Yet, for someone like me, who does not like raw mackerel, even the best one still remains a challenging food to appreciate.

Aside of the mackerel, I just ate and enjoyed everything and it indeed looked and tasted as anything I have ever had before.
With so many courses and artistic presentation of each dish on a unique plate I must publish more pictures than usually as I cannot choose one or two representing the wide spectrum of dishes prepared by Urasawa. The food is so complex and the textures so unique that the pictures can tell more than words.

All dishes are beautifully presented as if they were permanent artwork and not a plate with food that will be eaten in minutes to follow. In accordance with the Japanese kaiseki meal artistry, the materials used for presentation of the courses were evoking nature and highlighting the dishes presented on them.

This luxurious spoonful bite was perhaps my favorite course (although it is hard to pick one as everything is so perfect at Urasawa!). The caviar with abalone is considered as the highest class treat in Asia. The chef Urasawa is the master of playing with food textures. It was fascinating and adventurous to eat his food as it was something undiscovered for my palate and my taste buds. One has to try it, because words cannot do the sufficient job here as the palate is more sophisticated and complex than any vocabulary.

The chef’s signature dish is the warm dish – his kaiseki steamed meal with intense yellow miso sauce. The ingredients change according to a season, there can be seafood, tofu or vegetables steamed on a large leaf above a pot of hot water. Although it is small, it is satisfying and stomach soothing.

Final part of our X-course dinner were two desserts. The first was more of a palate cleaner with it’s jelly-like texture and refreshing fruity zest. The second was an incredibly delicate and tasty sesame paste with nuts served with a bowl of freshly prepared matcha tea.
Drinks: Green tea is excellent. The wine list is not very extensive yet it features some off-the-piste wines from Japanese producers. We had a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc from Napa made by a Japanese producer Asatsuyu. It was an intensely floral sauvignon perfectly accompanying most of Urasawa’s dishes. The sake list is very good, although we saw some guests bring their own bottle and then sharing it with the chef.

Ambience: Very quiet, there is no music, not many guests as there is only the sushi counter for up to 10 people and a small private table aside. You might be tempted to whisper in this meditative atmosphere. A great spot for a special date or inviting your mum for a unique dinner as one of the fellow diners did and she was Japanese – it’s always a good sign to see Japanase people at a japanese restaurant.
Visit: March 2012 & October 2014
Adress: 218 N Rodeo Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210, US
Price: Ultra-expensive as the restaurant is super-exclusive, a set menu of multiple-courses with an almost private chef experience (the restaurant is tiny) measures up to for most of us once-in-a-life dining experience.
Contact & opening hours: +1 (310) 247-8939; Tue-Sat 6 pm – 9 pm
! Beware of taking pictures. The last time I dined there the staff asked me not to take pictures, so you will have to keep the experience for your pure gustatory pleasure of the moment.

Tavern: star gazing while dining in Los Angeles

Tavern is their most complex and ambitious project to date of the chef and sommelier duo Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne. Well-known to the LA’s sprawling restaurant scene, they also own Lucques and the AOC wine bar in West Hollywood.

Tavern welcomes you with a bar, a spacious greenhouse hosting the restaurant and a gourmet shop/bakery called Larder. All that under one roof, so you can choose whether to come for a quick breakfast or get a freshly baked baguette from the Larder, a lunch or dinner at the eponymous restaurant or just a drink and snack at the bar.

Food: Spiced carrot and beet salad with queso fresco and green harissa is not cheep for an appetizer ($16), but it is delicious and big for a pre-main course dish. Multi-colored carrots are shaved over harissa paste and the fresh cheese adds creamy texture to a crunchy mass of veggies.

Roasted root vegetables with prosciutto, buratta and abamele, pricey for a starter ($17) and a bit smaller than the spiced carrot salad. The prosciutto and buratta are of outstanding quality though and the glazed vegetables with abamele are intensely flavored with this honey-like sauce (Making abamele: honeycombs are pressed to extract all honey and pollen which is then reduced in copper pots, creating one of the most ancient products of Sardinian gastronomy) matching perfectly the fatty cheese and meat on the plate. Ideal with a glass of Pinot Noir.
The signature dish at Tavern is The devil’s chicken with braised leeks, onions and mustard breadcrumbs, but we were advised to get a duck instead since the devil’s chicken is regularly on the menu and the other dishes are added seasonally.
The Duck confit with farro, black rice, pea shoots, tangerines and dates was much more expensive ($36) than the signature chicken. It was excellent in terms of combination of different flavors, the duck was great and the meal hearty as most of the food at Tavern. The sweet dates were an interesting alternative to a plum compote and other sweet condiments served usually with duck. The tangerines added zest and juice. The pea shoots lightened up the otherwise heavy meal.

Since the chef Suzanne Goin cooks according the produce she finds on Santa Monica market I was curious which fish her Tavern chef picked. The Market fish with cous-cous, spring vegetables, mint yogurt and kumquats ($29) was a red snapper served with Morocco-inspired sides. The cous-cous was disappointingly bland, but after mixing it up with the creamy mint yogurt, zesty kumquats and oily vegetables it got more flavour. As I mentioned the latter was a bit more oily to my taste which combined with the already oily pan-fried fish resulted in a hearty dish where one would expect something lighter.

Drinks: The wines by the glass are mostly from California. We tried the white blend by Chien which was very interesting and accompanied the fish well. A BTG Chardonnay was okay as well as a Chenin Blanc from Habit. From the reds other disappointments were a blend of Syrah and Grenache from Beespoke as well as an out of balance Cabernet Franc from Lang&Reed. One would expect that at a restaurant where a sommelier is one of the owners, the wines by the glass would be better. I must add that they were not cheep. The AOC is generally a much better place to have a great glass of wine. It is possible that we were just unlucky with our choice, with the exception of the white wine from Chien in Santa Barbara. This wine was made as the Alsatian popular table wine known as the Edelzwicker blend.
A good selection of scotch, bottled as well as tap beer and cocktails satisfy the non-wine oriented yet alcohol drinking population.
The dessert lovers will relish a strawberry-rhubarb buckle with gaviota strawberries, streusel and buttermilk ice-cream. It was like a crumble baked with rhubarb and strawberries. The buttermilk ice-cream was the best bite.

Tavern is a neighbourhood restaurant with generations-spawning clientele. Since the bar is an entry to the restaurant, it adds buzz to the dining area. One can also take on stargazing while waiting for the ordered meal as the entire roof is made from glass. Romantic souls will be intrigued.
Visit: March 2012
11648 West San Vicente Boulevard, Brentwood, Los Angeles, CA 90049, US
+1 310 806 6464
Breakfast: Mon-Fri 8am-11am; Brunch: Sat-Sun 10am-2:30pm; Lunch: 11:30am-2:30pm; bar menu: from 3pm daily; Dinner: Mon-Thurs 5:30pm-9:30pm, Fri-Sat 5:30pm-10:30pm, Sun 5pm-9:30pm;
The Larder delicatessen 8am-8pm daily

Wolfgang Puck at Bel Air hotel

I have eaten at this perhaps most elegant Californian restaurant in LA on countless occasions and although the locally sourced meal can be excellent there, I have noticed slight inconsistencies. It shows the Hollywood glamour to dine at Wolfgang Puck.

Still the gourmet Californian cuisine with European influence of Wolfgang Puck at the Bel Air hotel is better than recently his coveted Spago. Once the chicken is great, other time boring. The most popular dish on the menu – the Dover sole – can be overcooked. The sauce and everything on the fish (sugar snap peas, asparagus, chive) has always bean perfectly executed.

The bread has always been fresh and crisp. The olive ‘tree’-shaped bread put in the middle of the table is my favorite and the most interesting feature on the table. Also the fruit and nut bread served with cheese is wholesomely good.

From the starters the Baby beets and roasted celery root are as if eating from a late fall garden with goats hopping around, their fresh milk yielding the creamy cheese. The Spring salad with almonds is much bigger than most of the appetisers, beware. The Fava bean bruschetta and Fairview organic’s farm baby gem lettuces was boring and overpriced.

The Pan roasted organic Jidori chicken is hearty, glazed with a rich sauce and the vegetables add flavour to the quite bland chicken. Both of my grandparents had chickens running freely around their gardens so the meat was always tender and full of flavour, and in France, where I live, chicken has an almost divine status, the Bresse Controlled Apellation of Origin leading the suite. There, the three-michelin-star chef Georges Blanc brings cooking of this bird to perfection. His mother-inspired recipe is a homage to chicken. Since my taste buds rely on such a privileged experience with chicken, I am a tough judge to please.
Perfected already at his famous restaurant Cut, the 35day dry aged prime sirloin steak is the highlight of the menu at Wolfgang Puck at Bel Air hotel. Juicy, tender with a smoked bone marrow sauce and served with roasted vegetables.
The un-ecological Blue Fin “Toro” tartare off the menu in more sustainably minded restaurants is also the star here. The fish is wrapped by a sheet of crisp cucumber, served with two spicy sauces and decorated with edible flowers, delicious.
From the desserts the fruity berry Soufle is worth the wait. As your spoon breaks through the crust and dives into a warm berry-infused cake the fragrance hits your nose big. Dipping the hot spoonful into the ice-cream balances the heat.

The wine-by-the-glass list is amazing. There are wines from everywhere. You won’t old rarities like at Spago, but one can find interesting and less-known wines from small producers. The sommelier advices and listens very well and does not push you.
The restaurant has three different parts. One of them indoors and two peaking into the hotel’s lush garden. The most comfortable and private are the booths at the back room. The Hollywood enjoys dining at one of the back tables overlooking the Swan Lake.

On Friday and Saturday from 3pm to 4pm you can come for the afternoon tea to this restaurant by Wolfgang Puck. A special treat to start the weekend.
Visits: March 2012 – 2016
Price: High – a combination of a famous chef and five-star hotel location adds zeroes to the bill
Bel Air Hotel, 701 Stone Canyon Rd, LA, CA 90077, US
+1 310 472 1211
Breakfast: 7-10:30am; Lunch: 11:30am-2pm; Brunch: Sun 11am-3pm; Dinner: Sun-Thu 6pm-10pm & Fri-Sat 5:30-10:30pm

Shamshiri Grill in LA: Persian food in the city of stars

Various local LA publications rate Shamshiri Grill as one of the best Persian restaurants in LA. It certainly was not on the Monday night we went there or there is not really much great Persian food in LA with the exception of the local Persian community’s home kitchens, which I was lucky to have been invited to.

Food: Rich, giant, and generally boring. It is nice that they offer freshly baked bread, yet it turned out too chewy for me, I prefer my flat bread being more tender like the artisanal Sangak whole wheat sourdough flat bread at the Woodland Hills Bakery in the Valley. The basic, but not the best quality Feta cheese with herbs and walnuts, as well as the Shirazi salad were unimpressive. The Kashk-E-Bademjan of seasoned sautéed eggplants prepared with caramelised onion and sautéed mint mixed with kashk (a thick yoghurt whey) was delicious though. Rich, on the oily side, but very tasty.

The main courses at Shamshiri Grill are so big, that two people would have hard work to finish just one. We had an Okra stew with lamb, which did not have much saffron in its tomato sauce as the menu claimed, as it was so bland that we could not finish even a quarter of the gargantuan plate. On the other hand, the house beef special ‘Beef Shamshiri’, a combination of the heart of tenderloin and a skewer of seasoned ground beef was quite good yet since the meet was very dry we missed some sauce. It was served with a huge portion of dry rice and grilled vegetables of inferior taste. The minced beef was my favourite plate, but I would order any juicy sauce the waiter recommends to you with it.

After such a heavy, even though barely half-finished, meal we did not feel like indulging in the desserts at the Shamshiri Grill. Perhaps they are tastier than most of the food we had from the menu that evening. The conclusion: come in a group and share as much as you can.
Cuisine: Persian
Visit: March 2012
Price: The portions are so giant that two to three people can share the main course, so it is a bargain.

Drinks: From fresh mint tea through black Persian tea and yoghurt-based drinks, the offer is generous. There is a bottle of red wine sitting on each table so if you cannot decide what to drink, just ask the waiter to open the Merlot or a Cab in front of you. If you are a wine connoisseur rather ask for the wine list though.
Atmosphere: The service is very friendly and welcoming. The restaurant is spacious and hums with chatter of the customers. You can dress casually or dress up a bit.
1712 Westwood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90024
+1 310 474 1410
Mon-Sun 11:30am-10pm

Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica

Chef: Richard Irving is a self-taught chef whose cooking is inspired by his travels. From France and Italy back to California you will find on hand-painted plates a bit of everything. His wife is an actress and decorator responsible for Ivy’s cosy designs. Their original restaurant is located in Beverly Hills, yet I prefer their near-the-ocean setting in santa Monica for its getaway atmosphere.
One must love this place just for its ambiance. The restaurant’s interior transports you to an exotic island and the fresh and rustic food takes you on a trip across the oceans of the world. From Caribbean to Mediterranean, your plate will be taken on a life cruise.

Food: The seafood is Ivy’s stronghold. Their crab claws, Maine lobster, prawns, oysters and calamari in any form from a salad to an appetizer and main course in a pasta dish or on a pizza are usually very good. You can eat light or indulge in a fried portion of calamari or a crab cake. They have some meat dishes, but we tend to eat their seafood for the kitchen has mastered it so well.
The crab cakes with homemade tartar sauce are all about crab and not like in many disappointing places a potato mash with pieces of crab moulded into a bun. They a perfect snack to start or if you desire a unique pizza, then an oven-baked lobster pizza will not disappoint. With a thin crust and generous toping this a pizza a la Italy.
I usually go there for lunch so ordering one of the Ivy’s generous salads became a routine I hardly resist to change. Their salads are so different and big that I always leave sated and bemused how many ingredients they manage to out into one dish while keeping it tasty and not overwhelming. I would call most of their salads ‘wholesome’. Avocados, lettuce, chicken, herbs grilled beets, zucchini, tomatoes, cheese and many others just in one dish. You will be nourished. Freshly baked bread with butter will satisfy your naughty self.

Drinks: The cocktails are the highlight of the drinks-list. They all look so fresh and perfectly designed that sipping on a banana daiquiri in middle of the day cannot make one feel guilty of relishing such a pleasure. The only drawback is, that it can turn into a wild night out as you will not be able to stop, how great the stuff is. The wine list is world-travelled as well. There is a bit from every corner of our tiny planet. With roses being a big hit now. The freshly squeezed juices are decorated as if you were on a cool island where pineapples and melons grow everywhere around you.

Atmosphere: The colors are everywhere and the naval decoration adds to a chilled yet vibrant setting. The food and hot drinks are served in a hand-made and hand-painted pottery available for sale at the restaurant. The crowd ranges from business lunchers to artsy friends so the place is far from monotonous.
Contact & opening hours: +1 (310) 393-3113; 8am-11pm, Monday – Saturday; 8am-10pm on Sunday
Cuisine: Modern Californian with international inspiration
Location: 1535 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 904 01, US
Price: medium high, yet the salads are a great value as they are huge and filling.

Pho Citi Noodle Soup in LA

Craving a nourishing and healthy soup after seeing a movie in a cinema steered the wheel of our car towards this low-key bistro on Westwood Boulevard.

Food: In the US two things are good sign that the place is safe and probably at least quite good. First, asking whether they use msg in their food so you know the food is safe and fresh. Second, seing the eatery almost full means that it must have good food. The customers of Pho are mostly students coming for a bite to eat from UCLA. Two tables were vietnamese girls assuring me that this is the right soup place. My vietnamese friend in London always said: “The best soup is fresh, healthy and in the West usually found in not as fancy places.”

We got the mixed appetizer platter of vegetable summer-rolls (cuốn), chicken dumplings and fried egg rolls (chả giò). All three were excellent. The summer-rolls were fresh, crispy and the selection of sauces made them more fun as we dipped each bite into a different one. Super-hot chilly, refreshing lime and chilly, soya and hoisin-style sauces were all authentic. The fried snacks were not oily, just perfectly crisp and the fillings were like a roller-coaster – intense and changing as you munch through them.
What is great about the Pho soups with noodles is that they are so big that a bowl of Pho can be your entire dinner saving you $$. They are suitable for carnivores, vegetarians and even vegans as you can choose your broth, condiments such as meet, vegetables, tofu or soy based meet. We chose the vegetarian option out of interest. The tofu and vegetable soup was fresh, delicate and very interesting as we could play with the ingredients on the side plate. We could add mungo beans, lime, green chilly pepper or an Eastern type of basil. I have done it all and it was just great.
Cuisine: vietnamese
Location: Westwood, Los Angeles, California US
Visit: March 2012
Price: Moderate to low for LA (a dinner for two can cost as little as $20 including drinks, soups around $7)
Drinks: This is the place where you can get the real coconut water served with a spoon and a straw as at an exotic place. It was so good that I was transferred for a moment to Kuala Lumpur, where I had this delicious natural drink for the first time. Pho is an ideal place for a night without alcohol. You can rehydrate yourself after a night partying as it is open 24/7! Instead of burgers and pizza heaving a recharging and healthy soup or fresh veggie spring rolls would surely have won a support from your doctor.
Atmosphere: Very relaxed, low-key, full of young people looking for value. No worries about what to wear. The service is prompt and friendly.
Pho Citi is located across LA, so if you are hungry at 4am, you do not need to go far whether you are in Hollywood, Beverly Hills or Downtown.
Contact&opening hours: +1(310) 446-8070; open 24/7

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