Jonathan Gold

It’s my two-year blogging anniversary, and I have been thinking about all my culinary adventures. Out of my 71 blog posts I have picked 11 favorites that are worth mentioning again.

November 2015 – Newberry Springs was the last stop on our Route 66 Road Trip. Buffalo Burgers at the Bagdad Café. I loved “Standing on the Corner in Winslow Arizona”. It was very cool even though it had nothing to do with eating. November 2016 – a friend’s birthday celebration at Fogo de Chao in Beverly Hills – Elaborate sides and salad bar with waiters serving meats on skewers the size of small swords. February 2017 – The Whiskey Bread Pudding at the Side Door in Corona del mar, served with raisins and whipped cream, is scrumptious. June 2017 – Freshly baked muffins with our coffee at The Butcher, Baker, and the Cappuccino Maker (what a great name) in West Hollywood. The patio was so lovely we could have stayed there all day. Dinner that same day at Rustic Canyon. This gets bolded because we were served one of the best meals I have ever had the privilege to enjoy. Shared plates is a great idea here because everything on the menu sounded so good…… even the luscious lavender almonds served with our cocktails.

November 2017 – Puesto Irvine serves Equisto, a delicious grilled corn with chile, lime, queso and crema. Saint and Second in Belmont Shore in January 2018 was a very pleasant experience from food and service to atmosphere. I especially liked the Apple Pear Shrimp Salad. My lunch on May 21st was a complete surprise. Benji’s is a coffee shop in Tustin that has been in operation for many years. The food was pretty traditional but very good. The Lemon Marscapone Cake the waitress insisted I order was one of the best desserts I have ever tasted!!

April 29 craving something Cuban called for a trip to the Porto’s in Buena Park. Their Chicken Tamales have the lightest, tastiest masa ever!. During my month long birthday celebration on June 9th at Republique on La Brea in Los Angeles, we were surprised that seating was community tables (not my favorite way to enjoy food). It was very noisy, and the service was slow. The food was good though – especially the Prime Dry Aged Ribeye Cap. Shared plates is still very popular.

I must include Willie Mae’s in New Orleans on my list because they really do serve the “best Fried Chicken in the nation!” It certainly is the best I have ever tasted by far!!!

The Other Thing – Jonathan Gold, the Pulitzer-prize winning food critic for the Los Angeles Times passed away on Saturday, July 21st. His annual “101 Best Restaurants” has been my guide. I didn’t always agree with him but he always paid attention food trucks and the little mom and pop operations. He wasn’t always a fan of the “snooty” and ridiculously expensive restaurants. I have only tried 10 out of the 101 but I’m working on it. Mr. Gold will be greatly missed.

The 2017 edition of Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants shows Garlic & Chives as #93. As a food critic for the Los Angeles for a number of years, he uses this numbering system to rate restaurants in the Los Angeles area, with a few thrown in from Orange County.

I am not sure exactly what criteria Mr. Gold uses to determine which will appear in the annual culinary publication. This was my conundrum when having lunch with Julie at Garlic & Chives this week. Our expectations were high, but we were disappointed. Perhaps we expected too much from a restaurant listed as #93. But still – it was in the book. We ordered 3 items items to share – coincidentally the same 3 that were listed in his review. These were also recommended by our waitress when we told her that this was our first visit.

Salmon Belly battered in garlic seasonings and fried crisp, served with house special sauce. The picture in the menu showed large pieces of salmon. In actuality, they were thin strips so heavily battered we could not taste the salmon. The sauce was quite tasty though. See all those peppers? We requested no peppers.

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The Baked Corn Cheese was baked in a hot skillet and topped with mozzarella. This is supposedly a Koreatown dish, but there was nothing special about it. It tasted like it came from a can.

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The redeeming dish was the Pomelo Salad with grapefruit, shrimp, port, banana blossom, carrots, onion, mint and peanuts tossed with house vinaigrette. This was a nice blend of flavors and textures.

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In all fairness, we did not order any of the numerous entrees. The menu is quite extensive. Also, when you see Asians dining in an Asian restaurant you figure it must be pretty good. Our experience, however, did not warrant our return.

The Other Thing — Since June is my birthday month, Julie started it off by giving me a lovely lemon birthday cake and a little package that read “Your Birthday Week – Open a Gift a Day”. It looks very intriguing but I can’t open it until June 20th. Thank you Julie!!

This, That, and The Other Thing

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Food Faves

Garlic & Chives