Category Archives: Great Finds

Dining in Los Angeles, Part I: Splendid Italian Cuisine at Bestia

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The fantastic Margherita at Bestia.
The fantastic Margherita at Bestia.

A server who traded Southern California for Northern California recently remarked to me that they like their restaurants loud in Los Angeles.

He wasn’t kidding.

Having dined at Bavel in Los Angeles two years ago, and its sister restaurant Bestia in Los Angeles a couple weeks ago, I can concur, as these are among the noisiest restaurants where I’ve ever dined. We’re talking a volume where you need to practically shout at your dining companion across the table to be heard. Dine outside at either establishment though, and you will fare a bit better, as the clamor will still be high, but more manageable.

Even so, I will gladly put up with the din to enjoy the superlative Middle Eastern specialties at Bavel, and the exceptional Italian fare at Bestia.

It's always loud and crowded at Bestia.
It’s always loud and crowded at Bestia.

Both restaurants are owned by Chef Ori Menashe and his Pastry Chef wife Genevieve Gergis. They opened Bestia in 2012, followed by Bavel in 2018, and their very casual Saffy’s in 2022.

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Welcome Fall With Cornish Game Hen Dijonnaise

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Turn on the oven to warm up the house -- and to enjoy this fantastic Cornish game hen dish.
Turn on the oven to warm up the house — and to enjoy this fantastic Cornish game hen dish.

Summer has turned to fall as fast as the click of an on-off switch.

That means retiring the A/C, and turning on the oven instead without guilt to warm things up.

“Cornish Game Hen Dijonnaise” is a worthy dish to mark that transition.

A succulent dish that roasts in the oven and creates its own lusty sauce in the process, this recipe is from “Feasts on the Farm” (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Tamara Jo Hicks, owner of Toluma Farms in west Marin County, and Jessica Lynn MacLeod, a longtime volunteer there who developed the recipes.

Hicks and her husband bought the 160-acre farm in 2003, restoring the land to raise goats and sheep. In 2013, they began making their own farmstead cheeses under the label of Tomales Farmstead Creamery.

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An Indelible Visit to Aubergine, Carmel’s Only Michelin Two-Starred Restaurant

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Presentation of the smoked scallop at Aubergine.
Presentation of the smoked scallop at Aubergine.

It’s a good bet that if you see anyone dressed up in Carmel-by-the-Sea, a charming beach town and major laid-back tourist draw where shorts and sweatshirts are the norm, they are likely headed to dinner at Aubergine.

Located in the Relais & Chateaux luxury hotel, L’Auberge Carmel, it is the only Michelin two-starred restaurant in this tiny town of 3,000. In fact, since retaining its one Michelin star since 2019, it was awarded its second star last year.

A lot has changed since I last dined there a dozen years ago. Most notably, jewel box of a dining room always felt intimate but even more so since four tables have been removed, leaving all of five now situated around the perimeter. There are two seatings available, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. If you choose the early seating as we did, you’ll catch the last light on a fall evening through the wall of draped windows.

Aubergine at L'Auberge Carmel.
Aubergine at L’Auberge Carmel.
Awarded a second Michelin star in 2024.
Awarded a second Michelin star in 2024.

Executive Chef Justin Cogley remains the constant, a former professional figure skater with “Disney on Ice,” who glides smoothly through the upper echelons of fine dining, having launched his career at none other than Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago.

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Yeobo, Darling Is A Treasure of Taiwanese and Korean Creativity

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A Taiwanese version of Italian lasagna at Yeobo, Darling.
A Taiwanese version of Italian lasagna at Yeobo, Darling.

Husband-and-wife and chefs Michael and Meichich Kim have had a rather Goldilocks’ culinary journey.

Their former Michelin-starred Maum in Palo Alto with its one long communal table that seated a mere 16 diners at once was maybe too exclusive for most.

Their former Bao Bei fast-casual spot at State Street Market in Los Altos was maybe too lowbrow to fully utilize their talent to the fullest.

With Yeobo, Darling, though, which opened in Menlo Park in June, they have created a spot that is just right.

The small bar.
The small bar.
The intimate dining room.
The intimate dining room.

It’s a fitting showcase for their very personal cooking that spotlights Michael’s Korean heritage and Meichich’s Taiwanese lineage. In fact, Yeobo is Korean for “sweetheart,” symbolizing just how intertwined their relationship and personality is with this restaurant.

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Gourmet Getaway to the Mendocino Region, Part IV: The Boonville Hotel and Offspring Restaurant

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Sun Gold tomato Margherita pizza at Offspring.
Sun Gold tomato Margherita pizza at Offspring.

Offspring is a fitting name for Chef Perry Hoffman’s second restaurant, an inviting pizza and pasta joint in teeny Boonville in the Anderson Valley.

After all, it was the success of the Boonville Hotel and Restaurant across the street, where he’s also chef, that gave birth to it.

Yet it’s also a name that applies profoundly to him, too, as this descendant of veritable culinary royalty knows a thing or two about the creating a lasting legacy.

Chef Perry Hoffman.
Chef Perry Hoffman.

His grandparents were famously, Don and Sally Schmitt, who bought an old stone building in sleepy Yountville in 1978, the French Laundry. They worked hard to turn it into a true destination, a process Hoffman witnessed from the time he was 5 years old when he’d roast peppers and cut baguettes to help out at the restaurant. It was the tender start to his own storied career that culminated in becoming the youngest chef in the United States to receive a Michelin star when he was 25 at the helm of Domaine Chandon’s Etoile restaurant in Yountville in 2009.

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