Cal Mare

Before the holiday madness hit, I had the pleasure of eating at new Los Angeles restaurant, Cal Mare.  It is one of the first openings in the Beverly Center Mall, which is currently undergoing a massive renovation. It is a Michael Mina restaurant, headed by chef Adam Sobel. I fell in love with the place - round tables with overhead lamps, an open space bar, beautiful dome ceilings and a kitchen open to the dining room. The restaurant is cozy, charming and really sets the mood for the meal to come. Speaking of the food....each dish was truly excellent. The menu is of course centered around seafood in addition to a variety of pizza and pasta dishes. Most impressive was the unique chickpea "pancake" dish. Really more of a thin crepe laid over a bed of shrimp and greens with saffron aioli. I was tempted to order a second!

It is rare for a new restaurant to get their flavors so perfect this early on. That being said, the restaurant was lacking in efficiency. Dishes came out poorly timed, the appetizers coming fifteen minutes apart. We had also ordered Brussel Sprouts to be served with the Branzino. We wiped our plates clean of the fish and still did not have the Brussels. I hope that the kitchen can work on its timeliness and still keep the high quality of its dishes, to ensure the restaurant's success.

Open Concept Kitchen

Adorable Bar Area

California Squid stuffed with 'Nduja, Hazelnut

Spicy Shrimp and Chickpea Pancake with Saffron Aioli

(this was the definite favorite!)

Gluten Free Pasts with Octopus, Mussels and Calabrian Chile

Grilled Whole Branzino

Above Branzino, Filleted, served with Salsa Verde, Smoked Butter, and Livornese

Toro - Cabo San Lucas

The day after Thanksgiving, I flew down to Baja California for a relaxing few days. I have been visiting Cabo since I was a kid and it has a special place in my heart. Blue skies, fresh seafood, and endless margaritas and guacamole. If that doesn't sound like paradise to you, I'm not sure what is. This time around we tried a restaurant called Toro, right off the main highway between the two towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo. The restaurant is the brainchild of Richard Sandoval, who has over 40 Latin American-inspired restaurants worldwide.

You walk into the restaurant via an impressive entryway of stairs. First thing I noticed in the dimly lit restaurant was the baskets of bread, chilis and various other goods along the wall behind the hostess. We chose to sit at the bar this evening and I was most impressed by the bar area. The bar is set a little lower in the ground which gives a nice view to the artwork of the bartenders. Floor to ceiling open shelving line the walls, with terra cotta pots filled with different succulents all the way to the ceiling. Yellow lighting tracking all the shelves, lending a great ambience to the room. There were several other seating areas as well as a beautiful patio near a whale fountain.

Everything from their unique drink menu to the variety of appetizers we tried were absolutely fantastic. They had a lot of small plate options, including ceviches, a raw bar and grilled entrees. Looking forward to my next trip to Mexico so I can try more of their wonderful dishes.

Baskets of breads and other goods

 

Beautiful shelving and lighting

Raw Seafood Bar

Watermelon, Hearts of Palm and Tomato Salad

Peruvian Fish Ceviche with Plantain Chips

Octopus Anticucho

Gluten Free Brownie

Rosaliné

Chef Ricardo Zarate used to be the Peruvian king of Los Angeles, until he closed all of his restaurants over a year ago. Now he is back with Rosaliné, named after his mother. Call and make a reservation for your next group dinner ASAP. I definitely recommend going with a small group of adventurous diners so you can taste a large portion of the menu. It's a very open restaurant with greenery hanging from a glass ceiling, making you feel like you are outside. Starting with their drinks and ceviche menu - we tasted four different drinks, all of which were tasty and refreshing. We tried two different cevichés, one of which was a vegeterian one, which was new to me and incredibly flavorful. We were adventurous with what we ordered and tried dishes from all over the menu, including beef heart skewers. One of the standout dishes was the paella. I am a huge fan of Spanish paella but this was my first experience with Peruvian paella. The rice is crispier and the flavors are overall different. This dish aslo came with a fried egg and the server broke the yolk and mixed it with the rice which added a nice creamy texture. We were celebrating a birthday and accidentally ordered two desserts. Despite being stuffed, I left so content with my meal and waiting to go back!

Atrium-style ceiling

All our drinks were fantastic!

Ceviché crocante - halibut, crispy baby calamari, yuzu kasho marinated,

aji amarillo leche de tigre

Ceviché de hangos (veggie) - king mushrooms, shimenji,

palta avocado, charred tomato ponzu

Corazon anticucho - highly recommended by our waiter

beef heart skewers, rustic tocoto pepper, feta cheese, walnut sauce

Aceitunas - marinated spicy peruvian olives, eggplant puree, 

cancha corn, turmeric flat bread

Solterito - lima bean salad, avocado, blistered cabernet tomatoes, 

pickled onions, goat cheese, botija olive, choclo corn

Lomo saltado - sautéed filet mignon, roasted tomatoes, braised 

cipollini, sunny side egg, kimlan soy dressing, tomato coulis

Chaufa paella - peruvian fried rice paella-style, pancetta, 

la chang sausage, bagoong, prawns

Paella being mixed all together with the egg 

(with my necessary spotlight shining haha)

Birthday Dessert

Norah

I recently had dinner at Norah restaurant in West Hollywood and was so impressed. It is a hidden gem in West Hollywood with a cute decor and an indoor-outdoor dining room. I find it rare to have a family-style dinner where you sample a bunch of different dishes and love every single one. There is not a dish that isn't bursting with flavor at Norah. There is definitely a Mediterranean influence in the spices and vegetables used in the dishes. I think my favorite dish was between the cauliflower tartare and the eggplant and cauliflower salad. The crispy octopus was very tasty too, but had a more Asian flavor which didn't fit as well with everything else we ordered. I would say the "least" (but still really tasty!) dish were the meatballs. We finished our meal off with a really interesting corn ice cream. I unfortunately didn't photograph our cocktails but we all tried different ones and they were all wonderful! I'll definitely be back here and recommend everyone goes as well. 

Duck Liver Mousse with apple mustard and cucumber slices and grilled bread

Grilled Broccolini with white bean hummus, fermented chili, seed dukkah

Eggplant and Cauliflower with cherry tomatoes, za'atar and pistachio

Cauliflower Tartare with sunchoke chips, crispy chickpeas, tahini

Lamb and Pork Meatballs with cucumber and tomato relish

Crispy Octopus with squid ink caramel and herb salad

Local Seabass with fresh corn grits and summer squash

Komodo Miami

Miami is a world of its own. The sun is always shining, the Latin culture is intertwined in the daily lifestyle, and people live for the nightlife. Komodo Miami was a perfect mix of all those factors. Located in Brickell, as opposed to South Beach, Komodo is a three floor indoor-outdoor expanse, with a lounge on the top floor. Restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow partnered with the creator of LIV nightclub, David Grutman. The combination of excellent food and prime atmosphere was evident right as we walked into the restaurant and the bar was buzzing with well-dressed people. On the way in, visitors are greeted with a row of about twenty Peking ducks hanging from a window. The Asian inspired menu is designed to be for sharing small plates. We ordered several absolutely amazing appetizers (including divine salmon tacos that I somehow did not photograph!) and followed it up with an order of the Peking duck. The duck comes with sauce and accompaniments to make your own pancake! It's really difficult to pick highlights since everything was so wonderful. If I had to choose I would say my favorite dishes were the lobster dynamite, the seabass skewers, the salmon tacos, and the crispy brussel sprouts. 

This dinner also marked the start of my birthday celebrations as my friends surprised me with 3 (!!!) desserts and sang to me. The desserts didn't disappoint either but the savory food was definitely the highlight. We were later escorted upstairs by one of the managers of the lounge, Miguel, who was kind enough to buy us watermelon vodka shots. The lounge is smaller than what you would expect for Miami nightlife and I think still needs some fine-tuning before it becomes a Miami hotspot but regardless, we had a great experience overall and enjoyed dancing to some Latino music. I would definitely make reservations to dine at Komodo if you will be in the Miami area!

Peking Ducks all lined up

Two Ginger Passion Fruit Mules, Watermelon Basil Mojito (Back), Dragon Punch (right)

Lobster Dynamite with crispy quinoa (it really was dynamite!)

Miso Chilean Seabass Skewers

Burrata with miso eggplant

Peking Duck, served with cucumber, scallion, hoison sauce and pancakes

Close up of the amazing Peking Duck

Charred Brussel Sprouts with pineapple kabayaki, currants and coconut salt

Another favorite!

Super Sweet Potato with shaved black truffle, wasabi butter, tobiko and gold leaf

Towel service before dessert

Complimentary Birthday dessert - Baked Alaska

Zen Garden - chocolate semifreddo, raspberry sorbet, and cherry pop rocks

Bananas in a Pagoda - bruléed bananas, salted dolce caramel, chocolate sauce and candied hazelnut

Presented and served by our wonderful waiter, Valentino

Karyu Tokyo

I can't say I had much experience with Wagyu Beef before eating at Karyu in Tokyo. Karyu is a sixteen seat restaurant with Chef Katayangi at it's helm, creating a kaiseki menu centered on Wagyu Beef, accented by seasonal ingredients. It was such a fun experience to experiment with the different ways beef can be prepared. Plus, the sake selection was absolutely wonderful. Some of my favorite dishes include Sirloin Sukiyaki style steak served with an egg yolk (I'm still dreaming about this dish) and the really unique dessert of sweet noodles in syrup and soy flour. I also couldn't help but notice the beautiful presentation and tableware each dish was served on. Tokyo overall did not disappoint in the presentation of dishes, included the unique and vibrant plates and bowls. It's clear that taste is not the only priority of Japanese chefs!

Sake in unique pottery glasses

Beef Stew

Top right: lightly seared chuck wrapped around sea urchin with wasabi

Top left: Beef nigiri sushi with shallots

Bottom: The third stomach, Warabi bracken & Japanese honeywort with miso

Different angle of the beautifully displayed trio

Roasted "Miyazaki-beef" with white asparagus, green peas, "Sakura" shrimp & green onion sprouts

Sirloin Sukiyaki style steak with small rice and fresh egg

This was my absolute favorite dish of the night. You eat it by breaking the egg yolk with the beef and allowing the yolk to coat the beef slightly, and dumping the rest of the yolk onto the rice and mixing it up.

Bamboo shoot soup

Beef tongue with lemon

Palate cleanser: boiled edible wild plants with bonito flakes

Beef Chateaubriand with grilled eggplant and avocado

Starting from bottom left, clockwise:

Steamed rice with bamboo shoots

Miso soup

Pickled vegetables

Beef cooked in soy sauce - another favorite!

One of the most interesting desserts I have ever had.

"KUZUKIRI" starch noodles (top left) with brown syrup and soy flour

You take a noodle from the bowl (filled with ice water), dunk it in the syrup then coat it in the soybean flour. It had just the right amount of sweetness and nuttiness and was absolutely excellent!