Category Archives: Dining

December 16, 2016

Four Seasons Goldfinch Tavern

Steven and I met one day around lunch time to take in the SAM main museum’s exhibit on fashion designer Yves St. Lauren. Steven had to return to work but I wanted something to eat. Since I don't get a chance to come downtown very often, I wanted to find a place for lunch I'd never been to. After wandering around the SAM neighborhood a little, considering this and that restaurant, I remembered that some friends of ours always rave about the burger at the Four Seasons Goldfinch Tavern. Steven also mentioned he had heard the same. That tipped the scale for me. Goldfinch it would be. 

One thing about the Four Seasons, it’s classy. On entering the lobby, you immediately feel comfortable without being at all ‘fancy’ in that Georgian, pillared look of some classic hotels. No gilded trim, just simple treatment of wood and stone.

The Tavern is situated to take advantage of a nearly unobstructed view of Elliott Bay. The ‘nearly’ unobstructed part comes due to the presence of our Viaduct. Once it’s torn down, maybe in 2018, the expanse of waterfront and all the water traffic will be cleared for viewing. Like the lobby, the Tavern is simply designed and comfortable. The hostess was going to seat me in the main seating area, but I really didn’t want to take up a table by myself, so I took the only seat left at the bar.

Water was set down almost immediately by some swift and nearly invisible back waiter. Swoosh the water appears…swoosh the bar menu is set down in front of me in a ballet movement of the bar tender. Ah, I thought to myself…I’m off to a lovely lunch. And I was. Here’s the link to the full lunch menu: Goldfinch Tavern Lunch.

I looked over the wine and cocktail list, deciding on a red, a Pinot. They listed a red wine from Stoller Family Estates, one of our wine club memberships. Unfortunately the list just said Stoller Pinot Noir not very helpful. I asked the bar tender to say a bit more about the bottle, but he didn’t seem to know that much other than it was a Pinot. In fairness, he wasn’t probably ready for too deep of a conversation about Stoller, so I’ll give him a pass. It turned out we have that one in the cellar already. I went for something new: Gloria Ferrer, Carneros Pinot Noir and the Goldfinch Burger.

The Carneros is a beautiful wine from a winemaker I hadn’t paid much attention to in the past. I will now. Like most Pinots, they are light on the tongue but leave different impressions. This one was balanced, a bit toward the fruity side. VERY easy to drink. I should mention that the bar tender was not shy about the pour. He filled my glass over half way. I’m guessing it was 8-10 oz.

The Goldfinch Burger was not as much of a success as the wine. Swift service didn’t outweigh the fact that my medium rare burger arrived medium. The saving grace were the fries with dill aioli and the fact that the burger was made from Waygu beef. Unlike Aqua’s burger, this one tried too hard to be a success with having too many toppings: Beecher’s cheese, fennel aioli, house made pickle (yum) and smoke onion marmalade. It was not a failure by any means, just not as good as Aqua's and it cost $4 more. Next time, I’m trying the Lobster Roll.

Bully’s

1404 Camino Del Mar (Hwy 101)

Del Mar CA 92014

1-858-755-1660

Sept. 3, 2016

Open since 1967, Bully’s is one of those hometown classics before cuisine got all fancy. I grew up with such a place in my hometown called Skips and another not far away called Heston’s back in the day, and now renamed as  Heston’s Supper Club.  What these all have in common is being a meeting place for locals. A place you’d feel comfortable in no matter who was there. That’s the kind of atmosphere you find at Bully’s in Del Mar, California.

You can’t honestly describe Bully’s as trendy, or even catering to the current rage of naming which farm, butcher, baker, or cheese monger provided the ingredients for your meal. This is not that kind of place…thank goodness. Located on west side of  the upscale main drag in Del Mar, at 1404 Camino Del Mar (better known as Highway 101), Bully’s pulls in a decidedly local crowd – a crowd full of ‘characters’, old timers, and family’s out for a good, simple meal.

Bully’s prides itself on serving the ‘finest Prime Rib in San Diego since 1967,’ Montana raised, corn fed Angus beef  using no antibiotics or hormones. You can get a lot more than prime rib at Bully’s but this is what they are known for and it’s what we ordered.

Bully’s doesn’t take reservations for party’s under 6, but you are encouraged to call about ½ hour before you want to arrive so they will have a table for you. We wanted to enjoy the Pacific sunset before having dinner, so we called a little before 7pm, enjoyed a cocktail at the condo, then headed down to Del Mar.

Two things you should know about this part of Del Mar. There is the  L’ Auberge Del Mar, a 4-Star destination luxury hotel just down the street from Bully’s, along with quite a few upscale eateries, bars, and café’s. Second, it’s in the middle of the block with little on-street parking, but a good amount of parking adjacent to the building which you get to by going down an ally just west of 101.

Bully’s is showing it’s age for sure, but not decrepit, just showing the signs of having been loved…a lot. We came in, were greeted promptly and seated by the hostess at a booth made for many more than two. The main room wasn’t jammed but the bar area was hopping. The interior is a funny mix of red leatherette banquettes, thick timbers framing distinct parts of the room with their own roofs, and heavy wooden, low-backed club chairs. It reminded me of the Con Tiki Lounge in Chicago where each seating area had it’s own thatched roof. Okay, not quite the Kon Tiki, but a western style cowboy esthetic. You get the picture.

A basket of warm breads were on our table before we settled in to our banquette. Kelly, our waitress, came right over to take drink orders. We ordered a pre-dinner cocktail. For me a Manhattan and for Steven a Bombay Safire Martini up with olives, very dry. It turns out Kelly has been working in the restaurant business for many years, and is herself seen by some patrons as a familiar pal…sometime the consequences of which are a bit, shall we say, too familiar? Kelly is a good soul, taking her work seriously and with professional curtesy.

The menu has a good range of offerings, but you’d clearly be in the minority if you didn’t order some cut of beef. We chose The Man O’ War cut, a whopping 40 oz Bully cut of prime rib. If you want to learn about it’s namesake, visit Wikipedia’s link on this legend of a horse. When sharing for two you aren’t penalized like some restaurants who add a split-plate charge. Bully’s embraces sharing…again, this is a restaurant keyed into community, friends, and family – so no surprises there. Included in the price ($76.00) we got an additional soup or salad plus another side dish. We bot chose soups, Steven had the French Onion and I had the Albondigas. For our sides, Steven chose the baked potato (no sour cream for him, just butter and chives) and I had the grilled asparagus.

The French Onion soup was very tasty and  loaded with melted cheese, but could have stayed under the broiler a little longer. My Albondigas hit the spot, though I have to say it did remind me vaguely of Campbell’s Vegetable Beef Soup. I doubt very much it was canned – the veg was too crunchy and the cilantro too fresh.

Next came the star attraction, the 40 oz of beef! As you can tell, it was pretty big and perfectly medium rare and served with house-made horseradish cream and a jus. We started our attack by cutting off the cap and sharing it. Then we went for the center, the prize to many, the eye. It practically cut with your fork it was so tender. With little fat in this part of the steak I used some of the horseradish to give it a little kick. We took our time working around the beast, but couldn’t finish. We ended up taking about ¼ home, including the bone. We both think the bone is the best part so we wouldn’t have left it behind in any case.

To accompany all this richness Kelly suggested we shared a bottle of a 2013 Russian River Pinot Noir from Rodney Strong Estate Vineyards.  She likes Pinot’s as do we so no arm twisting needed. The wine is not as full as we are used to from Oregon, not like the Stoller Pinot’s we love, but it was pretty good. The finish was weak, but it did hold up well to the richness of the meat and sides. You should know, Bully’s is more about the cocktails than the wine list. Go with an open mind and you’ll be happy.

This is a new-ish place down by the Leschi Marina, Meet the Moon. Not sure when it opened, but certainly within this past year. This cafe is the latest addition to the Heavy Restaurant Group - the same people who've brought us such places as Purple and Barrio, among others. We had checked out the menu and thought it looked a little “precious” and perhaps trying too hard to be different. We did end up going one weekend morning. Eating crow now. The food was pretty darn good. The baked goods, while tasty were a bit on the ridiculous side, however, in terms of size. I’m not sure why bakers feel the need to make breakfast breads and sweets in enormous sizes other than for some wow-factor. Of course, the easy answer is that customers demand the huge, ½ loaf sized carmel-covered pecan cinnamon roll or the scone worthy of several meals. Meet the Moon has you covered on the bread and bread related products. We split one of the cinnamon rolls, taking ½ with us as we headed out on road trip that morning to our off-road Land Rover Experience (perhaps more on that in another post).

Steven had the Carne Asada Skillet ($18) – cough. It came with the expected pico de gallo, avocado and eggs, and their breakfast potatoes. Steven is a kind of connoisseur of carne asada, so fair warning, he’s hard to please. This version unfortunately missed the mark. The description did not give any indication that it wasn’t actually a small breakfast steak. Rather than receiving a nice medium rare piece of meat, it turned out to be chopped carne asada, skillet fried until hard and dry. The real test is when ordering medium rare and arrives well-done. Rookie mistake.  You pretty much have to simply walk by the flame on the way to the plate to get a true MR even with such a thin slice of meat as flank or (or preferably skirt) that should be carne asada. Chopped up as it was, it stood no chance! The seasoning was very good though, and with the avocado and eggs to mash up in there, it wasn’t a loss.

The show stopper was the potatoes. They were so good we asked one of the waiters to give up the secret on how they got them so crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The secret, too easily given, is to prepare the potatoes (clean, peel if you want, and cube) then freeze them. Pull out the frozen cubes (or whatever shape you want), toss is seasoning and deep fry. The moisture from the potato stays inside and steam them from the inside when the hit the hot oil. I wondered if they were double cooked, perhaps in duck fat they were so good, but, no, just frozen, seasoned, and deep fried. I had the Avocado Toast with poached egg. It was really just what I wanted.

The deep yellow-orange yolk was perfectly done and oozed over the avocado and toasted baguette when cut. Everything on the plate was balanced, a little acidic edge on the greens cut the fattiness of the both the avocado and egg. Just wonderful. I’ll have it again. In the end, I’m revising my rant, to a sigh. Go if you find yourself along Lake Washington in the Leschi area, though finding a seat might be a challenge. It’s a small place. We got there early so had our pick of seating but it was full by the time we were done.

In all, they do a nice job with flavors and the potatoes cannot be beat. Steven will probably opt for something other than the carne asada next time.

May 21, 2016
Seven family members descended upon this Beverly Hills steak house. We had ourselves, Steven’s parents, his aunt and two of his cousins. Lawry’s The Prime Rib Beverly Hills describes itself as an ‘occasion’ restaurant, and that it is. From the uniformed efficiency that greets you when you drop off your car with the valet, to the slightly cloying interior spaces evocative of a Hollywood movie set, to the enormous shinning stainless steel steak carts dotted about the several large, open rooms of the restaurant itself, you do indeed sense ‘occasion’.

Because Steven and I and his parents arrived a bit earlier than the rest of our group, we sat in the dark wood paneled bar area and nibbled on the free meatballs (yes, meatballs…though there is nothing Italian about the menu) and wonderfully fresh-fried potato chips. After a perfectly executed Manhattan for me and a Bombay Sapphire Martini (up with olives), the rest of our part of seven arrived and we were seated.
 

 
We wanted a round table instead of the one we were to be seated, they moved us no problem. There is a general buzz of activity, made more exaggerated by the large open space of the main rooms. This was a place for happy, convivial dinning with little expectation of intimacy, though there were a few two-person tables, these were in the minority.

Service as prompt, courteous, and not too interfering but not too distant either…at least at the start of the meal. The menus are of the large format, plastic sheathed kind, sort of like handling the Book of Kells. The wine list was separate, but there were also house wine selections on the menu itself. We chose a California, Russian River Pinot Noir, Iron Horse Vineyards Estate 2012 which turned out to be a nice choice that went well with the variety of dishes at the table.

The Lawry’s BH is old school in just about every way that implies, reminiscent of some Dean Martin & Frank Sinatra movie set. The waiters and waitresses dressed in cream and brown uniforms, the servers and back waiters in black, and the carvers in their Chef whites. The remnants of a high dinning LA culture, and one you still find in many cities having the iconic steakhouse of old. Of course, the upside to the uniformed regularity, is precisely that it’s easy for the diner to know who to ask for what and I imagine it’s likewise easy for the staff to recognize who’s ‘made it’ and who’s not yet.
 

The general tone of the menus is old school as well. Nothing surprising, nothing too creative. Bread and butter comes free, a passing reality in many restaurants these days. Plus, the breads were good quality and the butter kept coming. In short, if you’re happy with meat and potatoes with a veg side…and who isn’t occasionally?…then you’ll feel right at home, and more than likely, very satisfied with the experience.

Back to the meal.

Our server came to explain the menu options. There are options for each category of food. For instance, if you want the Prime Rib, then you don’t tell your server how you want it cooked. That you will tell the carver when they arrive table side.

Just about everyone gets a chance at the spinning salad, Lawry’s small floor show presented by the wait staff. If, like me, you happen not to want to indulge in the meat side of Lawry’s, there are seasonal seafood options. I chose the triple lobster tail dinner. I didn’t want the rice pilaf…too 90’s, so I got mashed potatoes with gravy and al dente broccoli and carrots. I know, pretty strange but oddly it worked.

Steven decided to go all in for the meat and chose the 12oz Jim Brady cut Prime Rib with their mashed potatoes, gravy, au jus on the steak and side of creamed corn…medium rare.

Our wine came quickly and poured for those drinking. The Iron Horse was a nice choice, very balanced with some oak on it and not too fruity. Not knowing much about California Pinot’s I had somehow gotten it in my head that it would be too fruit-forward. I was pleasantly wrong on that one…at least for this Russian River example.

The spinning salad came shortly after the wine. They are efficient. Okay, I am the first to enjoy a bit of theater at my meal, so I have to admit to liking this. The salad itself on the other hand, not too inspiring, but what do you expect from a mélange of salad leafs and a little too much of what looked and tasted like French dressing, with a few croutons. I ate it up for sure, it did hit the spot…like I said, don’t expect fine dining by today’s standards and you won’t be disappointed. As you know by now, Steven is not a salad dressing kind of guy, so he passed on that course.

Ah, now to the main event. I’m going to let Steven tell you about his Jim Brady, and I’ll get to the lobster trio. Here’s a picture of the little sea bugs on my plate.

Not bad looking. The presentation of the lobster meat put them up on top of the shells. Knowing seafood gets cold if left too long, I did wait to others got their slabs of meat off the carving trolley, a mistake. The first bites of the lobster were tender, juicy, and just what I’d hoped. The melted, clarified butter…a perfect accent. The veg, well, okay. Not overdone, that’s a good thing, but really didn’t add much except green to the plate. My mashed potatoes were served on a side plate thankfully. I don’t think a plate swimming with gravy would do well sitting with the lobster. Of course there was plenty of conversation, and not to blame the kitchen at all, but by time I shared a few bites with Steven and headed onto the last tail, it was cooled off. I powered through and cleaned my plate. One thing about eating seafood, this protein doesn’t get you as full feeling as beef protein, so I was left with a bit of a wondering eye as I finished and the others were still happily chewing and cutting away.

Here are Steven’s comments about his meal.

Kevin says the cut I had was 12 oz, I think it was more – at least it seemed like more! Also, as he mentioned, it came with creamed corn and mashed potatoes. There was no real sense of artful presentation – just heaps of sides with a big slab of meat. The wow-factor came largely from the size of the portions. This is truly a Midwest take on a steak dinner. I ordered my prime rib medium rare and indeed that’s what I got. It just kills me to hear someone order beef, especially prime rib cooked beyond that. The meal also came with a generous side of Yorkshire Puddings and we also ordered sauteed mushrooms (an odd combinations of white buttons and shitakes - tasty, just a little odd). I think I was about the only one who had any.
 

As you can imagine, it took me a while to work through it. Those who know me of chide about how I eat one thing and then move on to another (OCD much?). With this much steak to get through, I had to take time to rest and make it around the plate from time to time. By half way through, the plate was kinda a hot mess. The au jus was getting thickened by the mashed potatoes and the creamed corn was starting to run. But I ploughed on determined to eat it all. Of course sharing a few bites with Kevin. Also slowing my progress was the fun time I was having chatting with my cousins Linda and Grady.

By the time I got near the bone, Kevin had enough with me struggling to get the last bits of meat free, he stole it from my plate to cut it for me claiming I was having trouble because I’m left handed – which my Mother chimed in the her version of “ain’t that the truth!” He quickly found out what I had already know: even though the bulk of the steak was perfectly done, near the bone was a little under cooked and sinewy. We both gave up and called it done.

Next up – dessert.

There were the standard fare of selection that you would expect from such a place: Crème Brulee, Cheese Cake, Ice Cream. But what they are most proud of is their Chocolate Fudge Cake – What could be wrong with that??

I dug into the cake while Kevin headed for the Crème Brule. Kevin’s portion was reasonable. Mine, on the other hand, was insane. But it was sooo good!! Perhaps not terribly original. Dark chocolate cake smothered in fudge sauce. There were even still partly un-melted blocks of chocolate fudge still in the sauce. The ice cream tasted like homemade.

I’ll let Kevin tell you about his dessert.

Crème Brule. Not exciting, little vanilla scent or flavoring, and a rather basic custard. Nuff said.

With that, our dinner was over and our credit card company happy to have joined us this evening.

It was now time to part ways with Grady and Linda with hopes of seeing them again soon.

If you find yourself in LA and want to have a dinner with a bit of mid-century nostalgia, I can’t imagine where else to try with the Brown Derby long-since gone. Don’t let me mislead you, it won’t be cheap. But it will also be an experience you won’t soon forget.