Vol. 94 in Pasadena

The other night I was lucky enough to get invited to the soft opening of a new restaurant in Pasadena called Vol. 94!  I actually used to live up in Pasadena and it is still one of my favorite towns in Los Angeles, if the drive to work hadn’t worn me out, I still would be living there today.  Vol. 94 just opened up in a space across the street from Paseo near Old Town Pasadena.  It’s a wine bistro with seasonal New American small plates with an asian twist.

My friends and I were lucky enough to participate in the Chefs tasting menu which was amazing!!  Executive Chef Phil Lee and his team sent out dish after dish of amazing and well composed plates and the owner Joon came by and offered us various wine pairings and encouraged us to sample the excellent selections of wines they had. 

We started with the Charcuterie platter and duck fat fried nuts.  I loved the pates and fig compote and my friends could not get enough of the duck fat nuts!

Next up were the McSweetbreads (which tasted like super high end chicken McNuggets) which came with sweet and sour and mustard dipping sauces.  And the Mushroom Flan, which reminded me of a refined chawan mushi. 

The next starter was one of my favorites, it was the Kanpachi sashimi which was served with an avocado cream, puffed black rice and these awesome cubes of ginger gelee.  The flavor and texture combinations were like happiness in my mouth! 

Ok wait, this was one of my favorites too.  I actually totally want to try to re-create this for you all at home!  They called this PBJ, Polenta Bacon and Tomato Jam!  Creamy beds of polenta are lightly seared and topped with a sweet tomato jam and pieces of crispy salty bacon. 

Oh but we were just getting started with the feast.  Our next dish was a seared tako (octopus) plate with some spicy arugula, siracha and a saffron aioli.  The next dish I think was off menu and was a smoked trout crostini which was topped with a nice lemony salad mix. 

           

Before we started the heavier dishes we had a couple more starters, included the roasted asparagus with a poached egg and some forbidden rice with a Korean spicy crab mixture on top, that seemed like a little bite of bibimbap in your mouth!

This is a must order!  I may be a little bit partial since mussels are one of my all time favorites especially when paired with a glass of wine.  These are swimming in a slightly spicy green curry sauce.  I soaked up all of the coconut curry that I could with my mussels and toasts points that came with it.  Soooooo good! 

The kitchen kept cranking out amazing dishes for us, next up was the melt in your mouth pork belly with a papaya slaw and a perfectly tender hangar steak served up with an aji and chimichurri sauce.  At this point the friendly owner Joon came over and recommended an excellent Malbec to pair with our steak.  The combination brought me back to the parilla’s in Argentina… Which reminds me I need to book my next South American vacation!!   

These two dishes were so playful and delish!  On the left we have a fun take on clams and spaghetti (the clams are stuffed with spaghetti squash).  And on the right we have a faux-sagna where the pasta sheets were made with turnips and rutabega, and covered in tomato sauce, cheese and truffles.

This is Korean BBQ the Vol. 94 way!  Korean marinated pork cheeks are served with a gochujang sauce, garlic confit, an asian slaw and grilled duk (mochi) pieces.  I seriously could have eaten this whole plate by myself, it was so good.  I forget what that green powder was in the front of the plate (something like a korean shiso) but it totally complimented the dish.  This will probably become one of Chef Phil’s signature dishes!!   

          

Somehow we managed it, but we made room in our stretchy pants for a couple of desserts.  A yummy blueberry cheesecake with an amazing graham cracker crumble on top.  (One of my friends like this so much she practically licked the bowl)  The other was a classic crème brulee with lemon sugar shortbread cookies! 

I can’t wait to go back and take some of my friends who live in the area and to try some of the other dishes we missed like the Short Ribs!  Thanks again to Chef Phil and the amazing staff at Vol. 94!  They also told me as a part of their prep for their Grand Opening, they are offering deals through Facebook and Yelp when you check in.  Score! 

^{Disclaimer:  I was invited to Vol. 94 and received my meal gratis.  However the opinions expressed are my own and I am not receiving any other compensation.} 

Manhattan Beach Post

Recently my friend Amy came back down to LA to visit with her husband for her birthday.  Knowing that she loves to hang out in the South Bay area, we decided to go to Manhattan Beach Post.  The chef David LeFevre has been at other well known spots in LA and he recently opened up this more casual/seasonal dining spot in Manhattan Beach.  The restaurant is a couple of blocks up from the beach and has a beachy contemporary industrial feel to it and the bar at the front of the restaurant looked like a fun place to hang out. 

We started off the meal with their delicious pretzel bread and a couple orders of the bacon cheddar buttermilk biscuits with maple butter.  This was seriously one of my favorite things we ordered, everyone on our table thoroughly enjoyed these.  Ok truth be told we had multiple orders of this, since everyone enjoyed it so much!!

We all tried some of the specialty cocktails, I didn’t really love what I ordered, but my friend ordered this lovely cocktail that smelt soooo good and looked so pretty.  Look at those peaches! 

We started with a delicious sashimi plate with Hawaiian Kanpachi with puffed black rice.  And of course we had to order the steamed mussels that was swimming in a green curry sauce.  The birthday girl and I both looooove mussels.  It’s always a toss up between mussels and steak tartar at any restaurant I go to.   

 

We also got a few more things off the seafood section.  The boys ordered the soft-shell blue crab with chili sauce and apple puree. (I have to be in the mood to eat soft-shell crab, I feel like it’s a lot of effort.  That might just be a crazy me thing though)  This fish was wood grilled Walu with Kalmata olives and a summer vinaigrette. 

This was one of my favorite dishes of the night,  See those yellow packets of goodness?  Those are corn agnolotti over braised pork belly.  So so good, I need to figure out how to make those corn agnolotti!!   

 

On to the meaty yumminess!  On the left it was a skirt steak with a red chimichurri sauce and on the right soy braised short ribs with grilled kim chee.  So many of these dishes were cooked in cast iron pans which sealed in the juices and seared the meats perfectly. 

 

Of course we had some veggies too….  Asparagus with a poached Jidori egg, roasted Brussels sprouts with emmenthal cheese, sage and hazelnuts, Fe Fi Fo Fum Fries (seriously so good) and a grilled sweet corn polenta dish.  Of these the stars were definitely the Brussels sprouts and the fries.  The Brussels sprouts were cooked to perfection and literally melted in your mouth.  The fries were thick, crispy and soft at the same time and the dipping sauces were amazing! 

Overall a delicious meal and a fun night catching up with friends! Come back again Amy so we can go to INK!!! 

N/Naka

Here is the first official post for my restaurant review section.  Previously I had shared meals from the places I traveled, but after thinking about it I decided to share what Los Angeles had to offer as well.  The other week I went out to a fancy Japanese dinner near my house.  N/Naka is devoted to picking the freshest in season ingredients and creating a 10 course kaiseki menu.  Kaiseki is a traditional multicourse Japanese dinner which show off a variety of cooking techniques as well as the cooks artistry.  The restaurant itself is a small intimate modern space that probably only seats about 25 people.  It seemed like everyone there was on a “hot date” or celebrating a special occasion. 

We lucked out and got a reservation at the last minute, but if you want to check this place out I highly recommend calling ahead of time!  There are three menus available at n/naka, the Chefs Tasting Menu, the Modern Kaiseki and the Vegetarian Tasting.  We went with the Chef’s Tasting along with the wine pairing.  The Chef’s Tasting is a 10 course meal, the staff is amazing and walks you through each course and how each wine selection complements each dish.  Here were some of my favorites!   

A spring roll with chives, below it was some eggplant and other goodies nestled in a bed of pumpkin sorbet.  So good, one of my favorite dishes of the entire night!  Can I get 3 more of these please?? 

We were told that the fish on the right was extremely rare and only in season for 3 months, unfortunately the name skips my mind.  Aji?  But it was paired with watermelon and a balsamic soy reduction and on the left was a delish croquette with micro greens and a ponzu reduction. 

This was like a super high class modern poke/sashimi dish.  It was smoked bonito (I’ve never had it raw or fresh before!!) with garlic chips. Maui onions and balsamic reduction.  This melted in my mouth.  So flavorful!!

This was the traditional sashimi that countered the one above.  The quality of the fish was so good and it was so fresh, types of fish that I have never tried before were included in there and they all melted like butter in my mouth.  Can you spot the eyeball from the shrimp?? 

Seriously- this dish was so sexy!!  You might think it’s weird to say that about a pasta- but if you had this you would understand.  Japanese know how to do pasta!!  This was Abalone with a cod roe pasta, with some abalone liver and truffle sauce. 

This was our meat course which was a Wagyu beef, the table next to us got the Modern Kaiseki menu and they actually got hot rocks on which they cooked their pieces of meat. 

Love love Japanese desserts!  Some fresh fruits, a mochi like cake and a sesame custard with blueberries.  So delicate and refined! 

I love this place, while it is pricey it is definitely a treat to go to and I would love to go back there to celebrate a special occasion.  We had some great white wine and sake pairings as well.  The waiter was hilarious and told us that he was about to serve us the SEXIEST sake we would ever have!  It was true, it was so smooth and went down so nicely.  If you are in Los Angeles, I highly recommend this place!  Go check it out.