KALI ~ Los Angeles, CA (Hollywood/Larchmont)

When you arrive at a restaurant and realize they've only been open for twelve weeks, you feel like quite the insider — especially when the food is this AMAZING. 

Opting for an early meal (as I was still on east coast time,) when I arrived at the dot of opening, Chef Kevin Meehan was still finishing up payroll. Whatever the restaurant version of "new car smell" is, Kali has it... but it also is operating like a well-oiled veteran of a machine. 

I grabbed a seat at the bar (always a fan of being able to watch a kitchen work!) directly across from a meat fridge holding, among other things, a whole pig's head. This was going to be good.

Of course I had to do the tasting menu, and wine pairings, of course of course! Sommelier Drew Langley has cultivated a heavily-California wine list with a lot of gems. My aperitif was the 2013 Smith-Madrone Riesling, with a nose of petrol and honeysuckle. It had good acid with key lime on the finish. I toasted to Mr. Pig Head.

The next wine was the 2013 Palmina Malvasia Bianca — a side project of Steve Clifton, producing only Italian varietals — super aromatic, with wildflowers, melon, sweet basil. SweeTart candy on the dry finish, lots of minerality. 

  

Tonight's amuse bouche was a sous vide egg yolk with rosemary. Wow. Great consistency, flavor, light and almost fluffy, one nugget of salt, mmmm. Perfect bite. Or, "shot," I guess. 

Next up was the Yellowtail and uni — and Chef Kevin was not stingy with the uni!!! A delicate dish, bright, with a tomato coulis and radish accompaniment, it paired very well with the Malvasia. Beautiful and elegant. 

Next wine up: the 2014 Lompoc Wine Co. Pinot Noir — killer nose, spot-on varietal berries and a sweet merde-y funk with smoked meats. (Served chilled, yay.) Tannins kind of sneak up on you, rounded out with a plummy grape-juice high tone. 

This was paired with a wheatberry "Risotto" with black garlic and cheese "wafer" on top (?!) The saltiness of the cheese adds good flavor, and the wheatberry consistency is a nice riff on risotto (little pops in your mouth as you chew) and I love the playful burnt wafer thingie. Pairing-wise, the fruit of the Pinot comes along for the ride, though its structure gets a little lost. 

Next pour was the 2013 Roark Syrah, really a Southern Rhône blend. Red berry compote, white pepper, bit of green stemminess. Very juicy! Tart and tangy with blue and black fruits. 

It went with the meat course, of which my notes say verbatim, "Tenderloin TENDER!!! Onion jam is my JAM. Caramelized onions amazing. Listen, all the flavors are familiar and you know why they go together, but this feels new." Couldn't have (re-) said it better.

To sip with dessert, Somm Drew poured the Caraccioli MV Brut Rosé — fruit for this is bought from Talbott, quite a pedigree. Medium-pale onion skin color. Strawberry-lime, very very very tart, but YUMMERS. But for dessert? I wondered... 

And the dessert: meringue topped with CANDIED EGG YOLK. As the kids say, "I die." Deceptively simple looking... gelato light as air... bit of salt and fat from the yolk... creamy, unctuous, rich and light at the same time. And Drew is right; the Brut bubbly pairs outrageously well. Might be one of my fave resto desserts ever. Not too sweet, pleasant, and a little sexy. 

And a final sweet bite was a white chocolate truffle and "yesterdays wine" jelly. Mmmm.

Chef Kevin, trying to get some
work done as I obviously snapped a candid.

Chef Kevin and Somm Drew met as co-workers at L'Orangerie in 2001 and have been friends ever since. The idea of collaborating on a restaurant had been brewing since then, and we are very lucky indeed to experience the fruits of their labor. When I mentioned to Kevin that I thought the whole meal was a relative bargain, and would the price go up as popularity rose, he firmly replied no — Kali was meant to be a place its patrons enjoyed regularly. A neighborhood joint, not only a "special-occasion" restaurant. 

Well, I, for one, will absolutely make it MY Los Angeles "neighborhood joint," and will be back soon! 

Bon appétit! 

BERN'S STEAK HOUSE Tampa, FL ~ December, 2015

No visit to Tampa is complete without a trip to Bern's. This historic steakhouse is located on an unassuming block, and its dull exterior deftly hides the bordello-like opulence inside. I joined a group of colleagues for a fantastic dinner, and we began with cocktails in the lounge.

When our table was ready, we threaded through the various rooms and were seated in the back of a room framed with a giant mural of the Burgundy region of France. (It would be helpful to go back and use it as a study guide for my WSET Diploma!)

I had remembered that the Bern's wine list was a large, hardbound book, and chained to the table so people don't steal it. This version was unchained, and thinner, but someone pointed out it was something like the 29th printing, so perhaps my memory of a past version was sound!

Bern's has not one but two menu tables for its steaks: the first is a chart of type of cut and thicknesses with various prices, and the second is a table of done-ness. I opted for an 8-oz filet mignon, medium rare, and it came out to perfection!

French onion soup

When you order a steak at Bern's, you really don't need to order anything else; it comes with a salad, a small french onion soup, a loaded baked potato, shoestring onion rings, and vegetables. MASSIVE meal, (but two of us split a foie gras appetizer anyway, because we could.)

I ordered three different bottles of red wine for the table, and the sommelier was incredibly helpful, bringing three glasses for each person so everyone could sample all of the wines and choose whichever he/she preferred. While that incredible wine list is packed with gems for those with no budget, all of my options were around the $50-60 range, and all were lovely. (2012 Casa Lapostolle Cabernet Sauvignon, 2012 Stag's Leap Petit Sirah, 2012 Two Hands Bella's Garden Shiraz — and the preferences were kind of equal amongst the three!)

Rare section of wine cellar.

After dinner, we were treated to a tour of the wine cellar (this Wine Minx was going around caressing many bottles she passed,) and then we went upstairs to the dessert room for a second culinary experience.

Sample, sample, sample!

(Our Musical Director was getting a humongous kick out of the telephone line to the pianist, requesting the Golden Girls theme song and other cheeky delights.) We felt ensconced in our private "barrel," and all splurged on decadent desserts and beverages. I did the trio of molten cakes (only critique was that they weren't very "molten,") and a sampling of Madieras, which was excellent. Oooh, how I love Madeira!

All in all, the Bern's experience was everything I remembered, and expected, and more. It goes without saying that dining in Tampa is nothing without a visit to Bern's!

Bon Appétit!

Bern's Steak House

1208 S Howard Ave., Tampa, FL 33606

813-251-2421

LA PERLA NEGRA, Ft. Worth, TX ~ October 2015

Usually I do intense research for a Monday-Night-Travel-Day-Quasi-Day-Off eatery prior to arriving my first night in a new city. But our travel day to Ft. Worth was a late one (we didn't even get into the hotel until 7pm,) so my two main goals were: 1) close by, and 2) lighter fare.

La Perla Negra fit the bill, and how! Located a short walk from our hotel in Downtown's Flatiron District, on a slice of Houston Street that also houses a fantastic cocktail bar and a beer-palooza tap room, this brainchild of three respected Ft. Worth restauranteurs serves fresh, Latin-inspired cuisine built around ceviche, healthy salads and cocktails.

I opted for wine -- a pleasant native Texan rosé -- and my friend and I split a few dishes.

We had the shrimp ceviche with the Costa tiger's milk, and I'd beat the word "fresh" to death to describe it. The quinoa salad was swimming in fresh veg and avocado, and was a very large portion. (My friend actually felt it was a little "too" healthy for her tastes, but it was so clean and bright and exactly what I needed!) We were both sated by some warm and rich empanadas. The first one we split simply up and disappeared, so a second just HAD to be ordered.

The cocktail list and tequila offerings are extensive, although in our post-travel-day-haze, we couldn't bring ourselves to indulge. But sitting outside on the sidewalk patio sipping our wine and marveling over the simple yet delicious plates in front of us relaxed and satisfied us just as well.


La Perla Negra
910 Houston St., Fort Worth, TX