We awoke early Saturday morning following Otium, This Will Destroy You, and Brother/Sister Beer Time. After showering and preparing ourselves for what was to be a long day, we fortified ourselves with Dunkin Donuts and headed to Beverly Hills to pick up the Ned Nederlander to our Dusty Bottoms / Lucky Day ¡Three Amigos! sandwich. That’s a weird way of putting things, but whatever… go with it.
Saturday was Zwanze Day. As you might recall, for the past two years I’ve celebrated Zwanze by attending tastings at Beachwood BBQ in Seal Beach. In 2015 I wrote about my first experience, so definitely read that if you’re new to the world of Brasserie Cantillon and lambic. That year’s special Zwanze release was a spontaneously fermented stout. In 2016 I again scored tickets to the Seal Beach event, which I wrote about here. Last year’s special Zwanze release was a raspberry lambic. This year I was lucky enough to score two tickets and my sister scored a ticket, hence her flight from New Jersey to LA for just three days.
This year’s special release was a 2-year-old lambic brewed with Oolong. The other Cantillon tasters the bar/restaurant provided this year were Classic Gueuze, St. Gilloise, Vigneronne, St. Lamvinus, and Nath. As much as I liked the ones I haven’t had before, Vigneronne and St. Lam are so damned good. Otherworldly, really. Even young they taste fantastic. All in all this Zwanze experience might have been the best one yet. The food was better than in years past, the selection of beers (and the Beachwood cellar list) were outstanding, and the event ran like clockwork. As long as I can keep getting lucky and scoring tickets I’m going to try to go every year. It’s so much fun.
On the way back to LA from Seal Beach we stopped for beers at Monkish and Smog City. Shockingly my sister had never visited either tasting room. Of all our SoCal beer tours, we typically snake our way down to San Diego rather than hang around the city. I think she was happy to finally cross them off her list.
So after all that, she and I had reservations at Gwen for dinner. I’d been told it was one of the best restaurants in LA by a few people who have dined there, but I was not at all prepared for just how incredible our meal would be. I would not hesitate to call it the best meal I’ve had in my ten years as an Angelino. Granted I’d been drinking all day so maybe I was feeling especially invigorated, but the meal hit every note perfectly, and I don’t think I can remember anything at all that detracted from the experience. Check it out:
The way Gwen works is this: you choose a 3, 5, or 10 course tasting menu. We opted for five courses, but with a couple supplements along the way. Would I say your meal requires you try supplements? Not at all. We were just buzzed and saw some things we wanted to try, like the tartare with cured yolk, bone marrow, and shiso. It was a brilliant way to start the meal.
Our first course included multiple bites, like this divine duck liver mousse, which came with mini pretzel rolls. Much like every bite that preceded it and followed it, the liver was outstanding and I could have eaten SO much more if I was a glutton.
The Terrine (pork and liver?) was topped with blueberry and served with toast. Again, it was phenomenal. Some photos I’d seen of previous diners’ meals included trios of different terrines but we only got this one. I’m not complaining.Â
That I don’t remember much about the charcuterie should only tell you that there were so many flavor bombs on our table at the same time, it WAS possible to overlook something in favor of another item.
Somehow I forgot to photograph the smoked hamachi course (had I moved on from red wine to bourbon yet? or was I going from a cocktail to my first of two glasses of red wine at this moment?). Nevertheless, the cavatelli was outstanding. Around this time my sister was drinking a cocktail made from…I don’t know, I remember it was very green. I asked if I could taste it and when I put it to my nose I exclaimed “this smells like boiled pasta!” I wonder if it was because there was pasta on that table in front of me, or if I was really picking up that note from something made of vodka and mint and cucumbers.
Instead of one of the menu options (roast chicken, lamb shank, short rib, trout) we opted for a supplement as our main course, the 30-day dry-aged ribeye. It was cooked perfectly, and ridiculously tender. Lucky for me Elissa was starting to get full at this point so even though the course served two people I ate a majority of it. Along with the sides, which included green beans and corn. The corn was literally dropped in front of us by a young waitress who COULD NOT GIVE A FUCK. She was just like, “The best corn you’ve ever had.” And I wanted it to be terrible so I could complain about her nonchalance, but it really was the best corn I’ve ever had in my entire life. God dammit, brooding hipster waitress.
I did the most embarrassing thing ever after I’d scraped my bowl of corn clean. I called over our host/server and asked why the corn was so good. He gave me a way better explanation than the girl did, but by now I was on my last glass of wine for the night and my memory was starting to fade. Thankfully the lights didn’t go out completely, but the last part of the meal is definitely way hazier than when we started.Â
The pre-dessert was a palate cleanser. Sorbet. I forget what the flavor was but since it’s green I’m going to guess it was either avocado or…green tea. I can’t really think of anything else it might have been.
Dessert was described as: Rhubarb Fromage Blanc, Olives. At least I think it was. Those things on top of the block beneath the flower are olives, right? I hate olives, but loved how they were used here…if those are actually olives. Are those olives? Is this even the dessert that was on the menu? Why are the last two plates of the night so hazy! Is it because I was drinking beer all day and then switched to cocktails and red wine at dinner? Probably. Either way, whatever this was, I’ll just say it was the perfect way to end a perfect meal.Â
I can’t wait to return to Gwen. I’m already jonesing for it. Now all I need is a $500 windfall and I’ll actually be able to afford another meal there.
Children Of Alice – Invocation Of A Midsummer Reverie [MP3]
