Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. I assure you, I’m still plowing ahead with trying to listen to every single record in my collection. I’m also plowing ahead with trying to sell a lot of records in my collection. The GF has officially sold her townhome so now the clock is ticking on us finding a new place to live. We’ve put in several offers only to see them blown out of the fucking water by insane people who apparently have, like…millions of dollars in cash just laying around that they can throw at houses in emerging (read: rapidly gentrifying) parts of Los Angeles. If you don’t already follow me on Instagram, I’ve been and will continue to be posting various items from my record collection that I’m offering for sale. So if you consider yourself collector scum like I do, you’ll want to keep an eye on my daily posts.
In other news, there really isn’t a lot of news to report. We’ve still been mostly cooking our meals at home and ordering out maybe once a week. It’s usually pizza when we ordered out. I think once recently we did Northern Cafe for dumplings, and another time we did Bossa Nova because we were randomly craving pao de quejio. Oh, we did sushi once, too.
We’ll always make exceptions for Vespertine, though. They changed up their menu again recently so we decided to place an order on Saturday night. We once again opted for one cocktail each from their menu, and then paired our meal with a bottle of wine that was Vespertine related. Oh, and we got the dog a dog treat as a supplement to the meal (yes, that’s an option they give you). She enjoyed it, and then when right back to begging for whatever was on our plates.
What follows is a breakdown of the meal, in my usual manner, which includes poorly-worded and misremembered impressions of the meal. We crushed the cocktails and the bottle of wine fairly quickly, which left me a little buzzed. The dog treat, by the way, is technically part of the “Destroyer Marketplace,” and is made using organic rolled oats, ripe bananas, and organic peanut butter. I asked Theo for her tasting notes but she cocked her head to the side and looked at me as if to say, “You know I’m a dog right? You fucking idiot?”
Point taken. I’m sure it was delicious.
The meal began, technically, at 7pm. You roll into the parking lot, state your name, and then wait for your meal to be brought to your car. It’s a very simple and efficient process. We were out of the parking lot within 5 minutes and on our way home to enjoy the meal.
The past two times we’ve done Vespertine at home, the menus were printed. Each course had a description on one side and heating/serving instructions on the reverse side. This time, they opted for a QR code. I liked this version a bit more than the printed menus.
Cherries & Pineapple. Organic Morello Cherries, White Rum, Fresh Pineapple Juice, Lime, Opal Basil. All cocktails are packaged in sealed glass bottles and come with slow-melting, clear ice in a separate glass vessel, for optimal transport. Of the two cocktails we had, I thought this one was boozier, and hence less flavorful than the other. The GF preferred this one (she said the other one tasted like cough syrup…which is probably why I preferred it) so we didn’t have to fight over who drank what.
Raspberries & Rum. Organic Market Raspberries, Aged Rum, White Vermouth, Combier.
All cocktails are packaged in sealed glass bottles and come with slow-melting, clear ice in a separate glass vessel, for optimal transport. By the way, I have to admit that getting to keep these cool jars for future use has been a great perk when we order form Vespertine. As stated above, I liked this one more. She thought it tasted like cough syrup. As someone who has been known to abuse cough syrup on occasion, I certainly didn’t mind being told this was “my” cocktail.
Wine duties tonight belonged to Chanin Wine’s 2018 Pinot Noir. I could have sworn this was a Nicole and Mike recommendation, but when I sent them a pic of the bottle they said they didn’t know what I was talking about. So then I figured maybe it was a Sherrie recommendation, but she didn’t respond until a day later and at that point said she didn’t know what I was talking about. While sitting on the couch last night looking at my review of our first meal at Vespertine, the GF noted that the Yarrow dish was paired with Chanin’s Bien Nacido Vinyard Pinot (2013). So I must have bought this bottle having really enjoyed the one at Vespertine. It was a completely dumb accident that I ended up selecting this bottle to pair with the meal, but it turned out to be a happy accident indeed. This is a fantastic pinot.
VESPERTINE | MIDSUMMER
Wildflower Focaccia (Naturally-leavened with California wildflowers, churned avocado butter, avocado blossom honey). The bread was a hearty and delicious way to begin the meal. Organic red fife wheat came from the Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project. It was long-fermented over two days using a natural wild yeast culture made from red fife wheat, water, and smashed California wildflowers. the “California butter” was made from Haas avocados. I ate the last remnants of the bread several hours later while drunk watching a movie on Hulu.
Hush Puppies (Yellow Sweet Corn, Barhi Date “Cream”). Chef Kahn neglected to make hush puppies as part of his Southern menu, which I found appalling. After my mom moved to Savannah we went to this place on the River overlooking the marshes and I ate an entire bowl of hush puppies by myself, so in my mind they are synonymous with the cuisine of the region. Alas, finally I got to taste his take on the little fried bites of happiness and they did not disappoint. The corn comes from the Sacramento River Delta. They juice the kernels and replace the buttermilk with the corn juice to amplify its flavor. The cornmeal is Antebellum coarse yellow cornmeal from Anson Mills in South Carolina. The dates used in the emulsion come from, of course, the Coachella Valley. I could have a used a touch more date flavor from the cream, but it was a really nice compliment to the pups.
“Tartare” Of Roasted Beets (Santa Rosa Plums, Grilled Chicory). Back when he was cooking at Red Medicine, Chef Kahn made one of the best beef tartare dishes I’ve ever had anywhere in the world. It still stands out in my mind whenever I order the dish on a menu as the pinnacle to which all other tartares are compared. Here he substitutes beets for beef. They were grown in Ventura County and were seasoned with Santa Rosa plums, grilled chicory, red radish sprouts, and sunflower seeds. I especially liked the use of the chicory. In hindsight I wish I would have mixed up the dish before photographing it because the blood-red beets would have made for a much more striking picture. OH WELL, I WAS TOO BUSY EATING THE FOOD TO COMPOSE A PRETTY PICTURE.
Crudité (Aged Gruyere And Blonde Ale Fondue). In theory this all sounded delicious but in practice it was probably my least favorite course of the meal. I liked the inventiveness of serving the fondue out of an onion vessel. Alas, fondue seems like something that should be served a bit warmer than it arrived here (haven’t you been to the Melting Pot in Pasadena? That shit comes out PIPING HOT– also I’ve never been to the Melting Pot so I have no idea how their fondue is served). The carrots, peas, radish, string beans and squash blossoms were all incredibly fresh and delicious. The choice to include avocado was a little odd, and tasted very weird texturally with the fondue. Too much soft on soft. There was also some kind of cucumber that looked not cucumber shaped that I liked. The fondue was technically made with emmental, gruyere, and Belgian White Ale cheese, so the menu kind of downplayed its uniqueness.
Caramelized Lettuce Gratin (Smoked Onion, Nichol’s Ranch Sunny Hen Egg). This is annoying because WordPress doesn’t allow me to post two photos side-by-side and center them on the same line. So, here I am writing about the lettuce dish in a way that totally ruins the flow of the post. Organic freckled romaine was baked with smoked onion and serrano chilies. I particularly enjoyed the onion, which was properly smoky in the best way. I could have eaten two servings, but considering how full I was after meal that contained almost zero traces of meat…maybe I couldn’t have eaten two servings? I’m going to have to try my hand at making this someday, since I usually bring gratin-type dishes to potlucks and Thanksgiving dinners. Surely it can’t be too complicated, right? I’m probably a good enough chef to replicate this on my own. Oh, who am I kidding. I ruin almost every dish I make and I could never replicate this.
Tomato Pie (Heirloom Tomatoes, Aged Fiscalini Cheddar Filling). I think we were in agreement that this was one of our top two favorite courses of the entire meal.It seems so simple, but the tomatoes were so incredibly flavorful that we couldn’t stop eating it. My plan was originally to keep the leftover piece or two to crack an egg over for breakfast, but I was too hungover in the morning so it had to wait for lunch. If I recall correctly, my buddy Jason over at Golden State uses Fiscalini cheddar on his burger (the best burger in Los Angeles hands down I don’t care what anyone says), so of course I knew I was going to enjoy it here as well. The tomatoes are from a place called Munak Ranch in Paso Robles, which was not on my radar before but you’d better believe it is now.
English Pea Gnudi (Sheep’s Milk Ricotta, Brown Butter, Sauce Made From The Pea Shells). Ah, right. This was our favorite course of the meal. The tomatoes were second best. These dumplings are a form of ravioli only without a wrapper. The filling is piped into small pillows and buried in semolina flour for a day to develop a very thin skin around them. These gnudi were made with English peas that are smashingly sweet, then they saved the pea pods to make the sauce along with snap pea pods and brown butter.
Whole Celeriac Baked In An Aromatic Salt Crust (Black Truffle Roasted Chicken Jus). Guys, I fucked this one up. This course required some labor on my part, so I forgot to take a picture of it “before.” I had to steal a picture from the restaurant’s Instagram account to make up for it. Celeriac is a unique variety of celery that produces a large, edible root. They wrap it in a salt dough and bake it for five hours until tender. You have to crack and remove the salt dough (you’re not supposed to eat it). Then you have to remove the celeriac skin (like orange skin) and discard it (you’re not supposed to eat it). What you’re left with is basically…like, a baked potato dish. Cut into pieces, cover in either the chicken jus or the vegan-friendly jus, add a dollop of crème fraîche, a sprinkle of chives and a touch of chrispy shallots. Voila! Pretty good! The presenation was bonkers but the flavors itself were…okay.
Fragrant Melon (Musk Melon filled with Custard of Almond Milk and Melon Seeds, Vanilla Oil). The first of two dessert dishes was fun in a ew-I-hate-melon-but-love-vanilla way. The melon comes from Weiser Farms. The seeds and all the excess juice and melon guts were removed. The seeds were dried overnight and then blended with milk to make a sort of horchata that is turned into mousse-like cream that gets piped back into the melon. I basically just scooped up the custard and the oil and was in heaven. I know that’s probably blasphemous, but…you know…melon. It was fine and all, it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I liked the desserts from the previous two Vespertine @ home meals more than these two.
Sunchoke Sticky Toffee Pudding (Roasted Sunchoke Pudding Cake, Salted Butter Caramel, Whipped Sour Cream). I should say right off the bat that I am NOT a fan of sour cream, but I forged ahead and ate this anyway because I’m a good sport. So, where’s my participation medal? Sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes), have an earthy and sweet flavor almost reminiscent of pancakes, which makes them excellent for use in desserts. The “caramel” was made from Barhi dates and salted butter (and boy was this dish buttery!). I liked it. The GF did not. It was a somewhat bummer of a way to end the meal since we both didn’t love it, but by and large we thought this was one of the better menus we’ve had from Vespertine during these weird Covid times. The fact that there was pretty much no meat involved (just that jus) made it much more exciting because the flavors extracted from this incredibly summer harvest bounty were so remarkable.
And that’s it! I’ve got nothing else to say! I hope you enjoyed reading this review. I hope if you’re in Los Angeles you consider ordering from Vespertine because during these confusing and weird and trying times they are still making world-class meals that are far more accessible than a reservation to dine-in used to be. Obviously I hope they can return to their intended format sooner rather than later, but believe me as long as I can keep enjoying chef’s food, I’m going to keep ordering these meals.
Stay healthy and stay safe, y’all.
