Well I’ve been getting very behind with the blog updates, testament to how busy I’ve been! This set brings it bang up to date. I’ve no idea what’s on the schedule for food tomorrow, so this may well be the last update!

I had a very chilled last day in LA – a late start saw us getting to Malibu for around 11:30am, so a late brunch/early lunch was in order.

The Reel Inn
Situated across the PCH from Malibu beach, The Real Inn is a huge surfer hit. Full of boards, plastic fish and laid back vibe. The concept is deceptively simple – a chiller cabinet full of fresh fish, pick your variety, have it grilled/sautéed/cajuned and served with two sides. Magic. The tuna was fantastic and the potatoes delicious. Top value.

Umami Burger
After a hard day of checking out Santa Monica and Venice, I was in need of a pre-flight top-up. Umami burger is a small chain, with a legion of fans. They specialise in modern burgers, taking the American classic to the next level. Their signature dish is the Umamir burger – a generous beef patty, Parmesan crisp, shiitake mushrooms and a mushroom ketchup – incredible. Umami is a pretty rare flavour and getting a hit of it this strong with the beef is amazing. Pure savoury. The sweet potato chips are pretty awesome too!

Magnolia Bakery
A rough red-eye flight left me in need of sustenance. Magnolia, like Hummingbird, has become a big deal. They serve a dizzying array of freshly baked delights. I had their cinnamon sugar muffin, which was superb – great way to start the day!

Five Guys
Lunch came courtesy of Five Guys. A small chain that’s really popular in Washington D.C. They serve burgers and hotdogs with a huge array of toppings, all available at no additional cost. Ordering a burger with ‘everything’ would be a mistake. The ‘dog itself was great, split grilled so it’s nice and crispy and served with bacon and cheese. Great stuff.

Keen’s Steakhouse
Having sampled the best of San Francisco’s, I owed it to New York to see what they could bring to the table. The best steak in New York is a fiercely debated topic – Luger’s in Brooklyn is widely respected, but it’s a bit of a trek from Manhatten, which left Keen’s. Founded in the 19th century it’s been serving big hunks of meat for years. The interior is akin to a country club – comfy leather armchairs and wood panelling – like Harris it totes a live pianist and house aged meat.

The 26oz t-bone was an imposing sight. Big and very juicy. You could certainly tell it had been dry aged, but it didn’t have the flavour of some British beef, despite being grass fed (finished on corn). The staff were excellent and more than happy to accommodate a lone diner at an odd hour. In a straight fight between Harris and Keen’s, the New Yorker just edges it, but they are very similar!

Shake Shack
When Heston Blumenthal came to New York in search of the perfect burger, one of the places he stopped was here. Based on a similar vibe to In n Out, they sell simple burgers, with great ingredients, all freshly made. The shack burger was rich and incredibly juicy. The chips were average, but the milkshake was the real show stopper. Made with their own recipe for frozen custard – its wonderfully rich. They also offer ‘concretes’, somewhere at the milkshake end of the sundae spectrum. There’s a couple of branches around Manhatten and the queues can be staggering. Go early.

Momofuku Ssam Bar
This is a tiny restaurant with a huge reputation. Take a look at the photo below, it’s on the corner of a largely residential area, it seats around forty people, mostly at the bar and dinner for one, including drinks cost under $50. What’s all the fuss about?

Just that it’s the 37th best restaurant in the world according to the San Pellegrino rankings (which are a big deal) – it beats out the French Laundry by five places. Yeah.

So are the plaudits justified? Absolutely. If you wanted an example of gastronomic value, this would be it! It serves Asian fusion, with a heavy focus on rare breed pork. I had the pork buns, the BBQ bun and veal sweetbreads. The pork in the buns was amazing, soft, textured, crunchy round the edges and so porky flavoured you expected it to oink. The veal sweetbreads were gorgeous, so nice you overlook the fact that it’s brains. The texture combinations, gentle flavourings and presentation all hit top marks. The staff were attentive and laid back. I loved the fact they offered beer pairings, as well as wine. If you visit one restaurant in New York, make it this one.

Blue Smoke
As I mentioned in a previous post, barbecue food is an up and coming trend in America. People are taking the backyard staples and combining them with the best ingredients and the most traditional approaches. One of the places that’s been doing this the longest is Blue Smoke. Situated a couple of blocks from the flatiron, it was quite a trek from my hotel, but completely worth it. Their menu is an homage to smokey goodness. I had their rib sampler (Texas, Memphis, Kansas City) and they were great. Big, juicy and very very tender. The service was friendly and the vibe lively. There’s live Jazz most nights and the staff know their stuff if you have any questions. They have an frankly dizzying selection of beers, wines and spirits, so some time at the bar is a must. Great find

Today was a very special foodie day – exploring the north end of LA. Breakfast was a hastily grabbed bagel but lunch and dinner more than made up for it.

Lunch – The Ivy
The Ivy is an LA icon. Set in the centre of Beverley Hills, amid the eye wateringly expensive fashion boutiques. The array of cars awaiting valet parking (a Ferrari, Lamborghini and a Rolls) gives you some idea of the local taste. In terms of celeb spotting we clocked a celebrity chef and someone who looked an awful lot like Tiger Woods.

Starter – Native Oysters
Oysters are a big deal in California and most menus offer them. The Ivy’s were on the smaller size and one had a few chips of shell in it. Otherwise, the cocktail sauce was gorgeous and the oysters themselves were lovely.

Main – Seafood Risotto
The Ivy has a strong line of Italian dishes and their seafood risottos reflects this influence, packing scallops, clams, prawns, squid, mussels and crab into a gorgeous mound. The serving was very generous with a great seafood/rice ratio. The rice was perfectly cooked, with he tiniest hint of a bite amid the creaminess.

Dinner – The Bazaar
After watching the sunset from Griffith Observatory, we meandered down the slopes to the SLS Hotel. José Andrés creates an exciting modern take on tapas. Pulling on Spanish tradition, using incredible Californian ingredients and the latest techniques of molecular gastronomy is a potent mix. Hottly tipped by many review websites I was very excited to sample it. After a brief waist we were seated a the chef’s bar, where you can watch the team prepare the orders as they come in. (And ask them geeky food questions as they work) The tapas format works perfectly with the ultra-modern cooking as it gives you the chance to sample lots of different dishes. We had:

Oxtail Sandwich – Based on a Chinese steamed bun, these tiny bite sized spheres contained incredibly tender beef with spring onions, radish and seasoning. Stunningly moist and flavoursome, I think the bread was infused with a beefy flavour too.
Caprese Salad – The traditional tomato/mozzarella combo is really superb, the tomatoes appear to have been soaked in a tomato consommé to create a super rich taste, the mozzarella balls are stunning, constructed from mozzarella, cream and the mozzarella water they are solid on the outside, molten in the middle.
Cotton Candy Foie Gras – Exactly what is says on the tin and as exactly brilliant as you might hope. I have no idea how this works, but it’s very delicate, I was told it’s a very time sensitive process. It’s not like it was going to hang around long anyway!
Philly Cheesesteak – Served on ‘air bread’ this is a light crisp dough, puffed and filled with a cheese foam. The ‘bread’ is topped with wafer thin slices of ‘blue’ wagyu, raw in the middle, caramelised on the outside. Heavenly.

The Bazaar isnt just one of the best restaurants this trip, it’s one of the best I’ve eaten at ever. Incredible food, cunningly executed with unique twists in a friendly and exciting atmosphere. Absolutely worth a visit.

After a final trip to In-n-out burger, it was time to fly down to LA. Gorgeous weather greeted us and we set off on road trip down the pacific highway to Manhattan, then Newport beach.

Brunch was at a little Italian cafe in Manhattan, overlooking the ocean. Very nice French toast with fruit and decent coffee (a rarity in the US!) Lunch was spectacular though, a Lonely Planet ‘Top Pick’, the Oceanside Grill in Newport Beach resembles a private yacht club, overlooking the marina. A tasting of oysters identified our favourites (Baja) and six more were duly brought out, including two of the largest I’ve ever seen, palm sized monsters almost three inches across.

The main was a superb swordfish, very fresh and stunningly cooked on a charcoal grill giving it beautiful caramelisation, I’ve not had one nearly as nice before. Highly recommended.

Today was my final full day in San Francisco and certainly one of the best. I tried to hit all the galleries I could and managed: SFMOMA, Legion of Honour and de Young Museum.

The food was equally spectacular:

Breakfast- Hollywood Cafe

Rated as one of the top ten places to eat by Tripadvisor, I was keen to check it out. Down near the waterfront, the tiny cafe is run by a friendly staff and serves traditional American brunch items. I went for the buttermilk pancakes and bacon. They were really good, not as upmarket as Mama’s or Sweet Maple, but no worse off for it.

Lunch – Boxed Food Company

Situated in the heart of the financial district, this is reckoned by many to be the best salad in the city and I’m inclined to agree. Their house ‘box chicken’ is fantastic. Good quality ingredients with some innovative combinations, the chicken was rubbed with a Provençal herb mix, the dressing used pulped apple and the sliced strawberry was an inspired choice.

Dinner – Slanted Door

As it was my last dinner in San Francisco, I wanted to make the most of it. By most lists, roundups and reviews, Slanted Door is the best restaurant in central San Francisco. It serves Asian fusion, pulling on San Francisco’s rich immigrant heritage, fantastic local produce and updating it for the 21st century. Reservations are notoriously hard to get, but a friend of a friend got a table so six of us headed down the the ferry building to see what all the fuss is about.

Starters
Spring Rolls – huge, juicy and with a great lime dip. Nom.
Pork Rolls – self assembly, with lettuce and rice noodles rolled in.
Rice Cakes – Sticky, sweet and very very good. The bitter soy was balanced beautifully against the rice.
Razor Clams – An unusual choice, but a good one. Lots of lemongrass lifted the salty flavours and the meat had just enough texture to hold up.

Mains
Chicken Claypot – One of their signature dishes, if a little 1970s Habitat ‘chick in a brick’. The meat was gorgeously tender and the sauce rich without being cloying. Combining a caramel with the more traditional asian flavours was great.
Shaking Beef – Generous chunks of beef fillet, marinaded and flash fried with lime and cinnamon. Incredible.
Scallops – A tower of scallops and a sweet honey/citrus sauce.
Snowpeas – Oriental mushrooms and mange-tout, just al dente.
Suba Noodles – Light, aromatic and very nice.

Desserts
Rhubarb Pannecotta with a Rosemary Granita – Rosemary and rhubarb?!? Just gorgeous. So refreshing, just needs a little semi thing to turn it into a full dessert, but an excellent palate cleansing pre-dessert.
Candy Floss – A great cloud of light fluffy sugar in the middle of the table on a stick. Great to share I’ve no idea what they did, but the sugar was much lighter and less sticky than the kind you get from a fairground – ultra-refined sugar?
Black Forest Torte – Great chocolate, great cherries, maybe needs a little more alcohol?
Lemon and blackberry tart – Another unusual combo, but it worked really well, great contrast between the creamy lemon mousse and the sweet blackberry mix.

Certainly one of the best Asian meals I’ve had – it shows how good fusion can be, but how carefully it needs to be done.