Forgive me readers for I have been lazy… it has been five days since my last blog post. But you know what? Time flies when you’re eating having fun! It’s now our final morning in LA’town. Aside from one day when the sun decided to come to the party, California (where it never rains) rained the entirety of its wet fury on us all week. Well, lucky for us eating is (mostly) an indoor activity, eh?
We’ve eaten a lot on this trip and I want to blog everything that I’ve managed to shove in my foodhole but if I had to pick one super stand out meal for the LA leg of our trip? I would 110% have to choose our dinner at the Wolvesmouth supper club.
So. Wolvesmouth. What else can I say about it besides that it’s held at the wolvesden by the wolf? Obviously. Well, let me see. The den is a super cool venue – a hugely spacious warehouse apartment with edgy decor and rock music blasting from a retro music-blaster-thing and the wolf – the highlight of the show – is 28 year old LA chef, Craig Thornton. Very cool and edgy and rock’n’roll himself. And he cooks!
On Wednesday night, Panu and I and a bunch of my LA food pals descended on the den for what was to be one supper club meal so far above the bar that I compared it to The Ledbury. It was that good. Meals at the den vary from night to night – you’ll always get somewhere between 10 to 15 courses, but Craig rarely cooks the same thing twice. It’s completely BYO. And you pay what you want. Easy.
So. What did the wolf feed us?
parsnip & celery root soup with fresh crab meat
I never say no to fresh crab meat. This soup was a delicious way to start the meal – rich and smooth, sweet and savoury. Love.
seared scallop with purple cauliflower, candied carrot & bacon
The HUGEST scallops I’ve ever laid eyes on. This baby was the size of my palm and ok, granted my palm isn’t enormous, it still makes for a big ass scallop. Craig cooked the scallop perfectly and it came with bacon! As you’ll see in the desserts, everything is better with bacon
black seabass on tortilla purée with avocado, pickled onion,
cilantro (coriander) flowers & lime
Coined “the de-constructed fish taco” by Rosa, this course tasted amazingly like a fish taco, the seabass served on avocado and pickled onion (guacamole!) and tortilla purée (taco!). Quirky, fun and delicious!
skate served with Spanish chorizo, piquillo peppers, potato & cherry vinegar
Despite the fact that I love skate (think grilled with curry powder Malaysian style.. yum!), this was probably my least favourite course of the night. I thought it was a little salty from the chorizo, but Panu cleaned up my dish too so it must have been good in its own way.
rabbit, served with pappardelle pasta, forest mushrooms & rosemary
When we arrived, Craig’s minions (heh, makes me think of Despicable Me. I need minions.) were busy rolling out the fresh pasta and I – having had a hankering for good pasta for weeks now – got excited. Having it served with rabbit (I like rabbit) was even better.
palate cleanser – coffee & banana pop rocks
Am I allowed to say that the palate cleanser was my favourite course of the night? Not that I’m putting any of the other courses down but seriously, this was INSANE. I have never had pop rocks that blasted this hugely in my mouth. I mean, after I had my first mouthful, I was actually scared to have a second but you get used to the sensation and it’s just crazy. We could hear popping down the other end of the table!
pork cheek pelmeni with horseradish creme fraiche, white beets,
white radish, dill & fresh apple
Next up was a pork cheek filled Russian style pelmeni dumpling, a gigantic specimen of its kind considering these are usually teeny tiny little dumplings. By this stage I was already massively full and had to pop the button on my jeans. Ain’t no shame.
lamb saddle with apricot confit, pita chips, aragula & lamb belly
And the last of the mains! An amazingly tender lamb saddle (with two pieces of fatty lamb belly on the side – yum) served with a sweet apricot confit. I was so impressed with the pairing I’m contemplating swapping out mint jelly for apricot jam next time I have lamb.
crème fraiche panna cotta with yuzu shortbread, green tea shortbread,
white chocolate & an exploding raspberry, yuzu & orange blossom capsule
We were all intrigued by the little round globe in the middle of each dessert but a gentle tap with a spoon and it cracks, unleashing a wave of raspberry sauce. AWESOME. I mean, yuzu, green tea and white chocolate? It was like Craig made this one just for me
the “Elvis sandwich” – maple & honey french toast topped with
peanut butter ice cream, bacon & banana
And if I thought the previous dessert won my heart. Oh my, check this one out. Peanut butter ice cream (rich, like eating cold peanut butter) served over maple & honey French toast and oh! BACON! A side of bacon. Totally reminiscent of Fat Duck’s bacon & eggs ice cream except this is REAL BACON. Just die and go to heaven already.
By the end of the dinner we were STUFFED. Craig’s cooking is superb and his portion sizes are made for 6-7 course tasting menus not um, 11, but who’s complaining? We sat around and chatted for a while – I’m nagging Craig to come over to London for a pop up – but honestly, if any of you ever come over to LA, you’ve gotta try and get to Wolvesmouth. You won’t regret it.
HUGE thanks to Craig and DimSumPup for allowing me to have a private Wolvesmouth dinner, and also massive thanks to the guys who were there – Rosa, Esther, Noelle, Kristen, Sook, Adri, Shauna, Christine, Julian, Caleb – you guys ROCK! See you all again soon x