Professor Gourmand — October 2023

We’ll see how many meals I’ll have before my dental work gets done — the clinic and UCLA are now talking to each other, so the extractions are probably not so far down the road. Ethan was out of town, so I figured it was time for me to reintroduce myself to Rouge on Wednesday, 9/27, which was a really good idea although it really told me TEETH. I went into the kitchen almost as soon as I sat down. Dro and I hugged and then I watched as he worked on the weekend menu. I started with the crab cake with a spicy Cajun remoulade, which was typical of Dro’s work (which is to say, inventive and successful), and then I ordered the seafood paella to see how it had developed since July — yes, it had been too long. This absolutely told me I must pay attention — it came with shrimp, Spanish octopus and chorizo. The shrimp were moderately challenging, but the octopus seemed way over cooked, so I asked that they refire it. It’s not the octopus, as it happened, so I boxed it up and took it home for my roommate who likes spicy stuff. I had two glasses of a highly perfumed Karas single vineyard Chardonnay with all this. I went back into the kitchen to explain that now I understand the Kosher prohibition of anything but fish with scales, and Garo promised me a Tomahawk chop the second time I come in with new teeth. Yes, another family. By the way, Lee, my roommate, loved the paella, and he knows food as well as I do, so yes, this is an extremely good restaurant.

But the next night, of course, Redbird, with Danny, Ray and Matt. I started with my usual Brooklyn Negroni using Appleton 12 rum…