The never-ending (let's hope) search for the perfect oyster wine

Sometimes what you want from a wine is not greatness, but just a perfect adequacy. There's no greater proof of that than at the annual Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition, the Los Angeles leg of which was held last week at the newly remodeled Water Grill restaurant downtown (similar tastings were held in San Francisco and Seattle).

I've written about this event before -- many times. In fact, it's in its 18th year, and I believe I've been around for most of them. I may have thrown around the word "scam" in association with it from time to time. Perhaps that has been unfair. But I'll let you decide. Certainly, I meant it in only the most loving way.

Judging this event (a highlight of my spring every year), involves sitting down in front of a couple of dozen crisp dry white wines and a platter full of freshly shucked, sparkling fresh Kumamoto oysters. And when that platter runs out (they seem to vanish with astonishing rapidity), you don't even need to raise your hand before the ever-alert servers bring over another one.

Hungry Cat celebrates lucky 7 (years) with $1 oysters

The Hungry Cat in Hollywood turns seven years old Thursday, and it's giving customers a "happy birthday" present: dollar oysters. Yep, $1 oysters all day. (Normally they're $15 for a half-dozen or $30 for 12.)

Happy hour is all day long, too, with half-off cocktails and craft beer. Available at the Hollywood location only.

1535 N. Vine St., Hollywood, (323) 462-2155, www.thehungrycat.com.

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-- Betty Hallock

Photo: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times

District on Sunset to launch oyster bar menu

News for bivalve fans: District on Sunset, where Kevin Napier recently succeeded chef Kris Morningstar in the kitchen, plans to debut an oyster bar menu on Thursday. The oyster bar will be available Tuesday to Sunday, featuring three to four oyster varieties daily with house-made cocktail sauce and horseradish. Also: fried oysters, grilled oysters and fried oyster sandwiches.  

6600 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (32) 962-8200, www.districtonsunset.com.

-- Betty Hallock

Photo credit: Grant Turner/Bloomberg News

Shucking and jiving with the 'Oyster Gourmet'

Chef Christophe Happillon, known as the "Oyster Gourmet," is getting around town these days. He's currently booked to shuck and serve a variety of oysters -- complete with in-depth descriptions of the regions they are from, their flavor and other specific characteristics -- at Church & State on Tuesday nights and at Joe's in Venice on Friday nights.

The maître ecailler (shellfish specialist) brings along his own handy oyster bar complete with crushed ice and all kinds of tasty oyster toppings such as handmade cocktail sauce and a shallot and vinegar mignonette. Varieties he serves include Carlsbad Luna, Totten Virginica, Kumamoto and Fanny Bay.

At Church & State, sommelier Jeremiah Henderson likes to pair Happillon's oysters with an icy Muscadet. Happillion sells his delectable offerings for $19 per half-dozen and $38 for a dozen. So gobble them up before dinner. Or after dinner, or during dinner...

Happillon is at Church & State on Tuesdays from 6 to 10 p.m. 1850 Industrial St., L.A. (213) 405-1434; www.churchandstatebistro.com. He is at Joe's on Fridays from 6 to 9 p.m. 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice. (310) 399-5811; www.joesrestaurant.com.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Christophe Happillon at Church & State. Credit: Church & State.

Small Bites: Fuego opens in Long Beach, Sol Cocina opens in Newport Beach, Debbie Lee at Gyenari, the new lunch menu at Water Grill

 

"Latin coastal" in Long Beach: Fuego restaurant is now open in the new Hotel Maya in Long Beach, with a menu that's "coastal Latin American." The executive chef is Jesse Perez. The indoor-outdoor dining room overlooks the waterfront of Long Beach, with 360-degree views. On the menu: shrimp ceviche with chile roja; duck al pastor tacos; chile relleño with pork carnitas; Yucatan-style pork “two ways"; and ancho chile grilled rib eye. Tequila tastings are delivered on a vintage dumb waiter to guests seated in the lower bar area (where there are leather and mohair tequila chairs). Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Hotel Maya, 700 Queensway Drive, Long Beach, (562) 481-3910, www.fuegolongbeach.com.

"Baja-inspired" in Newport Beach: SOL Cocina restaurant and bar has opened on Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach. Executive chef Deborah Schneider is serving "Baja-inspired" dishes such as sauteed tangerine shrimp, mango-lobster tostadas, and ceviches, as well kurobuta pork carnitas and buttered tequila-steamed clams. The bar stocks more than 50 varieties of tequilas and mezcals. 251 Pacific Coast Highway, Newport Beach, www.solcocina.com.

Debbie does Gyenari: The judges on "The Next Food Network Star" raved about Debbie Lee's cooking. If you want to find out what the fuss was all about, you might want to try Gyenari in Culver City, which bills itself as an "upscale Korean BBQ destination." Lee, a Los Angeles-based restaurant consultant who made it to the final three of the Food Network competition, has revamped Gyenari's menu. Lee calls her style "Seoul to Soul," in homage to her unconventional upbringing: Her parents were Korean immigrants who settled in the South. Lee was raised on collard greens and fried chicken, and wasn't introduced to Korean food until she was well into her teens. Now, she puts a Korean spin on traditional Southern fare. On the menu at Gyenari: a SeoulTown Po' Boy made with sesame shrimp tempura, cilantro slaw and chile tomatoes; a crispy chile-crusted snapper with soy bean succotash and twice-fried pork belly; and pan-seared pork chops with Fuji apple gravy and kimchee smashed potatoes. 9540 Culver Blvd., Culver City, (310) 838-3131, www.gyenari.com.

New lunch menu at Water Grill: Chef David Lefevre has unveiled a new lunch menu, with salads such as Sea of Cortez white shrimp Caesar salad and sandwiches such as albacore tuna confit and lobster roll. Entrees include Cedar Key clam and sweet corn orechiette with Niman Ranch bacon and sweet basil and Alaskan halibut sauteed and basted with lavender, Meyer lemon and Madagascar vanilla bean oil. The current oyster selection: Malaspina, Fanny Bay, Evening Cove, Kumamoto, Bagaduce and Beausoleil. 544 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 891-0900, www.watergrill.com.

-- Betty Hallock and Rene Lynch

Photo: Gyenari. Credit: Glenn Koenig/Los Angeles Times.

 

Blue Plate’s seafood special

Fans of the Montana Avenue restaurant Blue Plate will be glad to learn that Jenny Rush Morton is getting close to opening her spinoff spot -- and this time she’s taking the Cape Cod/Hamptons vibe to the next level with a menu dedicated to seafood.

In late August (or, more likely, early September), she’ll open Blue Plate Oysterette next door to Boa on Ocean Avenue. “I’ve lived in Santa Monica for a long time,” says Morton. “There’s a need on the Westside for a casual setting.” Indeed. Save for the recently reopened Santa Monica Seafood, which is more market than restaurant, Santa Monica has few laid-back, non-touristy seafood spots.

Oysterette should scratch that itch with a “clam shack” menu that includes buckets of steamers, grilled oysters and salmon burgers. “We’re taking the food to the next level but still keeping it accessible,” says Morton, crediting her chef, Violet Robles, formerly of Patina. The lobster roll, for example, will be made with fresh tarragon and cayenne pepper and served on brioche, not a hot dog bun. The best part? Nothing will cost more than $20, except, say, when they host lobster bakes.

Blue Plate Oysterette is located at 1355 Ocean Ave. in Santa Monica. Follow the restaurant as it develops on Twitter @bpoysterette.

-- Alexandra Le Tellier

Image: A rendering of Blue Plate Oysterette, which restaurateur Jenny Rush Morton describes as  “very beachy.” Credit: Courtesy of Morton

 

Neptune's battle in the north

This Saturday and Sunday, Alton Brown (who you could call the Bill Nye of the culinary world), Michelin darling Thomas Keller and Hawaiian food guru Sam Choy will appear at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for a food-fueled event called Cooking for Solutions. The festivities, which celebrate sustainable wine and seafood, will include demos, dinners and a sustainable-foods fair.

Cooking for Solutions happens to coincide with San Francisco’s 10th Annual Oyster Festival (Saturday), which takes place at Fort Mason. There will be a “shuck and suck competition,” as well as musical performances by Michael Franti and Spearhead.

Which seafood fest will emerge king?

Only the ocean-loving eaters who venture north this weekend will find out.

-- Krista Simmons

Photo: Alton Brown. Credit: Food Network.

What wines do oysters like best?

Let's face it, oysters don't like exciting wines. Well, if you want to be literal, oysters probably don't like wine at all. But oyster lovers do, and so for the last 15 years, food marketing genius Jon Rowley (he basically invented Copper River salmon) has gathered food and wine geeks in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles for the Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition, a marathon of slurping and sipping, to try to determine which wine accompanies the oyster best.

It's a great competition to judge -- what's not to like: sitting in the cool confines of the Water Grill while  they bring you 20 wines (an earlier version of this post mistakenly said 36 wines) and as many oysters as you want? And that may be part of the reason why the winning wines tend to be ones that are more typically considered "Miss Congeniality" than "Miss America." The winners tend to come from the more mild-mannered grapes -- Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris, particularly. What's more, they tend to be made by the kinds of wineries that are known more for good value than for blue ribbons.

That was true again this year, even though there were a slew of new faces in the winners' lineup.
All of the top 10 finishers were either Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris (or Pinot Grigio) or blends thereof. And many of the usual suspects did well again -- Chateau Ste. Michelle, Robledo Family Winery and Kenwood Vineyards have all won multiple times in the past. But there were some new kids too: Airfield Estates, Cedargreen Cellars, Covey Run and Hogue Cellars out of Washington, Anne Amie Vineyards and Sweet Cheeks Winery from Oregon as well as California's Rutherford Ranch.

My palate tends to be, er, quirky and though I liked the Airfield Estates, Chateau Ste. Michelle and Anne Amie, I was particularly taken with the Sauvignon Blancs from Freemark Abbey Winery, Kunde Family Estates and Simi Winery as well. Though after six dozen oysters, you probably should take that for what it's worth.

-- Russ Parsons

Photo credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times

Restaurant Spotting: Rock 'N Fish to have soft opening this week at L.A. Live

For workers at L.A. Live’s upcoming Rock ‘N Fish, today was no holiday. A construction crew worked at a feverish pace putting the finishing touches on the entertainment and dining complex's latest addition, a Los Angeles outpost of Manhattan Beach’s original Rock 'N Fish.

“L.A. Live has synergy and we are excited to be here," founder Michael Zislis said earlier today inside the nearly 250-person capacity, 6,000-square-foot restaurant, which has an Art Deco-inspired design and will have a soft launch later this week (most likely on Thursday evening).

It remains to be seen if the seafood spot can compete with larger chains at Olympic and Figueroa (including Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, which is directly opposite Rock 'N Fish, and a forthcoming Katsuya), but the concept and positioning of Rock ‘N Fish certainly seems to be a good fit for the sports mecca.

So what’s on the menu at the debut L.A. location?