Michael Voltaggio’s Ink is one of the most anticipated openings in the western world. The top chef season 6 winner and true virtuoso of food is one of the only men that can balance the palette and taste of flavor food with superb modern innovation utilizing gastronomy level techniques.

With his Michelin starred residency at Langham and as chef de cuisine at the Bazaar, under Spanish wunkerkind Jose Andres, Voltaggio is a force to be reckoned with.

Very shrimp toast-esque-Dungeness crab toast with smoked mayo, housemade hot sauce, celery.

Sea bass with lemon, caper, brown butter, romanesco, anchovy.

You can check my friend Emily’s review and visit to Ink on Domo Photography where she took the few beautiful images at the bottom.

Berkshire pork tenderloin charcoal crust, macaroni and cheese, leeks

Quail banana polenta, beet juice, sorrel salad

This Weekend, I had a chance to meet Tim Burton, with over 700 people in attendance, it was one of the most anticipated shows of the year.

Blurry but best close up.

Some pics thanks to Brandon Shigeta.

You can’t eat him because he is made out of clay…

Alinea, is perhaps the most important restaurant in the US and ranks amongst the top 10 in the world. Located in a low key area in Chicago, this restaurant commands reservations months in advance and $500 for the tasting menu. Alinea, cannot be separated, without its founder and executive Chef, Grantz Achatz, who studied under two of the most important men in modern culinary history, Thomas Keller, of the French Laundry and Per se, and Ferran Adria, of El Bulli fame. Keller is the man with the most Michelin stars in the US, and Ferran’s cutting edge approach to cooking has defined a generation, inspiring many genius’ as well as copycats.

This week marks the 6th year of Alinea’s success as a restaurant. Staying in business in this economy is not an easy task, one must be doing something correctly, because novel- avant-garde cuisine isn’t necessarily a staple in today’s world.

Achatz can be compared to Chopin, because he was doing something monumental and innovative, all while he was in the weakest of health. Chopin is perhaps the most important composer for the piano taking ideas of Bach, Beethoveen, and Mozart and transcending their ideas into eternal music that is etched in the annals of time. What is notable about Chopin, is that he wrote exclusively for the Piano that’s why his works are amongst the best. Chopin was weak in the majority of his life, dying from cystic fibrosis while composing music nobody today will probably even touch.

In 2007, Achatz lost his own ability to taste. He was diagnosed with stage 4 tongue cancer, which metastasized to both sides of his neck. His surgeons told him they were going to cut out his tongue and replace it with muscle from another part of his body. With the surgery, Achatz only had a 50 percent chance of surviving beyond two years. But, he says, he was even more afraid of losing his ability to taste and eat.

“I lived my whole life in the kitchen,” he says. “Not only that, but it’s the passion, it’s the love for cooking and food. It’s dictated my entire life — every aspect of it. So, in some ways, the thought of not being able to do that anymore radically affects your life.”

Black truffle explosion. Spherical Black truffle juice made solid and liquid at the same time and formed into a beautiful ravioli, with shaved black truffles on top.Bite into the ravioli, and it bursts open in your mouth with a gush of pure liquid truffles and butter

Hot potato, Cold potato.

Tomato.

Short rib with guinness and peanuts.

Kobe beef short ribs with beets, cranberry, campari.

Hearts of palm stuffed with different filings, wasabi, truffle.

Pigeot.

Green Almond.

Guava.

Watermelon compressed to look like Tuna Sashimi.

Coconut dessert.

Wagyu Kobe beef with Maitake Mushroom.

Strawberry.

Roe.

Bacon.

Duck.

Rhubarb.

Halibut.

Squab.

Mint, Buckwheat, Passionfruit

Anti-Griddle

At Alinea, Grantz employs the Anti-Griddle, a device that precisely does what it means, its the opposite of a grill, it freezes instantaneously what it touches so you have have things that would otherwise be impossible to achieve, such as frozen olive oil with a nougat texture.

This freeze dried pea soup, is a pretty much a deconstructed pea soup at the opposite temperature, each pea is meant to be spooned with a different ingredient in the soup, so you can see how sherry goes with peas, olive oil.

MARCH 31st, 2011 -APRIL 1st, 2011

9-2am 21+ FREE

Come celebrate with us as we raise donations for JAPAN! Their innovative and unique culture has some way have affected US all one way or another. Its time to help out another country that is in dyer need of it. The least we can do is donate.

Hip Hop | Funk | Soul Sounds provided by:

DJ BABU |Beat Junkies|

Snail x Ynot |Edifying Beats|

C Pablo x Mike Soops

We’re also having T-Shirt giveaways per usual…you know the drill if you don’t…come grab one if you’re lucky!

check out photos of our previous events Here:

sponsored by: CIVIL CLOTHING and Temple Effectives

The best

Rainio enjoying dinner before his shift.. He’s a master chef as well.

Every time I go here I usually order the Splashing Meadow or the Hibachi Shrimp. Tonight I went with the Hibachi Shrimp.

Appetizer

Chef Hector and Rain’s main man.

If your not ordering the fried rice when you come.. your not doing Benihana right..

Lobster anyone??

The meal

Separate dessert at the secret spot

After all of this I was stuck on the couch for a few hours. It was definitely worth it though!

  

Okay, so it’s the end of a boring night…the lights turn on and you didn’t find any chicks that you thought were half decent. Your tired and hungry; now its time to treat yourself to some food…where do you go?!?!  Here’s a few spots that I’ve been known to go to after a loong night of drinking…

The Original Pantry:This place is a landmark in downtown Los Angeles. It’s also a bomb ass place to go when your night is coming to an end. If your in the Los Angeles area, near South Figueroa and 9th…then you need to get you and your crew to this spot immediately. Forget Denny’s…that place sucks compared to this spot. My favorite thing to get when I’m drunk and ready is the sausage omelet!! This thing hits your drunk taste buds like a lighting bolt from hell. The melted cheese in between the eggs is what does it for you…Boom! Then you got the oh-so famous Pantry burger which doesn’t come on your normal bun. This sucker comes out lookin like a patty melt but on some other sh*t. On top of that, you get  side plates including coleslaw, and crispy bread with butter. Although, eating at this place when your drunk has it’s downfalls…the food maybe so good that you eat too much and end up with your head in a toilet. I’ve been there when a friend of mine couldn’t put the fork down and then boom…night just went from drunk to babysitting.

Taco Sinaloa: This place  is a perfect for picking up those late night tacos that you were salivating about. I mean…you can always go to Jack in the Crack and grab the 2 taco’s for 99 cents.. OR… you can join the party over at Taco Sinaloa and dance to mariachi music while you wait in line. You might think your night is over when you leave the club/bar…but noooo…Taco Sinaloa provides Latina girls that are hungry at 2 a.m.  They may not be the best choice as far as ‘looks’ go…but hey! It’s 2 a.m, your drunk and hungry…you probably don’t give a f*ck at this point. So bring on the 200+ pounders and share that burrito! Because your night just started babbbby!!!

Carl’s Jr:  A long  night ends with the bright lights of good ol’ Carl’s Jr. staring you in the face. Pull in that drive through…look at the menu…and decide whats best! A top favorite is usually the Double Western Bacon Cheeseburger. But if you feel like you just need a quick hit and don’t want to spend over 5 bucks…then the spicy chicken sandwich with ranch is the way to go! Go ahead and indulge by stuffing your face at 2:30 in the morning with a burger,fries, and water!! Why water you say…cause if you get coke then your stomach is gonna remember all the jack and cokes you had a couple hours ago and he’ s not gonna be very happy!

  Jack In The Box: Okay…this probably isn’t the best place to go when your drunk but hey…who hasn’t gone to this spot after a long night of drinking. 99 cent tacos…curly fries…onion rings. My hidden favorite that gets overlooked is the jalapeno poppers!!! mmmhhh! After eating a meal like this only lead to one thing…toilet. Alcohol mixed with dirty jack in the crack isn’t the best call…But damnnn are those poppers good!

• Quit Smoking

• Learn Something New

• Eat Healthier and Diet

• Get Out of Debt and Save Money

• Spend More Time with Family

• Travel to New Places

• Be Less Stressed

• Volunteer

• Drink Less

Well let’s see where I fall in this category of the top ten. Lose weight and get fit…don’t need to do that. Quit smoking…I don’t smoke. Learning something new might be cool; maybe a new language. Eating healthy; maybe I should do the opposite, since I already eat some-what healthy…Chili Cheese burgers and Hot Puff corns all day. Get out of debt and save money; I’m not in debt, but saving money could be a priority. Spend more time with family; I spend enough time with my family…those bastards. Travel to a new place; probably the highest on the list for me…just need a place to go and someone adventurous to go with. Be less stressed; I’m not really stressed out a lot…crack holds me down. Volunteer; sure…in fun activities like threesomes and hang gliding…why not! Drink less; this one applies to the people who drink too much…but I don’t go to dive bars at mid day and get kicked out cause I haven’t showered or fell asleep in the bathroom…so I ain’t worried about this one.