Catalan Mediterranean Cuisine - Rancho Mirage, CA

We walked around the building twice to find the door, a heavy handle carved out of the adobe-style wall. Keep on looking because the inside is quite the find. These walls surround an open-air courtyard, an oasis of lights against a stucco setting. 

Service is attentive, and happy hour has some solid cocktails. Sip at your own speed as you peruse a multi-page menu - it's overwhelming in the best way possible. 

We start with the Chef's Mixed Tapas Plate. Slick piquillos sail sweetly with a goat cheese cargo, and smoked chorizo has a sharp and salty spice. The shrimp are garlicky goodness, but they are a little bit dry. 

Dessert aside, my favorite dish is a side of Charred Shishitos. The portion is entree-size, and the blistered skin with salty seasoning is bliss. 

Paella is never my favorite, but their Paella Mixta has real flavor. Seafood and saffron spout some fragrance, and chicken and chorizo add a stronger savor.  

Black Spaguetti & Rock Shrimp has a real kick of chili, and the spaghetti is exactly al dente.

I came for the entrees but can't help enjoying the sweets. Catalan Caramel Cream Custard is a highlight, crusty with a moist, cake-like pudding beneath. 

Sorbet is sweet and refreshing, a sugar-lemon and red raspberry.

Chocolate Filled Spanish Churros are exactly as they sound. All the airy crunch of a churro with gooey chocolate oozing inside. 

A delightful meal and a good time for all. Lovely place, convenient location if you have errands before or after. I haven't eaten much out here, but I would gladly come back to Catalan. 

Gabi James - Redondo Beach

Gentrification is gutting Redondo Riviera, and the fancy-schmancy has a firm foothold. I don’t even keep track of the fine dining lah-di-da anymore, but a happy hour got me to Gabi James. 

They have some outdoor seating in the street, garnished by green grass and heat lamps to make it pleasant, and the experience only improves when you see their selection of spirits. A rare specialist in gin, you get to choose from a curated collection ranging from sweet to dry. I got something bold, and I would have given them a 5 on that drink alone. 

The menu is a please-all kind of deal, appetizers that look appetizing, entrees that sound enticing, accommodating all diets and desires. 

I will say that the Roasted Mushrooms were not the best start. They could have used a sprinkle of seasoning…any seasoning, though that make the quality any less clear. The mushrooms themselves were juicy, and the egg yolk was nicely done. 

Same for the Tortilla Espanola, full of soft, thin layers of perfectly scalloped potato.

A slow start with the starters, but the Jamon Wrapped Dates were right on. A really pretty plate, with gooey dates full of bold bleu in Spanish bacon. 

All Day Oxtail Ragu has been braised to melt-in-your-mouth tenderness, and I loved the contrast of a crispy trenne with all its hard edges. 

I got a bite of Paella from a sharing-is-caring friend, and I must say they made a delicious plate. A beautiful yellow sunset sprinkled with squid and shrimp…and I forgot to take a photo. 

I’ve had worse in the Rivera, and though I’ve yet to fall in love with anything new, I’ll admit, Gabi James got game. More importantly, Gabi James got gin, and I’d come back for more of what they got.

AOC - Los Angeles

I once read a book about heaven that describes it as being surrounded by all your worldly joys. It's more about the little things; your favorite ice cream shop is right down the street, for example. And your favorite flavor is never seasonal and never out.

Dinner in my heaven would look a lot like AOC. I'd eat it in this ivy-crawling, garden-glowing, breeze-blowing outdoor patio, under the warm glow of heat lamps. I would go for girl-dates weekly instead of monthly, and we'd catch up and gossip over carafes of wine without worrying about bedtimes or driving home.

My menu would be full of favorites, familiar luxury ingredients I can recognize like this Chicken Liver Crostini starter. Fresh frisee adds crunch to a powerhouse pancetta, a porky punch to a potent liver. The pate itself has the texture of velvet and silk, a thin spread that delivers concentrated iron-y. 

A cold Salad of marinated shrimp and scallops is a moist seafood jerky. Both have dense salinity and smoke, like they were dried in seawater before they hit the grill. I'm surprised by this flavor - it reminds me of dried goods from home in Dalian. 

The most heavenly dish is clearly the Black Cod. It emerges still sizzling, a buttery fish in butter over a creamy potato gratin that soothes the spice from a dash of red pepper. We made bets on how many sticks of butter they used - I'm guessing at least two, and I'm totally okay with that. In my heaven, all the scales are broken and you don't gain weight. 

A tender Braised Duck is sweetened by roasted strawberries, with sauteed onions for balance. I would have preferred the onions more cooked as the acid can overpower the strawberry, but I do like some creativity in my confit.

There has to be a pasta too, and in my heaven carbs don't count. This Gnocchi has the perfect elastic texture with a subtle sauce acting as a salt for the fava beans and a highlight for the proscuitto and pecorino. 

I'll have an endless supply of Grilled Half Artichoke, and garlic aioli is non-negotiable. AOC's iteration is exactly right - not too heavy so you can dip and indulge without feeling gross when you finish.

They even have a dessert Platter to cater to my indecision. The Butterscotch Pot de Creme is the creme de la creme, an unspeakable indulgence where sweet and salty crash. The Bittersweet Chocolate Torta is a rich delight with a drop of muscovado ice cream. They throw in some house-made confections as well: S'mores, say no more. I'm a sucker for a good toasted marshmallow. The dark chocolate sponge toffee finishes bitter, and the peanut butter cups are the best thing ever with a surprise-dollop of caramel in the bottom.

So many of my favorite foods at AOC. The execution is exquisite, and the quality is exceptional. I didn't see anything I haven't seen before, but at AOC, I saw most of it at its best. 

Fishing with Dynamite UPDATE - Manhattan Beach

My first and only DineLA deal this year. The menu is incredible, and everything they make is so simple yet so complex. Every bite is a flavor-burst, every dish an accomplishment, no details overlooked.

I love Fishing with Dynamite. The crazy thing is, I never thought I would. I wasn't a fan of David Lefevre at fist as his flagship MB Post has rubbed me the wrong way more than a few times, but it's FwD where he truly shines. 

The simple things are simple, but starters like the Raw Bar Platter showcase the quality of the food. The oysters are more butter than brine, and they're sweet enough to entice even the skeptics. The scallops are as tender as a cut of wagyu, and the jumbo shrimp are exceptional and out-of-the-ocean fresh.

The second course requires a little more than shucking an oyster. You better have a steady hand to balance the crab-bread ratio in the Maryland Blue Crab Cake. A few extra crumbs can tip the scales as these slivers of my favorite crustacean are easily overpowered. Not enough crumbs, and you just get a pile of fall-apart crab. This one is perfect. And it's almost all crab, no filler, no bullshit. The house pickles have a lighter acid touch that cuts through the fried breading around and creamy mustard remoulade beneath.

It's called Fishing with Dynamite because the flavors are explosive. The Softshell Crab is lightly fried, and every bite bursts with seafood soup. The inside is a symphony of seaworthy-savor, like a soup dumpling inside the edible shell of a crab. There is a bed of what appears to be a signature summer coleslaw, a creative combo with sharp salsa verde and a gentle lime gastrique. The jicama adds the most gratifying crunch amongst the sweet kernals of corn and, and the candied peanuts make it pop.

The Grilled Albacore is a steak of sea. A weighty barrel of seared tuna, a rare beauty indeed. The sauce is seductively simple. Olive oil draws you in, lemon juice enhances the fish, and the chopped basil lends a breath of fresh fragrance.

Easily the best part of the meal, the Manila Clam Steamers are a show-stopping lagoon of concentrated clams in a shellfish broth that is reminiscent of bouillabaisse but better. This broth takes it to a whole new level that I've never seen anyone reach, and we easily rip through the entire perfect baguette provided to sop up every drop of soup. 

I need a cold shower after those clams. The Key Lime Parfait is a gentler cool-down, a smaller portion of their work-of-art key lime pie, complete with a killer crust and stiff peaks of picture-perfect Kaffir lime meringue.

At the right price and in the right place, Manhattan Beach can be enchanting. Fishing with Dynamite is exactly that place. Intimate, small-scale seafood that literally tastes like passion. They say you never forget your first love...I literally didn't love anything in Manhattan Beach until Fishing with Dynamite.