The PuristsPro dinner was held at Providence, which is considered one of the top restaurants in Los Angeles. A perfect fit to honor our special guest Dr. MTF!

Thanks to ET and ThomasM for coordinating this event. Providence is a tough reservation, but ET was able to arrange a private room and work with them to create an incredible tasting menu around the exceptional collection of wine:



ET, DRMW, Allen, SteveH and I were the first to arrive so we pulled out a few bottles and had a wonderful conversation about various topics.
Personally, I really have to say that it was a pleasure meeting ET as we discovered that we had common connections.
So ET please keep you schedule open for December 12th, 2008. I cordially invite you and Mrs ET as my special guests for the big 'W' party up on the hill !
(and Bill - is it Mrs or missus? LOL)

There were some fantastic wines to pair up with the tasting menu: A 2001 Cabernet from Bryant Family Vineyards, a 1989 L. Latour Montrachet white burgundy, and a Pinot Noir from Kistler Vineyards






A 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon from Shafer Vineyards:


The collection kept growing as more guests arrived:








Bill presented twins, two 1982 Chateau Brane-Cantenac Margaux's


And the best way to start a wonderful evening is with some Canard-Duchene champagne:

and thank you Ed for your kind words. it was an absolute pleasure to kick this evening off. chapeaux off all around.

cheers,

elliot

The food and service was top notch. ET, it's incredible how great everything was especially on such short notice. Can't wait for the next one.-MW

Let's do this on a regular basis. Bill's got enough wine for everybody!

Greg

Company excellent as usual, tasting menu was scrumptious, and the wine was awesome and I'm so delighted that we were able to try all these different wines!

Great great gathering, and thanks for taking the pics and posting this report!

Cheers,
Anthony

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Providence did an incredible job of assembling a delicious tasting menu.

We started with an amuse bouche. From left to right: gin & tonic, mojito, and fennel soup



The fennel soup was interesting but had a nice presentation.



For the first course, we started with a big eye tuna tartare, wrapped in hearts of palm and chive oil:





The second course was poached lobster with yellow beets and caviar. This was outstanding and one of my favorites. The 1989 L. Latour Montrachet was pretty nice too !





The third course was absolutely phenomenal, seared scallops with shaved truffles! The aroma of the truffles was incredible:


And here's a closeup. YUMMY



The next course was roasted Chatham cod, perfectly crisp skin and delicately seasoned:



The fifth course was a Arctic char:



And the sixth course was a veal tenderloin with hedgehog mushrooms and spinach:





Next up is a cheese course:



And paired up with walnuts, figs and two chutneys:

Dessert was fantastic too. It was almost a tasting menu within itself.

Banana bread with peanut butter gelee. This was great, almost like a pbj sandwich but much more sophisticated:



Next was a blood orange sorbet w/ black olive nougatine:



And a chocolate ganauche with mushroom ice cream:




And last but not least is a trio (from top to bottom) of caramel chorizo essence, Bailey's chocolate truffle, and olive oil pate feuille.
Yes that is not a typo, a caramel with chorizo (as in chorizo pork sausage). I guess molecular gastronomy has made it to Los Angeles. It sounds extremely odd but surprising it works and I really enjoyed it.



But wait, there's more. The food was great, the watches were awesome! More pics coming up

The chirozo infused carmel sounds wrong but taste great. Thanks again to thepurist for a spectacular event!

I like my sweets sweet instead of salty

Cheers,
Anthony

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It was quite tasty.

We had some amazing watches! Everything from AP's to Voultilainen










And closeups panning from left to right:







IMHO, the two most incredible pieces were the Voultilainen:



And the RM004:


For whatever reason, I sometimes tend to take pics of watches upside down so here's the RM004 rotated upright:



Thanks again to all the Purists for making this one of the best events ever. It was a fantastic way to start 2008. Really looking forward to the next one!

I forgot to mention that the Voultilainen is a minute repeater. It was amazing, we closed the door to the private room and listened to the 'ding dong' watch. I actually have a short video, will have it posted soon

Thanks to Allen and Ed for the video!

Cheers,
Anthony



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the service.

All were simply superb!

Thanks so much. What was so amazing was how good the food and wine pairings were, given that the sommelier didn't know how half the wines would show.

Wonderful!

Thanks, DRMW! You are getting to be a force to be reckoned with, with that camera!

TM

Still learning how to use the camera. Someone gave a quick lesson over drinks (coca cola at a certain "M" Bar&Grill) about aperatures and shutters. I need more lessons. The pic post of my favorite yellow AP offshore of all time made my weekend. Now that's a great photographer! When is the next event?

Dear all (you know who you are),

Thanks for the impromptu and unexpected mini-International Gathering Of The Tribes (mini-IGOTT), albeit with only one delegate from our Asian chapter.....me!

I was touched (in more ways than one) by your generosity of time, effort and (hic) wine.

Igott (sic) to meet 'names' that I have only seen as cyber-shadows for years - wyldpony (et), ED209 (AP contest winner), DRMW (spookily alike ED209), allen (watch cornucopiae), Dr No (he does say 'Yes'), SteveH, Bill N and Anthony Tsai.  The others, I already had the 'plaisir' to have met and ate with them on their travels to Asia. I think you never get to know anyone (really really) until you have shared bread and wine.......

I fully recommend the "PuristS' Remedy" for a hangover the next day:

1. The full force of menu selection (chilli cheese fries,  tamales, burgers and hot dogs) at the 'Original Tommy's World Famous Hamburgers' .
2. Clandestine, secret squirrel, pourings of beer from a bottle in a bag, because Tommy's hamburger joints (established 1946) have no liquor licence 
3. Let ED209 take you to a gun range and blast away with semi-automatic pistols and pump-action shotgun.

That'll smoke the cobwebs from your hangover !  Then, start an 18-hour journey in economy class that is crammed with crying babies in quadrophonic configuration (comment please from wyldpony?)

I think I may have to do an epicurean massage report tomorrow on WFED forum  

Regards,

MTF

Brown bagging it and shoot'n guns....only in L.A. Next time you are here and have more time, we'll do a triple treat/comparison at Tommy's/Carney's/Pinks. Then King Taco/Tito's taco next. Regards -MW

.....you're dating yourself. not good. as you know, the big rage now is 6-track stereophonic surround sound (in prosumer terms called 5.1, but don't get me started on that), used in theatres around the globe; not to mention the George Lucas-developed and authorized 8-track version. then there's IMAX, but that's a whole other ball game. now, "Quadrophenia"? that there is a motion picture.

Melvyn, glad you're back home. it's a good place to be. a pleasure to see and be seen. let's do it again soon,

cheers,

elliot

On the flight, I had the good, old-fashioned, 4-box configuration  -  4 crying Indian babies - Front & Rear / L&R 

I remember the beer I was drinking around the time Quadraphenia the movie was on  - I was amongst the great unwashed of Tetley's bittermen..........

Regards,

MTF

CAST:

Chef:  Michael Cimarusti

Chef de Cuisine:  Yu Min Lin

Manager:  Matthew de Marte

Sommelier:  Drew Langley

 

MENU:

Big Eye Tuna: hearts of palm, red radish, wasabi creme fraiche.

Marine Lobster: yellow beets in 2 forms, american caviar, tarragon.

Nancy's Down-East Scallops (Deer Isle, Maine): puree of tahitian squash, shitake mushroom, late harvest gewurztraminer, black truffle.

Wild Cod (Chatham, Massachusetts): artichoke, basil, pearl onions.

Artic Char (Iceland): bacon, romanesco, red wine.

Tenderloin of Veal: crushed weiser farms king edwards potatoes, pied de mouton, soy, spinach.

Market Cheeses: corvina, allegrini, palazzo della torre.

Blood Orange Sorbet: black olive nougatine.

Chocolate, Hedgehog Mushroom Ice Cream, Caramel:

 

Amicables,

MTF

 

With beautiful watches, nice people and even blood orange sorbet, my favorite

Cheers,

Michel

nt

Hi Thomas, Anthony and everyone!

Wow guys, great wine and wonderful mix of watches. What more could you want?
I miss watch dinners, its been a while since Ive been "away".

Regards,
Aseanto.

Soon, fancy dinners may be past history for you.......  LOL..... if you have family commitments

Good luck mate!

MTF

Long time no see! I hope you had a great wedding and are enjoying married life

Let us know if u're ever in the area!

Cheers,
Anthony



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