LA Times' J. Gold LOVES Stephen Gelber's place Smoke.Oil.Salt

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
41

Thanks, Stephen. We took an early table on Saturday and will just sit there until they kick us out. :slight_smile:

Looking forward to it.

42

Great meal last night at SOS.

Nice to meet Stephen in person. Great staff, and a really nice room.

Food was across-the-board stellar. Standouts included the cauliflower, potatoes bravas, octopus and that pork–good god!

Stephen recommended a Txakolina Rosé (the white was sold out) and it was beautiful. The nose was all fruit, but that salinity and the light fizziness were really nice against the starters, even the heavier ones like the wagyu tartare.

We brought:

'07 Arcadian Sleepy Hollow which took a little while to open up but had the usual Arcadian balance and bite. Definitely has a long life ahead of it, but very nice now with a decant.

'09 Saxum James Berry was still a bit young, with the fruit just a little more forward than I like with JBV, but over the next hour the herbal/underbrush elements came into focus. Big tar component as well, which I happen to like.

'05 Alban Reva – found this in the back of the cabinet, and I thought we’d be eating more red meat. Still a massive presence at 10 years of age, absolutely imperious and full-throated. Not an every day wine, but pure pleasure for sure.

A great evening and we will definitely return to try the paella night.

43

Thanks Ken.
It was nice to finally meet you.
Glad you enjoyed everything.

Cheers,

44

Thanks for the link Roberto. Kudos to Stephen and his partners on a creative business venture and nice review. The menu looks terrific and the wine list is very thoughtful. Can’t wait to stop in when back out in LA…Gary

45

Thanks Gary. Stop in.

46

Hi Stephen - Looks like my next trip there is the second week in March to help my sister celebrate her birthday. Will take one evening to stop by for dinner…Cheers, Gary

47

Congratz on the GQ press!!! I continue to hate on all of the posters here and am still trying to figure out how to swing a trip to LA :smiley:

48

My friend is going Friday night and is debating about bring some wine or ordering off of the list.

What’s the price range on the wine list and is it all primarily Spanish wines?

49

Thanks Andrew.

50

My list currently features 130 bottles, approx. 80% Spanish, plus some supplemental whites – French, Austrian and German Rieslings.
Bottle price range is $30 to $350, plus a few Vega Sicilia Unicos priced higher.

My By The Glass program currently features 10 reds, 10 whites, a still rose, a rose cava, a white cava, a rose txakolina, and a white txakolina.
I also have an extensive list of Spanish beers, ciders, sherries, and sherry cocktails.

You can bring your own bottles, and we will open as many as you want for $20 each; obviously I prefer them not to be on my list (look at our website: http://www.smokeoilsalt.com/).
After the first two bottles we open for $20 corkage each, we will waive a corkage on the next bottle for every bottle you buy off the list.

Thanks for the interest.

51

Stephen,

Thanks so much for the detailed reply.

And, so refreshing to see a reasonable, sensible corkage policy.

[cheers.gif]

Brett

52

Pit stop for chef change (in a consulting, caretaker role only)…hope they keep it up to snuff:

http://www.laweekly.com/restaurants/perfecto-rocher-leaves-smokeoilsalt-ricardo-zarate-comes-on-as-consulting-chef-5822230

53

Going to be even better.

54

Sounds great!

55

Stephen congrats on the WS Award of Excellence!

56

Thanks very much appreciated Jesse.