Elk - Grilled Backstrap

My Nevada friend also sent me some elk backstrap from an elk he shot in the fall of 2019. The backstrap is also known as the loin and runs the length of the backbone. It is the best meat on the elk, except perhaps for the tenderloin which is tucked underneath the backbone just forward of the pelvis.

A spike elk buck at Hardware Ranch in northern Utah. 

I marinated it with Bragg Organic Vinaigrette Dressing and Marinade, which my friend sent me, about three hours before I grilled it. 

Elk backstrap.

The elk is very lean, so I cooked it just long enough to give it a nice outer texture and leave it rare on the inside. 

We ate it together with the pronghorn antelope I posted about yesterday. Although both were mild, the elk had no gaminess whatsoever and I preferred it to the antelope in the head to head matchup. But both were excellent. 

Pronghorn Antelope - Loin Steaks

I have a friend who shot a pronghorn antelope in northeastern Nevada in 2019 and sent me some loin steaks from it. I'd told him about my one previous time eating pronghorn antelope. It was shot in Wyoming and tasted like sagebrush, the gamiest piece of meat I've ever eaten. My friend assured me that the pronghorn from Nevada would be much better. They are feeding on other types of grasses. He also sent me a bottle of Bragg Organic Vinaigrette Dressing and Marinade and told me to marinade the meat in it for several hours before grilling it. 

Pronghorn antelope at Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.

The pronghorn steaks came in eight uneven pieces, but were quite thick. I put them in a plastic bag with the Braggs for about three hours and then grilled on high heat long enough to get a nice texture on the outside, but keep them rare on the inside. 

Packaging from the butcher.

Raw pronghorn steaks.

Cooked steaks.

Rare middle. 

We had Andrew with us, and some friends, and ate them along with some elk steak which I figured would be much better, but the antelope held its own. At least one person preferred the antelope to the elk. There was just a hint of gaminess, but just enough to make it interesting. It was quite wonderful. 

Bestia - Los Angeles

Last year, in early November, we went to Bestia in Los Angeles with some friends. Judy, Andrew and I had been once before, three and a half years earlier in 2015, and loved it. 

This experience was even better, one of the best meals I've ever had. With four of us we were able to order lots of dishes and have a little bit of many different items, which also created a substantial tab which was also shared. Each dish was at least good, most were outstanding, and several were incredible.

Dishes were brought to the table in bunches and so we each sampled things in a little different order. I'm presenting the dishes in the order I photographed them.

First is the pan-roasted chicken gizzards with roasted beets, endive and aged goat cheese. This is an outrageously amazing cooking achievement. Chicken gizzards are rubbery and have a slight offal taste. These gizzards are melt in the mouth soft and savory with absolutely no registry on the offal spectrum. The large thin goat cheese slices are a nice diversion and the beets, though good, kind of got lost because of the wonder of the gizzards. Our friends are not adventurous eaters and this was a push for them, but they each tried and enjoyed them. However, the cognitive dissonance of eating gizzards impacted their ability to relish them. I believe this is one of Bestia's best-sellers and it is a 5+ dish. 

The second dish was veal tartare crostino with shallots, parsley, lemon and tonnato sauce. Tonnato sauce is Italian and made from mayonnaise, olive oil, tuna, anchovies and lemon juice. The tonnato sauce was dominating in quantity, although not taste, it was quite mild, but it eclipsed the tartare which disappointed me a bit. But it was a unique preparation. One of our friends is a gut doctor and was very reluctant to eat the tartare. He he had a tiny taste, but that was it. 

The squid ink Caesar with baby romaine, tarragon, meyer lemon and parmigiano-reggiano was one of the requests of a friend. I think she was seeking something familiar in a sea of unknowns. The squid ink added some color, but not much taste which was provided by the lemon and cheese. Very good. 

Shishito peppers with a pimiento cheese dip. I've had shishito peppers quite a few times locally, nothing too unusual about it, but what made these standout was the pimiento dip which was great. I think I ate three-fourths of this one by myself. 

The next dish was my favorite of the night. It looked amazing and tasted even better. It was mussels and claims with spicy 'nduga, saffron, preserved meyer lemon, fennel pollen and grilled bread. 'Nduga is a spicy spreadable pork salume from Italy made from roasted peppers, spices and parts of a pig, including the shoulder, belly and tripe. My photo is not showing much juice, but I recall ordering extra bread to soak up more juice and I recall the juice having a nice spice to it. 

Next was a salsicchia pizza, or sausage pizza. It was okay, also a nod to our friends with a more conventional palate. Good, but nothing too unusual that stood out about it. 

The next dish was tiny, but incredible: chestnut and mushroom raviolette stuffed with mascarpone, fried sage and fennel pollen. It is unimpressive looking and I was quite astounded when I saw it. However, one ravioletti, which is a smaller version of ravioli, and I was a believer. It is the best pasta I've ever eaten, and not even close. I don't normally like pasta. I never order pasta. But this was scrumptious. One of our friends also commented about it being his favorite pasta ever. At $23.00 for the dish, it cost a lot per ravioletti, but there is a lot of goodness packed into each one. 

Next was lobster spaghetti. Several of us commented that the spaghetti was spaghetti, but the lobster was also lobster and that part of it was good. Probably my least favorite of all the dishes. 

Roasted marrow bone with spinach gnocchetti, crispy breadcrumbs and aged balsamic. One marrow bone arrived at the table, then the waiter scooped the marrow out of the bone and mixed it up in the gnocchetti. It was an interesting variation of marrow bone I've not had before. Marrow bone our first visit was one of my favorite dishes. This was one of my least favorite. The gnocchetti sucked up much of the marrow flavor and I preferred the marrow flavor to the gnocchetti flavor. 

Next was grilled whole branzino, the Italian name for Mediterranean sea bass, with charred lemon, anchovy vinaigrette, sun dried tomatoes. Every time I've had branzino, including our last time at Bestia, I've loved it. This was no exception. Chowhound describes branzino as having a buttery flavor and a silky texture and that is about right. 

Slow roasted lamb neck with smoked anchovy creme fraiche sauce, little gem lettuce and soft herbs. I've loved lamb neck the few times I've tried it. Our friends who are not lamb eaters commented on how tender it was. It was good and tender, but not as good as other lamb neck we've tried. The best was at Incanto in San Francisco. I did like the sauce. It reminded me of the sauce on the turkey leg at Animal Restaurant in LA.  

Despite talking about least favorite, etc., every one of the dishes was good. There was not a bad dish in the lot. Some just suffered by comparison. 

Citrone Restaurant and Bar - Redlands

I've been to Citrone in Redlands, California several times, but mostly for lunch and I've been mostly underwhelmed, although it has a reputation as one of the best restaurants in Redlands. I recently went for dinner and had a much better experience. 

The steamed mussels and clams were very good, particularly the clams, and it was a generous serving. I don't recall the broth it was in, but it was unusual and had a different flavor. 

Toasted bread, in a stack, was also very good. Not overdone, still warm, and nice flavor. 

The king crab cakes, which I got because I'd never seen that as an item anywhere, were a big disappointment. They were overcooked, dry and were devoid of much flavor. The white sauce, which I slathered on, made them palatable. 

The pear salad with blue cheese and nuts was pretty good. I shared an order with Judy.

The special was a 25 ounce ribeye which I got medium rare and asked them to put on blue cheese. I've been disappointed with a number of steaks I've ordered recently, and this was a nice surprise. It was a great piece of meat, cooked as ordered, and the blue cheese was ample and went well with it. The blue cheese was so ample, that I scraped most of it off toward the end because it got to be too much. It came with nice garlic mashed potatoes and soft cooked carrots. It was the best item I had. 

Finally, although stuffed, I ordered a chocolate cheese cake which was thick and rich. However, I am a horrible chocolate eater. I prefer milk to dark and this was too dark for me. Judy who is a chocolate connosseur, enjoyed it. I loved the strawberry slices and chocolate sauce. 

Overall, I was more favorable impressed than I've been before and for the most part, it lived up to its reputation. 

Pacifica Seafood Restaurant - Palm Desert

One of the best seafood restaurants in inland Southern California is found in Palm Desert, an unlikely spot for such fare. About the only water you see in this area is found as obstacles on golf courses (and even then there are many more of the native sand traps), or spraying out of sprinklers. 

A Dungeness crab Louis salad with lots of crab, as well as avocado and hard boiled egg. The carrots had been partially cooked and were quite soft. It was a nice touch. 

I've now eaten there three of four times, twice as part of my firm's annual retreat. Unfortunately, I don't have many photos. 

BBQ sugar spiced salmon with garlic mashed potatoes, Chinese beans and mustard sauce. I loved the potatoes and the beans, but the salmon was a little bit too cooked for me. I normally have to tell waiters that I want it rare in the middle and didn't.  

Several of my partners have also been back on multiple occasions, one who is an avid sea fisherman and the other who loves fish. So I'm not the only one with this favorable opinion. 

Oysters on the half shell.

Pacifica generally knows how to cook fish. They understand that to overcook it is to ruin it. I had swordfish my first time there and it was excellent. My partner that is a fisherman and often eats swordfish proclaimed it the best he'd ever had. 

A sample tray with shrimp, Alaskan king crab and other items. 

A remaining shrimp in a shrimp cocktail.

Diamond Palace Chinese Seafood - Diamond Bar

I did a post on Diamond Palace Chinese Seafood in Diamond Bar almost ten years ago. I've eaten a fair amount of Chinese food in the intervening years and it is still up there as perhaps my favorite Chinese food anywhere, up there with places in Chinatowns in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Manhattan and Flushing, among others. 

I was there recently with my friend Wing and got my favorite dishes. Their egg drop soup is amazing. It is very thick, almost glutinous, full of egg, corn and pieces of meat. It is smooth and warm and full of rich flavor. We get a large bowl for the two of us and we always eat it all, several small bowl fulls each. By far the best Chinese soup I've ever had and up there as some of the best soup I've ever had. 

Egg drop soup. You can see how thick it is from the photo. 

Their salt and pepper shrimp is the whole shrimp, including head-on, breaded and fried. I eat the whole thing, starting with the head which is bursting with juice and flavor, then down to the tail. It is a little bit crunchy, because of the shell, very moist and with tons of flavor. There are times when it is better than others. Always best when it is very hot. It took a few times before I was completely comfortable eating the whole shrimp, including the head, and without pealing it. But now it is no problem. 

Their salt and pepper porkchop is along the same line, pork breaded and fried. The pork is very moist and juicy and bursting with flavor. When done right, this may be my favorite dish.  I think of porkchop as dry. This is none of that. 

Last is Peking duck. It is broken into two separate plates. One plate has the fatty outer skin cut in thin layers with a little bit of underlying meat. It comes with buns, some scallions and a plum sauce. This is my favorite part. The crunchy, fatty skin with meat is to be treasured. 

The second plate is the lesser pieces with a bowl of a fruity sauce, like apricot. It includes the legs and more bony pieces of the duck. I've had better Peking duck other places, but theirs is good and always a welcome addition. 

With other people, we would add some ginger lobster, which I included in my last post. 

American Herring Gull

I've previously photographed the American herring gull outside Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. Those were gulls in their summer plumage. I recently photograph some American herring gulls in winter, February 2020, at Jones Beach Island in Nassau County, Long Island, New York. 

In winter plumage, the adults have white heads and necks streaked with brown, while in summer the head and neck as all-white. 

The bird to the left has the brown streaked head and neck, while the bird to the right does not have the brown streaking. 

Front view of the brown streaking. The bird to the back right is a ring-billed gull. 

I also photographed a dark juvenile in flight. 

Juvenile American herring gull