We were lucky to secure a seat at Los Dos Vatos this past Sunday, a pop-up featuring Mexican home cuisine from Vintage Cave alums, Chef Gilbert Arangure and Chef Eddie Lopez. They first featured their cuisine at their initial pop-up at the end of May while still working at Vintage Cave... apparently Vintage Cave is "renovating" and recently released all of the staff other than the sushi bar so Los Dos Vatos is here again. We started with a bottle of bubbly, a 2011 frank Family Vineyards Rouge California Champagne...
I also uncorked a bottle of one of my new favorite Pinot Noirs, a 2012 Domaine de la Cote from Santa Rita Hills made in the Burgundian style of restraint. Though it was a very nice wine, it wasn't the perfect apiring for the meal...
You had a selection of two different appetizers, either the Posole en Pollo or chicken soup...
Or the Elote or grilled corn street vendor style. Of course, the chefs kicked it up Los Dos Vatos style...
Obviously, the photos are after we started scarfing our meal so this is what our plates looked like before the locust swarm...
Since Mexican cuisine can be spicy, I followed the same rationale when selecting wines for Thai cuisine - lower alcohol and slightly sweet to offset the chili pepper heat - so I uncorked a 2013 Castello Di Amorosa Rosa... just 7% alcohol with the sweetness of freshly pressed grape juice... though I forgot to take a photo of the bottle. Though here's a shot of Chef Arangure explaining the menu and why he chose these dishes... home cookin' like he had growin' up in East LA...
For the entrees you had a selection of a trio of tacos -
The Caramelized Corn (vegan)
The Lengua or braised beef tongue...
And the Bulgogi with kimchi... hey if Koreans can start food trucks with tacos...
The Huaraches - no photo since we didn't select this option...
Or the Chilaquiles with 1 hour sous vide egg....
We also sampled a 2007 Hacienda Monastero Ribera del Duero - the slight raisiney quality worked with the Bulgogi tacos...
Then a trio of desserts followed starting with the Tres Leches cake
The Flan
And the Mexican Wedding Cookies...
We were there for the first seating at 6:00pm and just before the 2nd seating started at 7:30pm, a who's-who from the 50th's restaurant community appears including Alex Le from The Pig and the Lady and Mark "Gooch" Noguchi from Pili Hawaii and Mission. I hope both Chef Arangure and Chef Lopez find permanent work in the 50th now that Vintage Cave has taken a new direction... I also forgot to ask Chef Arangure if he had the perfect recipe for Chile Verde since we've been on a quest ever since samplin' Mama Gomez's rendition...
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