DineLA Restaurant Week
Love it. Can’t wait to go back.
I love all the different parts of this flowing restaurant. I love the quirkiness. I just love kitch and quirk in general.
The round “plates” of motion pictures at the bar table. All the different spaces for hanging out in the bar. The tall big table crossing the lower big table. The nooks of spaces here and there. The non-recession gift shop. The patisserie. The two distinctly different dining rooms. The ham and cheese bar.
Just like how I enjoyed all the quirky architecture in Spain as seen on “On the road again..” Come on, you know you watched it too. I won’t name those four bc I can’t stand them now, but the architecture and the food..
The food. I think this is as close to molecular gastronomy as it gets in LA. And it is fun.
- pitcher of sangria: we chose rojo. They make it with tempranillo (love it!), big pieces of beautiful sweet fruit. That was the best sangria I’ve ever had.
- foie gras wrapped in cotton candy, on a stick: fun, actually good flavor combo, the foie gras was not the best, it was very stiff, but that’s what they need to make this.
- “canned” uni: ok, this was the only miss. The uni was not very fresh. It was placed on top of tiny dice veg that were heavily dressed with vinegar—overboard, it was way too acidic by itself, and much more so with the uni. Heavy acid and uni: not good.
- watermelon and tomato skewers: big hit. Surprisingly wonderful flavor combo.
- lobster medallions: this was way beyond just medallions, the whole claw was in it. Perfectly cooked, flavorful foam.
- brussel sprouts: more foam (“lemon air”), very good.
- sauteed shrimp: perfectly cooked large shrimp, simple good flavors. It was delicious but not interesting enough for me.
- tuna with foam: I’m drawing a blank, maybe I didn’t taste enough of it.
- crab stuffed buns in a Chinese steaming basket: delicious.
- Philly and Hilly: My friends all got the Philly and I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a uniform and unison exhalted praise. I got the Hilly and really enjoyed it. The bread was unexpected, it was so airy and light inside, like a cream puff. The cheese on both was so good, and it turned out to be white cheddar!
- paella pasta with shrimp, with a side of aioli: this was ok, didn’t do a lot for me. It’s a very large “tapa” so if you want to limit spending, this will help fill you up.
- lamb with mushrooms and potato: I tried the potato, it was like an almost soupy mashed potato, very creamy, delicious.
- apples Carlota: like a high end modern Macdonald’s fried apple pie.
- pear sorbet and chocolate: this didn’t do much for me, except for the small cubes of very good pears.
- chocolate something, can’t remember what it’s called, but it’s like a high end modern twix bar, it came with freeze dried raspberries which were very cool to eat.
The food was very good, with just a couple of exceptions. On top of being good to eat, it was fun to eat, the ingredients were all interesting, high quality (except that uni), and with a touch of chemistry class.
The service was very friendly and helpful, but there was some confusion in the kitchen, since we had to ask several times for a couple of the dishes.
Like I said, can’t wait to go back, and next time I def need to try their very interesting drinks.
pleasurepalate
12/19/2008I so want to go this restaurant. Is it really expensive?