dineLA 2011 summary

The past two weeks have been dineLA, which is the equivalent of Boston's Restaurant Week.  What better time to visit some expensively priced and well known restaurants?  There were three planned outings.  Most of the MSTP year ones attended one event.  However, only myself and one other showed true dedication in attending all three!  Here are the results...

The Bazaar by José Andrés is a tapas restaurant known for its molecular food making.  The restaurant is part of a hotel and is located in Beverly Hills.  The restaurant is semi-formal.  I wore an above the knee LBD with light silver accents around the collar and hem with open-toe black heels.  The three guys had on: suit jacket with no tie, no suit jacket with no tie, and sweater over a suit shirt.

There are two seated areas: one for tapas and one for dessert.  The tapas area is quite bland, with dark furniture and red accents.  However, the tables themselves were well lit from above such that the people remained in dimmer light, but the food was illuminated in all its glory.  And the tapas were gorgeous in presentation indeed. While the appetizer tapas were light and tasty, I found most of the main entree tapas to be over salted.  It didn't help that the restaurant does not supply bread unless it came with a certain tapa, and those all had some kind of SALTY tomatoe spread on top.

Great cheese platter!

The bread is super thin: mushroom (vegi) and meat versions.

The last of the delicious tapas: Embutidos platter (chorizo, lomo, salchichon) bread.

I can't be bothered to show all the other super salty tapas.  This was "Your life will change Dashi linguini".  My life did change: I felt like there was enough salt to preserve me if I died.

Once the meal was over, we were offered, and were going to ask anyways, to be transfered over to the dessert area.  The decor is much quirkier there.  Skulls were part of the decorating theme.  There was a display of a newspaper print (or possibly newspapered) chair.  Another display contained, as far as our group of four could determine, various pieces of underwear.  The table we were seated at was next to the dessert bar and had some less controversial displays.

Just in case you've run out of topics to talk about by dessert, the restaurant provides some.

Desserts were delicious and very much the highlight of the experience for me.  The Spanish Flan that I ordered, while petite, was done very well without too much cream.  The yellow whipped cream was very light, which, along with the orange slice, prevented the dish from becoming too rich.  The Creamy Chocolate Heart was nicely done and reminded me of Finale's molten chocolate cake.  As advertised, there was a hint of coffee and cardamom, a nice twist.  I did not personally taste the Greek Yorgurt Panna Cotta, but it was touted as delicious (by the only other person to attend all three dineLA events).

I need to be able to make flan to this level.

Creamy Chocolate Heart for Cardio unit!

Fruity fruity, has apricots and muscat gelatin.

My conclusion is that I would not return to Bazaar for tapas, especially given the price, but that the dessert and bar area deserved more visits.  Boston's Toro has much better tapas at a far more reasonable price.

Next is Nobu, a modern Japanese restaurant in West Hollywood.  As a group of 8, we ordered family style.  We started with Seared Albacore with Tosazu and Salmon Sashimi.  I had a personal order of Uni with Tosazu, which was nice and fresh.  I thought that the Rock Shrimp Tempura that we had, while adequate, was not up to the standard of the rest of the meal in terms of innovation and wow-factor.  It made me think of popcorn shrimp.  The highlight of the meal (and the restaurant's most popular and well known dish) was the Black Cod with Miso.  The fish was done to perfection.  I could have happily eaten three times the portion size.  I, along with almost everyone, ended with the Bento Box dessert, which consists of a small ball of macha ice cream and a small warm flourless chocolate cake.  The mini-chocolate cake was unbelievable, given that it was flourless.  The macha ice cream made any grocery-story available ones taste like green dirt.  The bitterness of the macha was left intact without smothering it with sugar so that you could really appreciate the semi-sweet chocolate cake.

Unfortunately, the restaurant's decor left much to be desired.  The space felt very commercial and cold, with high ceilings and essentially no alcoves.  I felt like I was eating dinner with half of the restaurant.  Correspondingly, the noise level was quite high since there was little buffer.  The worst part was definately the lighting though.  I wanted a flashlight just to be able to read the menu.  Pictures without flash were impossible, so there are no visions of deliciousness to be shared from this visit.  I believe the lighting was attempting to create intimacy to commensate for the structure and style of the room, but just made me feel like I was sitting in a dimly lit faux-Asian styled room that used to be a factory.

I would come back to Nobu though, but likely for lunch so that I can actually read about what I end up ordering.

Last, and best, was Spago, headed by Wolfgang Puck and located in Beverly Hills.  Given the nice weather, we asked to be seated in the patio area.

Bar area showcases the warm wood and brick tones used throughout the restaurant.

Our table was on the far side the patio next to the window/door, center of photo.

Appropriately, we were served by someone who was being "shadowed" by a new employee: students for students.  While deciding on our orders and throughout the course of the meal, we were kept supplied with a choice of breads: white, oilve, rye, and more (there was an accent...).  I was recommended a Whistlin' Dixie, which was semi-sweet and delicious, that I could have used a few more of on a Friday night.  For appetizer, I had pumpkin soup, a warm toast to fall, and the Spage favorite of corn agnolotti.  I had duck breast as my entree.  It was done such that the middle was still pink, but no blood at all.  So, for me, it was a bit on the rare side, but the explosion of flavor on my tongue more than made up for that.

I couldn't resist taking a sip of the Whistlin' Dixie...

I love soup.  Soup loves me.

Sweet corn agnolotti: setting a new standard for my tastebuds (and nose...where flavor really happens).

The yellow is butternut squash puree.

After the series of WOW dishes, I had high expectations for the replacement dessert (adds a bit to the bill for supposedly extra delicious sugary goodness).  The Medjool Date Sticky Toffee Pudding was, to be honest, eh.  It was fine, but a much richer ending to the meal that I had wanted or expected (pudding, right? not super duper chocolate cake).  Also, there was a date in the middle, as expected from the name.  What I did not expect was the pit.

I wonder if I was suppose to eat the pit...

All in all, I would eat everyday at Spago, especially since their menu changes daily.  What I would not do is eat dessert there.  But there's Nobu and Bazaar for that.

That concludes 2011 fall dineLA and the longest post to this blog thus far.  Look forward to another one when the January dineLA event happens.  I'm going to aim for 5+ restaurants then.