The SLY Foodie

To mark our 7th wedding anniversary, as well the hubbs’ birthday, we dined at Providence in Los Angeles. This is the restaurant of highly-acclaimed and ever so talented Chef Michael Cimarusti, who in my opinion, should have gone much further in the first season of Top Chef Masters. He is the one who brought the Water Grill to the forefront of fine dining in Los Angeles. Providence is one of the only restaurants in the LA area to receive a coveted two Michelin stars, and that accomplishment speaks volumes of Chef Cimarusti’s talent.

The restaurant’s layout is simple, yet intriguing. The best two words I can use to describe it are refined simplicity. I loved the barnacles on the walls, and the coral-like decoration that housed the candles on each table. We were immediately seated and offered the drink and wine list by our host. After hearing the specials, it didn’t take long for us to decide to go with the chef’s menu, which is an astounding 15-course meal. I swear my heart beat faster in much anticipation (and slight apprehension) after the server left.

I chose the Splendor in the Grass, which is comprised of Zubrowka vodka, lemongrass-blueberry honey, lychee, prosecco and fresh lemon juice. It was very refreshing, all the flavors were subtle; a great way to kick off a meal.
Let me just preface the following by saying that I’m finding it very difficult to describe everything we were treated to, especially since I’ve never sampled many of these amazing courses, thus having no basis for comparison. You’ll find that every dish has a component that I’ve never had before. Also, this meal took place over the course of 3½ hours or so, and as you can imagine, it became hard to snap photos of the latter plates because it was a tad too dark for my camera.

Amuse bouche: a duo of cocktails, a greyhound martini and margarita. Presentation was awesome.
House cured trout with crispy rice crackers, crème fraiche, gold leaf and trout roe, all on top of lemon gelée. Served alongside puff pastry with a mornay sauce. It was an excellent dish – the flavors all melded together perfectly, buttery fish, tart lemon for the acidity, saltiness from the roe, perfect texture contrast from the crackers. First time flavors: trout roe
Hokkaido scallop sashimi, red shiso gelée, cherry blossom vinaigrette. At first, I was a little nervous about eating raw bivalves, but it was so fresh that it didn’t have that “fishy” taste, the acidity from the vinaigrette was the perfect complement. First time flavors: scallop sashimi (or anything sashimi, for that matter), shiso.
Santa Barbara sea urchin served in a lightly poached egg, champagne beurre blanc, finely diced tomato (concassée?), herbes fines, crouton and domestic caviar. Now, I was really nervous about trying this, having never had sea urchin before. Seeing as it was served in an egg, the best way to enjoy it was to dig all the way to the bottom with your spoon, so as to sample all the flavors working together. The best way I can describe it is that it tasted like the ocean, but not overly salty, more like briny because of the caviar. I am so glad that I tried this, because it was so good. First time flavors: uni, caviar
Santa Barbara spot prawn served atop Dutch white asparagus, prawn roe and extra virgin olive oil. So simple, yet the flavors are so refined. The prawn was cooked and seasoned well, and the understated flavors of the asparagus and olive oil worked with the zesty prawn roe, which was so full of flavor. This was easily one of my favorites. First time flavors: Prawn roe
Unagi (eel) served with abalone served on top of tiny fava beans, turnip, and dashi foam. I remember the eel being flaky like a fish with crispy skin. It was definitely the dominant flavor of the dish, particularly since abalone has a mild flavor similar to squid. The dashi foam was outstanding, the perfect supplement to the dish. First time flavors: The whole dish!
Foie gras sauté with Sonoma cherries, rhubarb sauce and a rhubarb chip. This was easily one of the hubbs’ favorite dishes. I loved that there was a crispy crust that contrasted the rich, decadent foie, and the tartness of both the cherries and rhubarb rounded out the flavor of the foie perfectly. I’ve had foie before, but it was mixed in with other ingredients in the form of a mousse. This was the first time I’ve had a piece of foie, and I have to admit that I’m a fan. (Other) first time flavors: rhubarb
Veal sweetbreads on a bed of polenta, served with quail eggs, summer truffles and grilled ramp. This was another dish that I was nervous about, having never had sweetbreads before. To me, it just tasted like fried meat. I really liked the ramp, though, and oddly enough, it was my favorite part of the dish. Don’t get me wrong, the dish had really nice flavors to it, but it wasn’t something that I would order again. First time flavors: Sweetbreads, summer truffle, ramp
Salmon belly with different preparations of carrot. Roasted carrot, carrot jus, carrot purée, morels and hazelnuts. I don’t necessarily go out of my way to enjoy carrots, but this was a really great way to do so. I think that it may even steal the show from the salmon, which was cooked and seasoned perfectly. The hazelnuts were there for added flavor and texture. First time flavors: morels.
Loin of lamb served with cauliflower, chorizo, pea tendrils and a sauce I don’t remember. I personally don’t like lamb, even though I’ve tried it several different preparations before. So I would have to say that this was my least favorite dish. Not the chef’s fault; I will cop to the “it’s not you, it’s me” excuse.
Time for frommage! I saw the server rolling a cheese cart to other diners, and was excited about all the different cheeses on display. However, being a cheese enthusiast, but not a connoisseur, I didn’t know what to get. We trusted our server to pick out the cheesy goodness that would soon be on our plates and in our bellies, and he did not disappoint. He was even nice enough to write down the cheese selections:

• Valency , goat’s milk from Loire Valley, France – very mild, almost sweet flavor. Excellent with each of the accoutrements.
• Berkswell, English cheddar from sheep’s milk – slightly nutty in flavor, also excellent with the accoutrements.
• Olivet au Foin, cow’s milk from France – a soft, white cheese with a dry rind reminiscent of Brie of Camembert cheese. It was similar in flavor to the Brie, but what was most distinct about it was the straw and hay that is on the rind, whose flavors are noted in the cheese.
• Rogue River Reserve, cow’s milk blue cheese from Oregon – very robust in flavor with fruit undertones. This cheese packs a punch, and was a great way to end the course.
• Accoutrements included an outstanding apple jam, figs, candied walnuts and peppered apricot preserves. Each complemented all the cheeses in its own outstanding way. The cheese course was easily one of the highlights of the meal.

Next was a raspberry gelée with a rose sorbet in what I would describe as a raspberry purée, with some macaroons. In my opinion, the raspberry was too tart, but the flavors were clean and pleasant.
The third dessert course was a caramal pudding on top of a burnt caramel sauce, served with chopped apricots, a chocolate covered peanut and caramel corn. I loved the pudding, and thought that it would have been able to stand on its own. It’s one of those things that you can enjoy massive quantities of while watching TV on the couch. I thought that the burnt caramel overpowered the rest of the dessert, and the tart apricots were a good addition that cut the sweetness of the dish.
Finally, the last course, which was a dark chocolate mousse with sesame crackers, sesame ice cream and more apricots. It was decadent, it was silky smooth, it was awesome. Enough said.
Because we were still starving at this point, our server brought us petit fours that I didn’t get to photograph. In fact, the server really didn’t describe it so much, so I can’t even talk about it much. It was good, though. Overall, the entire meal was outstanding, the flavors were clean, balanced, simple, yet complex at the same time.

Chef Cimarusti is a great talent, definitely a culinary treasure that Los Angeles is lucky enough to have. Providence is definitely a must for foodies. I will say, however, save up money for the chef’s menu, as we are still experiencing some sticker shock. Also, allot some time to taste and enjoy, you will not be disappointed.

Providence, 5955 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles
http://www.providencela.com/

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Tenno Sushi is one of several Japanese restaurants in Little Tokyo that we frequent for lunch. It serves sushi rolls at half price during lunch, plus it also has several lunch combinations available for your palate’s enjoyment. On this particular day, we stopped by for lunch because we wanted to go to Beard Papa’s for dessert.

I ordered the Beef Bulgogi and Shrimp Tempura combination. It comes with miso soup, green salad, three pieces of California roll, white rice and some potato salad. That is a lot of food for under $10, which to me, is a great deal. The miso soup tasted so-so, it had several pieces of tofu, which also was ok, I prefer the soup at AOI. The salad was also ok, nothing memorable about it. I liked the California roll, which is a big statement, because I don’t necessarily like seaweed, but it was one of the higher points of the meal. The potato salad, in my opinion, was a disappointment only because it lacked the classic potato salad flavors I was looking for. I did, however, love the bulgogi; it was easily the star of the show. The tender, marinated beef, cooked with red and green peppers, sweet onions and mushrooms had a sweet, yet savory and meaty flavor. The tempura was also good, crunchy on the outside with the tender cooked vegetable on the inside.

We also got an order of Philadelphia Roll, which is salmon, cream cheese and cucumber wrapped up in nori and rice. My husband liked it, whereas I just chomped it down, so I didn’t really get to appreciate the classic salmon-cream cheese flavor profile that always goes well together.

The hubbs ordered Pork Katsu, which is breaded pork cutlet served with rice and tonkatsu sauce. It’s not the best katsu in town - I felt that although it was crunchy, the meat was a little too tough for my liking.

Overall, Tenno Sushi is a nice place in Little Tokyo to grab a quick bite. The prices are reasonable, service is friendly and food is decent.

Tenno Sushi, 209 S. Central Avenue, Los Angeles
http://www.tennosushi.com/

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As a birthday gift, some very good friends of mine took us out to Tom Colicchio's Craft during DineLA week. The beauty of DineLA is the prix-fixe menu that most restaurants offer at a discounted price, which in turn allows wannabe foodies like me an opportunity to sample more things than I would normally do.

I really like the ambiance at Craft; the words that come to mind are sophisticated, sleek, modern and rustic, if that makes sense. We had great service, our server was kind enough to go over the menus in detail, which was very informative. Craft serves their dishes family style, so everyone can sample everything, which is wonderful. Alas, I did not have my camera, the photos were taken using a Blackberry camera, so I apologize for that. Also, please pardon the descriptions, it has been a while.

Second course included a foie gras mousse terrine that we didn't get to take a photo of, but that was my first encounter with foie. It was served on top of a tapenade, and served with crostini, It was really decadent and yummy. Also included in the second course was cured trout atop a shaved fennel salad with what I want to say is a lemon vinaigrette, if memory serves me correctly. The trout was great, there's a hint of sweetness to the buttery fish, the fennel provided the crunch and an added flavor dimension.

The star of the show was the third course, the ribeye. It was cooked to medium perfection, sitting on top of beans (cannot remember what type). I savored every piece I got. I really didn't like the beans too much, because I honestly thought that it detracted from the meat. We also got a roasted lamb shank, served with a Romesco sauce, which was probably one of the better pieces of lamb that I've tried, and I'm not a lamb fan.

For dessert, we got pillowy, sugary, chocolatey goodness in the form of sugar doughnuts served with a Valrhona chocolate sauce.  Easily a high point of the entire meal. Also we had a chai flavored panna cotta, served with shaved pear and figs. I'm not into chai so much, but it was still really good. The panna cotta was cold, creamy goodness that was enhanced by the sweet, crunchy pear.

I loved my Craft experience, everything was great, from service, to ambiance, to the food. I can't wait to go back and sample more. In my opinion, it is further proof that Chef Colicchio deserves the 2010 Outstanding Chef of the Year title bestowed upon him by the James Beard Foundation.

Craft Restaurant, 10100 Constellation Boulevard, Los Angeles
http://www.craftrestaurant.com/

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We were in a hot dog state of mind, and wanted to go to Tony n Pete's for lunch today, but alas, they were closed (they don't open until noon). Instead, we settled for Rocket Pizza Lounge, located about two doors down on 4th Street.

I got the Eggplant Parmesan, which is served with garlic bread. I liked the eggplant, it wasn't overly soft and had a little bite to it. I also liked the mozzarella on top, nice and gooey as a mozzarella should be, plus the tomato sauce was pleasant as well. The garlic bread was quite tasty; there was a thin layer of cheese on top, and that made it, in my book.

A good place to go to for lunch if you work in Downtown LA, although I doubt many of the patrons were working, as they were ordering beer by the pitcher.

Rocket Pizza Lounge, 122 West 4th Street, Los Angeles
http://www.rocketpizzalounge.com/

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First, let me explain the title. I try to frequent Lot 44 Coffee in Downtown LA as often as I can, because I really like their lattes. They used to offer cupcakes from Blue Cupcakes, which had really great cupcakes, the red velvet was my favorite. However, they recently changed vendors, and are now ordering their cupcakes from Delilah Bakery in Echo Park.

So on one of my visits to Lot 44, we saw that a new batch of freshly delivered cupcakes, and asked what flavors were available. The barista said something about Jack Daniels Chocolate Orange Cupcake, which immediately piqued my curiosity. In keeping with my pseudo resolution, I ordered one to sample.

Let me break the cupcake down: chocolate cupcake, which was a little on the dry side, topped with cream cheese frosting with a hint of that good 'ol Jack, and I would venture either maybe orange zest or orange liquer. First of all, the frosting was sweet enough to send anyone into a diabetic coma, and although I am usually a fan of the chocolate-orange flavor profile, this combination was sadly lacking. I also didn't really appreciate the whiskey flavor in the background, to me, it seemed like it detracted more than it complemented.

My final verdict? That cupcake was blah. However, it will not stop me from giving Delilah's Bakery another try.

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