I cannot fairly write this review without admitting the fact that we did, in fact, know the chefs at the restaurant. That may have had an effect on what and how they served us (although each dish was, indeed, on the regular menu), but it had no effect on my opinions of the food I was being served. My review here is completely and honestly what I thought of the food, and the chefs have and had no idea that I would be writing this review.
Now, with that out of the way, I can rave about Cafe del Rey without feeling that I'm hiding something from the general public! My trip to Cafe del Rey in Marina del Rey was, hands-down, one of the most incredible dining experiences I've had...ever.
We approached the evening with the hopes that we wouldn't have to decide for ourselves what we'd be eating, that we could just ask for recommendations and be open-minded about what we'd get (this is my new favorite way to dine out, by the way). This turned itself into a tasting menu designed by the chefs just for us. I always say surprises make everything taste better! The best part was that the chefs themselves graced us with their presence to deliver almost every single course.
We shared two flights of wine (3 half-glasses in each flight), one white and one red because we didn't know what we'd be drinking them with! Better to be 'too-much-wine' safe than 'drinking-white-wine-with-red-meat' sorry!
They started us off with oysters. Good choice. I assume that's a standard starter for a "date" table? So, in general, oysters are oysters. You shuck them, put them on a pretty plate and serve them, maybe with some tabasco or horseradish cocktail sauce. It's up to the ocean to deliver the taste. At Cafe del Rey, though, the oysters come dressed with a sherry vinegar and shallot concoction that is light and tangy and, really, quite perfect. I've never enjoyed an oyster more, and it's nice to see some creativity and bravery in dressing the oysters.
For our next course, they brought us two different crudos to taste: Scottish slamon with cucumber, green apple granite, and smoked paprika oil; and tai snapper with cucumber, tomatillo, esplette pepper, and pork cracklings (I did in fact refer to the menu for this detailed information...my memory skills are not that impressive). Crudo is similar to tartare in cooking method...specifically, the lack of cooking. Living in California, raw seafood preparation can be found on every corner, usually as sushi or tartar. I'm tired of it, honestly, because it's always the same. This crudo, though, was not the same. There were new flavors and new textures in this crudo, and it was California fresh without the tired, overdone preparation. I mean, really...have you ever heard of esplette pepper? Or had pork cracklings or green apple granite (which was delicious, by the way) served with your sushi? I didn't think so!
"The next course is our take on peas on carrots."
Really? Why did I come here for peas and carrots?
(plate on table)
Oooooh....that's why. Creamy carrot soup, topped with something scrumptious, was served alongside english pea agnolotti in browned butter. This is my favorite food. Ever. Agnlotti, by the way, is just like ravioli. I'm sure there's a technical reason they call it agnolotti instead of ravioli, but I'm pretty sure it's also because this agnolotti is magnitudes better than any ravioli ever created. And I must say, browned butter over any pasta beats a complicated sauce every.single.day. Details? Ok, but I may have to cut it short to prevent computer damage due to the drool coming out of my mouth. The carrot soup is creamy but not too heavy, and has a very pleasant presence of carrot that's accompanied by something else that effectively tones down the sweetness of the carrot to leave a very balanced soup consistency and wonderful flavor. The agnolotti, in all seriousness, were very well prepared. The pasta itself is slightly thicker than I've had, but it is cooked perfectly to al dente, and the smooth english pea center is incredibly light and flavorful. The browned butter balances the "healthiness" with a dose of fatty sinfulness. I'll eat my peas and carrots at Cafe del Rey anyday.
I was pretty sure that I'd be somewhat disappointed in the rest of the food following that performance. But it didn't stop at peas and carrots. Seared ahi and maine diver scallops were up next...
You really can't go wrong with scallops...unless, of course, you cook them improperly or serve them with mustard. You can go incredibly right with scallops, though, and that's what happened here. They were served with wild mushroom and english pea risotto, and topped with a lovely foam that gave the dish a nice ocean-y feel. I ought to take this time to point out that it's obvious that the ingredients we're getting here are fresh and in season; English peas are beautiful right now and I'm happy to see them finding their way into delicious preparations.
The seared ahi is served over potato puree and some tomato or pepper sauce. On top of the ahi, though, the place a tad of reserved garlic piperade. I have no idea what this is and I've never heard of it, but I love the idea of having such a unique ingredient sneak it's way unassumingly onto my plate. Again, I must thank the chefs for avoiding the cliche ginger-soy flavors that so typically accompany ahi. It takes guts to offer new and unique combinations of flavors in a city that's so obsessed with trends. Mom, you'd love this...three times over.
By this point, it was clear that these courses were intended to be paired with our white wines. And they were. I expected that our main course was up next so that our reds weren't neglected. We'd had the fish main course, and usually, the meat main course would follow. I was wrong. The started us over and brought out the meat-based appetizers for us to intiate our red wines. That's what I consider paying attention!
They brought out two red-wine-appropriate appetizers: niman ranch crispy pork belly with bbq beans, and seared foie gras with strawberries and rhubarb.
I was never really comfortable with the concept of foie gras, but was always very intrigued because, well, it's popular amongst those who know food. Thanks to Cafe del Rey, though, I get it now. Apparently, with the right pairing, in the right bite, foie gras gives you the opportunity to experience texture and flavor that can't really be explained with words that are in my vocabulary. In one bite, you get sweet strawberry and rhubarb, crispy buttery brioche, and the seared caramelization on the smooth and rich foie gras. It's...well...truly something else.
Next to the foie gras, the pork belly seemed silly. I'm not much of a pork and beans kind of girl as it is, and I had never before had pork belly, so I can't really say whether or not this was good. You can't win them all, chef.
Few tasting menus leave you without the token meat dish. I generally don't care much for the meat dishes, mostly because, usually, I've pretty much already eaten too much food, and meat is just so darn heavy that it's hard to get it all down. Chef presented our dish as "Colorado lamb" and I stopped listening at that point because I was so excited that he said Colorado. Weird, I know. Colorado makes everything much better. That may have been the reason that I loved my lamb. That's right, I loved my meat course! The lamb is crusted in olive tapenade and served with peas and carrots (fresh ones) and lamb jus. It's very simple, which makes it seem light and manageable. The lamb is incredibly tender, and the typical strong, gamey lamb flavor is amazingly subdued, leaving a wonderfully pleasant bite.
It was a good thing I wore a dress instead of pants that night because apparently they like to bring the cheese plate between the dinner and the dessert, and I obviously would have had to unbutton to fit much more in. But as I can't turn down cheese or dessert, I had to find room.
Our cheese plate had four cheese, and each was paired with something homemade to eat alongside the cheese that would complement the flavor. Again, it's obvious they pay special attention to detail here. Not many places make the effort to give you much more than honey or dried fruit with your cheese. The triple cream was paired with pickled raspberries, and was probably my favorite cheese; there was a slightly softer cheese that was served with sugared jellied guava candies; the hard and sharp (parmesan-like) cheese was served with dulce de leche "blob" of sorts, which was my favorite pairing; the blue cheese was served as a mini-sandwich on homemade black pepper bread with fresh, raw honeycomb. The whole thing was a work of art and was absolutely amazing. I'd go back just for the cheese plate.
...and then there was dessert. I didn't really need dessert, but really, I always need dessert (yes, I meant that). I always need to try the desserts, especially when they look as cool as they do at Cafe del Rey. Every dessert here, or at least the ones (that's right, two) we had, were works of art. They obviously take much pride in making their desserts unique and visually appealing.
We had the chocolate and popcorn dessert, which has a piece of chocolate cake, a giant swirl of chocolate ganache, homemade chocolate gelato, a hazelnut powder, and an edible decoration that resembled stained-glass and tasted like popcorn. It was very...curious (to borrow from Alice and Wonderland, which suddenly seems appropriate). I'm pretty sure this was not meant to be eaten piece by piece, but rather mixed together in one big bite somehow. It was a little too big and too complicated for that, in my opinion, so I ended up taking bites of each component, but this is where I thought the dessert failed. The chocolate cake by itself was not impressive, and the ganache was overly sweet and very thick. The gelato was unique and tasty, but without a well-executed chocolate presence, it's purpose was a little lost. We also had a lemon meringue tart, which was of a similar and confusing nature. It was served with a red pepper gelato that was actually spicy. Both desserts were conceptually too weird to really impress me with flavor, but I will give them honorable mention for creativity because I've never seen, and may never again see anything like these desserts.
Regardless of the disappointing dessert, I left Cafe del Rey perfectly happy. Anyone that comes to visit me in California ought to expect a visit to Cafe del Rey, because I can't think of anywhere better to go for a fantastic display of California cuisine.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Providence
I was pretty sure that after my last two-star restaurant extravaganza, I wouldn't be eating at another two-star for a really really really long time.
Is a month long enough?
Exactly one month after our trip to Melisse, I received an invitation to a special wine and food event hosted at Providence restaurant, another LA restaurant with two Michelin stars (that I've often seen compared to Melisse). The event included a wine reception with passed hors d'oeuvres, followed by a 5-course dinner created by the executive chef, and special appearances by the chef and the winemakers. Pretty cool, huh? The best part - it was free! That is, if I was willing to part with a few airline mileage points. The mileage points cost of two tickets to the event was fewer than 10% of what I currently had in my account, and not even enough for a free trip anywhere, so why not? How often to you get the opportunity to have a 5 course meal at a two-star restaurant and meet the chef? Needless to say, we were excited...really excited. Perhaps too much so...
The wine and hors d'oeuvres reception was a nice introduction to the featured wineries and the restaurant itself. Pinot gris from Inman winery in the russian river valley region in northern California was the wine chosen for the stand-up portion of the event. I actually really enjoyed this wine even though I lost my taste for white wine about a year ago. This one was quite drinkable and very light and I managed to finish the whole glass!
The passed hors d'oeuveres, though, were absolutely delicious. Waiters danced around with gorgeous displays of skewers with grilled squid and chorizo. Plain and simple, but absolutely scrumptious. Attempting to be polite, I turned down seconds three or four times before I realized that they'd keep bringing them around, so I quickly gave up and scarfed down another three or four. Also floating around were trays of fried clam puffs served with yuzu mayonaise. These were also exceptional, as the fresh citrus of the yuzu cuts through the fried crust of the clam balls quite nicely, helping to avoid the heavy feeling often accompanying fried appetizers. I could have eaten 5 or 6 of these as well, but I knew they were fried and served with mayonaise, so my judgement got the better of me (the wine hadn't kicked in just yet). As the room crowded, it became more and more difficult to get our hands on the last of the hors d'oeuvres, as they disappeared as quickly as in the childhood card game 'spoons'. Picking up on this, we began stalking the waiters to ensure we'd get to taste the shrimp toasts before they were gone. Just seconds before being seated, we got our hands on the crispy "shrimp toasts", which weren't toast at all, but some concoction of shrimp and bread crumbs (maybe?) that ended up tasting like a shrimpy piece of crispy toast. These were great in a how'd-he-do-that kind of way.
To the table!...where there were an additional 4 glasses for wine (I knew I was in trouble). We sat at a table for six with a bunch of strangers. This could have been awkward, but we got lucky to have an incredible group of people to dine with, and the conversation flowed easily all night, which may have turned out to be the highlight of the evening (foreshadowing!)
The feast began with a wonderful amuse bouche, actually a series of amuse bouches in my opinion. The homemade wasabi crusted marshmallow was soft and fluffy and surprisingly very tasty, despite my distaste for wasabi. I enjoyed the textural contrast of the crispy wasabi and the light squishiness of the marshmallow.
Served alongside was a tiny gougere, a cheesy-puff pastry, filled with warm creamy cheese. Need I saw more? It was incredible. The best bite of food I had all night. Finally, a tiny cup of trout tartare, which had so much complexity that I can hardly remember what was in the tiny cup (except the gold leaf...no one forgets gold leaf), but it was really very good.
The five courses that comprised the special menu were good. Not great, though. I have a hard time really criticizing this restaurant's food, as this was a special menu for a special event which may have had particular limitations that I'm not aware of. I did go into this with very high expectations, as one ought to approach a restaurant with such prestige as this one, but I certainly can't say that I was "wow-ed" by this meal.
The first course served was a Bobby's Block Island scallop served with rosemary, whole grain mustard, sherry vinegar, and wildflower honey. Well, this poor course was doomed from the start, for me at least; the rest of the table really loved this dish. The scallop itself was indeed cooked beautifully. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it far enough away from the mustard. I admit that I do have a strong aversion to mustard, but I did give this a chance to win me over. The problem is that I can't imagine that even if I had liked mustard, that I would have wanted my scallop served with it. The combination of scallops and mustard is conceptually very confusing to me. I understand mustard with sausage and saurkraut (a la Wurstkuche), and even mustard with chicken (a la Jose Andres), but scallops? To be honest, I think scallops ought to be treated better than that! But again, everyone else loved it, so who am I to say who or what scallops should be able to hang out with? The Mueller winery chardonnay served with the scallops was particularly delicious. I like when chardonnay tastes a bit like buttered popcorn (I polished this one as well!)
The next course was wild striped bass served with applewood smoked bacon, crushed potato, and bone marrow (and not one, but two different glasses of pinot noir from Inman family winery). The bass was pretty good, but I found it a tad bit too dry. I also had a tough time finding a composed dish here. I found myself eating a little bit of this and a little bit of that, which doesn't entirely work because no one wants a biteful of just bone marrow...it's like eating fat, consistency-wise. I will say that I can understand the difficulty in putting together a dish with white fish that pairs with a pinot noir. This may have been the driver for including crispy bacon and meaty marrow with the fish. I do commend the chef for his efforts, even though this wasn't my favorite. I'm sure he did not have the pleasure of choosing the wines, but rather had to create a meal around them. Quite the challenge for a restaurant that's known for seafood, and wineries from a region known for pinots!
Next up, wild troll caught king salmon (Did a troll catch my salmon, I thought? Are trolls real? Must have been the wine speaking) served with fava beans, french breakfast radish, and delta asparagus. I actually really liked the salmon. It was obviously slow cooked, so it didn't have the typical dry texture and heavy taste of cooked salmon, but was melt-in-your-mouth tender and light in flavor. The asparagus, of course, was a perfect accompaniment, and the salty foam that topped the dish was pleasant and fun. The radish was just...there. Paired with two new pinots from Mueller winery. Salmon and pinot is a perfectly acceptable pairing as is, but I was beginning to slosh, so I quit trying to finish my wines.
The main-er of the courses was a libery farms duck breast served with blood orange confit, braised daikon, and pea tendrils. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the duck, which was tender and juicy and had a wonderful crispy, flavorful crust. Again, the composition was a bit confusing to me, as the array of colorful accompaniments to the meat were tasty on their own, but they didn't really bring anything together for me for a composed flavor profile.
Finally...dessert! I'm always eager to see what kind of fancy shmancy desserts will come out of places like this, and I always expect to loooove my dessert. Our Providence dessert was a yuzu curd with blackberry sorbet and some homemade meringue. It was very very good, very very tart, and did not contain chocolate...at all. Palate cleanser really, not dessert. It was certainly a pleasant finish to the meal, light and refreshing, but I wasn't necessarily oooh-ing and aahhh-ing over it.
All in all, it was a nice meal, but I'm certainly glad I didn't pay two-star restaurant prices for it!
Is a month long enough?
Exactly one month after our trip to Melisse, I received an invitation to a special wine and food event hosted at Providence restaurant, another LA restaurant with two Michelin stars (that I've often seen compared to Melisse). The event included a wine reception with passed hors d'oeuvres, followed by a 5-course dinner created by the executive chef, and special appearances by the chef and the winemakers. Pretty cool, huh? The best part - it was free! That is, if I was willing to part with a few airline mileage points. The mileage points cost of two tickets to the event was fewer than 10% of what I currently had in my account, and not even enough for a free trip anywhere, so why not? How often to you get the opportunity to have a 5 course meal at a two-star restaurant and meet the chef? Needless to say, we were excited...really excited. Perhaps too much so...
The wine and hors d'oeuvres reception was a nice introduction to the featured wineries and the restaurant itself. Pinot gris from Inman winery in the russian river valley region in northern California was the wine chosen for the stand-up portion of the event. I actually really enjoyed this wine even though I lost my taste for white wine about a year ago. This one was quite drinkable and very light and I managed to finish the whole glass!
The passed hors d'oeuveres, though, were absolutely delicious. Waiters danced around with gorgeous displays of skewers with grilled squid and chorizo. Plain and simple, but absolutely scrumptious. Attempting to be polite, I turned down seconds three or four times before I realized that they'd keep bringing them around, so I quickly gave up and scarfed down another three or four. Also floating around were trays of fried clam puffs served with yuzu mayonaise. These were also exceptional, as the fresh citrus of the yuzu cuts through the fried crust of the clam balls quite nicely, helping to avoid the heavy feeling often accompanying fried appetizers. I could have eaten 5 or 6 of these as well, but I knew they were fried and served with mayonaise, so my judgement got the better of me (the wine hadn't kicked in just yet). As the room crowded, it became more and more difficult to get our hands on the last of the hors d'oeuvres, as they disappeared as quickly as in the childhood card game 'spoons'. Picking up on this, we began stalking the waiters to ensure we'd get to taste the shrimp toasts before they were gone. Just seconds before being seated, we got our hands on the crispy "shrimp toasts", which weren't toast at all, but some concoction of shrimp and bread crumbs (maybe?) that ended up tasting like a shrimpy piece of crispy toast. These were great in a how'd-he-do-that kind of way.
To the table!...where there were an additional 4 glasses for wine (I knew I was in trouble). We sat at a table for six with a bunch of strangers. This could have been awkward, but we got lucky to have an incredible group of people to dine with, and the conversation flowed easily all night, which may have turned out to be the highlight of the evening (foreshadowing!)
The feast began with a wonderful amuse bouche, actually a series of amuse bouches in my opinion. The homemade wasabi crusted marshmallow was soft and fluffy and surprisingly very tasty, despite my distaste for wasabi. I enjoyed the textural contrast of the crispy wasabi and the light squishiness of the marshmallow.
Served alongside was a tiny gougere, a cheesy-puff pastry, filled with warm creamy cheese. Need I saw more? It was incredible. The best bite of food I had all night. Finally, a tiny cup of trout tartare, which had so much complexity that I can hardly remember what was in the tiny cup (except the gold leaf...no one forgets gold leaf), but it was really very good.
The five courses that comprised the special menu were good. Not great, though. I have a hard time really criticizing this restaurant's food, as this was a special menu for a special event which may have had particular limitations that I'm not aware of. I did go into this with very high expectations, as one ought to approach a restaurant with such prestige as this one, but I certainly can't say that I was "wow-ed" by this meal.
The first course served was a Bobby's Block Island scallop served with rosemary, whole grain mustard, sherry vinegar, and wildflower honey. Well, this poor course was doomed from the start, for me at least; the rest of the table really loved this dish. The scallop itself was indeed cooked beautifully. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it far enough away from the mustard. I admit that I do have a strong aversion to mustard, but I did give this a chance to win me over. The problem is that I can't imagine that even if I had liked mustard, that I would have wanted my scallop served with it. The combination of scallops and mustard is conceptually very confusing to me. I understand mustard with sausage and saurkraut (a la Wurstkuche), and even mustard with chicken (a la Jose Andres), but scallops? To be honest, I think scallops ought to be treated better than that! But again, everyone else loved it, so who am I to say who or what scallops should be able to hang out with? The Mueller winery chardonnay served with the scallops was particularly delicious. I like when chardonnay tastes a bit like buttered popcorn (I polished this one as well!)
The next course was wild striped bass served with applewood smoked bacon, crushed potato, and bone marrow (and not one, but two different glasses of pinot noir from Inman family winery). The bass was pretty good, but I found it a tad bit too dry. I also had a tough time finding a composed dish here. I found myself eating a little bit of this and a little bit of that, which doesn't entirely work because no one wants a biteful of just bone marrow...it's like eating fat, consistency-wise. I will say that I can understand the difficulty in putting together a dish with white fish that pairs with a pinot noir. This may have been the driver for including crispy bacon and meaty marrow with the fish. I do commend the chef for his efforts, even though this wasn't my favorite. I'm sure he did not have the pleasure of choosing the wines, but rather had to create a meal around them. Quite the challenge for a restaurant that's known for seafood, and wineries from a region known for pinots!
Next up, wild troll caught king salmon (Did a troll catch my salmon, I thought? Are trolls real? Must have been the wine speaking) served with fava beans, french breakfast radish, and delta asparagus. I actually really liked the salmon. It was obviously slow cooked, so it didn't have the typical dry texture and heavy taste of cooked salmon, but was melt-in-your-mouth tender and light in flavor. The asparagus, of course, was a perfect accompaniment, and the salty foam that topped the dish was pleasant and fun. The radish was just...there. Paired with two new pinots from Mueller winery. Salmon and pinot is a perfectly acceptable pairing as is, but I was beginning to slosh, so I quit trying to finish my wines.
The main-er of the courses was a libery farms duck breast served with blood orange confit, braised daikon, and pea tendrils. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the duck, which was tender and juicy and had a wonderful crispy, flavorful crust. Again, the composition was a bit confusing to me, as the array of colorful accompaniments to the meat were tasty on their own, but they didn't really bring anything together for me for a composed flavor profile.
Finally...dessert! I'm always eager to see what kind of fancy shmancy desserts will come out of places like this, and I always expect to loooove my dessert. Our Providence dessert was a yuzu curd with blackberry sorbet and some homemade meringue. It was very very good, very very tart, and did not contain chocolate...at all. Palate cleanser really, not dessert. It was certainly a pleasant finish to the meal, light and refreshing, but I wasn't necessarily oooh-ing and aahhh-ing over it.
All in all, it was a nice meal, but I'm certainly glad I didn't pay two-star restaurant prices for it!
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