Cafe del Rey

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.