Tavern

Dining Companion: Diana O.

Date: 6-28-09

Another hit from Suzanne Goin (AOC, Lucques) is Tavern in Brentwood.  Tavern is divided into three rooms.  To your left upon entry is a more casual gourmet take away side with tables and a deli counter featuring salads, baked goods, and other edibles.  To the right is the bar area and then the more formal dining room.  The decor is sort of an elegant shabby chic.  Muted greenish blue with steel tables and a whitewashed brick wall.

The service was good- very attentive staff without being pushy.

The restaurant has a bar menu and a dinner menu.  The bar items are available in the restaurant with the exception of the burgers from 7 to 10.  We started with the fried oyster and bacon brochette with aioli from the bar menu.  It's one stick with a few oysters on it lying on a bed of greens.  Delicious and not overly fried.

We saw Suzanne Goin there.  She is so pretty.  She didn't look stressed at all, wearing jeans and a simple long sleeve shirt.  We saw her sit and socialize with a table she seemed to know.  She seemed very down to earth.  We also saw Dustin Hoffman and Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prarie) eating dinner separately.

I decided to order two appetizers starting with the Green Goddess Salad with Avocado and Crab.  The dressing was nice and light but the salad needed something- perhaps a crunchy item like toasted almond slivers or crisp haricot vert.  Diana had the summer vegetable salad which was crisp and well seasoned.  That salad came with burrata but Diana does not eat cheese so I got to have it all.  Mmmm.  Burrata.  Mmmm.

Next I had the Diver Scallop with tangelo.  Whatever it was on top of was amazing.  I used multiple pieces of bread to sop it all up (the bread was great by the way- sourdough, french, and walnut).  Diana had the wild mushroom ragout on farro with walnuts.  The mushrooms were nicely cooked and had a very nutty roasted flavor.  Some bites of mushroom were a bit salty on their own but the whole thing in combination worked.  I spied our neighbors with the lamb and duck entrees and asked about the dishes.  They said that the dishes were amazing.  They looked darn good!

For dessert I was tempted to have the peach blackberry crumble (I saw it on the other side while I was waiting for Diana!!) but went with the cookies and milk instead.  I could have used more milk but the cookies were great- the butter cookie (the best one), chocolate sable, chocolate chip with HUGE chocolate chips, and a white chocolate macadamia.  I'm allergic to walnuts and Diana wasn't in the mood so I offered the walnut shortbread to our nice table neighbors and they obliged!  Diana had the chocolate coupe which was a tall glass filled with scoops of chocolate ice cream and other stuff.  I didn't taste it but Diana said it was very rich.

The only thing I didn't particularly like was the cocktail we ordered- champagne blossom. Usually I enjoy champagne and St. Germain, but this was kind of bitter.

Valet is a bit confusing to find- it's located behind the building as costs $3.50 for 2 hours.

Susan Feniger's STREET

Dining Companion: Courtney P

Date: 6-27-09

A belated birthday dinner with a fellow foodie friend. What a nice evening! I had been wanting to try STREET since before it opened. Susan Feniger (half of the Two Hot Tamales empire) has been around forever and had such a great concept for the restaurant- street food. The menu is a mixture of a few different cuisines which could be a bit spastic if you didn't focus on a region for the night. It is not often that you find a restaurant with classic Russian dishes along side of Indian and Vietnamese dishes.

The restaurant has a nice sized enclosed open air outside in the back which is where we ate. It was well heated. At first, the music was a bit too loud, but then it kind of leveled out.

We saw Susan Feniger in her pink outfit (beanie and chef's coat) there that night. Apparently Natalie Portman and Sheryl Crow were there at some point too.

The decor has a very New York feel. It's nice to find a restaurant that doesn't have a monotone "Phillippe Starck"-esque feel. The walls are adorned with a bright orange and some fresco type drawings. it has a very "un-LA" feel.

We asked the waiter for the most popular dishes and he referred us to two: Kaya Toast

and Paani Puri. The Puri was a small bite-sized puff with what seemed like a combination of all the great Indian flavors. I enjoyed the flavors and enjoyed the presentation where the server poured on a yogurt cilantro water. The Kaya Toast blew my mind. The waiter told us that this was a dish that was getting a lot of press and I can see why. I can't describe it well enough. It was like four mini grilled cheese sandwiches but they had coconut jam instead of cheese. It was paired with a soft fried egg and a dark soy reduction sauce. The soy is a bit sharp, but the combination of all the flavors works. I am not always a fan of coconut but this was delicious. A neighboring table began to look on and ask us what we had ordered. We were so effervescent in our description of the Kaya Toast that they ordered it as well. I saw one of the people practically licking the plate.

On a lesser note, as we walked to our table I noticed a lot of other tables had an amuse bouche sort of dish- a savory "rice krispie treat" made with millet, turmeric, raisins and spices Unfortunately, we had to ask for ours, it wasn't brought to us.

Next we had the Vietnamese Corn, the Lamb Kofta, and the Malaysian black pepper clams. I was a bit disappointed with the corn. The dish contained pork belly but instead of being a slow cooked delicate greasy flavor, the pork belly was in small bits and overcooked. The lamb was nice- it came on a bed of almost sweet but mainly savory white beans and a mini artichoke with a grilled lemon. I think the beans were my favorite part of the dish. The clams were unreal. The sauce was delicious. I could have ordered a second helping. The clams were well cooked and not chewy at all. The brown sauce was flavorful but not too heavy. The lime wedges and fresh herbs lightened it up so that it did not overpower the clams. There were two thick slices of a rye like bread to soak up the sauce.

The menu has an option called "The Globe Trot" which is $35.00 and features a chef's choice of the day of five items. The items of that day didn't really appeal to us so we passed but if you're undecided, it may be a good option.

Dessert was a bit lacking. We asked what the two most popular desserts were and ordered those- Espresso, Chocolate and Halvah and Turkish Doughnuts. How can you go wrong with doughnuts? Well, these were a bit soggy, lacked flavor, and my friend commented that it tasted like the oil was re-used (see photo). I liked the topping for the doughnuts better separately from the doughnuts. It was a sour cream like topping with a jam on top. The Halvah dish was overcomplicated (see photo). It comes in a glass and is multi-layered. The bottom layer is an espresso gelatin. We both disliked that layer and unfortunately it was the biggest layer. The next layer was a nice chocolate mousse-like layer. That along with the whipped cream and Halvah (sesame seed candy) on top as well as a sesame seed and matzah candy were tasty. There is an extensive coffee/tea/after dinner drink menu including Intelligentsia Coffee and a few tisanes (well priced at $3). I chose the City Harvest Black (Vietnamese) tea. It tasted great and came with my favorite- rustic sugar cubes in brown and white. The "tea pot" is a metal mini-vase like thing which was hard to pour from however (see photo).

Valet was $8.00 which is kind of pricey but there are some spots on the street. STREET accepts reservations through Open Table.

For the most part, the service was good and the food was good but I think the problem may be that Feniger's kitchen is being spread too thin. It's difficult to make Russian/Ukranian (borscht and vareniki) alongside Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, and Korean. The place this really fails is in the desserts. But the claims and the Kaya Toast make it worth a re-visit. I look forward to going back and trying some of the other interesting things on the menu. There are a few things I look forward to trying and I will definitely go back.

www.eatatstreet.com

The Foundry

Dining Companions: My dad and my stepmom
Date: 6-20-09

Birthday dinner! We started off each ordering the beet and burrata salads with a beet puree underneath. The portion was small but the salad was delicious. We also shared a fresh corn soup with crab and morel mushrooms. Amazing. Literally lick the plate delicious.

The meal started off with tiny little bread selections, one of which they called an amuse bouche but was more of a roll. The others were baby sized biscuits with honey butter and small foccaccia slices with a balsamic sauce. Adorable and tasty.

For entrees my father and I both ordered the duck that came with artichokes, artichoke chips (small fried slivers) and sunchokes. My stepmother ordered the salmon. I very much enjoyed the duck. It was lightly dressed so it wasn't overly rich. The salmon was amazing. It came on top of some potato dish and was as soft as could be. Not dry at all and not undercooked. Very skilffully done. We ordered two sides as an accompaniment. it should be noted that the portions are not huge. The sides were the huge pan roasted gnocchi with thin slivers of parmesan and the mustard greens. The mustard greens were not overcooked. With leafy greens, overcooking is an oft practiced sin. These were whole, not overcooked at all, and well seasoned with a hint of vinegar. The gnocchi defy words. I could see my father calculating whether or not we had time for another order.

I also have to say our waiter was helpful and charming. He enhanced the experience.

The outside back area is the best for larger groups but the front has more of a bar scene where jazz acts can often be found.

All in all, a great birthday meal.

The Foundry, 7465 Melrose Avenue

Wurstkuche

Minestraio

Date: 6-19-09

Dining Companions: Kate G, Janine S, Stephanie L, and Angie R.

In the Orlando Hotel on 3rd and Orlando, the former La Terza has been replaced with Minestraio, a mid-priced Italian restaurant.  The service was decent, the food was better.

The menu is already on the table when you sit- it's your placemat.  There are a variety of appetizers, a small selection of entrees, and a large selection of fresh pastas which include whole wheat and gluten free options!  Gluten free pasta is huge.  It's very difficult to find a restaurant that has gluten free items and also has items for the rest of us!

I started with the beef carpaccio which was delicious.  The very thinly sliced beef was accompanied by arugula, parmesan cheese, and capers.  I inhaled it.  We shared a cheese plate for the table.  It was nice, and came with a few different cheeses and assorted accompaniments (walnuts, honey, and grapes).  However, I wish that the server would have told us what cheeses were what.  The only one I was sure of was the ricotta salata.  There was also a blue cheese.

My decision of which pasta to eat was very difficult.  Many of the pasta combinations sounded delicious.  Kate enjoyed her ravioli, I enjoyed my agnolotti.  Agnolotti, a light fresh pasta shaped like a half of an oval filled with a veal osso bucco.  It was flavorful but not overly rich.  The primi portion was a good size with the carpaccio appetizer.

One question, why do you have to walk into the hotel and take an elevator just to get to the bathroom???

Itacho

Dining Companion: Christina A

Date: 6-3-09

It has been years since I've been to Itacho.  Literally, years.  We had a coupon through Cozmodeck so, as girls on a budget, we grabbed it!

The menu contains some sushi but it is heavier on the cooked items.  We decided to get a variety and order from both sections.

Christina and I shared the following:

-miso soup (eh)

-spicy yellowtail on crispy rice (yum)

-salmon skin roll (good)

-spicy tuna roll (good)

-shrimp tempura roll (pretty good)

-goma ae (an amazing cold spinach with sesame sauce and sesame seed; so creamy and nutty!)

-sauteed garlic sprout with ground pork (garlic sprouts are very similar to green beans; lightly charred and delicious!  but hard to eat the ground up bits of pork with chopsticks!!)

Even without the coupon, it was very reasonably priced.  It was $52 for the above and sodas.  Service was good- nothing special, nothing bad.  We made our reservation through OpenTable so it was very easy.  

Valet is located in the back, $4.50, enter on Pointsettia.

7311 Beverly Blvd.