Royal Treatment at The Royce

When you are an avid foodie who eats out four times a month and your tastes run from the lowbrow taco shop to the three star Michelin dinner, you pretty much know what to expect from the bottom of the spectrum to the top of the spectrum and all the variations in between. You know you are going to have a casual, jeans wearing, no nonsense, serve yourself salsa in paper cups, plastic fork experience at the strip mall Hispanic neighborhood carne asada joints but you don’t care because you are there for the way they make the beef and the pork so authentically that you could never duplicate it at home. And when you put on the heels and the lipstick comes out of the cosmetics drawer so that you can look the part in a pristine dining room where some famous chef resides sweating over his kitchen so your exquisitely rare meat is dotted with the precise amount of gourmet garnish on the plate you know you are going to pay a hearty price for the pleasures of being catered to so lusciously.

But every once in a while you have an experience that is so elevated and so individualized that you wake up the next morning with the aftertaste of ultimate satisfaction on your tongue and wonder if it were all just really a dream. That’s how I woke up this past Saturday after a night out with the Cute Gardener at The Royce.

The Royce is located in Pasadena’s prestigious and swank Langham Hotel where even the hallways boast crystal chandeliers and a sense of early California citrus ranch and oil baron history. Recently remodeled, it boasts a classy white dining room with plush seats, muted white and black exquisite abstract drawings and splashes of blue throughout. As we sat, we were immediately offered an aperitif of Mendoza sparkling rose from Argentina.

This was followed by a creative amuse bouche of smoked tofu in mini lettuce cup, a blistered and bread-crumbed shishito pepper and a sweet little cup of belly warming butternut squash soup. This was all before we even uttered an order.

Our waitress was so attentive that she asked if we wanted to work with the sommelier for our meal when she noticed us strategizing our orders together noting that we would probably be sharing. The sommelier became a remarkable companion throughout the evening starting with our appetizer course where he brought out and poured two wines for me knowing that my dish could go either with a full and jammy white or drier Chablis. I ended up enjoying a Zind Humbrect Gewrztraminer 2011 Alsace with my diver scallop carpaccio sprinkled with bonito horseradish “rape” and chopped Oregon state chestnuts.

The CG was given a Caroline Parent red burgundy to match his roasted pheasant soup with parsnip emulsion and Muscat grapes. Both of us were stunned with the smoky richness of the pheasant mousse on top of the long, thin crostini that floated in the soup. The soup was poured at the table – another touch of old school yet rarely seen elegance.

For the entrée, I chose my go-to of lamb, which came with two generous round filets, perfectly roasted in curried garlic honey sauce with charred and tiny onions, fat Christmas lima beans and a sorrel emulsion. I enjoyed a Jake-Ryan Cellars zinfandel alongside the juicy, medium rare meat.

The CG had the seared squab which was delightfully served with roasted fig halves, swiss chard, matsutake mushrooms and cocoa nibs.

There were a lot of diners around us in the house and not very many of them looked that happy. We wondered if people who have a ton of money come to take even their ability to have luxurious dining experiences for granted and become bored because it certainly couldn’t be the food that was causing everyone to appear so blasé. To spice up the atmosphere, at least for the staff, we did something a little crazy next. For our first dessert, we ordered an appetizer plate of heirloom shelling beans ragouette with celery and shaved white truffle for $60. We were definitely going to enjoy and appreciate our one time experience in the land of the rich. I had been itching to try the white truffle delicacies and this seemed like the proper time and place to do so. It was worth it with flaked slivers of buttery, rich truffle atop sublime foam and the pretty amazingly cooked beans. The sommelier was so confused yet pleased by this order that he comped us some red wine during this course.

Finally, for dessert, we ordered the picandou du lot goat cheese with tomato jam, which was funky in the best ways and paired interestingly with the jam.

We were stuffed to the gills and ready to go but were delivered yet another plate of small chocolates ranging from milk to pepper white to espresso dark chocolate. And then, to top off the night, as we were about to exit the grand glass doors back into our normal lives, the host grabbed us and ushered us in to the stately wine room where he poured me a free glass of grappa and some brandy for my mate and brought in the chef David Feau to meet us. We were so impressed with everything and we told him so and as he shook our hands and thanked us in French, I knew that this evening would remain up there in my top five dining experiences for quite some time.

Comfort Fish at Joe's

There are all kinds of comfort food. There’s the kind that mothers make rooted in deep hometown traditions that taste best served from hearty casseroles in heavy bowls with ingredients likely to induce heart attacks. There’s the kind that is super elevated in a gourmet version like the coconut mushroom soup with sweetbreads at Hatfield’s in Los Angeles. And then there’s the in between kind that surprises you in its creativity and ingredients served in homey settings that just make you feel belly warmed and content.

To me, that middle kind is the reason I love Joe’s on Abbot Kinney. It was the first restaurant I ate at in Venice Beach over a year ago when I first moved here when my friend Michael Childers treated me to their luscious shrimp and grits breakfast. Everything from the bread plate to the condiments to the homemade charcuterie to the actual breakfast dish came surrounded by the early morning beach light streaming through the windows of this neighborhood joint that felt more like somebody’s beachside bungalow home. I have been itching to get back ever since and was thrilled to revisit it with the Cute Gardener last week.

It didn’t disappoint. We had originally wanted to go for the promise of Friday night jazz but when that was replaced on the calendar with the presence of the oyster man, we were still pleased. As we sat amidst a bustling low lit dining room filled with a nice variety of guests who seemed to all be there for the same casual yet elegant homey experience, we ate two forms of the fruits of the sea from Washington and British Columbia. One was funky and deep which the CG loved and my favorite was the brinier, clean and meaty nugget.

To further indulge my cozy meal by the sea mood, I ordered the coconut-encrusted cod cheek, which came large and luscious on top of swiss chard and coconut lime sauce with spots of uni.  

The CG’s salmon and tuna tartare crostini plate was light and classy with the fish perfectly room temperature and melting on the mouth like butter.  

My main of fried monkfish was a puffy textural delight served with nice vegetables and small pumpkin gnocchi dumplings that slightly spiced the tongue with fall flavors.
 

The CG’s jidori chicken was the hit of the evening, something we both had eyed on the menu for the addition of nicely al dente chestnut agnolotti; a combination that was perfectly fibrous and contrasting to the sweet chicken meat cooked exquisitely. A black kale pulled the dish together. The combination of flavors made this usually average meat the star of the night.
 

For dessert, we indulged in the special pumpkin trifle which was an adorably presented dish layered in a mason jar of pure, non-sweetened pumpkin puree, soft chocolate cookie crumbles, ice cream and a piece of pumpkin brittle. Sometimes I do weird things like pour coconut milk straight from a can into a small bowl and spoon honey over the top. This dessert gave me ideas in doing similar things with pure pumpkin puree.

We were so pleased with our meal we even stopped to say hello and give our praise to Christophe Happillon from Oyster Gourmet and learn about his pop up oyster company that roams the high-end restaurants in the area. We had a hunch he was the same person who we had seen at another Venice haunt Larry’s by the Sea one evening and we were right.

This was the most satisfying meal I have had since Il Fico, home of my favorite pastas in Los Angeles, and I know that it’s a place I will return to time and again because of the consistently good food and the menu that changes according to season.

Passionate for Papilles

"Art is to refuse mediocrity,” the famous line by French painter Balthus, headlines the website for Los Angeles-based restaurant Papilles where one goes to find the menu that consists of two appetizers, two entrees, and two desserts refreshed on a rotating, seasonal basis. And that is exactly what Patina-trained chef Tim Carey refuses as he reigns over a kitchen churning out excellent individual dishes that delight not only in presentation but also in creativity of ingredients and concept.

The casual bistro with a name that means “taste buds” is located un-pompously in a strip mall and has been on our “to eat at” list for months now. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times ironically included the place as one of the summer’s three best prix fixe joints of the summer right as we had finally made reservations to go in and sample the fare for dinner prior to Neil Diamond’s Hot August Nights Anniversary Concert at the Greek Theater.

Because we had a concert to get to our reservations were made early and we had the restaurant to ourselves for a good hour. This was great considering the kitchen and the dining room are literally in one small room together so that you feel as if you are one with the chefs and staff in someone’s French country home. Unpretentious wood slat and stacked brick shelves holding multiple wine bottles available for sale with your meal sit next to oversized bags of baker’s chocolate and other restaurant supplies. I was able to watch Chef Carey supervise two assistant chefs with kid gloves, watching every single plate created and making sure it was delivered to us with the utmost perfection. At one point, he explained that he wasn't going to be around for a little while and wanted to make sure that his boss felt comfortable that the place would continue to run smoothly.  I am sure the Los Angeles Times article coming out exclamation pointed this consideration even further.

The Cute Gardener and I typically get everything on the menu to share when it comes as a two options per course prix fixe, which is exactly what we did here.  Four wines by the glass are also offered with the meal: a sparkling, a rose, a white and a red. I loved the “red” sparkling that started my experience.

To begin came a twist on a classic Italian first, only with chorizo replacing prosciutto in a melon and frisee salad. It was artfully presented with the chorizo not too spicy and making a perfect pairing with the triangles of soft, tender melon.

A bowl of rustic, dark roasted tomato and basil veloute came floating with a smiley face of olive oil ribbons and three yellow cherry tomato globes.

For our main, a duo of Niman pork was delivered sitting in a sweet and sour plum compote that married well with the pork belly’s fried chitlin skin layer, big purple lima-esque beans and wax string beans. The two pieces of loin were soft and pink scented on the tongue.

A large chunk of Virginia wild striped bass was nice but the star of the plate was the baby zucchini laid upon a hearty and rich sunburst squash puree and basil coulis. I just recently had the yellow and green sauce pairing at another dinner but it didn’t pack as much punch as the two here did.

Dessert’s first course was two perfectly soft mimolette slices with pistachio and jam to accompany the fruity, French cheddar.

And finally a buttery shortbread encrusted raspberry tart.

The place filled up as we were finishing our meal and the presence of others made the place bustle with noise and the kitchen ramp up its motion. We felt like we had been privy to a special moment prior when it was just we, the cooks, the exuberant host and attentive waiter, and an unusual soundtrack fit right for my palate made up of 1970’s rock and roll mixed with vintage French female siren songs. 

P.S. Santos Uy, Papilles owner, also owns Mignon Wine and Cheese Bar which is another favorite of mine.