Another restaurant on my list checked! Starting December, there will be a lot of fancy dinners coming up because of all the occasions or excuses!
Well, the restaurant is in Beverly Hills, and you can totally tell from the décor. Fancy and modern.
We ordered some wine (we like white, still working on the red). The little cup of squash soup is a complimentary dish from the chef and it was spectacular, and that's before we ordered any food. That definitely set my expectations for the place, and it did not disappoint. The breads were really good as well, and I love their nori (seaweed) butter!!!! I am very picky with the butter, and my favorite butter is from Hatfield's (but the restaurant no longer exist), and this is the second! We made the mistake of having too much bread and butter.......
We ordered 3 appetizers (because it's so hard to choose!!!!).
Half-Dozen Fanny Bay and Kusshi Oysters, Cocktail Sauce, Mignonette, Horseradish.
Never a big fan of the cocktail sauce, but the Mignonette was great. Very good oyster, can pretty much eat it without any sauce.
Big Eye Tuna and Hamachi "Chirashi Box", Salmon Pearls, Santa Barbara Uni, Yuzu- Jalapeño Gel.
This dish, to me, was the HIGHLIGHT. Fantastic salmon pearls and uni. Loved the yuzu- jalapeño gel. They put some spice on the rice underneath the seafood, and it was very good.
Stir-Fried Shishito Peppers, Black Bean Glaze, Shiitake Mushrooms, Fresno Chili.
have always loved shishito peppers, and I really like the Asian take of this. Very delicious.
We tried one of the pasta dish.
Squid-Ink Garganelli, Baby Octopus, Chili, Confit Sweet Onions, Tempura Sea Beans.
oved the combination, and the sauce was great.
We ordered two entrées. I was debating between the dover sole and the black bass, and I think I regretted not getting the bass, but the dover sole was very good as well.
Roasted Dover Sole, Port-Ginger Reduction, Spinach, Fennel Purée, Wild Mushroom, 10-Spice.
Loved the fried skeleton design on the plate. The port-ginger reduction was just as good as I expected, and the fennel purée was a perfect match.
Colorado Lamb Rack, Falafel "Macarons" with Labneh, Cucumber Ralta, Smoked Eggplant, Harissa.
The falafel "macarons" were SO delicious. Lamb was cooked to perfection.
We were so full by this time, and so we can only order one dessert. We were struggling between the mille feuille and the chocolate cake, but we think the mille feuille might be too heavy for us.
Flourless Chocolate Cake, Praline Crisps, Dark Chocolate, Coffee Ice-Cream.
Great finish. Dessert is often the end of dinner, and sometimes how I remembered a restaurant. Not too sweet, and I loved the praline crisps and coffee ice-cream a lot. But definitely want to come back for the mille feuille because the table next to us ordered it, and it looked so good.
Great end of the year and start of our one-week lab-free break!