Providence: A Brief Review

I supped last Saturday evening at Providence with two friends and had a lovely time. The service at Providence cannot be beat. As Ruth Reichl writes in her book, Garlic and Sapphires, we dine out to be made to feel special and important. Dining is as much about the experience and company as it is about the food. And my experience was as luxurious and pampered as my company was lovely. The food, however, left something to be desired.

Now, I enjoy Water Grill and Providence in general, despite the preciousness of the presentation and the staid quality of the dining rooms. I love the flavors Michael Cimarusti and his kitchen put on the table. He combines food beautifully, in some very standard ways and sometimes in very innovative ways. The darling plates are always beautiful. It is well worth the time to ponder the dish and even to take a picture, because ultimately, in the words of a third grader, a picture does last longer.



I worked in a seafood restaurant in San Francisco for years, not the caliber of Providence or even close to it by any means. But it was also not a chain or a tourist trap on some pier or wharf or beachside cliff. It was a reputable lovely little restaurant south of Market called The Half Shell. Its first owner, Theresa Douglas (who last I heard was the culinary director for Korbel in Napa), created the most beautiful clam chowder for that restaurant, and it stayed with the business through the next three successive owners. Her chowder was in a thin and brothy base with butter, cream, clam juice, huge branches of rosemary and heaps of bacon bits. This is the standard in my mind to which all future chowders shall be held. The chowda at Providence fell short.

I have tasted this chowda several times, eating usually from my husband's dish. I knew it came with thick hunks of bacon, tender plump & luscious clams, and thin slices of new potato. An elegant soup. But broth bored me. It tasted like they put all those wonderful key ingredients in a bath of warm half and half. So much more could be done to that broth. If it were MY soup, I would have added all kinds of beautiful things much earlier to the broth and reduced it for days, much like Douglas' chowder which reached a tasty crescendo after about day three. The presentation at Providence far exceeded the simple cup & saucer at the Half Shell, but the flavor was left behind in the dust.

For an entree I decided to have the foie gras ravioli (apologies to non-foie eating animal lovers, haven't had it in literally years and couldn't resist). Again, disappointed. Primarily I ordered this because I was enticed by the double whammy of the foie gras and black truffle shavings. Unfortunately, this was not truffley in the slightest, and the only double whammy was my disappointment at the lack of trufflocity paired with the deep puddle of oil in my supper dish. Bluck.

I did taste S's lobster risotto with a lovely carrot foam...because I know what lobster tastes like I only sampled the rice and foam parts. This was both well done and lovely. The rice had that natural creaminess that comes from being cooked just right rather than being smothered in dairy. And the carrot foam added an acidity that balanced the dish nicely.



The sommelier did an excellent job choosing wine for us. He chose a half bottle of a rather tart sauvignon blanc for our starters and then a whole bottle of some other new world something for our mains. The second was headier and would have stood up strong and comfortingly to my dish had I ordered something with truffles. Very well done, in my opinion.

As I say, service was the star that evening. I will definitely go back again, as it is close to home and I am a huge fan of the bar. Anyone sitting at the bar gets lots of attention and an inside peek at how the staff hums along together during service. Everyone and everything seems happy and harmonious and this is definitely reflected at the table.

Baseless Tranquility? I Hope Not

I love a lounge. A place for casual drinks, laid back friendly service & music that can generate an ecstasy flashback. (Truly, I can live without the elevatorized house music.) Downtown Los Angeles newcomer Tranquility Base offers all of the above and hopefully they will work out the kinks before summer and in time to make use of their gobstoppingly amazing outdoor space.

We stopped in Saturday night with friends and were impressed with the service and the decor. The menu read well but didn't deliver in all cases. Several sushi rolls, while white washed, were still quite good. The charcuterie plate with duck pate had good quality and nice variety. Sea bass on mashed potatoes was simple and delicious, and the scallops were gobbled down tout suite. They list a decent pinot noir by the glass and the infusion cocktails are lots of fun....LOTS.




However....there is so often a however. The crispy calamari was way overcooked and so were the Parmesan fries. They were out of miso salmon and the tuna tartare appeared to have a mayonnaisey aoili sauce squelching the lightness of the dish.



I love what they are trying to do and since it's close to home and they serve food til midnight, I intend to give them many opportunities to perfect it.

Front Loading for Tokyo

To properly prepare my tastebuds for Japan, I am embarking on a Japanese food-fest right here in Los Angeles. The food-fest started approximately 12 years ago when I moved here, as I eat Japanese at least 2x a week. However, for the next two weeks, I am stepping it up a notch! Last night I ate at Geisha House, a trendy bi-level multi theme restaurant owned by the Dolce group.

http://www.geishahousehollywood.com/aboutus.htm

While I am not a fan of the Dolce group restaurants, I have loved Geisha House since the day I walked in the door opening week. Geisha House has a sake bar, a classic looking sushi bar, a huge two floor dining room with a two story fire place and several private rooms encased in glass. In the private rooms, I always feel like I am eating in a Japanese jewelry box.

I arrived prior to my dinner companions, as is often the case, to enjoy a leisurely cocktail and soak in the atmosphere. I sat in the sake bar and sipped a well deserved ice cold Grey Goose martini and enjoyed a little downtime.

Dinner was spectacular! We ordered particularly well this trip. Usually we over order, because there are so many delicious things on the menu and it is small plate style. We started with eda mame, of course, and my three companions slurped at delicious bowls of miso soup (very heavy on the miso, a rich textured broth) with seaweed, cubes of soft tofu, and long king crab legs practically crawling out of the bowl. Beautiful! Next we shared two large rolls. One called the Heaven with chopped toro, special tuna and spicy tuna rolled in cucumber instead of seaweed. The second is called the Pink Lady Bubu which is made with arare shrimp, cucumber, gold tobiko and spicy crab with eel sauce drizzled over the top. I also insisted that they try the shishito peppers, small tangy green peppers slightly deep fried (no batter) so the skins just slip off in your mouth. DE-lish.

The smartest thing we did was order four orders of the filet mignon instead of trying four different small plates entrees.
It was so delicious. It was a just right portion of filet mignon, marinated and grilled, then served with a light soy, garlic and sesame dipping sauce.It was simple and so great tasting I wouldn't have wanted to share any with someone else.

One of my dining companions brought a special beverage to drink with our meals. Now, I love all kinds of dry sake, hot and cold. But I must say I was a little skecptical when he pulled out a bottle of Hana Lychee Sake. Visions of Japanese wine coolers were dancing in my head. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the first taste. The flavor was floral and a hair fruity, but not in any way sweet or cloying. Think a hint of rosewater or orange flower water rather than syrupy lychee flavoring. It stood up beautifully to the marinated steak without overpowering the more delicate appetizers. And is there a lovelier buzz than a sake buzz? A nice low alcohol fuzziness. I would order this sake any time, and if I can find it in one of the Asian markets by my house I am stocking up. http://www.hanaflavoredsake.com/index2.html

For dessert we ordered the Rice flour banana fritters which was basically a half banana fried in a tempura mix with caramel and chocolate sauce, the presentation was slightly messy looking but it was delicious.

We also ordered the molten chocolate cake, which was served in a bento box with a healthy scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. The presentation was just lovely, but the flavor was a little lacking. The cake part was a hair dry and there was not enough molten action happening in the center. But presenting a dessert in a bento box with a lid is such a lovely idea I may have to pick some of these up to have on hand at home