March 21, 2015: Osteria Mozza

Osteria Mozza is probably the Los Angeles restaurant I have wanted to visit the longest. I have always been a huge fan of Mario Batali and Pizzeria Mozza is one of my favorite pizza restaurants anywhere, so it would stand to reason that Osteria Mozza is probably pretty good too. It worked out great because this is the first weekend Christal has had off in over a month and it is the day before the sixth anniversary of Brent's plane crash so it was a good time to go out for a special dinner.

Walking in to the restaurant from the corner of Highland and Melrose it opens up to a large dining room. All the tables are covered in white linens and there are rich dark wood accents and light blue trim around the room. The whole space has a very comfortable and relaxed yet elegant feel to it.

After we ordered they brought us an amuse bouche of crostini with ricotta, olive tapenade and basil. For being so simple it was surprising how balanced the one bite crostini was. The salty bitterness of the tapenade was toned down by the rich ricotta cheese and the basil helped to make it feel light on the palate.

Crostini w Ricotta, Olive Tapenade & Basil

Christal ordered the market rucola and wild cress salad with oro blanco grapefruit, avocado, Picholine olives & walnut aillade for her starter. The salad was a really refreshing start to the dinner. The arugula and cress were crisp, herbaceous and peppery and was balanced well by the sweet and acidic grapefruit and the rich avocado. The walnuts and walnut aillade added some crunch and textural contrast and the olives rounded out the salad with a nice hit of saltiness.

Market Rucola & Wild Cress w Oro Blanco Grapefruit, Avocado, Picholine Olives & Walnut Aillade

For my starter I ordered the burricotta with braised artichokes, pine nuts, currants and mint pesto from the mozzarella bar menu. They served the cheese on a couple of pieces of toasted bread. The braised artichoke was extremely tender and there was just enough of the currants and pine nuts so that you could taste them, but they neither overpowered the cheese or the artichoke. The mint pesto helped to really keep everything light and gave the dish an added zing.

Burricotta w Braised Artichokes, Pine Nuts, Currants & Mint Pesto

We both really wanted to try their pasta, but we couldn't both order pasta and a main course without feeling guilty about it so we ended up sharing the orecchiette with sausage and swiss chard. For me, this dish was probably the highlight of the night. The orecchiette at Osteria Mozza had a larger diameter than at other restaurants I have had it at and it was also slightly thicker, which gave it a really nice chew. The sausage and swiss chard sauce was meaty and rich with a background spiciness that was just short of making you reach for the water glass. It had an unctuousness that only comes from hours of simmering over low heat and the swiss chard almost melted into the whole sauce. They finished the dish with a sprinkling of bread crumbs at the table, which gave a subtle crunch to the dish.

Orecchiette w Sausage & Swiss Chard

The wild striped bass alla Livornese was Christal's main course. The bass was cooked absolutely perfectly. The skin was as crispy as a potato chip and the flesh was firm and moist. The Livornese sauce was basically a garlicky tomato sauce. It had enough acidity to pair well with the fish and the large caper berries in the sauce gave a nice salty, tart kick. They topped the fish off with a light salad of parsley and celery leaves that added a little fresh crunch to the fish.

Wild Striped Bass Alla Livornese

I ordered the veal breast stracotto with funghi misti. The veal breast was slow braised, which made it tender, but not to the point where it would fall apart. They sauced the veal with some of the braising liquid that was reduced down to a rich, syrupy consistency and you could feel the melted collagen in the sauce...so good. The mushrooms were cooked till they were perfectly caramelized and a deep mahogany color. When all the components were together in one bite it was absolute harmony. The rich sauce soaked into the tender, milky veal with the caramelized mushrooms adding a chewy and crispy texture was a truly pleasurable experience.

Veal Breast Stracotto w Funghi Misti

Christal got the strawberry and fig crostata with Meyer lemon panna cotta & pinecone bud syrup. In my opinion this was my least favorite dish of the night. It wasn't a bad dessert, I just felt like it was kind of plain and the panna cotta overshadowed the crostata a little bit. The crostata was topped with something that resembled a strawberry and fig jam and the crust was a good short pastry, but I thought it lacked some freshness. I think some brunoised strawberry or chiffonaded mint would have helped to refresh the crostata. The Meyer lemon panna cotta had a great texture and was packed with the tart and sweet flavor of the Meyer lemons, but when eaten with the crostata the tartness of the panna cotta masked the strawberries and figs. I was really excited to try the pinecone bud syrup, but it was a little too subtle and I couldn't really detect it when I ate all three components together.

Strawberry & Fig Crostata w Meyer Lemon Panna Cotta & Pinecone Bud Syrup

My dessert was the bombolini with huckleberry marmellata, lemon mascarpone and vanilla gelato. The bomboloni are Italian donuts that are rolled in sugar. The dough is a raised yeast dough and the texture of these bomboloni were soft and light, almost cloud-like. The huckleberry marmellata was exactly what you would expect, sweet and tart and full of huckleberries. The lemon mascarpone had the texture of a lemon curd and it paired really well with the huckleberries. The vanilla gelato provided great contrast to all the other components of the dessert. It countered the tartness of both the lemon mascarpone and the huckleberry marmellata with its creamy richness, and it gave great temperature contrast to the fresh, hot bomboloni.

Bombolini w Huckleberry Marmellata, Lemon Mascarpone & Vanilla Gelato

Food 4.5/5
Service 4/5
Christal's Rating 3/5
http://www.osteriamozza.com/

March 15, 2015: Bucato

For Jenny's birthday Jeffrey planned a dinner at Bucato, which is located in Culver City. It is a much heralded Italian restaurant known for their handmade pastas. We ended up having a group of 15 that was spread out over three tables. Once everyone had been seated Jeffrey and Jenny had a party puzzle for each table to complete. The puzzles revealed that they too were going to have a baby. Later they had Jenny's dad and Uncle Vic each open a present to reveal the gender and when they opened the boxes one had a blue balloon and the other had a balloon with question marks and then they told us they were having twins! Anyways, on to the food.

We started out with focaccia with rosemary, olive oil and sea salt. The focaccia was outstanding with a soft pillowy interior and a crispy, delicate crust. The rosemary and sea salt were in perfect balance, and the rosemary didn't overpower at all. The olive oil provided a contrast of richness to the light, airy texture of the bread. We also had filone with cultured Wisconsin butter and ash salt, but I forgot to get a picture of that. The filone was more of a traditional round loaf that had an extremely crispy crust and a soft, almost spongy interior.

Foccaccia w Rosemary, Olive Oil & Sea Salt

Next we had fried cauliflower 'Sicilian style.' The cauliflower was crispy and crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside and it was dressed with capers, parsley, a little lemon juice and some chili. It reminded me a little of a crispy Indian cauliflower dish I've had before. Whatever they used to coat the outside of the cauliflower was really light even though it was fried.

Fried Cauliflower 'Sicilian Style'

Spicy pork meatballs with roasted tomato, Parmigiano Reggiano and wild arugula was our next course. The meatballs had a perfectly soft, yet meaty texture and remained nice and moist. The tomato sauce that smothered the meatballs was nicely balanced and it didn't overshadow the meatballs.

Spicy Pork Meatballs with Roasted Tomato, Parmigiano Reggiano & Wild Arugula

Our next course was the first of three pasta dishes. We had gnocchetti with pesto Genovese and Pecorino Stagionato. The gnocchetti was a little more dense than I was expecting, but it also had more chew to it, which gave the whole dish a little more character. The pesto was really fresh and pungent and the ratio of pesto to gnocchetti was perfectly balanced with both complementing each other equally.

Gnocchetti w Pesto Genovese & Pecorino Stagionato

The second pasta dish that was brought out was the spaghetti alla chitarra cacio e pepe. The spaghetti alla chitarra is a thicker spaghetti than most and it was extremely sturdy, but still tender. Cacio e pepe is a very traditional Roman preparation that is basically cheese and pepper, simplicity at its finest. Again (and i'm sure this will get repetitive) the dish was balanced perfectly with the pasta playing the star, the olive oil and cheese giving perfect richness and the pepper giving a nice spice to cut through that richness.

Spaghetti alla Chitarra Cacio e Pepe

The last pasta dish we had was the pappardelle with ragu vecchia scuola and Parmigiano Reggiano. The pappardelle was cut into extra wide strips and had a super smooth and silky texture with a tender chewiness. The ragu vecchia scuola is basically another name for a Bolognese sauce. The sauce was nice and meaty and you could tell it had been cooked for a long time because everything had kind of melded into a perfect condimento as Mario Batali would say. As with pretty much every dish before, this one was perfectly balanced with the rich, meaty sauce complementing the luxurious folds of delicate pappardelle.

Pappardelle w Ragu Vecchia Scuola & Parmigiano Reggiano

Our next dish was the octopus with escarole, shelling beans, roasted tomato and nduja. The octopus was meaty and tender and cooked to perfection. I think it had been parboiled and then maybe finished on the grill that gave the exterior a really nice caramelization. Underneath the octopus was a stew that had escarole, chickpeas, a little tomato and nduja, which is a spreadable pork sausage. The stew was a really nice compliment to the octopus because it provided some saltiness with the nduja and some acid with the tomato, and again, it was another well balanced dish.

Octopus w Escarole, Shelling Beans, Roasted Tomato & Nduja

The last savory dish was rib eye with cipollini agrodolce and wild arugula. The rib eye was cooked just how I like it, on the edge between rare and medium rare. Agrodolce is an Italian sweet and sour sauce, so the ciplollini agrodolce was basically caramelized cipollini onions tossed and cooked in the sweet and sour sauce. The steak was extremely tender, the cipollini agrodolce was a great way to give the dish some acid to help cut through the richness of the steak and the arugula provided a nice bitterness and pepperiness to bring the whole dish together.

Rib Eye with Cipollini Agrodolce & Wild Arugula

Since it was Jenny's birthday dinner Sarah made a chocolate cake for her. She said it was her first try with that recipe and it was a winner. The cake had a really pleasant, fine texture and it seemed to be both a dense and a light, airy cake at the same time and it was packed with cocoa flavor. The frosting was nice and light so it didn't weigh down the whole cake. The only downside that Sarah and I saw was that it was just slightly dry, but overall it was a really delicious cake.

Sarah's Chocolate Cake

After the chocolate cake we had zeppoli with vanilla cream and lemon sugar. Zeppoli are the Italian version of donuts and Bucato's zeppoli were kind of a mix of a cream puff and a donut. The zeppoli was a little bigger than a golf ball and it had a crispy exterior and a tender, choux pastry-like interior that was hollow in the middle. The middle was filled with the vanilla cream, which had the taste and texture of a creme anglaise or zabaglione. The lemon sugar was dusted lightly over the top, but unfortunately I couldn't taste much lemon. That being said, it didn't take away from the dessert at all and I enjoyed the zepolli wholeheartedly.

Zeppoli w Vanilla Cream & Lemon Sugar

The last thing we had was a selection of gelatos and sorbet. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture so instead I'll include a picture of the birthday girl blowing out the candles. We had vanilla, pistachio and marzipan gelato and lemon sorbet. The lemon sorbet was good, but it was a little too sweet. The marzipan gelato was kind of weird, and probably my least favorite. The pistachio gelato had a bit of savoriness to it that accentuated the nuttiness of the gelato. The vanilla gelato was packed with vanilla beans that were speckled throughout and it was my favorite flavor that we sampled.

Birthday Girl

Food 4/5
Service 3.5/5
http://www.bucato.la/

March 14, 2015: Petit Trois

For Christal's birthday we went to Petit Trois in Beverly Hills for a late lunch. They don't take reservations at Petit Trois so we decided to go out after church, that way we would miss the lunch rush and hopefully not have to wait long. Luckily it worked out perfectly and we were able to sit right down. The restaurant was still pretty busy for 3 o'clock in the afternoon and every seat in the place was taken once we sat down, which only consisted of 2 bars with about 20 stools for patrons. The menu was very simple, consisting of 15 items total and all of which were classic French bistro dishes.

Christal started her meal off with French onion soup with gruyère and emmenthal cheeses. It was a very straightforward, classic soup that was packed with the flavors of caramelized onion and rich beef broth. The toasted bread somehow stayed crunchy and chewy long after it had soaked through and the cheese was perfectly melted and stringy. As basic a dish as French onion soup is, this was one of the best versions I've had.

French Onion Soup w Gruyère & Emmenthal

I decided to go with the steak tartare with fried shallots and elderberries. The minced steak was very tender and it gave the tartare a great foundation of flavor. Dijon mustard and the minced pickles and capers added the needed acidity and saltiness to help balance out the richness of the steak. I could not really detect the elderberries, but the fried shallots gave the dish a slight oniony hit and an outstanding crunch, which provided a needed textural contrast. Again, it was one of the best versions of steak tartare I have had.

Steak Tartare w Fried Shallots & Elderberries

For her main course, Christal ordered the steak frites maison with aux poivres sauce. The steak was cooked to a perfect medium-rare and came blanketed in the aux poivres sauce with a huge pile of pommes frites on the side. I only tried a couple of bites of the steak, but it was a tender and flavorful piece of beef and the sauce was a rich, indulgent accompaniment to it. The fries were good, but they were nothing special.

Steak Frites Maison w Sauce Aux Poivre

I decided on the confit chicken leg with brioche butter and frisée salad. Confiting the chicken leg really helped to keep the meat succulent and the skin was incredibly crispy.  The brioche butter was very surprising. It was basically brioche bread crumbs that were cooked in brown butter until they were caramelized and saturated with the butter. The frisée salad had endive, parsley and chives along with the frisée, which was all tossed in a highly acidic lemon vinaigrette. The freshness and acidity of the salad really helped to cut through the richness of the brioche butter and chicken. It brought the whole dish together and elevated it from a good dish to something that I would want to have over and over again.

Confit Chicken Leg w Brioche Butter & Frisèe Salad

For dessert we decided to share the Napoleon with Tahitian vanilla cream. It had multiple layers of crispy puff pastry that were sandwiching a rich pastry cream that was absolutely packed with vanilla. The top layer was brûléed with some sugar and gave the Napoleon a very appealing appearance. The whole dessert was a simple, clean finish to a great meal.

Napoleon w Tahitian Vanilla Cream

Food 4.5/5
Service 3.5/5
Christal's Rating 4/5
http://petittrois.com/

March 7, 2015: Blue Plate Oysterette

I have been wanting to try Blue Plate Oysterette for a while now and Jeffrey and Jenny had told me it was good a while ago. Christal was on call tonight so I was able to meet up with Jane and Skyler. The restaurant was pretty crowded, but not as crowded as I was expecting for a Saturday night. It definitely had a nice nautical theme for the decor with the table tops having nautical maps on them. In the corner there was a large flat screen that was playing the movie "Riding Giants" on a loop. The service was attentive without being overbearing.

When I was reading the menu my eyes kept drifting to the oysters Rockefeller so I had to get that for my first course. Eating the oysters took me back to my childhood days when we would visit Kentucky and occasionally eat at Orleans House in Lexington. I remember first trying oysters Rockefeller there and being puzzled by the hot, salty, plump oysters. Blue Plate's version was very good and I was happy that the oysters were not completely overpowered by the sauce. I could still taste the fresh brininess of the oysters through the rich, creamy sauce.

Oysters Rockefeller

I ordered the lobster roll on brioche with french fries for my main course. I got it dressed, so the lobster was cold and tossed in a house aioli dressing. The lobster roll was very good, but the brioche roll was a little bit more dense than I was expecting. I would personally probably prefer the lobster roll from Connie & Ted's or Hinoki & the Bird, but this lobster roll was close on their heals. It had a lot of large pieces of tail and claw meat that were succulent and tender. To top it all off the fries were all crispy and seasoned liberally with a spicy paprika based spice mix.

Lobster Roll w French Fries

For dessert we all shared the Key lime pie. As good as the previous two dishes were this was probably the highlight of the dinner for me. First of all, the serving was huge. It wasn't just a piece of pie, it was a whole small pie. The Graham cracker crust was just pressed together and not too dense. The whipped cream on top was freshly whipped and spiked with fresh lime zest. The filling was piled high inside of the crust and was packed with fresh lime flavor. Unlike many Key lime pies it was not cloyingly sweet. The whole dessert had great balance with a nice emphasis on the lime flavor, and it was a great finish to a satisfying meal.

Key Lime Pie

Service 3.5/5
Food 3.5/5

http://blueplatesantamonica.com/bpo/los-angeles/