9/4/2015
This year I picked Providence for our anniversary lunch. The funny thing is when we moved to CA ten years ago, providence was the first restaurant we had our anniversary dinner at; so in a way this was a full circle ten years later. The fine dining scene is not that strong in LA and I had a hard time picking up a place. At the end we were pleased for the most part with our experience. The service was professional but not that friendly. The decor has been changed since last time. We were mostly impressed with the parade of delicious amuse bouches and were transported back to our memorable meals in Spain. The only mishap was my scallop dish. It was a little overcooked and since this has happened to me a few times before, I decided to speak up.
Passion Fruit, Geranium, Basil Seed
This definitely reminded me of El Bulli’s olives. It was such a delight to eat and I could have eaten ten of these.
Scallop Tartar, Puffed Rice, Wasabi
This was a nice light amuse. The puffed rice provided crunch and you got a little heat from wasabi.
Watermelon, Jícama and espelette pepper
A refreshing and delicious amuse and perfect for summer.
Salmon, Egg and Dill powder
A flavorful little bite of salmon atop crème fraiche crostini.
Bigeye Tuna Coconut, Olive, Almond
My husband’s choice and he truly enjoyed it. The bite I took was pretty good. The coconut, almond and olive added a little sweetness, crunch and brine.
THE Ugly Bunch Assorted Shellfish, Smoked Crème Fraîche Panna Cotta
As soon as I saw a picture of this dish, I knew I had to order it. The uni was the best I have had and other shellfish were extremely fresh, but what stole the show was the panna cotta. A feast for the eyes.
Butter
A good one, but I have had better.
Brioche and Seaweed Bread
Even though I am not a white bread kind of girl, something told me to pick the brioche. My husband described it as a croissant roll and I agreed. Really buttery and delicious. The seaweed was pretty good also. We were surprised that they served the bread so late, but I guess they wanted us to enjoy our first courses first.
Wild King Salmon Miso Mustard, Pluot, Pork Belly
My husband loved this dish mostly because of the crisped pork belly wrapper. The amazing king salmon didn’t hurt either.
Scallops Brentwood Sweet Corn, Lemon Verbena
The presentation was beautiful and I remember ten years ago the scallop dish was my favorite course. I love Hokkaido scallops and was excited to try this dish. As soon as I cut the first one I knew that they had cooked it a little too long. The difference between a perfect scallop and a good one is only a few seconds of cooking time. I cut the other ones and noticed that three out of four suffered from the same problem. They varied in sizes and only the large one was cooked right. I told my husband about the problem and he told me to just eat it and next time if I encounter the same problem complain then!! Really? It was easy for him to say that because he loved his dish. I talked to one of the staff and they apologized and told me they will prepare a new one. It must have taken at least 10-15 minutes and the manager, Donato Poto, delivered the dish and tried to tell me that Hokkaido scallops have different textures from the ones from maine. I said I am well aware of that and because it took so long for the dish to arrive , I must have ate it in five minutes!!
Chocolate Cremeux Passion Fruit, banana
Our waitress asked if we wanted to order dessert and we said of course we were. Hello, we were celebrating our anniversary after all.
We love passion fruit and combine that with chocolate, we were in heaven.
Passion Fruit Pâtes de fruits, Raspberry Truffle and Pistachio Macaroons
My favorite was the intense raspberry truffle. My husband’s was the passion fruit. I found the macaroon overly sweet.
Apple muffin were good, but a little sugary for my taste.
When our waitress brought the bill, she said that the dessert was on them, which was nice and odd at the same time. Why ask if we wanted to order dessert then?
