Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The Raptor in Los Angeles...





I've been doing some traveling lately...
Just got back from NYC and went to LA to visit friends the week before and had a great time...

Which is cool, but more importantly, what did I EAT?

Friday night my good friend took me to Spago. Although I found the Service to be questionable for this type of fine dining restaurant, I thought The Food on the other hand was Great!
Wie Toll, Wolfgang! Vielen Dank', Es war sehr Lecker!

Und so ...

We arrived for our reservation and were seated in a side booth, which I thought was a great location overlooking the entire restaurant. The Decor was very kitschy in a 90's sort of way. After being seated, it took a good 10 minutes before our server brought us the Menus, which we had to ask for. Although our server was not snotty by any means, he was just not very available. Luckily, the bus staff redeemed him a little by their attentiveness.

Here's what we had:
We started with the Sweet Corn Bisque with Lobster & Chanterelle Mushrooms which was unbelievably good! My friend was still raving and salivating over it the next day. I had the Burratta wrapped in Organic Sauteed Pear with Prosciutto and Micro Greens and finished with a basil reduction. Delish! The Burratta was soft & creamy and it paired nicely with the sweetness of the Pear and the saltiness of the Prosciutto. Loved it!

For our Mains, M had the Pan-Roasted Chicken with Chanterelle Mushrooms, Goat Cheese, Yellow Finnish Potato Puree (i.e. Mashed Potatoes, yet more refined) and Natural Juice. The Chicken was wonderful, and perfectly prepared, juicy on the inside and crispy skin on the outside. It was a Great Dish... I think Chicken gets overlooked a lot of times in finer restaurants, but I highly recommend this one. I had the Pan-Roasted Liberty Duck Breast which was prepared with Maitake Mushrooms, Cipollini Onions, Braised Pancetta, a Sweet Corn Flan and Natural Juice with Marjoram. The Duck Breast was also prepared perfectly, medium rare on the inside and Crispy Skin on the out. One other thing that happened service-wise was that when they took away my 1st course, they took my silverware and never replaced it until we had already both received our Mains, and we had to flag down someone to replace them. Not cool...Although the Service was a bit disappointing, the Food was Fantastic. It was a cheesy, quintessential LA restaurant experience, that I would recommend to any LA first-timers like myself...

Other places that I got taken to were Urth Cafe and Martha's in Redondo Beach. I'm not gonna get into the details of these places, but I went for Brunch and did the Raptor Eggs Benedict Test at both places and unfortunately, they did not pass... But whatever, my point is that my Friends are saying that I was difficult to please.

Who?... Me?... Really? You don't say...

I suppose one could say that this is true. But honestly, isn't it a good thing?

At least when you Eat, or should I say 'Dine' with the Raptor, you know that I will have researched every Restaurant in the Vicinity and perused every Menu before deciding where I am going to eat.
And really, it is not just about Great Food but Great Service is important as well...
It really is about the Dining Experience if you ask me. And them's my Two Cents...

Now.. Where am I gonna Eat next?...

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