FOOD REVIEW: Providence (Melrose District, Los Angeles, CA)

The Other Half and I celebrate January 12th as the anniversary of the beginning of our relationship. Since we met in 1991 this year it was our 25th anniversary so we decided to splurge and made a dinner reservation at Providence, which is widely recognized as the best restaurant in Los Angeles. We then planned a trip to Maui (Hawaii) for the rest of the week to continue the celebration.

Here is a short photo essay on our Providence experience.

Amuse Bouche: nasturtium leaf with sushi rice and 

Amuse Bouche: wagyu beef masquerading as cigars or fancy Slim Jims

Even the bread, with butter and salt, was exemplary

maine lobster, orient charm eggplant, smoked sesame, miso

new bedford scallop, cauliflower, vadouvan

A5 Wagyu Beef (sweet potato, aged vinegar, parmesan)

troll-caught salmon, sunchoke, peas, black truffle

Dessert: Ganache chocolate with lemon paste and
glazed, roasted hazelnuts

Dessert: coconut/lemon drop, macaroon,
mexican chocolate with marshmallow

For our twenty-fifth anniversary, the Other Half and I wanted to do something special, so we made a reservation at Providence, widely regarded as the best restaurant in Los Angeles. Surprisingly, we realized it must have been well over five years since we had last eaten here.

Providence is famous for its 2 Michelin stars and its eleven-course and seven-course prix fixe menus, with exquisite wine pairings. The full eleven-course menu takes at least 3 hours to complete, but there is a 7-course version for $180 per person ($265 with wine pairing) while the four-course menu is $115 ($160 with wine pairing).

We decided that both of us would try the 7-course menu with one of us getting the wine pairing and the other not. The service was exceptional, and even the bread (brioche, sourdough or white) was memorable. The meal started with a comically long sequence of amuse bouches (there were five!) Particularly good were the wagyu beef cigars (pictured above) and the smoked salmon with potato crisp.

Among the courses, we decided to pay extra and upgrade the wagyu beef entree but although it is the highest cut of this beef available, it is really an acquired taste, one which I don't think I have acquired.

The favorite thing we ate that night in my opinion was the scallop, closely followed by the wagyu beef cigar and the chocolate dessert.

Overall, the dining experience was a memorable one, but with an overall cost of roughly three times the price of an evening at other excellent places like Union, Ledlow and Baco Mercat  think I would rather go to each of those once before I go to Providence again. However, I would strongly recommend it to commemorate an extremely memorable occasion, which it was for us.

Name: Providence.

Location: 5955 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

Contact: 323-460-4170.

Visit: January 12, 2016.

AMBIANCE: A.

SERVICE: A+.

VALUE: B+.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A (4.0/4.0)

BURGER REVIEW: BGR (Arlington, VA)

I have been hearing about the burger chain BGR for a long time and took advantage of my proximity to a BGR outlet in Clarendon to finally check it out on a holiday. I ordered The Burger ($6.99) medium-rare on a fresh, buttery-toasted brioche bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mojo sauce, American cheese (+$0.99), and applewood bacon (+$1.29) with regular fries ($2.29).

The burger was excellent, but I have discovered in my Quest for the Ultimate Burger that even though a "buttery-toasted brioche bun" sounds great, it is often too much bread and can overwhelm the patty. This was the case with BGR's bun and so I took off the top half and ate it as an open-faced burger. The combination of the crunchy bacon with the decadent melted American cheese and the perfectly cooked beef patty is the very definition of a transcendent burger experience.

The burger was well-matched with the fries. BGR has an interesting selection of items to pair with their burgers, including regular fries ("the gold standard"), sweet-potato fries ("the orange standard") and grilled asparagus spears sprinkled with parmesan cheese ("the green standard") and onion rings. The fries were definitely above average in quality (but not quantity), thicker than typical but piping hot and lightly salted. Again, near perfect.

Overall, the burger experience at BGR was surprisingly good. The quality of the food surpasses the product at places with much higher price points. I will definitely try to return there in the future, perhaps to try their ahi tuna burger with the asparagus spears.

Name: BGR The Burger Joint.

Location: 3024 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22201.

Contact: 703-566-1446.

Visit: July 4, 2013.

AMBIANCE: B+

SERVICE: A-.

VALUE: A.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A/A- (3.83/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Vidalia (Washington, DC)

shrimp and grits
(anson mill’s grits, vidalia onion, spinach, tasso ham, tomato, shellfish emulsion)

jumbo lump crab cake
(english peas, apricots, pancetta, scallions, sweet pepper butter)

seared hudson valley foie gras 
(lemon marmalade, candied pecans, parsnip butter, brioche, apricot ice cream)

shenandoah lamb loin
(surry lamb sausage, ramp spaetzle, king trumpet mushroom, strawberry jam, vadouvan jus)

georgia pecan pie 
(bourbon ice cream, praline lace crumble, caramel)

interior of Vidalia

My plan to sample the food at the best restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area continues with a stop at Vidalia. (I have previously been to Fiola, Blue Duck Tavern, Corduroy, Zaitinya, Proof and Rasika, among others.) At Vidalia, we had the five course tasting menu. In order, I had the foie gras, crab cake, shrimp and grits, lamb loin and the pecan pie for dessert. The chef and owner at Vidalia is Jeffrey Beuben, a James Beard award-winning chef (1999), who describes his restaurant as "regional American infused with a heaping serving of Southern influence."

The food was uniformly excellent with one standout for me: the shrimp and grits. I am most decidedly not a fan of grits (they seem too plain to me usually and the texture usually brings flashbacks of negative experiences with cream-of-wheat breakfasts!). However, I was convinced by the excellent waitron to try the shrimp and grits since it is one of their most popular dishes. From Yelp I had read good comments about the lump crab cakes so I ordered that as well. The shrimp and grits at Vidalia were an absolute revelation to me, one of the best things I have eaten while living and working in DC for nearly two years. The grits absolutely melted in your mouth and combined with the substantial heartiness of the shrimp and the delicious sauce (called "shellfish emulsion" on the menu) it was one of those rare dishes that make you laugh out loud it is so good. If you eat at Vidalia you must order them!

You'll notice I didn't place the crab cake on the standout list despite the Yelp plaudits (so much for crowdsourcing). The crab cake itself was fine, although with almost too much texture (i.e. a bit rough in the mouth) but this was almost certainly because it was chock-full of crab. If you're a fan of too much crab in a crab cake, this is the one for you. No, the biggest problem I had with the crab cake were the peas. They were simply not done well enough, and to me the hard peas combined with the rough crab put me off slightly, (I understand this was probably a deliberate choice by the chef--some people like very firm vegetables, so do I, but these were a little too close to the nearly raw side for me). I must say that the sauce combined with the apricots were amazing, and really the best part of the dish.

The second favorite thing I had was the lamb loin, which was a splurge for me because I only eat red meat rarely these days. However, it was cooked exactly right (medium rare) and had immense flavor. The mushrooms were really well balanced with the meat and the little green ramp spaetzle were simply delightful. Absolutely an excellent dish, but not a rare transcendent experience like the shrimp 'n' grits were for me.

The foie gras and pecan pie were simply mistakes (on my part). The best dessert on the menu is the lemon chess pie, and I knew my error as soon as saw my neighbor's dessert. I picked the pecan pie because I generally like it and wanted to see what the chef would do with it. Sadly, it was just average, which after a meal that was decidedly not seemed like a bad way to end things. The foie gras was me being adventurous and that dish has a LOT going on. The apricot ice cream was yummy and an interesting counterpoint to the warm, very viscous foie gras but it reminded me a bit too much of eating marrow. Some people like marrow, and if you do, you should definitely try the dish but I should have probably ordered one of the salads to start with instead.

One unexpected pleasure of the dining experience was that they had a lovely cherry soda, called Cheerwine, also suggested by the lovely waitron when I asked about a no-alcoholic beverage. It was delicious and a great choice for teetotalers like myself who don't want to just drink water or ice tea with dinner.

Overall, Vidalia was an excellent dining experience, in the top echelon of the meals I have had. It was not better than my first meal at Fiola (but since my second meal at Fiola was a disaster, it's seems unfair to assign the top spot to until I have visited Vidalia a second time as well, something I hope to do soon) but on average I would say it was better than Corduroy, but at a higher price point than that restaurant. Really, at this level of dining it is almost attempting to split hairs to distinguish between them.

You will have a memorable meal no matter which of these restaurants you choose, I certainly still dream about those shrimp and grits at Vidalia!

Name: Vidalia.

Location: 1900 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036.

Contact: 202-659-1990.

Visit: May 1, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A.

SERVICE: A+.

VALUE: A-.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A+/A (4.083/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Fusion Burgers (Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA)

Across the street from a new fancy Italian restaurant in Highland Park called Maximiliano's is an unassuming place called Fusion Burgers. My quest to find the best burger joint in America has long been a topic on this here blog, so I won't go into that again except to say that when I hear about an excellent burger place I do try and check it out.

So, that got me into the door of Fusion Burgers, which besides getting good reviews also happens to be within a 5-10 minute drive of my house.

As I said, Fusion Burgers is located in an unremarkable strip mall on the edge of Highland Park, very close to what is probably the most well-known restaurant in the neighborhood. The two are very different, however, with Maximiliano's succeeding as an upscale Italian joint that only serves dinner (and brunch on the weekends) and Fusion Burgers is a simple burger joint.

That being said, the focus should be on the food, and that is what Fusion Burgers does, and quite well, too. I ordered the "Classic Burger" (1000 Island, boston bibb, oven dried tomato, onions, pickles and white cheddar; $8.50) along with "Beer Onion Rings" ($3) and "Ice Tea" ($2). The burger was excellent, and well matched with the bun (which tasted like some kind of brioche). However, the burger was outdone by the Umamticatessen-style tempura-like onion rings which were absolutely extraordinary (and a great bargain at $3). I finished those first after taking a quick spot check bite of the burger. The burger was ridiculously juicy (a feature of having it cooked medium rare) and was a decent size as well. A nice feature of the meal was that even though it clearly not healthy food, one did not feel absolutely stuffed, as one sometimes does at other burger outings.

I would definitely recommend going to check out Fusion Burgers, yourself. It is probably a 10-15 minute walk from the Highland Park station on the  Gold Line Metro as well as having plenty of parking on York Boulevard. Fusion Burgers offers a different gourmet burger of the week, some of them quite inventive.

I intend to check them out again in the near future, and so should you if you (like me) are in search of an excellent burger experience for under $20.

Name: Fusion Burgers.

Location: 5933 York Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90042.

Contact: 323-257-8705.

Visit: April 27, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: A.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A (4.0/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Blue Duck Tavern (Washington, DC)

the striking interior of the Blue Duck Tavern

shaved brussels sprouts salad with walnuts and parmesan cheese; $11

sauteed wild mushrooms with olive oil croutons, garlic and parsley; $10

wood oven-roasted Maine scallops with
spring vegetables, sea beans, bacon; $24

passion fruit tart with toasted meringue; $9

The Blue Duck Tavern has been on my list of places to eat for quite awhile. I actually had reservations set with my regular dining companions that I visited Fiola de Fabio Trabocchi and Corduroy with but that outing got cancelled due to work pressures. Happily, I was able to find a different group of people who were interested in checking out this 2013 Washingtonian Top 10 Restaurant of the Year (it's at #8).

Blue Duck Tavern is in the West End section of D.C., pretty close to Foggy Bottom and thus in the environs of Georgetown. It's actually in the same building as the opulent Park Hyatt Washington (rack rate on rooms is over $500 per night). However, the moment one walks in you're struck by the attractive, sleek architecture which says this place is clearly not your average downstairs hotel restaurant.

We went on a surprisingly cool, blistery day in Spring so we didn't sit outside. At 5:30pm on a Wednesday the restaurant was happily almost completely empty and we were quickly seated and some excellent bread was brought to the table.

I ordered the brussels sprout salad (primarily because I love walnuts and parmesan even though I hate brussel sprouts) on the recommendation of our waitress. The inclusion of raw brussels sprouts into salads is becoming quite a "thing" in high end restaurants. I have seen it on the menu on at least three places I have eaten at in the last month. It has a very distinctive texture and, happily, the sour aftertaste of cooked brussels sprouts is minimal when it is raw. My tablemate ordered the "Swiss chard and onion tart with goat cheese and bitter greens" ($12). All of these things sound like ingredients I would avoid, but I had a bite and it turns out that it's really an absolutely scrumptious quiche! (Sometimes menu writers obfuscate more than they entice.) If/when I return to Blue Duck Tavern I would choose that as my appetizer next time.

Since I am avoiding my intake of red meat I ordered the scallops, but I was sorely tempted to try one of the beef dishes on the menu, all of which sounded delicious. My other tablemate ordered the "Roasted Muscovy Duck Breast with Crispy Leg Confit and Nettle Relish" ($45) and happily was unable to finish it so I got more than just a bite. The nettle relish is sweet and finger-lickin' good! The duck was sublime, as one would expect.

 I also ordered the sauteed mushrooms, mostly for me but also to share with the table. I was glad that I did because everything at Blue Duck Tavern comes a la carte (that means by itself, priced separately, in a gleaming stainless steel dish). Neither of the proteins (i.e. duck or scallops) came with a substantial amount of accoutrements (either vegetables or starch) so the mushrooms were a good choice. And they were also delicious! Frankly none of the starches (listed as "Potatoes and Grains" on the menu) looked appealing to me, except for the "Hand cut BDT Triple Fries" and those sounded too good, if you know what I mean. Summer is coming!

One plus for Blue Duck Tavern is that they had a good selection of non-alcoholic beverages, and I had a very delicious "mocktail."

For dessert I committed an unforced error by not ordering the apple pie (didn't do enough research beforehand) and had the intriguing sounding passion fruit tart despite the meringue (which I never like--it's too sweet for my taste). Passionfruit is both extremely sweet and also extremely tart and combined with the toasted meringue the dessert was too monotonic in flavor (it basically screams dietetic shock). It's missing a contrapuntal element, maybe some roasted almonds or something very nutty (macadamias?).

All in all it was a very pleasant dining experience, although I would note by the time we left (around 7:30) the place was packed and the noise level was just a bit above comfortable for me.
I would definitely come back, on a warm day and sit outside at an early evening time and this time order the apple pie!

Name: Blue Duck Tavern.

Location: 1201 24th St NW, Washington, DC 20037.

Contact: 202-419-6755.

Visit: April 17, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: B+.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A/A- (3.83/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Ba (Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA)

Mushroom Brûlée, $11

Quiche Lorraine with fries, $11

Grilled Alaskan Salmon on Winter Greens, $13

To celebrate the occasion of my husband's birthday we decided to have our regular Friday lunch at a new local restaurant. The Highland Park section of Los Angeles has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, with new restaurants and stores opening on a seemingly weekly basis. Since Highland Park is the adjacent neighborhood from where we live in Montecito Heights, as wel as adjacent to Eagle Rock where I usually work, we consider Highland Park (a.k.a. HP) as part of our "hood."

Anyway, one of those new restaurants which has opened recently in HP is called Ba. It's a French restaurant and it is on the main drag in HP called York Boulevard (at the corner of Avenue 51) in the middle of the most built up section of HP which runs between Avenue 50 to Avenue 54.

We started with the Mushroom Brûlée which was quite yummy but definitely unusual. It was like  a very thick, savory mushroom stew with melted cheese on top. The slices of baguette were useful to mop up the sauce.

The Other Half ordered the Grilled Alaska Salmon with greens, which he said was perfectly grilled. I had the Quiche of the Day, which was a Ham and Swiss quiche and came with fries. The quiche was very tasty and the fries were better-than-average restaurant fries. The only odd thing about the dining experience was that there was a somewhat limited selection of beverages on the menu. There were various alcoholic beverages (beer or wine) or other things I don't drink (like sodas) but no iced tea or juice. So we both just drank water.

Since it was a weekday lunch the restaurant was pretty empty but the interior is very welcoming with sleek, modern furnishing and simple but interesting, monochromatic art on the walls.

Name: Ba.

Location: 5100 York Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90042.

Contact: 323-729-6243.

Visit: April 26, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A-.

VALUE: B+.

FOOD: A. 

OVERALL: A- (3.66/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Bäco Mercat (downtown Los Angeles)

el Pesco, $11

hammachi crudo, $14

semifreddo (various flavors), $8

One of my very favorite places to eat in downtown Los Angeles is Bäco Mercat. The chef, Josef Centeno, used to be at the the Lazy Ox Canteen, which is also a great downtown find. I have eaten there several times in the ast year, so the pictures above are taken from more than one visit. Oddly enough, I have only ever been there for lunch (brunch) on the weekends. It's in the "Old Bank" district of downtown, on Main Street (at corner of 4th Street) just a few blocks away from the new LAPD building. It's also a few blocks away from the Pershing Square Metro stop.

Bäco Mercat is known for their bäco, which is a signature flatbread sandwich developed by Centeno. It is pretty delicious, somewhat thicker than a pita but doughier and more substantial than most. The first picture above is of the "el Pesco" which is $11 and has crispy shrimp, sriracha (hot sauce), chives and cabbage. It is delicious. It falls apart in an absolutely delicious mess. You will lick your fingers!

However, my favorite thing on the menu (one of my favorite dishes I have had an in Los Angeles, period) is the most expensive thing on the lunch menu, but it is totally worth the price. I am talking about the "hammachi crudo" (abkhazian chile spice, avocado, hash brown) for $14. Last time, there were four of us ad we ordered three of them, because more than one of us (yours truly included) didn't want to share theirs! The hash brown is perfectly balanced warm, savory potato-ness that combines with the raw, slightly salty hammachi which is then cooled down by the crushed avocado. It's a must have.

In addition to its signature bäco, the restaurant has something called a coca which is basically a very thin, crispy flatbread. They put sauces and other things on top of it and cut it into slices sorta like a pizza. I haven't had a coa that I have really thought "worked." They pale in comparison to the yummy gooeyness of any of the bäcos, which often have more substantive fillings as well.

Bäco Mercat is also known for their very inventive drink menu. I'm a teetotaler (no alcohol) so I appreciate it when a place has creative non-alcoholic beverages. Bäco Mercat bottles their own sodas which are often in very interesting flavors like Meyer lemon, hibiscus, root beer, black cherry, etc. My companions usually rave about the alcoholic beverage of the day suggested by the waiter.

But wait there's more! The desserts at Bäco Mercat are also notable. They often have specials but the ones on the dessert menu that I have tried are the chocolate banana cake (peanut butter cream, banana custard, semifreddo; $10) and the various flavors of semifreddo (which is basically a very soft ice cream close to a custard). They are all delicious.

As you can see from this review Bäco Mercat has numerous winning dishes that you should try and is one of my favorite places to eat out in Los Angeles.

Name: Bäco Mercat.

Location: 408 S Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90013.

Contact: 213-687-8808.

Visit: July 28, 2012; December  30, 2012; February 22, 2013; April 28, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: A-.

FOOD: A++. 

OVERALL: A (4.0/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Shake Shack (Washington, DC)

Even though I am trying to reduce my red meat intake my pursuit of the perfect burger continues. My favorite burger place in the Washington, DC metro area (brgr: shack) inexplicably closed after less than a year of operation, so I am continuing my search.

With that end in mind a friend and I checked out the Dupont Circle location of Shake Shack a few hours before we went to the Comedy Factory (which is less than a half-block away). I had been told that there are often lines out the door but at 6pm on a Tuesday we were able to get in and order what we wanted right away. Shake Shack is also known for its frozen custard as well as its burger. In fact it's "Shack Burger" narrowly lost to the cheeseburger at New York City's Burger Joint in a recent online poll, which is quite a feat because Burger Joint is probably the best burger place in the United States.

So, I ordered the ShackBurger (cheeseburger topped with lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce) with added bacon ($4.75+$1.25), crinkle-cut Yukon fries ($2.75) and a large 50-50 (half-lemonade, half-iced tea). My receipt says the same thing, but for some reason my burger had bright red chopped cherry peppers on it (which you can see in the first picture above) which shouldn't be on the ShackBurger but does appear on the SmokeShack (cheeseburger with bacon but no letture or tomato). The burger is excellent, with a very fresh bun and excellent crunchy bacon and melted cheese gooeyness to delight. I had ordered the single ($4.75) instead of the double ($7.25) and when I inhaled the burger I was still hungry. The cherry peppers are surprisingly spicy and piquant, not in a bad way, but they seem like an unnecessary distraction from the umami of the burger and the fresh smoothness of the bun, melted cheese and bacon.

However, the true revelation was the fries. I have said before that my quest for the best burger is really about the best burger in context. If you have a really good burger (like Burger Joint and Burger Lounge) but only mediocre fries (like Five Guys does), that loses you points in my book. Most burger places that I have sampled and reviewed have much higher quality burgers than fries. I can only think of a few places whose fries (or onion rings) improve the overall dining experience. That would include In-n-Out, Juicy Burger, and Go Burger (onion rings). Now Shake Shack should be added to my list of burger places with good burgers and great fries. For places with great burgers and great fries I would list Burger Joint, Blue Dog Beer Tavern, In-N-Out and the late (and much lamented) brgr:shack. I should probably qualify this list to say that this is for burgers that cost under $10. Otherwise the burger at Lazy Ox Canteen and Umami would have to be included on the list of great burgers with great fries/onion rings.

Anyway, back to Shake Shack. Since we were still hungry, I actually ordered another order of fries and their famous frozen custard. The flavor of the day was "honey roasted peanut" and it was incredible. The second order of fries were probably too much (we didn't finish half of them, together) but we cleaned out the custard!

I would definitely return to Shake Shack but I would make sure I make it clear I do not want any cherry peppers on my burger, and probably get a double.

Name: Shake Shack (Dupont Circle).

Location: 1216 18th Street NW (Southwest corner of Connecticut avenue), Washington, DC.

Contact: 202-683-9922.

Visit: April 17, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A-.

SERVICE: A-.

VALUE: A.

FOOD: A. 

OVERALL: A (4.0/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Alma (Downtown Los Angeles)

housemade bread with cultured butter; $5

seaweed & tofu beignets with yuzu kosho and lime; $9

broccoli with wild & cultivated mushrooms; $16

chicken liver toast, date jam, frisee; $9

boulder valley new york, celery root, smoked potato; chanterelle; $30

buttermilk cake, blood orange, candied fennel; $9

rose geranium-white chocolate semifreddo, charred strawberry; $9

Last time I was back in Los Angeles (after driving back from seeing Roger Federer play live for the first time at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open) I had dinner with an old friend at a hot new restaurant in downtown Los Angeles just a few blocks from "L.A. Live" and the Staples Center called Alma.

The buzz about improvements in downtown Los Angeles is starting to increase at an increasing rate (or as mathematicians woud say, the second derivative is positive!) and Alma is just one more example of that.

My friend sold his house in Echo Park last year and bought a condo in the classic Eastern Columbia building which is walking distance from the restaurant, so he is something of a regular there, since he was one of their very first customers when the restaurant opened in sumer 2012.
Happily, when I visited Alma I didn't make the same mistake I made the first time I went to Fiola in Washington, DC. I loved the food at Fiola but didn't have a copy of the menu so I could not be specific about what I ate in my review afterwards. For Alma I was more careful and retained a copy of the menu (which is printed on regular lined yellow sheets of  notepad paper).

At his suggestion we started with the homemade bread with butter and "fancy fish cakes" (the menu calls them "seaweed & tofu beignets with yuzu kosho and lime; $9" but I like my name better!) I'm not a fan of tofu (or seaweed, for that matter) but they were relatively tasty, although most definitely not my favorite thing I ate that night.

We split everything and decided to order several of the plates, which are relatively small and vary in price from $9 to $31. The order we ate them are pictured above. My favorite items, in increasing order were: the "fancy fish cakes," then the white chocolate with strawberry dessert, the new york steak with potato and chanterelles, the broccoli with mushrooms, the bread and butter, the buttermilk cake and the chicken liver toast. The last three (or four) were absolutely outstanding, with the chicken liver toast being a "must-have." Actually I would include the bread and butter in that list even if you are thinking "$5 for bread and butter?", trust me it is worth it. I suspect that Alma changes their menu pretty rapidly so I doubt the desserts would be the same, but if you see buttermilk cake on the menu, definitely order it. The broccoli was fantastic, but I think it is severely overpriced at $16.

Alma prides itself on supporting sustainable food production and only uses ingredients that are in season. Note that even though I ate "dead animal" (i.e. meat) during my meal, more than half of the menu items on the day I went were vegetarian (meatless). The interior of the dining area is quite large for the limited number of tables inside (less than 12 I think) and it has very high (at least 20 feet ceilings) which can lead to an almost boisterous atmosphere when the place fills up, which it basically does every night. The service is impeccable. Reservations are strongly recommended.

Overall, Alma is an amazing find (and accomplishment); yet another example of the burgeoning foodie landscape in downtown Los Angeles, and a place I hope to enjoy many times in the future.

Name: Alma.

Location: 952 South Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015.

Contact: 213-444-0984.

Visit: March 13, 2013.

AMBIANCE: B+.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: A-.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A/A- (3.7/4.0)

FOOD REVIEW: Fiola (Washington, D.C.)

I had previously said that my meal at Corduroy was the best one I have had in my 20 months working and living in Washington, D.C. However, I must now announce that I have had a meal which surpassed the one I had at Corduroy. On March 19 I had a meal at Fiola which was even better. Other people think so as well. Fiola is #4 on the list of Top 100 restaurants in the D.C. Metro area in Washingtonian magazine.

We had the "four savory course" tasting menu for $95 and it was absolutely sublime. Each of the four dishes was equally delicious, with three of the four being fish-based. If forced to choose, I would probably pick the the very first pictured dish, which I believe was some kind of roe and shrimp tartare on a bed of crab. Unfortunately, I can not remember exactly what each course was, and since Fiola's menu changes regularly the website is not able to provide any more information.

I do however have pictures of everything we ate, in the order that we ate them. The glowing green drink at the end was something that I did not consume myself,  but was so pretty that I took a picture of it. I think that it  was a special (non-alcoholic) lemonade (infused with ginger I believe). After four courses we were asked about dessert but we all agreed that we were each pleasantly sated and since dessert was not included in the tasting menu price we decided to end the meal at that point, quite full. Oftentimes tasting menu portions can be modest, but at Fiola they were very satisfying.

I'm sorry that I can not be more specific about what we ate (hopefully the pictures tell part of the story) except to say that it was all incredibly delicious, the service was impeccable and the restaurant is beautiful. It is less than a half-block away from a metro stop (Archives, on the Green and Yellow lines) so it is very convenient.

I strongly encourage you to eat there; I know I intend to do so at least once more before I leave D.C., and this time I'll try and take better notes!

Name: Fiola.

Location:601 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004.

Contact: 202-628-2888.

Visit: March 19, 2013.

AMBIANCE: A.

SERVICE: A.

VALUE: A-.

FOOD: A+. 

OVERALL: A (4.0/4.0)