Providence Restaurant Review

To celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary we visited LA’s Two star Michelin restaurant, Providence. Providence has been on our list of places to try for sometime, as it always seems to top every list of best LA  restaurants and after seeing Michael Cimarusti appear on Top Chef Masters I knew this was the next place in LA I would be trying.

We were initially seated on the enclosed patio which was nicely lit and very quite however, the heater located above our table was not working and Megan was a little too “chilly bones jones” so we asked to be moved inside. After a quick check with the maître d’ our server promptly moved us to a new table that was in the warmer albeit louder interior.   There was a chef’s table that had a view of the kitchen, which at the list minute I requested but it was already reserved for the evening (maybe next time).

We had decided we wanted to due a tasting menu this evening which left us with 4 options to choose from:

Five course limited tasting

Nine course full tasting

Five course white truffle tasting

Twelve course chef’s tasting

Not wanting to spend too much of our life savings, we opted for the nine course full tasting with one wine paring to split between the two of us.

The gustatory festivities got started with the bread service. As the bread server made his way to out table carry a basket of 3 different varieties he asked Megan which she would prefer: French Roll, Bacon Brioche, or Nori Focaccia? No surprise to me, Megan confidently responded with what has become her standard answer to this question, “I will have one of each.” Not about to be outdone before the meal had even started I followed suit. The bacon brioche was the highlight, light and fluffy and with succulent specks of bacon scattered throughout. The Focaccia was our next favorite with the nori strands providing a nice twist to an otherwise nicely executed focaccia.   The French roll was also very nice, although did not stand out as much as the other two.

Before any of the official courses arrived we were presented with a series of three amuse-bouches.

The first amuse was a gin and tonic gelee. This was basically a gin and tonic that has been emulsified into the gelatin square and was sever with some fresh lime juice squeezed on top. It was fun and tasted just like a gin and tonic.

The second amuse was a mojito ravioli. Similar to the first in that It was a cocktail that was repurposed into a new form. This however was enclosed in a thin skin layer and remained liquid on the inside.

The third amuse was a carrot soup shooter. I nicely executed carrot soup with a dollop of crème fraiche on top.

The first official course was a japanese kanpachi with crispy rice crackers, flowering coriander, soy crème fraiche. This was a marvelous way to start the dinner. It is seems like variations on this dish are becoming very popular as we just had something very similar at another restaurant. However, this version blew other one previous one. It was very nicely balanced and I was intrigued to see the use of flowering coriander, which has a drastically different flavor after it begins to flower.

The second course was a Santa Barbara sea urchin served in a farm fresh egg, containing champagne beurre blanc and herbs. I think it was the was the first time we have had sea urchin and it was very good.

The third course was a hand harvested Main sea scallop with chanterelles, haricot vert, applewood smoked bacon, jurançon sec. It was beautifully seared.

The fourth course was a Black Bass with crisp skin with tomato, micro greens and lemon. This dish was one of the highlights of the evening. The contrast between the crisp skin and the soft flesh was wonderful.

Next came a Columbia river wild king salmon severed with bloomsdale spinach, root vegetables, red wine gastrique. Another excellently executed fish dish.

The next course was the first and only land animal of the evening. A roasted tenderloin of veal severed over crushed butterball potatoes, spring onions, hazelnuts, spring garlic confit. The tenderloin was perfectly cooked and not too heavy considering the all the seafood we has leading up to it. We especially liked the crushed potatoes, which were a nice alternative to mashed.

The cheese course came next. The waiter wheeled out a cart containing about 20 different cheeses, all of which we got a short biography on. After weight all our options we decided on a raw England Cheddar, french chèvre,   Rogue River Blue Cheese and a truffled semi-soft cow’s milk cheese. The cheeses were accompanied by figs, candied walnuts, apricot-black pepper jam, apple jam, and walnut bread:

After the cheese course we were presented with a palate cleansing cucumber sorbet on top of compressed cumbers, lime, juniper berry & yogurt.

Lastly our dessert arrived. It was a mexican bread pudding with corn gelato, avocado mouse and graham cracker crumble. Honestly one the best desserts I have had. I had heard great things about the pastry chef here and it really exceeded my expectations. I noticed that they have dessert tasting menus also, we will have to some back at some point try one of those.

Just when we thought we were done there was a few more treats brought out for us to try: Chocolate truffles, cookies and gelatin squares.

It was a long and wonderful meal and the perfect way to cap off the fifth year marriage with my lovely wife.