Bavel - Arts District

We might have been there at the same time last night! I need to go back again to try more, it was indeed very good. Maybe not yet at the heights of Bestia, but still loved it. My favorite dish of the night was the babaganoush.

Wine service: $35 / bottle corkage, but I thought they did a nice job, from immediately taking our bottles at the hostess stand, to asking if we have preferences on decanting / service temperature.

Another missed FTC encounter in the wild. what else did you have? did you try the prawns?

Duck 'Nduja hummus - wow
Babaganoush - wow+; the burnt bell pepper and chilli oil is a perfect complement to the smokey eggplant
Confit okra
Extra fried pitas - get these, they spice and salt them on the outside, so flavorful
Octopus - spiced and charred exterior and perfectly tender interior, nice balancing of yogurt, recommended
Wagyu beef cheek tangine
Licorice Ice Cream Bon Bon
Paglava - savory, nice texture
Caramom apple prune cake - my favorite dessert

As mentioned above, wine service was excellent and friendly from the moment we entered the door. We had ordered the lamb neck for the last entree, but the kitchen started firing it late and after a long gap in food hitting the table, the waiter gave us the option to move onto dessert or wait another 7 minutes. The group was fairly full, so we moved on to three desserts. I need to return to try the neck, the seafood options, and some of the other veggies.

Below are some horrible pics of the babaganoush and dessert trio. Forgot to photograph the octopus.

6 Likes

@DTLAeater Inquiring minds want to know what wine you paired the food with and how the pairing was?

I brought NV Savart Bulle de Rosé Champagne for the first half of the meal (various dips, bread, veggies, octopus). Good acidity without becoming searing, yet delicate red ruits, and low perceived sweetness. Super fresh. Rosé still wines and champagne are really versatile for pairing with food, so I figured a rosé champagne would deal well with all the different spices, and proteins. It doesn’t compete with the food, yet can stand up to it, and is nicely cleansing. I would have been happy to drink this the entire meal, was great. The sommelier asked if we wanted this on ice and I said no, in order to see how it tasted as it warmed up. There are a fair number of coastal whites and rosés on Bavel’s wine list, FYI.

My friend brought 2011 Antinori Tignanello (mostly sangiovese) for the beef cheek and eventually cancelled lamb neck. This also turned out to be a nice wine and pairing, even though the wine is super young and still many years away from peak. The sommelier was wise to suggest opening this for decanting as soon as we sat down, so it at least got over an hour of air before we had the first sips. Perhaps the warmer vintage helped with already pretty soft tannins and ripe dark red fruit too. The wine was full-bodied, dense, and rich, showing leather and a surprising amount of tension. Very enjoyable today, but will continue to soften and open up in the future. Because of the subtle spices in the meat, you could also go for something with less body.

5 Likes

When you come back to try the chicken but then you notice the aged duck on the menu


They only had 16 orders of the duck so the chicken will have to wait.


saffron - pink lemonade with pomegranate and cinnamon
Nice and refreshing, loved the addition of cinnamon
bavel_20180428_175311


scallop crudo - pomegranate molasses, citrus, burnt serrano chile oil, charred cucumber, mint, black sesame
This was okay, pretty spicy. As @set0312 described, this reminded me of an aguachile. I’ll stick to the awesome prawns next time.
bavel_20180428_213535

bavel_20180428_180305


foie gras halva - creamy pate, date paste, black sesame, buckwheat loaf
Loved this one @Chowseeker1999, the bread was pretty tremendous. The date paste was the perfect sweet component for the foie. I wish the foie tasted a little more livery though, it was pretty mild.
bavel_20180428_213653

bavel_20180428_181310


(new) aged duck four ways - breast kebab, leg confit, chopped livers and hearts, ginger broth, fig leaf vinegar dressed herbs
Duck was only aged for 5 days, so nothing like the funky, geriatric, 21 day old duck at charcoal
bavel_20180428_183738

leg
Extremely tender with the meat just falling off the bone. No knife required.
bavel_20180428_183759

bavel_20180428_184317

chopped liver and hearts over okra puree
Wow, this was my favorite out of the different preps. The liver and hearts were meaty and tender but the okra puree was outstanding.
bavel_20180428_183805

breast
My second favorite, the breast had a great grill flavor and the skin was charred and crisped.

broth
This had a nice flavor but unfortunately was way too salty.


roasted cauliflower - hawaij chile sauce, creme fraiche serrano dip, pistachios, dried flowers
I love chef ori’s cauliflower at bestia so I knew this would be great and it did not disappoint. The cool creme fraiche dip complemented the slightly spicy cauliflower perfectly. Another must order @Chowseeker1999, @TheCookie, and @DTLAeater


strawberry sumac and sweet cheese pastry - pistachio ice cream, labneh cream, cured sumac
So glad I saved room for dessert. This was better than the bonbon I had the other night. It was like the perfect strawberry poptart. You know it’s good when you can hear the crunch when you bite into it. @Chowseeker1999 you’ll have to come back again to try this.
bavel_20180428_192028


toto

9 Likes

Hi @PorkyBelly,

Yay! You got to try the Duck as well? Delicious right? :slight_smile: And nice about the Strawberry dessert. I was thinking about it, but then I read “sweet cheese” “labneh” and “cured sumac” and thought… “Maybe next time.” :sweat_smile: But glad to hear it’s good.

1 Like

Haha… but that aged then confit’d leg must have been perfection.

1 Like

that’s what i thought too, but it was really good. i didn’t need all the labneh, but it was easy to use a small amount.

2 Likes

the meat was really tender, it was like eating pulled pork that was already pulled and wrapped in crispy duck skin.

2 Likes

Hi @PorkyBelly, @Chowseeker1999 and Friends,

Okay, here’s a question. We’re going to Bavel this week. It will be two of us, so we won’t order a big spread. If you narrowed it down - which dip/spread, which vedge would you get? Would you get zee chicken or zee duck? My husband will happily eat poultry, but really likes beef. Are the beef cheeks worth ordering?

Thanks!

i would get the following:

duck nduja hummus
confit okra (didn’t try any other veggie, i wanted to but i would’ve over ordered.)
grilled prawns
confit turmeric chicken legs
and make room for dessert:

i know the queston wasn’t directed at me, but here’s my $0.02 anyway :slight_smile:

2 Likes

Thanks @Hungrydrunk -

The question is for everyone.
Thanks for reminding me about those prawns!

:yum:

1 Like

don’t forget the cauliflower and yes definitely get the prawns. the duck is portioned more for 1, so if you get the duck you can probably order one more vedge/spread or a dessert.

parking in that area can be a pain in the ass, i was able to park on E 4th Pl or just valet.

1 Like

No duck of any kind available last night. Chicken was great. Prawns were not available either.
I would go with Baba Ganoush (served with fried pita) and Hummus (served with pita)

Over the Okra? I’m not a big fan of either, but suspect they do something special with both, so…

Thanks for the tips on portion size… And parking! Maybe we’ll go millennial and Lyft.

Hi @beam -

Based on this and @Chowseeker1999’s thread we’re getting hip to things running out. We’re gonna’ go early. It will prevent table flipping and chair throwing.

This sounds like a plan. I haven’t had Baba ghanoush in a while and would like to try theirs. Perhaps the Duck Nduja Hummus & Baba ghanoush. Is that too much for two people, with 2 proteins and a vedge - anyone?

Edit: And room for dessert?

2 Likes

That probably is too much for 2, especially with dessert. But then again, there are people who go to In n Out after Dialogue.

It’s good to read opinions of trusted FTC members, but at the end of the day, you’ll like what you like, no need to overthink it. :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Yeah, you’re right. But we’re no longer close enough to become regulars. I want to get the most out of our visit.

I would get the following:

duck hummus
baba ghanoush
roasted cauliflower
prawns
chicken
dessert

If you’re okay with leftovers add the duck

2 Likes