This was post 10 mil kitchen renovation.
All lists have issues, but dropping from #1 to #86 means something. Thomas Keller invented this form over 20 years ago, it’s only natural that he’s no longer the best at it.
It’s not just Pellegrino. I don’t think I’ve read a post from anyone who goes to enough of those places to compare them who was very enthusiastic about it.
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Acedotally, when my sister got the juice pairing at Dialogue in Santa Monica, she felt that juice filled her up faster than had it been wine, but no idea if that’s true or not. Any thoughts? No doubt though that this TFL food is heavier than some other tasting menu places.
Well, fruit juices are loaded with sugar, aren’t they? More so than wines?
@DTLAeater The juice definitely could’ve played a factor but the richness in general wore me down over the course of the meal. There were the sabayon, foie, extremely buttery bread, the buttery lobster broth and potato puree, the big league butter & bread course, the intensely rich porky porcelet and a bigger than usual A5 wagyu.
This is also why I prefer French cuisine with some sort of Japanese or Asian influence such as Manresa, Benu, and Joel Robuchon since the these are lighter meals in general. At least that’s how I felt walking out of the restaurants!
@catholiver Yes, in theory during the fermentation process, most if not all of a wine’s sugar will be converted to alcohol. Some crowd favorites like Caymus cabernet sauvignon have shocking levels of residual sugar (5-6x) compared to a truly dry red.
@moonboy403 I was pleasantly surprised at how light some of the food was at Somni at LA, though I still left full. For example, the traditional bread and ham dish used an egg white crisp instead of bread. Anyway, thanks for the report. Helps with feelings of FOMO!
I ate at that place.
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Food: Four years ago, the food at TFL was very heavy. Every course was loaded with butter, but thankfully, it’s no longer the case. On this particular night, most courses were noticeably lighter and filled with brightness. Overall, it was a very delicious dinner executed at a very high level, but “boring” if you know what I mean. All the flavors worked very well together; temperature of each course was almost flawless…but nothing inspiring. You sorta already know what’s coming despite the claim of their menu changing daily. If we’re honest, it’s more of a slight daily tweak than anything else.
The only other minor criticism that I have is that the texture of most courses trended on the soft side which left me wanting to have a protein with a bit of chew…it wasn’t until we got to the lamb, the final savory course, that we had it…
Service: Still flawless but service are much less stuffy than before. In fact, the restaurant had dropped their jacket required policy.
cheese cracker, fried shallot
we started off strong with what’s essentially a ritz cheese cracker on steroid. the savoriness of the fried shallot really played well with the cheesiness and tang.
smoked salmon mousse, everything bagel cornet
a play on smoked salmon bagel. the familiar flavors were all there…smoked salmon, cream cheese filing, everything bagel seasoning…the twist is obviously the crunchiness of the cornet.
oysters & pearls | “sabayon” of pearl tapioca with island creek oysters, regiis ova caviar
this dish has been on the menu for 20 odd years and rightfully so. it’s still one of my favorite caviar dish anywhere. the interplay of ocean brine between the caviar and oysters alongside the sweetness and creaminess of the sabayon is sublime!
roasted garden eggplant salad | bitter lettuces, garden radishes, toasted sunflower seeds, urfa chili vinaigrette
veg are fresh and crunch but the the nuttiness of the toasted seeds and smokiness from the eggplant puree really elevated this salad with their savoriness.
pacific shima aji tartare | marinated garden cucumbers, brokaw avocado mousse, crispy chickpea “tuile”, “paloise” dressing
case in point, a perfectly executed dish using high quality ingredients…tasty but uninspiring.
nova scotia lobster galette | marinated garden tomatoes, tomato water consomme, fragrant basil leaves
i like my lobster having that satisfying bouncy chew but i’ll give em a pass this time for serving an absolute hit. the galette is cooked almost like a crab cake but with finely chopped lobster. it’s swimming around in a delicate tomato consomme perfumed with fragrant basil. topping that galette is a slow cooked jimmy nardello pepper that almost eats like a steak for that much needed texture contrast.
When we saw butter, we know what’s coming…
bread & butter | bitter cocoa laminated brioche, diane st. clair’s animal farm butter
best of the best in terms of brioche…it arrived pipin’ hot. does it need more butter? no. but i slaughter on more anyway!
devil’s gulch ranch rabbit | smoked lobster mushroom polenta, wilted arrowleaf spinach, sauce dijonnaise"
the highlight here is bacon wrapped sausage that’s also wrapped around rabbit loin. multitude of flavors and textures blended very well. just when the bite gets too rich, the sharpness of the dijonnaise pulls it from the edge and refreshes my palate.
prime rib" of elysian fields farm lamb | sauerkraut “pierogi”, garden turnips, watercress leaves, preserved cabbage bouillon
perfectly cooked tender and succulent lamb
steak and potatoes | charcoal grilled japanese wagyu, caramelized onion stuffed potato, la ratte potato puree, “pommes maxim’s”, “sauce bordelaise”
this is one of the more elaborate wagyu course i’ve seen with several usage of potatoes that gives different textures to break up the monotonous texture that can happen with a typical steak course with wagyu. there’s braised potato that’s stuffed with caramelized onion, crispy baked potato galette, and a velvety potato puree. finally, wagyu’s cooked perfectly as expected with a very concentrated bordelaise sauce that had pickled shallots added for crunch and acidity.
“Gougere” | andante diary “etude” and black winter truffle fondue
textbook. light as air, slight crunch on the outside, tender on the inside with an explosion of tangy cheese goodness. the black truffle fondue is just icing on the cake but obviously played well with the cheese.
signature dessert spread coming…
chai tea ice cream | orange chantilly, dulcey milk crumble
jacobsen orchards figs | brown butter mousse, “basque sable”, fig leaf puree
“coffee & doughnut” | cappuccino semifreddo
as delicious as i remember…doughnuts are light and airy as can be and the cappuccino semifreddo carries an unexpected cold mouthfeel contrasting that with a regular coffee.
toasted milk mousse | k+m chocolate cremeux, tko cookie crumble
too busy eating, i don’t recall what these are
Pick your own bonbon
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I believe La Foret still makes their after-dinner chocolates. A shame she closed up her retail shop near the Browns Valley Market, sigh.
Seems at least directionally correct. I’ve been twice - once at the end of 2017, and then mid-2021. My take after the second time was “I can get better food for $100 in LA”. The execution was good but not incredible, and there wasn’t much in the way of novelty. The service was indeed great (though didn’t quite live up to how good it was the first time).
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Oooffff I’ve never seen such a scathing review on infatuation I feel like they only write puff pieces
I must’ve missed that one! Infatuation is a weird publication.
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Worry not. Savoy Kitchen’s superior to both Kato and TFL…as is Kang Kang Food Court’s pre-cooked food on their steam tables.
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4.8
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Yeesh!!