The serveware looks beautiful from @PorkyBelly’s pictures. I am seriously into that kind of thing. Might even make me trek to Santa Monica.
Love service included restaurants, but it hasn’t worked for most restauranteurs, which is why most abandon it. First, you have consumers bitching about the menu prices. And the principal purpose of service included is to be able to pay cooks and dishwashers more since there are legal issues with including back of the house in the tip pool. But by paying back of the house more, you usually end up paying servers slightly less, which leads to servers leaving for other restaurants. And to those restaurant goers who say your menu prices are too high and your business expenses are of no interest to me and for God’s sake don’t talk to me about your healthcare premiums because you’re running the business and that’s your problem and you are probably making obscene amounts of money anyway, I saw welcome to fantasyland.
Wrong as regards California. “Employees may be included in the tip pool only if they are in the ‘chain of service’ that results in a tip from a particular customer. In general, servers, bartenders, hosts, and bussers are considered to be in the chain of service, while cooks, dishwashers, and cashiers are not.”
If you want this dish here, I’d highly advise you pre-order, as they are selling like hotcakes. I doubt anyone else is doing this duck prep in L.A. (not to mention the West Coast)…
What is that card? How many presses the machine has gone through?
Also, for us plebs:
The centerpiece was the Caneton Rouennais a la Presse — which as described in Escoffier (Recipe 3476) — calls for roast duckling served with a reduction of brandy, red wine, plus duck jus extracted from a nickel-plated press. (The antique duck press was purchased from a restaurant in Maine for several thousand dollars.) Beran cooked the duck sous vide in an immersion circulator, before theatrically carving it tableside. He reduced with cognac in place of brandy, and grilled the legs.
Dubbed “Escoffier” for short, “Le Guide Culinaire” is Textbook One of French gastronomy and points in a general direction rather than offering turn-by-turn maps.
Duck, especially the pressed duck, is the speciality (Canard à la presse, Caneton à la presse, Caneton Tour d’Argent, and recently renamed “Caneton de Frédéric Delair”).[9] The restaurant raises its ducks on its own farm. Diners who order the duck receive a postcardwith the bird’s serial number, now well over 1 million.[10] (Serial number #112,151 went to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, #203,728 went to Marlene Dietrich, and #253,652 went to Charlie Chaplin).[11]
I’d set the “FOMO alarm” for this dish at 3 out of a possible 10 (10 being eternal regret transcending multiple reincarnations). But if you want Chef Beran’s undivided attention for 5+ minutes at your tableside, then the FOMO alarm in this case would be 4 out of 10.
Indeed, I actually added onto the gratuity as well during my Hayato visit. The service is at least blings level. (I’d imagine the fellas would tip more if there were a certified somm / okamisan in a kimono okamisomm?)
crevettes et palourdes - spot prawns and clams, bloomsdale spinach, sauce nantua
Similar to a shrimp bisque. this had prawns 3 ways: in the sauce nantua, cut up, and whole. the prawns were incredible and cooked perfectly and eating this with the bread and rouille/aioli sauce was great.
coquelet farci et champagne - whole young chicken, champagne chicken jus, byaldi
i’m fond of feasting on fledgling fowl. this baby was deboned, stuffed and rolled like a la taqueria mission burrito. the was incredibly moist, tender and juicy throughout. the sweet caramelized vegetables in the byaldi complemented the rich and savory champagne sauce perfectly. i enjoyed this more than the the compressed duck. highlight of the night @TheCookie, @Chowseeker1999, @Bookwich, @Omotesando, @Hungrydrunk, @J_L, @attran99, @aaqjr, @paranoidgarliclover
blings level. (I’d imagine the fellas would tip more if there were a certified somm / okamisan in a kimono 
okamisomm?)
was incredibly moist, tender and juicy throughout. the sweet caramelized vegetables in the byaldi complemented the rich and savory champagne sauce perfectly. i enjoyed this more than the the compressed duck. highlight of the night 
