Providence. Finally.
[cod (his is halibut) cooked in shiso and lemon. photo from eli - who consistently writes great reviews at baller ass places.]
5 star dining experience with 3 star food. I’ve been eyeing providence since forever. After hearing many of my friends brag about it, poring over multiple blog entries, we decided that it was time.
We thought long and hard about the tasting menus versus ala carte. Reason: Neither of us like sweets or desserts so we didn’t know how we’d feel about 4 out of 14 courses being a dessert on the chef’s menu or even the regular tasting menu. Nothing against dessert fiends, we just love meat THAT much more.
Service was impeccable as you’d expect. The waiters give great recommendations and for a ‘upscale’ restaurant they were extremely personable and was there to accommodate your needs. Plus they were hilarious. We asked our waiter if we should get the prawns and he was like ‘fo sho.’ lols.
Our waiter also recommended that we do the 5 course tasting and order the rest ala carte. Win win. A quick note before I get to the food, the décor is really nice. Draped in a simple blue grey palette with high ceilings, it was airy, calm, spacious. Quite the nice getaway from the bustling restaurant scene.
Food Breakdown:
GREAT
- Santa Barbara Salt Prawns - These are amazing! They smell so delectable and the table side presentation was pretty cool. Roasted in kosher salt and rosmary, the prawns shelled in front of you and drizzled in olive oil. It tasted amazingly sweet. Almost like crab flavored lobster.
- Foie gras ravioli italian summer truffles, aromatics, parmesan - I love foie gras, infatuated with pasta, and I love love love truffles so technically this dish can’t fail and it didn’t. The truffles are shaved tableside and he didn’t hesitate to overload my ravioli with truffles. Mmm. Random: they bring out the huge black truffles and white truffles for you to smell. So baller.
- Japanese wagyu beef with wild mushrooms - This was the 2nd to last course and by this point, I was pretty stuffed. The wagyu is sliced tableside and was deliciously fatty. Almost too fatty at this stage of the meal. I was slipping into food coma. The intense fattiness of it went well with the asparagus and chanterelles and potato. Paired nicely with the wine.
GOOD
- Cod in shiso and lemon - The cod was so delicate. I have cooked cod before and it was NOTHING like this. It was one of the best pieces of fish I’ve ever had. Thought the sauce was a bit overpowering though for such a delicate fish.
- Hokkaido sea scallop with chanterelles, bacon - I love scallops and this was no exception. The flavor pairing was good albeit salty but the wine really cut the acidity of the sauce.
- Kanpachi sashimi with soy crème fraiche with blossoming coriander - Good. Fresh.
- Veal tenderloin, hazelnuts, roasted garlic, King Edwards potatoes, onion, veal jus - Perfectly cooked. It was so tender and juicy. The accompaniments paired nicely though I wish the meats were served in the middle rather than the end cuz I was so full.
- Mojito, the gin and tonic, and chilled carrot soup - the amuses. It was ok. Creative and cute. Liked the mojito the most. The gin and tonic tasted like frozen G & T which is the point but I kept thinking. It’s a G & T ice cube! I’m so pedestrian I know.
- Cheesecake, pear sorbet, glazed pears - Interesting take on a cheesecake (which is my favorite dessert actually) I enjoyed the trio of pears, the pear sorbet was delicious. Very light and not too sweet.
- Panna cotta - had just a teensy bite of this, but pretty good.
MEH.
- Chowda’ smoky bacon, manila clams, creamy clam broth - It was ok. The broth wasn’t creamy enough. It tasted like watered down clam chowder. It actually tasted like the sauce the scallops was paired with .. Just like the soup version.
- Bacon, Mushroom, Truffled Risotto - I really don’t want to sound full of myself. But I will. I know I can make better risotto. In fact, BOTH of us thought the same thing. This risotto was noticeably undercooked, lacked the creaminess I expect from risotto, and the bacon threw it off. I did like the truffles on top cuz it’s truffles.
My problem isn’t that the food is overly ‘avant garde’ or innovative to the point where I’m just dining on foam and gels but I thought the flavoring was off in a lot of the dishes. The sauce and/or seasoning was either too salty or too rich in contrast to the protein. I don’t think the flavors enhanced the meats but rather taken away from the burst of clean, fresh flavors that I expected from a renowned seafood restaurant.
Despite my minor quips with the food, I am so so so lucky and thankful to have dined at Providence for my birthday no less and had celeb chef moment: I almost head butted Chef Michael Cimarusti when I was trying to escape from the bathroom (the door is uber heavy). He’s so nice and has such a pleasant demeanor although I think I confused him cuz I got nervous and bowed and waved at the same time. Fml.
5955 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 460-4170
