Cimarusti's Divine Seafood in LA

(For my desserts experience)

Since I started blogging and getting deep into the world of LA dining, I’ve been constantly reminded that I seemed to be the only blogger in town without an entry on Providence. It had been on my list for some time. Last weekend I managed to cross it off the list, along with “best meal yet.”

More after the jump...

Amuse Bouche - gin and tonic, mojito, saffron and fennel

The meal started with an amuse bouche bar sampler. Gin and tonic was molded into a slushy cube, with texture similar to a melting snow cone. At the center was a spherical mojito drop with a thin skin that exploded with liquid. The third was a saffron and fennel drink, intensely saffron flavored. I like to think that the three bites signified a descent into the water since the textures gradually dissolve into liquid. As the dinner began, I imagined wading into the open ocean.

Japanese Kanpachi – red shiso granitée, compressed cucumber, lemon and virgin olive oil

I have always had a fascination with kanpachi. Since I’m a big yellowtail fan, I try to seek out kanpachi when I go out. At one point, I even contemplated buying a chunk of it online for myself. I don’t know if the first course was a crudo per se, but the fish was dressed lightly with a fruity virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Yet, I’d be hard-pressed to call this Italian considering it is a Japanese fish served with red shiso and cucumber. Cimarusti successfully combined the cultures to highlight the magnificence of truly fresh fish. The fish was rather lean, but it didn’t need the unctuous feeling of toro to be delicious. I enjoyed the firm texture, and the more I chewed, the more of the flavors came through.

Point Judith Calamari – Aligio, olio, peperoncino

Now while the last course’s origins may be unclear, this course was certainly Italian. The chef julienned the body of the squid resembling pasta, while the body was coated in semolina flour and deep-fried. Both pieces sat in a citrus marinara that put other tomato sauces to shame. While the dish didn’t seem too elaborate, the simple sautéed squid was at the exact doneness to really excel. My impression of the tentacles was that of tempura with substance.

Sea Scallop (Hokkaido, Japan) – Coleman Farms arugula, truffle vinaigrette, juliet tomatoes

Ever since my unforgettable scallop dish at La Terza’s 5x5 by Alain Giraud, I could not get enough of scallops. A simple sautéed scallop with butter can be amazing in itself. While the scallop at Providence was certainly at the caliber of the restaurant, it was not especially memorable. Stranger still, it smelled like Chinese honey prawns, which slightly turned me off to the whole thing.

Day-boat Halibut (British Columbia) – fried burdock, shiso, lemon

This dish was impossible to photograph without excellent white balance. One of the purest things I have ever seen on a plate, the white fish looked saintly. I was shocked when the waiter told me this was steamed halibut. I feel like the flavor of the fish would be lost in the steaming process; and as anyone who has been to Alaska knows, good halibut is unforgettable. However, the heavy sauce played contrast to the lightness of the color. There was so much umami in the sauce that I found myself scrapping the bowl and licking my lips.

Grilled Columbia River King Salmon – roasted musque de province pumpkin, port wine reduction, sherry vinegar, Neuskes bacon, dandelion greens

Having read many reviews of my blogging counterparts, I highly anticipated the salmon course. From what I’ve seen, Cimarusti seemed to redefine salmon in his dishes. However, this one failed to amaze me. It was certainly one of those dishes where you can’t try all the components at once, and so the whole thing seems disjointed. The salmon was at an awkward doneness, not raw enough to be enjoyed rare, nor cooked long enough to flake. I found myself picking reluctantly at the salmon while loving the bacon and pumpkin. Those two components stole the dish from the fish. Around the plate was a slight dusting of star anise; I was uncertain whether the aroma added anything to the salmon.

Tenderloin of Veal – chanterelles, Weiser Farms torpedo onion, celery root purée

Since the menu was dominated by aquatic creatures, I didn’t expect to encounter veal underwater. However, I appreciated the choice of veal for the main meat course; because of its light texture, it did not distract too heavily from the other courses. The sous vide style of preparation, sealing the veal to roast in its own juices, resulted in fork tender meat. While extremely flavorful, I felt that it may have been too salty. Considering the cooking method, I guess veal does belong in a seafood restaurant.

Market cheeses – served with apple jam, candied walnuts, olive marmalade, dried figs, fruit bread

I won’t claim to remember all the cheeses I by name or even by description. If I tried, it would sound something like “the hard, nutty one” or “the runny bleu.” I did enjoy the spectacle of having an entire cheese cart pushed out and explained. My suggestion, avoid the strongly flavored cheeses because that taste just won’t go away. Above all, stay away from the buffalo milk cheese. It tasted like ashes. I did enjoy the apple jam and candied walnuts with some of the hard cheeses though.

Raisin, pear, ras el hanout & hazelnut

To cleanse the cheese plate in preparation for dessert, we received a miniature mug with a sweet cracker on top. The liquid was a pear soup with heavy flavors of melon and other spices. From what I can tell, ras el hanout can be a combination of dozens of different spices. This was certainly refreshing, but I wouldn’t call it a proper course.

Kalamansi Gelée – white chocolate coconut soy milk soup, litchi-shiso sorbet

Filipino lime, tapioca, coconut milk, lychee, shiso? Did this dessert manage to hit every major cuisine in Asia? An intensely tart gelée floated in a creamy coconut soup with tapioca reminiscent of Chinese tapioca desserts. Amazingly, the lychee and shiso flavors both came through in the sorbet in perfect balance. Eating a spoonful of sorbet, gelée and a dash of coconut milk made this the one of the best, unconventional desserts I’ve had.

Pistachio macaron, espresso truffle, olive oil gelee

I also want to make special mention of the bread. Three kinds were served with dinner, including: chive brioche, nori foccacia, and bacon brioche. I don’t commonly see these flavors infused in breads, but they would make a meal in themselves. With the check came a plate of petite fours: espresso chocolate truffles, olive oil gelée, and pistachio macarons. The truffles were an after-thought; the olive oil, an intrigue; and macarons comfortingly familiar. Imagine fruity olive flavored gelatin dusted with sugar.

While the kanpachi, and halibut certainly stood out, none of the courses were sub-par. Each displayed the creativity and care of detail I would expect from a newly awarded two-Michelin-star restaurant. At La Terza, I had the honor of meeting Chef Cimarusti. From the brief conversation with him, I could tell that he takes his job very passionately. Both him and the co-owner Donato Poto show the professionalism and excellence that only true dedication can bring. What other maitre d’ would prepare live roasted Santa Barbara prawns tableside (a dish unfortunately off-menu)? While I couldn’t return too soon for fear of diluting the pleasant memories of this dinner, I would be honored to come back. If Providence is divine care, I’m in heaven at Cimarusti’s table.

Providence
5955 Melrose Ave
Mid-Wilshire/Hancock Park, 90038
(323) 460-4170
providencela.com
$90 5-courses; $120 9-courses; $160 chef's menu

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Destination Peru #5: Alfresco in Miraflores

Alfresco
Malecon Balco 790
Miraflores, Lima
$10 or so per person for lunch

One of the restaurants that came up time and again on the Peru Chowhound boards was Alfresco for ceviche. Along with Puerto Madero, Pescadores Capitales and La Mar, Alfresco was on my list of possible lunch places. My plan was just to accumulate a selection of restaurants I know with a good reputation so that I could stumble into any one of them when a meal came up. However, when our driver picked us up at the airport, he immediately suggested Alfresco. So off we went!



The interior of the restaurant is casual, with a beach theme. The Northern wall has a large mural of coastal scene, and the large windows make the place bright and airy, even if Lima is never sunny in the Winter. From my research, I've heard that ceviche is only eaten at lunch and that Alfresco only served lunch, but when I arrived, I found an advertisement for their extensive dinner menu as well. I glanced at the menu, but I already knew what I came here for.

Ceviche, or sometimes cebiche, is something of a coastal delicacy popular in Lima. It's relatively common not only in Peruvian cusine, but also in any number of Latin American countries with access to fresh seafood. Ideally, it's a simple preparation of any type of white fish marinated in lime juice with some other flavorants such as red onions and chiles. You may have commonly heard that ceviche is raw, but the acid in the juice actually denatures the proteins of the seafood, in a form of heatless cooking. While it's debatable whether or not cooking has to involve heat, it's not debatable that Peru is home to some excellent ceviche. Due to the Japanese influence, Lima also has tiradito, which is a younger brother to the ceviche, lacking onions and less of a strong flavor more akin to Italian crudo.



To start, the waiter brought out a small bowl for the table. At first I was startled by its appearance, looking somewhat like little bugs. I know insects aren't completely foreign from the table in certain South American countries, as mentioned in my post about entomophagy, but I hadn't heard of any instances of it in Peru. Luckily, I realized that this was a bowl of cancha instead, roasted corn kernels. These make a terrific bar food and went well with my beer. I could definitely snack on these as an alternative to nuts or pretzels at the bar.



Again, a charge for bread meant the rolls that arrived were delicious. The larger ones were nothing particular, but the small rolls along the edge of the plate are onion rolls no larger than a half-dollar in circumference. I popped one into my mouth and got a surprise of rich onion paste filling. I always wonder how much more I eat when the portions are small enough to fit several into my mouth at once.



Finally our ceviche came. Since I didn't quite know what the portions were like and I wanted to try a combination, I ordered two different types of sampler platters for the four of us. The first plate in the top picture consisted of mixed ceviche, tiradito with lemon chili cream, causa (potato cake), octopus with olive sauce, a California roll and seafood salad. I don't even pretend to know which item is which, so you might have to use your detective work to figure it out. Although I do know the one on the bottom left is the ceviche.



The second plate consisted of flounder ceviche, tiradito in lemon pepper vinaigrette, crayfish cocktail, scallop tartare, octopus salad, salmon nigri and something call an Inka maki. In both plates, the plainest ceviche was always the best. The octopus is also surprisingly tender, lacking the chewiness common when served raw. I loved the presentation of each individual dish on scallop shells. It was quite a bit of food as just an appetizer for four people though.



With two appetizer, we decided to order three entree for the four of us. My scallops were disappointing. I wasn't sure how it would be prepared, but I didn't like the heavy sauce, which reminded me of the sauce served on takoyaki in Japan. I was also less than thrilled with the plating after they've already served the scallop shells with the ceviche. Although, it was nice to know they were using whole scallops.



My mom and dad shared a pretty grilled octopus salad. I actually don't remember much about how this tasted and there's nothing in my notes, so I suppose it wasn't particularly memorable.



As much as the other two entrees were letdowns, my brothers squid ink risotto was the redemption. I'll agree, it's not particularly appetizing to eat something that looks like that, but I wonder if there's anything really delicious that's black. The ink was fresh, so it didn't have a fishy taste. However, the waiter told us there was no calamari, so they were substituting it with crab, crayfish and shrimp instead. Makes you wonder what happened to the pens in the restaurant.

At this point we were all stuffed to the gills. Fresh seafood is usually pretty hard to screw up as long as the cooking process is kept simple and quick. I had my taste of the sea, now it was time to move inland.

Fisherman's Outlet Restaurant and Market

(213) 627-7231
529 S Central Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Adequately Fed: $15
Lobster Bisque***
Charbroiled Sea Bass (Garlic Butter)*****
Charbroiled Atlantic Salmon (Garlic Butter)****
Coleslaw***
Fries*****
(Out of Five Stars)

Following a lead on the Yahoo homepage, I found Fisherman's Outlet, one of the highest ranked seafood restaurants in Los Angeles. Although I frequently complain about living in LA, the traffic, the sprawl, the superficiality, yet I'll have to admit that the food scene is eclectic and outstanding. This restaurant is an example of good inexpensive food, the type of closely held secret that only the locals know about.

First off, Fisherman's Outlet is barely a restaurant in terms of atmosphere. Like Pink's you navigate through long lines to order at the counter and eat at tables in the patio. On my visit, I arrived at 10:30 in the morning on a Saturday so I did not have to wait unbearably; at this time, there were still a good amount of customers. From what I hear, the restaurant does become incredibly busy during lunch hours, especially on weekdays when the downtown crowd comes by for some seafood.

Second, the major drawback of this place is the location. Nestled in downtown Los Angeles, at the end of a pleasant drive through skid row, Fisherman's Outlet is not in a good neighborhood. That's probably a good reason that they are only open for lunch 10-3:30 Monday through Saturday. But on the plus side, there's plenty of street parking and an accompanying lot. Whether you want to park on the street though, that's up to your discretion.

Since this is attached to a fish market, the fish is fresh and plentiful. The menu has much variety to satisfy the seafood aficionado. It looked like anything that swims or crawls in the sea is offered either deep fried or charbroiled. Though I did not try the fried offerings, the batter looked crisp and golden brown. My sea bass was unconfirmed Chilean, but then so many people lie about the actual origin I never know for sure. It came off the broiler with a moist interior and a crispy crust. The garlic butter sauce was nothing special, but paired with the fish, made a good accompaniment. In truth though, the fish was so delicious, it could have been eaten without any of the three sauces offered with the broiled fish, Cajun, garlic butter, or teriyaki. I've never been a fan of salmon, but their take on this all too common fish was also well-prepared.

Each dish comes with either fries and coleslaw or on a bed of rice. Make sure to tell them you want the fries or the default is rice. Biting into a golden crisp fry, I considered how successful their business could be just selling those tasty morsels. The coleslaw was too dependent on mediocre mayonnaise for flavor. My bowl of lobster bisque was unfortunately not very satisfying. I was expecting a hearty soup capturing the essence of the crustacean, but instead the flavor fell short on overwhelming hints of wine.

I do intend to come back and try some fried offerings. Although my visit was pleasant because of the time, I have considered how bad it would be if I had to wait in a long line and fight other hungry patrons for space at the tables. But looking at the experiences of other people, I'd say this place is worth whatever wait you need to endure.

Recommendation: Lunch only Monday through Saturday and make sure to come early.