Eileen told me about a new French restaurant in Atwater Village that was opened by a friend of a friend. The 20-table joint takes its name from a French pastry that tastes like a cross between a cassava cake and the burnt caramel from a creme brulee. Eileen and I were the third party to arrive after the restaurant opened at 6 p.m. The restaurant is simply decorated, with herbs on the table and a big chalkboard on the wall that listed the starter, middle and end dishes.
Our roasted beet salad with goat cheese was tasty, though I secretly wish that restaurants in Los Angeles will do something more imaginative with roasted beets than to toss them with a soft goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. After promptly cleaning the salad plate, Eileen and I waited 30 minutes for our entrees. The open kitchen was bustling but I couldn't figure out why it would take them so long to prepare Eileen's grilled snapper and my beef tenderloin. I thought that perhaps the kitchen had a late start in baking the pommes anna that were served with my beef. The potato gratin usually requires at least half an hour in the oven. The restaurant's co-owner and chef, who was Eileen's friend's friend, was rather stressed behind the counter, yelling to her staff that she needed a snapper in seven minutes. When the food did arrive, it was delicious.
The restaurant's standard for beef is a medium rare (people who eat beef well-done should be shot!), chilis gave the mushy broccoli roasted in olive oil a surprising kick and the pommes anna were creamy and hot. Still, we waited so long for our main dishes that we had drained our glasses of sablet and Spanish sexto by the time our dishes arrived. The evening ended on a pleasant note when the hostess offered us some freshly baked caneles. I took two.
0 Response to "Canele Chaos"
Post a Comment