DineLA on Simon LA

Last night, Celeste and I went to Simon LA for dinner, against many people's better judgment on the DineLA lunch being better than the dinner. This would be our first foray into Simon LA and a general first into Kerry Simon's cuisine, though I've heard and seen a lot of both in printed publications as well as on TV, victorious over Iron Chef Cora. His cuisine is described as "a witty interpretation of American comfort food" and for the most part I agreed with that. The night was enjoyable and the food was good.

Here in lies the dilemma. Thinking about the night critically, I find that maybe, had I gotten this exact meal on another (non-Dine LA) night, I might have felt a little ripped off. Kerry if you're reading this please don't take offense to it. The night was nice and yet something was a little off. Let's dissect this a little bit further by examining the meal.

The appetizer course that was had was the Grilled Radicchio Salad with Toasted Pistachio, Dried Cranberries, Bermuda Triangle Goat Cheese, California Orange Vinaigrette and the other one was the Yellowtail Carpaccio with Cilantro Mint and Citrus Vinaigrette. The radicchio salad was pretty slamming being fresh, well balanced and very flavorful. I particularly loved the Bermuda Triangle Goat Cheese which played nicely with the sweetness of the overall salad. A very well done "finer dining" salad. The carpaccio, one of his signature dishes, was tasty in a simple way.

The entrees we chose were the Tandoori Wild Pacific Salmon with kumquats and beets and the other was the Braised Beef short ribs with broccoli rabe and sweet potatoes. They were both slightly different than what was on the posted Dine LA menu, but not by much, and so we were fine with that. The meat in the ribs just fell apart to the stroke of your fork and the flavors displayed the description of a "witty interpretation on American comfort food". The salmon on the other hand had the problem of being a little too overpowered by the sweetness. At times it almost felt like the fish (which was wonderfully done) was disappering from marmalade like sweetness. Not unsatisfactory, but once again just not what I would expect from a finer dining moment unless you love sweetness. Price was still a deal by a lot, especially in comparison to the short ribs plate.

The desserts that we wound up getting were the Soft Chocolate Tart with Lemon Sherbert and the glazed doughnut bread pudding with salted gooey caramel. Both were excellent. The flavors of the chocolate and the lemon were refreshing after the entrees and the glazed doughnut bread pudding was killer! I particularly moreso loved the bread pudding, even if it was a little rich for me. Definitely worth the money and was a steal at the Dine LA price.

The Dine LA event price made it all worth it, especially as I'll probably go back to have other things from the normal menu, but I'm torn at the same time. The food was good but I wasn't in love with it. Was I expecting too much? It was a deal, but going back would I still feel the food is worth it? I'm sure the location also adds to the price as well. This will all be answered later on when I revisit the place obviously. Significantly more plusses were, as I said earlier, aimed at his lunch menu over his dinner but still this was not bad in any kind of way just less than mind blowing. Chef Simon, who I saw chatting away as we left, seems to be playful enough with his ideas that some are bound to be hit or miss. The end game is to make sure you have less misses when it matters.

DineLA: Grace...and majesty.

7360 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Dinner: Tues- Thurs 6:00PM - 10:30PM
Fri- Sat: 6PM - 11PM
Bar open until 1AM
Sun: 6PM - 10PM
(323) 934-4400

Being that this is my first post on Grace (which is a shame since it happens to be one of my favorite LA restaurants hands down) I will get in a fair share of my thoughts. Ever since watching Iron Chef a while ago and really started getting into how creative food could be I started paying attention to the chefs who would compete against them. Sometimes on rare occasions the competitor won. One such winner was Neal Fraser of Grace and BLD fame.

This time around, he was one of the participants and not to mention champion voices of DineLA's restaurant week. We showed up (late may I add by a lot but they were kind enough to hold it for us) and sat down amongst the celebrities and powerful who were amongst the people who were checking it out on the cheap for DineLA. If you haven't been inside Grace, let me just say in short that it typifies what fine dining in LA is about. Not overdone or pretentious but you can tell that they spent some time making this the right environment for an amazing meal.

Being that I went with Celeste we split the pre fixe choices between us to maximize on the experience as I'm sure most of you are doing as well. The breakdown for the appetizers were Shrimp Cavatelli with peas and Chantrelle mushrooms and the other other plate was roasted Kabocha squash soup with pumpkin seed oil. The entrees consisted of grilled Filet of Beef Farro with Morcilla and red wine sauce. Can I say just say what a wonderful meal this was without being understated?

The Shrimp Cavatelli plate was light and a refreshing thing to be had with the light cream sauce and peas. For me it was a nice way to kick things off as I don't really ever have peas with shrimp. The Kabosha squash soup was pretty epic. A soup that I must admit I wish could be bottled for everyday use. I loved both plates and with that became even more anticipant with the entrees to come.

Maybe the moons were aligned just right and it was a wonderful late night for just that, but my steak was easily one of the top 3 I've had in my life. I paused and thought about that for a while as I saw Neal come looking particular cheery to a larger party at the end of my row. It was seriously one of the best steaks hands down I've ever had the exquisite pleasure of eating. The morcilla was great in the fact that I didn't know it was blood sausage at the time. I was pondering what was this amazing morsel of sausage that laid atop my steak? Yup...blood sausage and it was dynamite. Neal you've helped me conquer another fear! The plate was to say it simply, "perfect".

Celeste had the King Salmon which she gladly shared as it was a huge serving. Skin on and when I say done to perfection I mean "is there any other way a salmon should be done I mean really?" I loved how you really got a sense of the river this fish came from in each bite. Not like it tasted like river water but it had the essence of fish life in it. It's something that's hard to really ever capture because too much of "it" tastes too fishy and not enough of it makes it seem fake. The plate was well crafted and balanced with the well chosen choices of Quinoa (for texture) and the lobster nage for a flavor that married well with the salmon. Really a remarkable plate that was prepared simply and let the salmon shine.

Lastly were his often talked about donuts for dessert which this time out was a take on Mexican hot chocolate. The donuts themselves were dollar-coin sized and had a cinnamon glaze that came with a hot chocolate side that was straight bitter chocolate with a sweet cream pillow on top of it to balance it all out. All and all a great way to end the meal.

If you're going here for DineLA, "congratulations", you're going to love it and if you're not going, believe it or not the prices aren't through the roof expensive for such a culinary experience so you can catch it when reservation open up again because right now Neal has been booked since two weeks prior to DineLA! Bravo Neal and thanks again for helping to make all this happen.

For those that haven't seen that episode of Iron Chef I was talking about, I dug it out for you:

DineLA Press Meeting

Well, for the first time as a blogger I was asked to participate in a press conference. Being that it was for DineLA week coming up I was more than obliged to participate. It was great finally getting to meet Bree from Triplecreme (by the way if you don't read her blog you really should...she's one of the better one's out there). The meeting was held at Grace restaurant on Beverly which by the way is one of the more coveted restaurants on the DineLA roster.

Before I begin let me say that I was just expecting to take it in and didn't think I should bring anything to write on so there are some scattered thoughts thanks to doing short hand on my blackberry frantically whilst eavesdropping on the interviews (yes, I was that shy about talking to any of the premier chefs).

At around 10 AM this morning the press and crowd made their way to their spots to hear what had to be said concerning the very first restaurant week (actually two weeks) that will grace our fine city. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was on hand to talk about how much he loves LA and is so enthused to see that steps are being made to display that LA has incredible people and culture and that our food reflects this. He talked of how happy he was that with this venture we'd show the world that LA is one of the powerhouses when it comes to cuisine. There was talk that LA tourism has been up and that our dining has been helping our overall image.

Neal Fraser, owner and chef of Grace, was up next to talk about his hand in making the whole DineLA experience happen and about his desire to give Angeleno's who have not or maybe just don't know about some of the finer dining a chance to partake in one or more spots. He mentioned something that got me to thinking. He talked about how big the Korean population is (it's the largest outside of Seoul!) and how it'd be nice to see some big time Korean spots on the list maybe next year.

The Mayor being presented with his very own DineLA chef smock by The Two Hot Tamales, Neal Fraser and Mark Liberman


The chefs pose with the Mayor who's enjoying a bite

Some other points that were made throughout random interviews were:
*More restaurants will be involved but at the moment it was hard to get more restaurants to participate as they had to weigh in on their own financial outlook
*Substantial discounts were the driving factor but this is also what scared some chefs away
*It's all about getting the word (hey, I'm doing my part!)



And of course we were treated with some amazing little bites at the reception afterwards. You'll have to forgive me as I have no idea what exactly I was eating only that it was pretty darn killer.
I can assume that this was tuna tartar...in fact I'd bet money on it. I had 3 spoons if that gives you an idea.

Another winner was the lamb shank that was going around and may I just say it was "like buttah". Also of note were the chocolate cookies...sorry no donuts were passed out.

If you haven't made your reservation for DineLA, you really should as this is an event that should not be missed under any circumstances. In fact, you owe it to yourself to bring a date to at least one cause it's a chance to show her that you've got some class and culture ;)

In the (restaurant news)...

Is there anyone attending the DineLA press conference this coming Tuesday? If so please introduce yourself to me (especially if you're another blogger who I've talked to...or gushed about but have never actually talked to for fear of feeling insignificant). Speaking of which, DineLA week (I find it funny but am thankful that it's actually for 2 weeks) is coming up very soon and if you haven't heard about it here it is in a nutshell. Many of LA's great restaurants will be giving pre fixe 3-course meals at discounted prices. Typically some of these places would cost you significantly more but in an effort to get more people out to try more places and sample the goods, they are hooking up the people of LA. You can view the menus as well on the DineLA website for each restaurant. Lunches range from $15 or $22 and dinners range from $25 or $34. With the list of restaurants participating, you can't afford not to go. Anyone going...where are you going? Let me know. I'll be hitting at least 4 spots with the misses and can barely wait.
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Though minor, I was at King's Road Cafe the other day and they were telling me that they will be having a beer and burger for $10 deal on Wednesday nights from 8PM to 10PM until further notice. Now normally this wouldn't mean anything really and why post about just anything as insignificant as a burger and beer deal but King's Road has some pretty righteous burgers. They're big and packed with flavor thanks to the aioli they put on them. They do have a TV with sports on it as well to complete the manliness night. Needless to say, I'll be there tonight.
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Yes that sign does say '07 but sometimes things come up. A friend of mine applied for a job at the new Father's Office and she told me that he said it wouldn't be for at least a month to a month and a half away. Sigh. Sang Yoon...if I could help you build it faster I would.