Showing posts with label veal tongue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label veal tongue. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Red Meat Heaven at Palate

Yes, the bandwagon had come and gone and it's too late to even jump on it. Palate was one of the big food hypes in LA in the past year, yet this was my first visit. Why? Well, besides a couple of mixed reviews, it's really because it's in Glendale!
But since I recently won a couple of tix to Macbeth in Burbank, thanks to Goldstar, I figured it's close enough for me to check out Palate.

Thanks to early pre-theatre dinner and recent daylight savings time, the natural light was great for food-porning, at least up to dessert :P

The bread was served with butter sprinkled with seasalt and presented quite beautifully.
Palate's menu is not particularly big but I think there's still something for everyone. You know, if you all eat meat.

To start off, we got the young beet salad.
The young beets, although the color doesn't look it, were all very good and fresh. Some of the lettuce, on the other hand, were kind of bruised ...

Next up, some veal ravioli.
Tender veal in al dente pasta and delicious creamy broth. A pretty light and delicious starter here.

Next I got me some pork trotters!
Loved the crispy skin. The meat was very flavorful. The meat (really the muscles/tendons) on pork trotters tend to be stringy but this one has been tenderized quite well.

I also got the Prawn & Veal Tongue.
Giant, fresh, crisp prawn. Delicious! And the veal tongue was very tender, and oh-so-good!!! Tongue was one of my ultimate fave while growing up, but besides my recent venture at FIG, I have yet found one in the state worthy of my love. But this one, yes, this one is worthy indeed!

My companion got the smoked Jidori chicken breast.
This dish is the weakest of the night IMO as the chicken meat is a bit overcooked and thus too dry and tough. I did enjoy the addition of apricots in this dish and thought that the skin was nice and crispy.

As a side dish we got some beautiful colorful cauliflowers.
This was the perfect side dish and was actually one of the highlights of the meal. Fresh and flavorful, sweet and juicy cauliflowers. I could eat this all day.

The dessert selection here was a bit limited. We went with the panna cotta.
This was pretty good, nothing to write home about though.

The chocolate mousse was better and more memorable.
It was pretty rich and dark. Both of the desserts here are solid and satisfying albeit nothing mind-blowing.

Palate was definitely good overall, and I can see where the hype comes from, although the pork and veal seems to be focused on more and done better here. Not that I'm complaining. In my opinion this restaurant is comparable to other great restaurants in LA. From what I've seen so far, it doesn't necessarily stand out on its own, but hey, each side of town needs its own great spot! That veal tongue, though ... Mmmm. That I'll come back for.

Palate Food+Wine
933 S Brand Blvd
Glendale, CA 91204
(818) 662-9463
www.palatefoodwine.com
Palate Food + Wine on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

FIG in Santa Monica: Quiet Spot for Meal and Drinks

FIG, a restaurant focusing in seasonal and local ingredients, has as its namesake the 100-yr old fig tree that sits in front of the Fairmont Miramar hotel (where the restaurant is located).I heard from LA&OC Foodie that FIG is on the Restaurant.com list- where you can buy a $25 gift certificates for $10 ($35 min purchase), and oftentimes they will have a 80% off sale! That's $25 for $2 people!! I bought 3 ...


Psst! Now til 6/25/09 they're having a 80% off sale! Just enter code: DISH.

We came late, past 9:00 PM. The restaurant was pretty quiet overall (except for a table of 4 drinking ladies that were quite ... lively), and I liked the decor and ambiance.
The menu is divided into Snacks, Salads, Appetizers, and Entrees. At the bottom of the menu is a nice touch - a list of currently in-season ingredients, and also what will be in season soon.

The bread at FIG is served warm, each in its own paper bag, and accompanied with arugula butter.
Never had arugula butter before, it was quite a nice touch.

Our first orders were from the Snacks section: Tarte Flambee (fromage blanc, blue cheese, lardon) - $6
This was nothing special, more like a mini, less-cheesy pizza.

Roasted Tomato Soup (mascarpone, basil) - $9
Pretty good and hearty, with a nice smokey flavor from the roasted tomatoes. Actually, this reminds me of the tomato soup at Nordstrom's cafe - when it's done right!

Young Beets with Santa Barbara Pistachios - $8
Very good and light and refreshing, but the portion is pretty small.

I thought the portions from the Snacks section were pretty small and doesn't seem to be really worth the price - especially in comparison to the other dishes I had later from the Appetizers section.

Although the next dish I had was called the Mushroom Fricassee ($12), it seems that the focus of the dish was in fact the sweetbreads.
Do share this dish with another person. The mushroom fricassee itself is a bit heavy and add on top of that the pieces of fried sweetbreads and it would make it hard for one person to finish this dish by itself. The mushroom fricassee was delish, the sweetbreads were decent but were a bit on the tough and dry side. They were not the best quality sweetbread, but then again this whole dish was only $12...

Warm Quinoa Salad (chard, butternut squash, toasted almonds) - $13
Delicious, and healthy too! It wasn't so much like a salad rather than a rice bowl - except that the quinoa instead of rice gave it that extra firm texture and a nice flavor. The toasted almonds were also a great addition.

Braised Tongue (tomatillo, breakfast radish) - $11
This was one of the rare occasions I enjoyed tongue in the US. Most tongues I've had in this country were tough, but this one was tender, just like how my family prepares it! The tomatillo sauce is a little spicy, but even I can still eat it so it's not too bad :P I really enjoyed this dish.

Both the braised tongue and quinoa salad made for a great lunch the next day too!

After all this food, and especially the spicy tongue at the end, I wanted something light for dessert, so I just ordered the sorbet. You get 3 scoops, and I just asked for 2 blood oranges and 1 pomegranate.
A bit denser and heavier than your usual "sorbet" but good nonetheless!

The bar at FIG boasts fresh seasonal ingredients and it's currently a great and quiet place to just sit, have a drink, and talk. And of course, eat. I want the restaurant to do well, but hopefully it won't get too crowded!!

Also, with the way we ordered, the $25 certificate didn't put as big a dent as I had hoped. Skip the snacks, just go with appetizers/ entrees and you'll do much better!

Read the reviews from LA&OC Foodie and Carolineoncrack!

FIG Restaurant
101 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 319-3111
www.figsm.com

FIG Restaurant on Urbanspoon

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