Thursday, May 8, 2014

Tartine for Lunch at Esterel (Sofitel Los Angeles, Beverly Hills)

The restaurant inside the Sofitel Los Angeles hotel in Beverly Hills is now Esterel, a French-focused restaurant that kept the sleek interior of its predecessor.

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The bread basket is generous and even included gougeres!
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I came to try their lunch menu (although I tried them during dinner), which is mainly composed of a selection of tartine - open faced sandwiches - named after. Each tartine is served with a green salad and some fries.

There is a tartine for everyone here. There's the vegetarian friendly Beverly Garden (marinated heirloom tomato, cucumber, burratta cheese, artichoke, pesto, fleur de sel ). Executive Chef Marius Blin combines many ingredients to get
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The creamy burrata is topped with crispy crumbles of potato chips.
There's the namesake eSTéReL ( lemon rosemary chicken, marcona almond, olive, wild arugula, black garlic)
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For the vegans, there's the WeHo (honey balsamic mushroom, grilled eggplant, agro dolce mini pepper, spring fava bean purée)
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1045 (grass-fed NY steak, organic baby kales, caramelized onion, point Reyes blue cheese, red wine reduction)
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They named this sandwich for a celebrity who tends to stay in room 1045 (the best suite) and loves New York steak and kale. Being a steak eater myself, this was one of my favorites out of the tartines, especially combined with the strong blue cheese. The steak was tender and pretty easy to bite into as a sandwich.

Santa Barbara (smoked salmon, cucumber, market radishes, fried capers, fennel pollen, truffle cream cheese)
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Again, the cucumbers added a crisp texture to contrast the smoked salmon.

So PARIS (shaved ham, Comte AOC cheese, grain mustard béchamel)
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A typical French tartine, but there's a reason it's a classic!

We tried their most popular cocktail, Byblos (Ketel One vodka, local wild arugula, pressed lime juice, agave)
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I admit I have a bias against ordering vodka cocktails, but I really enjoyed this one. Yes, it's on the sweeter side but the flavorless vodka makes perhaps a perfect vehicle for the arugula to shine through.

A dulce de leche eclair finishes off our meal.
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I have yet to try their dinner, but the tartines for lunch are beyond the usual hotel restaurant sandwiches.

PS. Esterel is having a Mother's Day Brunch for $55 for a 4 course menu including lobster eggs benedict and bottomless mimosa.

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Esterel
Sofitel Los Angeles
8555 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 358-3979
http://www.esterelrestaurant.com/
Esterel on Urbanspoon

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