Showing posts with label SLS hotel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SLS hotel. Show all posts

Monday, September 30, 2019

Board the Flight Around the World at Gate Bar Centro

Bar Centro at the SLS Beverly Hills has always had fun cocktails with molecular mixology components. Last year, they had a cocktail tasting menu of 5 drinks. Now, they've really upped the game. Bar Centro has taken over a new corner at the hotel and built a small new bar dubbed Gate Bar Centro. Gate Bar Centro is serving a reservation-only, 12-course cocktail tasting (don't worry, they're not all full sized cocktails) that takes guests around the world in cocktails. The tasting also includes a few tapas from The Bazaar - not quite dinner but enough bites to soak up the alcohol.

Here are some of the drink we had during our flight:
We started with Italy. Ciao Bella is a take on Aperol Spritz with fresh pineapple juice, yuzu, Aperol that's been carbonated in house.
Gate Bar Centro
The next course is Spain with Spanish Gin & Tonic, made right in front of you using a vacuum siphon (I previously wrote about this for The Bazaar's G&T Festival)
Gate Bar Centro

Monday, April 22, 2019

Gin and Tonic Festival at The Bazaar at SLS Beverly Hills

I should've written this post earlier, but hopefully you caught my Instagram post about the Gin and Tonic Festival at The Bazaar that's going on for the month of April! If not, you still have a week or so to go check it out.

There are seven different G&Ts on the festival menu, the most impressive of which is the Vacuum Siphon ($40 and serves two). You can order this to custom make your own gin by choosing the botanicals, herbs and spices you want, but the bartender will also have suggestions as to what combinations would work well.

Bazaar GT
This is usually only available at the bar, where the gin will be made right in front of you using a siphon and dry ice. Basically, the gas created from the dry ice creates pressure that pushes the liquid to the upper chamber, where it is infused with the botanicals.
Bazaar GT


Sunday, October 26, 2014

November 10: Wine and Food of Spain at The Bazaar ( + Ticket Giveaway!)

On Monday, November 10, head on over to The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills for a taste of Spain's best wines and food. The event is called Spain's Great Match and will feature more than 200 Spanish wines. The wines will be accompanied by tapas from The Bazaar. We're talking 200+ wines with Chef Jose Andres' lauded food! Last year's bites include a taste of their famed molecular gastronomy techniques

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There will also be a Cava Bubble Lounge. I don't know about you, but I love my bubbles.

Sounds good? Even better, at the end of this post you can enter a giveaway for 2 FREE TICKETS to this event!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Talking Tasting Menu Film Over Dinner at The Bazaar

Food has really penetrated reality TV, and it's making its way into films! After Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Magnolia Pictures is now releasing Tasting Menu, a Spanish film surrounding the last dinner at one of the world's best restaurant in Costa Brava. Sounds El Bulli-like? I had the privilege to dine with the director Roger Gual last week, and I asked him point blank if he was inspired by El Bulli's closing. Surprisingly, he was already working on the script when El Bulli's closing was announced! Funny how life works sometimes. The film will be in theatres this Friday, April 18.

What other dinner in Los Angeles would be more perfect to celebrate this film than a tasting menu at LA's most celebrated Spanish restaurant, The Bazaar? Roger had dined at El Bulli (research for his film. I was my research was as tasty) and immediately recognized Ferran Adria's olive spheres.

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The main characters in the film are estranged husband and wife, Marc and Raquel, who happened to have reservation for the last dinner service at Chakula, the fictional best-restaurant-in-the-world. Neither of them is willing to give up the reservation (neither would I!), so they met again at the restaurant after a year of separation. There's comedic relief from the two potential Japanese investors who will make competing bids for the chef to open a restaurant in Japan, a countess and old friend of the restaurant who is attending dinner with her late husband's ashes, and other characters.
Raquel is played by Claudia Bassols, who also attended the dinner.
Claudia Bassols
Some of you food lovers might recognize her from Spain On The Road Again with Mario Batali, Mark Bittman, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The Bazaar's 5 Year Anniversary Special Menu (SLS Hotel, Beverly Hills)

You may have read that The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel is celebrating their 5 year anniversary with a special $55 tasting menu until this Friday.

Well, I couldn't find what this menu actually entails online, but I went there for dinner last night and thought I should share the menu with you!
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So, here it is. The $55 menu starts with pan con queso and pan con jamon, and three starters (chef's selection).
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Japanese tacos (unagi in daikon) and jicama-wrapped guacamole
Then, you get to choose three dishes from the options below (click for larger view):

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Tasting Spanish Olive Oil at The Bazaar: All the Things I Never Knew

Did you know that Spain is the largest olive oil producer in the world? Spain produces 52% of the worldwide olive oil while Italy produces 21%. There are 2.5 million hectares of olive trees in Spain. That's about as big as the state of Massachusetts!

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I was recently invited to a tasting of olive oils from Spain led by Alfonso Fernandez Lopez from the LA trade commissioner of Spain. Different farmers from Spain have put together their resources for this event, where I learned so much about olive oils. We tasted four olive oils and proceeded to partake in a multi-course lunch prepared by the staff of Jose Andres' The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel, with each course centered around olive oil.

I have an open bottle of olive oil in my pantry that's probably been there for months. Little did I know that an open bottle of olive oil will only maintain its full aroma and flavor for 15 days!

Tasting olive oil turns out to be as rigorous as tasting wines and there are many varietals with distinct characteristics.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Bazaar: Grand Opening

Tonight was the Grand Opening of Jose Andres' The Bazaar at the SLS Hotel. I was going to sleep but I bumped into KevinEats and Tangbro and decided to beat them to a post while they're still making their drive down to OC O:)
You guys will read their posts anyway with their 48-dish reviews ... I'm certainly going to read it.

The Bazaar is separated into different sections including the Patisserie, Bar Centro, private dining area Saam, a retail area Moss, and dining areas Rojos y Blancos.

My seating area features light colored wooden tables and leather couches, along with this light bar seating where guests can see their food being prepared.At 10 pm it wasn't crowded and I hope it won't get too crowded later on, as I've found that I adore this place!

Our waitress was very courteous and knowledgeable (enough) about the dishes and had some great recommendations.
The menu is divided into "Rojos" - more classic, Spanish tapas, and "Blancos" - more modern tapas, lighter, smaller dishes. We ended up ordering mostly from the "Blancos".

We started with some "Olives Ferran Adria"
These are olive juice capsules. Ferran Adria was Jose Andres' mentor and hence the name and influence. I did love the olive juice but these olive capsules were, well, expensive!

Moving on we had the Jamon Iberico with Pineapple and fennel sherry dressing
Delicious. The jamon iberico is of course amazing, and the thinly shaved pineapples somehow retain their juices and the combination was really great! Refreshing. Loved it.

Next we had the sauteed cauliflower couscous with vegetable harissa broth
The harissa broth was divine. This dish as a whole was just divine. Probably our favorite of the night and we'll be getting this over and over. Plus this one was one of the cheaper dish at $9.

Japanese baby peaches with yogurt and olive oil
To me this was more like a dessert but it was delicious. The yogurt was pretty rich and thick, but the combination with the slightly sour baby peaches were great.

The Bazaar also does something cute - since (so they claim) Spain is the best canned foods producer in the world, they serve "canned" seafoods - that's really made fresh daily.
We had the king crab with raspberry vinegar
Loved this one too. Fresh meaty king crabs went well with the raspberry.

Next we had Japanese eggplant with yogurt, soy caramel, and bonito flakes
The flavor combinations were good, but the eggplant was much firmer than what you'd normally get with miso eggplants and such. You might or might not like it.

The last dish was from the "Rojos" part of the menu and was the biggest one yet. This was the Rossejat de fideos: "Traditional paella-style pasta with monkfish, shrimp, in seafood broth".
The pasta was small angel hair pasta cut into small pieces. It was cooked so that some were crispy which I really liked. A simpler, heartier dish than the rest, but one that I felt we needed.

The dessert menu is similarly divided into Rojos and Blancos. There's no chocolate item though ... but hopefully the Patisserie which would be open later this week can satisfy that craving.
From the Rojos side we had Apples Carlota, bread pudding
Nice and simple. The ice cream was great on this, but I thought the apple bread pudding was a wee bit dry without it. Tasty, though.
From the Blancos we got the Beet Meringue with pistachio, pistachio foam cake
Beautiful presentation. The taste was ... interesting. The ice cream with the pistachio foam cake I liked. The pistachio sauce and the beet meringue had a bitter aftertaste which I can't quite get over ...

Overall a really great meal with great service and ambiance (hope it doesn't get too crowded later!). I'm loving this place so far.
This meal would've been $111 without tips originally - each dish was about 8-15$, average 12$. We got 50% off for today only since they had to reschedule us from last Monday (their original opening date). The 50% definitely made this meal that much more awesome, but I'll be back regardless :)

The Bazaar
465 S. La Cienega Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA
310.246.5555

http://www.thebazaar.com/

The Bazaar on Urbanspoon

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