Joe's Restaurant Review

[Schneier]

Venice is a funky town, and Joe's is a funky restaurant. Good, but funky.

There were three menus to choose from: an Autumn Mushroom Menu, a Game Menu, and larger Tasting Menu. All three of us got the Game Menu, but two of us swapped plates from the Mushroom Menu. So I was able to taste six dishes.

The Game Menu started with a duck pot au feu. This was a bowl of soup with duck confit, foie gras, baby carrots and a tiny glass of Burgundy (the menu said "Nuits-Saint-Georges") to pour on top. Good, but not great. All the ingredients were tasty, but I wanted more flavor.

Next came quail wrapped in bacon, served on a harcot vert and fig salad and finished with a bread sauce. This was much better. The quail was prepared well. The bacon was good without being overpowering. And the salad was delicious.

The second course on the Mushroom Menu was Porcini raviolis, served in a "parmesan broth" with more Porcinis. This was the dish of the night. Light, rich, flavorful. We all wished we ordered the Mushroom Menu after tasting this dish.

Back to the Game Menu, course three was roast venison served on a winter squash puree. It was served with braised salsify and a very light chocolate sauce. Another excellent dish.

Dessert was caramel bread pudding served with spices and poached persimmons and burbom chantilly. Good, but not great.

I ordered the black forest Kirschwasser mousse served with brandied cherries and lime cream. We immediately knew it came from the Mushroom Menu because there were three meringue mushrooms on the plate. I'm sure it elicits a laugh after three mushroom courses on that menu. And it was good.

Joe's is a good restaurant. It's not too noisy. Service is professional. The wine list is competent. (Although there's no wine pairings with the menus--what's up with that?) The Game Menu was $51 for four courses; the Mushroom Menu was only $40.

I'd go back. I don't think I would seek it out again, but I'd go back.

Joe's Restaurant

1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd

Venice, CA

310-399-5811

[Beachfan]

I really like Joe's. I think it rules in it's price range; you have to go to Camponile or similarly priced places to do better.

I wouldn't have called it funky, unless you mean the sort of awkward tables in the bar area and the hall. Food is very professional.

[pfibiger]

I ate at Joe's last week. My dinner was good, but not great (the pork crepinette), but my appetizer was spectacular. It was the grilled ahi with foie gras, over some kind of potato pancake. Every part of the appetizer was perfect. My dessert, the chocolate cupcake with a port reduction sauce was pretty great as well.

I'd been for lunch before, but never for dinner. I agree that it's a pretty good deal, and I prefer it to a lot of the similarly priced restaurants in LA.

[JFLinLA]

We had a lovely meal at Joe's over the summer on one of those rare occasions when there were no kids. I wrote it up here at the time. I had the tomato menu which, being the heart of summer, was perfect. Though I did opt for a non-tomato dessert.

In addition to the food, I very much enjoyed the atmosphere and service which were lovely and relaxed, and without any "hipper-than-thou" attitude.

[Schneier]

...good, but not great (the pork crepinette), but my appetizer was spectacular.

Good but not great, with a few spectacular dishes, is how I would describe the place as well.

[hollywood]

(Although there's no wine pairings with the menus--what's up with that?)

I think they periodically do evenings with wines provided by LA Wine Expo, a WLA store that has lots of champagne and various other wines (tho few French beyond champagne).

[Carolyn Tillie]

Two years ago, when I was working the Hellish Patina job, Shawn and I went to Joe's for Thanksgiving (I had to work the day before and the three days after so there was no time to cook for two).

We both remember it fondly - especially a butternut squash soup served in demitasse cups with small cubes of foie gras floating about. This was an amuse that set for a lovely evening.

Shawn often recalls a lovely tart for dessert that was served with a sort of thyme mousse. It was quenelle-shaped and had the texture and consistency of ice cream but didn't melt.

We always meant to go back and regret never having gone...

[Pan]

I guess Joe's has improved since 2003. Anyway, I really want to once again thank everyone who recommended Joe's to me. I went there for dinner with my cousins, a party of four. We sat in their covered outside area, next to the artificial waterfall.

We got excellent service, starting with the fact that we were told that we could choose to order anything from either the $58 Heirloom Tomato Menu or the $68 Tasting Menu except the Pork Belly a la carte, in addition to the other a la carte items, and that any number of us could chose the prix fixe menus if we wanted to. In the end, we all ordered a la carte, including one item from the prix fixe menus -- a dessert for which no supplement was charged. There's no way my descriptions will do justice to the food or drink. I'll do my best, but I'll begin by saying that this was one of my top 10 or 20 meals ever. Without exception, everything was not only outstanding but imaginative, special, and surprising in some wonderful, amazing way.

The three adults all had three courses, while the 10-year-old had two courses.

I decided to go with two fish dishes. I started with the Citrus Cured Salmon with Beet Carpaccio (golden beets, it turned out), Radish-Watermelon Terrine, Mizuna, Aquavit Emulsion. It would be redundant to say that this was absolutely brilliant. The thin, firm slices of golden beet were marvelously earthy; the radish-watermelon terrine was an amazing combination of sweet and tangy, watery and crunchy; the salmon was perfect.

Two of my dining partners chose the Heirloom Tomato Salad, Cherry Tomato & Basil Vinaigrette, Tomato Sorbet and Watermelon. This was miraculous! These heirloom tomatoes were so sweet that the little yellow cherry tomatoes really tasted like berries and the larger, beefsteak-sized deep red tomatoes tasted more like a sweet, juicy fruit I had never had before than an ordinary supermarket tomato. The tomato sorbet and watermelon accompaniment were also brilliant. Truly extraordinary!

My cousin chose the Tuna Tartare & Smoked Salmon with Sliced Cucumbers, Diced Tomatoes & Lemon Oil. Yet another brilliant dish. I don't know what all the herbs were in the tartare, but it was such a great composition.

For a main dish, I chose the Olive Oil Poached Northern Halibut with Vine Ripe Tomato, Onion Tart, English Pea Puree, Foie Gras Essence. I really didn't notice the foie gras essence, which was just part of a great composition. The halibut was one of the best examples of that fish I've ever had. The onion tart was of caramelized onions in a sweet tart, just great. I don't remember all the details, but it was another winner.

My cousin's husband ordered the "Kurobuta" Pork Loin Roasted with Braised Escarole, Roasted Corn & Cippolini Onions Ravioli, Roast Garlic Jus. Wow, what a great use of escarole! And what great pork!

My cousin had another first course as her second course, the Porcini Mushroom Ravioli with Wild Mushrooms, Parsley & Parmesan Broth. So mushroomy.

The 10-year old impressed me by ordering a flight of five goat cheeses instead of dessert! I disliked goat cheese when I was her age and in fact don't usually order it even now. She gave me a little taste of each cheese, and all of them were very good. The little cheese-lover was delighted with her cheeses.

I ordered the Caramelized Plums Wrapped in Crepes, Candied Pistachios, Vanilla Ice Cream, Burgundy White Chocolate Sauce from the $68 tasting menu. Wow, what extraordinary red plums! Almost cherry-like!

My cousin's husband got the Chocolate Mousse Cake, of which the only thing I could think to say was that it was the essence of chocolate. As my cousin pointed out, it was made with very dark chocolate. If you think this kind of cake is a tired idea, wait until you try it at Joe's!

My cousin got the Fig Tart, again a great dessert.

I asked the waiter to pair a white wine with my meal, and the wine he chose was one of the best I've had in a long time. It was a Paige 23 2002 Chandon from White Hawk, an establishment in Santa Barbara that he said was so small their only customers are five sommeliers or so. Too bad, because my cousin and I otherwise would have visited the winery while we were in SB. The wine was smokey, earthy, complex, just delicious! My cousin got a bloody mary that was just amazing -- made from those great heirloom tomatoes, of course. My cousin's husband got two Lost Coast beers, which he liked (I didn't try any). Later, I got a chamomile tea which was not just chamomile but also had various other things in it, including some licorice -- complexity in an herbal tea! Iced Tea, Cappucino and Espresso were also drunk. I'm not sure what the item marked "SPECIAL" on the bill referred to. In any case, the total before tip was $210.55, and I actually returned the next day during lunch service with a handwritten note and an additional $20 bill for my waiter, Roberto, because I thought his service deserved a 30% rather than 20% tip. I thought it was a really generous gesture when he gave me a copy of the menu at my cousin's request. I wouldn't have asked -- which, she said, was the reason she did. Roberto treated this as an entirely normal courtesy, mentioning a time when he was given the menu after a great meal at Gary Danko, but the hostess did a doubletake when she saw me taking the menu out and was clearly surprised when I told her my waiter gave it to me, so I do think it was a bit out of the ordinary -- much in keeping with the rest of the meal. I couldn't afford to dine like that very often, but for the pleasure of sharing the experience with three happy people who appreciate fine dining, it was worth every penny.

Edited August 27, 2005 by Pan (log)

[robert40]

Pan,

Wonderful report and a joy to read.

Sound's like you had a fantastic time on the west coast and thank you for sharing it with us.

[Pan]

Yeah, I had mixed feelings about flying back to New York.

[ace92503]

Yeah, I had mixed feelings about flying back to New York.

←

that's makes me all warm and fuzzy to know I threw out nice words about Joe's and it ended up being such a great experince for you - even though a lot of others recommended it, I'd like to secretly think inside my head it was my idea. Great reveiw!

[Pan]

I really think that helping people find great places to eat when they're away from home is one of the things that eGullet is all about. In the days before good food-discussion sites existed, it used to be a lot harder to know where to go. But you and the others really came through in recommending a place that was not merely excellent but, at least at that meal, extraordinary.

[CaliPoutine]

I guess Joe's has improved since 2003. Anyway, I really want to once again thank everyone who recommended Joe's to me. I went there for dinner with my cousins, a party of four. We sat in their covered outside area, next to the artificial waterfall.

We got excellent service, starting with the fact that we were told that we could choose to order anything from either the $58 Heirloom Tomato Menu or the $68 Tasting Menu except the Pork Belly a la carte, in addition to the other a la carte items, and that any number of us could chose the prix fixe menus if we wanted to. In the end, we all ordered a la carte, including one item from the prix fixe menus -- a dessert for which no supplement was charged. There's no way my descriptions will do justice to the food or drink. I'll do my best, but I'll begin by saying that this was one of my top 10 or 20 meals ever. Without exception, everything was not only outstanding but imaginative, special, and surprising in some wonderful, amazing way.

The three adults all had three courses, while the 10-year-old had two courses.

I decided to go with two fish dishes. I started with the Citrus Cured Salmon with Beet Carpaccio (golden beets, it turned out), Radish-Watermelon Terrine, Mizuna, Aquavit Emulsion. It would be redundant to say that this was absolutely brilliant. The thin, firm slices of golden beet were marvelously earthy; the radish-watermelon terrine was an amazing combination of sweet and tangy, watery and crunchy; the salmon was perfect.

Two of my dining partners chose the Heirloom Tomato Salad, Cherry Tomato & Basil Vinaigrette, Tomato Sorbet and Watermelon. This was miraculous! These heirloom tomatoes were so sweet that the little yellow cherry tomatoes really tasted like berries and the larger, beefsteak-sized deep red tomatoes tasted more like a sweet, juicy fruit I had never had before than an ordinary supermarket tomato. The tomato sorbet and watermelon accompaniment were also brilliant. Truly extraordinary!

My cousin chose the Tuna Tartare & Smoked Salmon with Sliced Cucumbers, Diced Tomatoes & Lemon Oil. Yet another brilliant dish. I don't know what all the herbs were in the tartare, but it was such a great composition.

For a main dish, I chose the Olive Oil Poached Northern Halibut with Vine Ripe Tomato, Onion Tart, English Pea Puree, Foie Gras Essence. I really didn't notice the foie gras essence, which was just part of a great composition. The halibut was one of the best examples of that fish I've ever had. The onion tart was of caramelized onions in a sweet tart, just great. I don't remember all the details, but it was another winner.

My cousin's husband ordered the "Kurobuta" Pork Loin Roasted with Braised Escarole, Roasted Corn & Cippolini Onions Ravioli, Roast Garlic Jus. Wow, what a great use of escarole! And what great pork!

My cousin had another first course as her second course, the Porcini Mushroom Ravioli with Wild Mushrooms, Parsley & Parmesan Broth. So mushroomy.

The 10-year old impressed me by ordering a flight of five goat cheeses instead of dessert! I disliked goat cheese when I was her age and in fact don't usually order it even now. She gave me a little taste of each cheese, and all of them were very good. The little cheese-lover was delighted with her cheeses.

I ordered the Caramelized Plums Wrapped in Crepes, Candied Pistachios, Vanilla Ice Cream, Burgundy White Chocolate Sauce from the $68 tasting menu. Wow, what extraordinary red plums! Almost cherry-like!

My cousin's husband got the Chocolate Mousse Cake, of which the only thing I could think to say was that it was the essence of chocolate. As my cousin pointed out, it was made with very dark chocolate. If you think this kind of cake is a tired idea, wait until you try it at Joe's!

My cousin got the Fig Tart, again a great dessert.

I asked the waiter to pair a white wine with my meal, and the wine he chose was one of the best I've had in a long time. It was a Paige 23 2002 Chandon from White Hawk, an establishment in Santa Barbara that he said was so small their only customers are five sommeliers or so. Too bad, because my cousin and I otherwise would have visited the winery while we were in SB. The wine was smokey, earthy, complex, just delicious! My cousin got a bloody mary that was just amazing -- made from those great heirloom tomatoes, of course. My cousin's husband got two Lost Coast beers, which he liked (I didn't try any). Later, I got a chamomile tea which was not just chamomile but also had various other things in it, including some licorice -- complexity in an herbal tea! Iced Tea, Cappucino and Espresso were also drunk. I'm not sure what the item marked "SPECIAL" on the bill referred to. In any case, the total before tip was $210.55, and I actually returned the next day during lunch service with a handwritten note and an additional $20 bill for my waiter, Roberto, because I thought his service deserved a 30% rather than 20% tip. I thought it was a really generous gesture when he gave me a copy of the menu at my cousin's request. I wouldn't have asked -- which, she said, was the reason she did. Roberto treated this as an entirely normal courtesy, mentioning a time when he was given the menu after a great meal at Gary Danko, but the hostess did a doubletake when she saw me taking the menu out and was clearly surprised when I told her my waiter gave it to me, so I do think it was a bit out of the ordinary -- much in keeping with the rest of the meal. I couldn't afford to dine like that very often, but for the pleasure of sharing the experience with three happy people who appreciate fine dining, it was worth every penny.

←

hmmmmmmm, another post to make me madly miss California. I grew up in Santa Monica/Venice area and I've had some great meals there. I wasnt as much as a foodie as I am now though. I'll have to try Joes next time I go back for a visit.

[rjwong]

I recently had the marvelous opportunity to have dinner at Joe’s Restaurant in Venice with my fellow eGulleteer moosnsqrl. I ordered the tasting menu, while moosnsqrl chose the Winter menu. And yes, we each tasted the other’s selections. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the tasting menu that I had because it was different from the one listed on the website. We concurred that there were a few hits. Mind you, everything wasn't bad. The table where we ate was situated near a wall with water trinkling down for a nice, calming aesthetic. Overall, I enjoyed the dining at Joe's. I'd definitely go back!

Chico : chanterelle mushrooms with sweet citric marinade, minced daikon

Amuse

White asparagus salad (tasting)

Leek a la vinaigrette, truffled beets & mache salad (winter)

Pork slices (?) with fava beans (tasting)

Steamed Hawaiian opakapaka, butternut squash & hazelnut, rock shrimp, sugar snap peas, sauce veronique (winter)

Rib-eye (?) with mashed potatoes, asparagus (tasting)

Millbrook Farms venison, apple – rhutabega puree, grilled swiss chard, star anise – cranberry gastrique, venison jus (winter)

Dessert amuse : peanut butter truffle, carmelized strawberry slice

Lemon panna cota, nuts, fruits (tasting)

“Truffle banana split” : truffle vanilla ice cream, chestnut meringue, chocolate sauce & strawberry preserves (winter)

Waterfall by the table

[Carolyn Tillie]

Continuing my exciting week in Los Angeles, I took two old friends ("W" and "J") to Joe's last evening. As always, they continue to offer an extensive menu of both prix fixe items, tasting menus (it is squash this week), and a larger offering menu. Not wanting to limit the entire table to a tasting menu, we thought it better to order three appetizers, entrées, and three desserts for maximum effect. "W" is seven months pregnant so minimal alcohol was consumed - we got her and I a small glass of Billecart-Salmon Champagne while "J" tried his first Caipirinha which he enjoyed immensely.

Instructions were given to the attentive waitstaff that we would be sharing all the courses and when the first appetizers arrived, it was realized that we were going to have an awful lot of food. These were pretty sizable portions with starters generally running in the $11 to $20 range.

1. House-made duck sausage with salad of sea beans, daikon, peaches, ginger gastrique, and black pepper tarragon sorbet - the sausage was *very* moist and succulent although any reference to its duck roots was somewhat lost on me. They could have just as easily been a bockwurst with their relatively mild flavor. The salad component was intriguing and while I didn't really detect any ginger in the dressing, the sorbet made for a fascinating element to the entire dish.

2. Butter-braised Maine lobster with pickled onions, butter-ball potatoes & tarragon, with vanilla emulsion - this was a HUGE appetizer and very rich. I should have shot the picture from the other side of the half-cut lobster so one could see the size and amount of meat which was actually included. Truthfully, the lobster was a bit tough and I think, over-poached. The potatoes on which sat the lobster were far too large for the dish - they seemed unwieldy and out of place. The rich sauce was redolent with sweet onions, with the tarragon bites making the dish more interesting. The inclusion of the vanilla seemed the biggest mistake in making the combination of flavors more on the sweet side than where it should have been. There is a great potential in this dish as it was the most enjoyed of the three, needing to be reigned it a bit with the preparation of the ingredients more in tune with one another in size as well as integrity.

3. Foie preparation with roti of potatoes and red wine herb sauce. Here's the deal; "J" had never tasted foie before and the appetizer on the menu which included that ingredient was described as "Grilled ahi tuna with seared Hudson Valley foie gras, rosti potato, and red wine herb sauce." Knowing we were getting lobster as one app and another fish with our entrées, I wanted to be able to demonstrate to my friend pure foie. Our waiter was very obliging in checking with the kitchen and altering this dish, giving us a larger portion of foie for us to share and leaving out what apparently is a pretty large hunk of tuna. I commend them on that regard but as we did receive the rest of the components, I am slightly curious how they would all work together as the potato rosti and accompanying sauce were very hearty and rustic; almost overwhelmingly so for the subtle foie. I can't fault the kitchen for giving me exactly what I asked for, but regret that I just didn't choose something else off the menu.

For our entrées, I ordered a bottle of Sean Thackery 2003 Andromeda Pinot Noir, Devil's Gulch Ranch, Marin County. Stunning, rich bottle with opulent notes of dark cherry, layered and textured herbs, and deep rustic fruit. We ordered a well-rounded course of entrées for the wine; a fish, a fowl, and a meat and most entrées were in the $26 to $30 range

4. Crispy Rocky Jr. chicken with purple yams, baby bok choy, truffle soy brown butter,a nd miso piquillo purée. This was a winning dish for me; the skin on the chicken was perfectly crispy and thick, the meat intensely rich in what I imagine a great French Poulet de bresse to be. The combination of the slightly vinegary bok choy with the sweet yams contrasted with with the chicken. The aroma of truffle arrived when the dish was placed on the table, but hardly overwhelmed with flavor as truffle can often do.

5. Grilled Fujian escolar with spring onions, French green beans, hon shimeji mushrooms, and miso yogurt broth (poured tableside). While "W" and I were enjoying the chicken, "J" preferred the fish. The main ingredient -- the escolar -- was perfectly grilled and prepared, but the overall combination of ingredients failed to spark any interest in me; it was just a nice piece of grilled fish atop a bunch of vegetables and thin sauce. Perhaps it was because I was coming from richness of the chicken that the subtle flavors of the fish were lost on me while this was the first course that "J" tasted. I won't discount that possibility.

Ms. "W"s pregnancy has left her slightly anemic so a special on the menu that evening seemed the best choice for her:

6. Ribeye with wilted greens, mushrooms, a compound butter of some sort and -- uh -- I don't remember what else. I actually asked for a copy of the menu so I could get all the ingredients listed for each dish but as this was a special, I don't know exactly what all the components were. The orange stuff was something like rice but pasty an un-interesting. At $50 for a special, this dish was a disaster; for starters, the cut of meat didn't seem to be a rib-eye at all, but a filet. Secondly, the sauce was inedibly salty. Because I am quite sensitive to salt, I didn't say anything until my friends asked what I thought -- when I offered my opinion they were relieved that it wasn't just them who didn't like the dish. To the restaurant's credit (and for that amount of money), I informed my waiter who returned it to the kitchen and offered us another entrée. Being reasonably full, we declined knowing desserts were still looming. Interestingly, during our dessert course the waiter confirmed that he tasted the sauce and it was indeed too salty and noticing a nearby table receiving the same dish later on in the evening, it was sans the offending sauce.

Time for desserts and while my friends had previously turned over all the ordering to me, at this point we each decided for ourselves what sounded best... "J" opted for the

7. Creamsicle Bombe; raspberry sorbet, exotic crisp, orange glaze, and market berries. Probably a great choice for July but wrong for this time of year - at least for me.

8. Red flame raisin bread pudding with Muscat white raisin reduction vanilla foam and Concord grape sorbet. More my speed with the on-coming fall season, but this one ran slightly foul with the Muscat foam because it was slightly fizzy (which made one think it was "off"). The raspberry sorbet was ill-advised as well as bread pudding is something one wants with hard sauce, vanilla ice cream, or just plain cream -- not a strident fruit.

9. Pumpkin panna cotta with spiced ice cream, gingerbread, maple marshmallow, and cranberry. For dessert I ordered a glass of Roze's 40-year old Tawny Port and this was the knock-out course and pairing for the evening. Not only was the gorgeous port a perfect complement to the spicy ingredients of the dessert, but each dessert component a well-prepared, graceful example of the marriage of skill and fine ingredients. The panna cotta was smooth and elegant with the cranberries showing a nice contrast in their piquant flavor. With the gingerbread and spiced ice cream I got all the exact flavors I had been craving but in a unique, show-stopping offering.

It was interesting that I had great fond memories of dining here at Thanksgiving six years ago and see how it has changed; they have obviously expanded their seating and upgraded from the rustic, earthy setting to a more elegant, refined one. For a Tuesday night, Joe's was quite busy and is an obvious town favorite. I could see eating there often if I was a local but ordering less food as the portions were quite large. There are a lot of great things going on with the combination of interesting ingredients but a few mis-steps with vegetables that are chunky and over-sized and sauces which are shockingly thin. A finesse of knifework coupled with a sensibility to plating could elevate this restaurant from the very good to the exceptional.

Edited October 31, 2007 by Carolyn Tillie (log)