Spago, Beverly Hills

[Jinmyo]

Excellent reports from both Beachfan and lizziee. Thanks. Reliability. Consistency in excellence. We've had some threads that touched on this but nothing specific to the topic. lizziee? Beachfan? In General, if you are comfortable in doing so and have the time?

[Beachfan]

I'm not sure of the question.

It's consistent because I"ve never been disappointed, and they handle everyone's dietary or culinary preferences. Other restaurants in LA are more hit and miss.

[southern girl]

I spent a lovely afternoon (70 degrees, clear blue skies) on the patio at Spago Beverly Hills for lunch. My favorite waiter, Oscar, arrived moments after I was seated bearing a glass of Billecart Salmon Brut Rose from the house and the menu. As I was perusing the menu (so many good choices) Oscar came back over and volunteered I looked very serious. I mentioned a few dishes I was interested in, and Oscar volunteered the kitchen would be happy to do a tasting menu for me incorporating the dishes I had mentioned along with a few surprises....Bingo...done deal.

Amuse: A black and white sesame seed tuille filled with fresh slamon touched with spicy mayonnaisse and topped with bonito flakes and flying fish eggs.

First Course:I enjoyed three pristine Hama Hama oysters served in the shell, lightly dressed with a champagne mignionette and freshly grated horseradish.

Second Course: Steak tartare- a good sized quenelle of tartare topped with a quail egg, served on a slice of butter toasted brioche. It was placed in the middle of a large white plate decorated with a grid of mustard sauce...and traditional accompaniments of minced red onion and capers.

Third Course: Duo of Foie Gras- two small square plates arrived side by side on a small tray. One held a slice of terrine of foie gras on a toast point smeard with quince puree. The other a good sized chunk of seared foie gras atop poached quince in a huckleberry sauce. Excellent. This dish was served with a glass of Hungarian tokaji from Dozonoko (also compliments of the house).

For the rest of my meal I enjoyed a bottle ofCHambolle-Musigny 1st Cru aux Beaux Bruins, Ghilaine Barthod, 1999

Fourth Course: Risotto with White Truffle: Oscar appoached the table with a huge grin and a cloche covered dish, so I knew something wonderful was on the way...he place the bowl in front of me waving the cloche toward me...how I love the aroma of white truffle ! Perfectly prepared risotto with lots and lots of white truffle... . He knew how much I loved the white truffles and was almost as happy with my reaction to the dish as I was to it!

Fifth Course: Oscar arrived again with another grin and a large deep dish containing One very large seared diver scallop served on parsnip puree...and covered in...shaved black perigord truffle with a bath of truffle emulsion...Can you say happy camperette.

Sixth Course: Next...another favorite- Squab with chestnut puree and fall vegetables with a variation of the black truffle emulsion...crispy skinned, medium rare squab...excellent.

Before my cheese course arrived Tracy (the GM) and Wolfgang stopped by to wish me a happy holiday season and to drop of a copy of his latest book for a Christmas present.

Cheese: (served with a pinot gris dessert wine-I believe it was Mendohlssen (sp) 1999-also from the house)...Tomme de Savoie, Explorateur, Crotin de Chavignol, Sainte Maure and Tartufo (oh darn....more truffles ).

Dessert: This was truly an amazing dessert- and I must preface this by mentioning I could go the rest of my life without ever having chocolate again and not be sorry---until I met this particular dessert. They call it the Haley (sp) torte...it is named after the woman who invented the Twix bar...and this is Spago's homage to that. A layer of light as air caramel mousse is sanwiched between a layer of crispy pastry and a thick coating of bittersweet chocolate ganache...decorated with gold leaf...the plate is decorated with a deep brown caramel sauce and bittersweet chocolate sauce. This is soooo good!! And soooo rich...if I could only have one more dessert (as simple as the whole premise is) this one would definitely be in the running!

I couldn't have envisioned a better meal and afternoon dining in LA if I had tried. Spago (and Oscar!) spoiled me rotten !

[awbrig]

Im way way jealous of your awesome lunch and awesome weather!

[lizziee]

southern girl,

I'm jealous; it sounds fantastic.

What is Wolfgang's new cookbook like?

[Wilfrid]

I was fortunate to meet up with the estimable Beachfan for a short notice dinner at Spago on a cool Los Angeles evening. My first visit to the restaurant, and I reflected afterwards that I didn't calibrate my tastebuds appropriately. Although I'd read a great deal over the years about Puck's cuisine here, and eaten his food at Postrio in San Francisco, I had somehow led myself to expect something more intricate - indeed more haute we were offered. I now have the idea that Spago is essentially serving competent, hearty bistro cuisine, with some well-sourced ingredients. Is that a fair overview, or did I have an unusual experience?

Beachfan plied me with intriguing Californian wines - a 1999 pinot noir from Mendocino and La Jota's 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon. The former was fresh, almost crisp, ideal as an aperitif, and about as far from a 1999 Burgundy as one could imagine, except for the unmistakeable taste of the grape. The cabernet, on the other hand, seemed to me very much in a French style for a Cali red; reserved, austere, and apparently with a good few years to run. I hope Beachfan will chime in to correct, elaborate and comment.

My first course was enjoyable but a little overgenerous: good gnocchi with "wild shot" pheasant ragout. The ragout was great but, game-fancier that I am, I wouldn't have distinguished wild from raised pheasant through the flavors of the sauce. But I cleaned the plate.

This made the huge slab of Sonoma lamb somewhat hard going. Cooked a little more than I requested, it had a nice strip of crisp fat underneath, and was paired with a rich rice dish - I didn't catch the name, but it was like an extra-moist risotto.

Dessert required some courage, and indeed I could hardly face the three vast strawberry blintzes which arrived under the alias of kaiserschmarren. (Incidentally, I know who the Kaiser is, or was, but what are schmarren?). Beachfan did better with a refreshing Meyer lemon flan.

Service seemed very nervous - I suppose Beachfan and I are fiercely intimidating characters - although the sommelier was charming. We celebrated our girth expansion with a few rounds of d'Yquemm, of course (of course).

[cabrales]

Wilfrid -- If you are comfortable discussing it, what was the general price level of the restaurant?

Also, do members have reports on other Spago locations? Are the different Spago venues a bit "cookie cutter" with respect to cuisine?

[Wilfrid]

Although I am uncomfortable, and have no time, I cannot deny you. Appetizers ranged from high teens (salads) to mid-twenties (my gnocchi, for example). There were some black truffle options in the thirties. Entrees ranged from high twenties to high thirties.

[hollywood]

Here are some sample menus. Maybe the Chef's Tasting Menu would have been more what you were looking for?http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/myrestaurants/fine_dining/home/frame.php

[Wilfrid]

We toyed with the idea, but concluded that our tastes were sufficiently different that ordering a la carte was better.

[yvonne johnson]

Dessert required some courage, and indeed I could hardly face the three vast strawberry blintzes which arrived under the alias of kaiserschmarren.  (Incidentally, I know who the Kaiser is, or was, but what are schmarren?). Beachfan did better with a refreshing Meyer lemon flan.

"Schmarren[gastr]=a pancake broken up with a fork after frying

Schmarren=trash, rubbish

Das ist ein Schmarren!:That's a load of trash!"

http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/

Torn up pancakes, equals trashy pancakes. What could be simpler?

PS: Funny what you said about haute Puck, because all I associate him with is pizza.

[hollywood]

The trashy pancakes designation is probably a nod to Joachim Splichal (Patina, Pinot, etc.) who uses clever wordplay regularly in his menu descriptions. While Puck is certainly known for pizza (it was the smoked salmon pizza that put the original Spago Hollywood on the map), he's been around longer than that. Eons ago he was a wunderkind serving haute cuisine to the likes of Orson Welles at Ma Maison. Now, he's got an empire of places including various Spagos, Postrio, Chinois, Granita, Lupo, Vert, Puck Cafes, Puck Expresses, etc.

[yvonne johnson]

hollywood, the word Kaiserschmarren (="shredded pancake with raisins served with syrup (Austrian)" appears to be a well-used one and is even in my ancient Berlitz, German for Travellers.

Thanks for the info on Puck.

Edited February 11, 2003 by yvonne johnson (log)

[Wilfrid]

Scandalous. My kaiserschmarren were not ripped, torn or shredded in any fashion. Should've sent 'em back.

I gather the pizzas are a lunch item - I didn't see them on the menu. Puck does indeed come out of a European classical tradition - he even cooked at Maxim's. I suppose I expect someone so strongly associated with so-called (self-styled) Californian cuisine to be producing delicate, fancy, fusion-ey titbits that wouldn't put a millimetre on Gwyneth Paltrow's waistline. And Puck always wrongfoots me with things like beef cheeks and apfelstrudel.

[seawakim]

Did you find the staff to be knowledgable about the dishes?

[Wilfrid]

Our server told us where the red snapper came from. But he mainly seemed terribly frightened of us.

[awbrig]

Didja catch Bill Clinton @ Spago last week?

http://www.pagesix.com/cindyadams/cindyadams.htm

[hollywood]

I suppose I expect someone so strongly associated with so-called (self-styled) Californian cuisine to be producing delicate, fancy, fusion-ey titbits that wouldn't put a millimetre on Gwyneth Paltrow's waistline.  And Puck always wrongfoots me with things like beef cheeks and apfelstrudel.

Well, Gwyneth does yoga to keep the pounds off. Orson Welles, on the other hand, never seemed to worry about his waistline. As for beef cheeks, they were a trendy item that suddenly started appearing on high end menus a few years ago, kind of the way tuna tartare showed up everywhere at once before that. And at his cafes at least, Puck loves throwing entrees atop mashed potatoes a la Splichal. I guess we forgot to ask what other celebs were there (other than you and Beachfan).

Edited February 11, 2003 by hollywood (log)

[Beachfan]

It was a very fun evening. As for the food, Spago is, was, or should have been, more than we experienced. It was hearty, but not inspired. First time in many that it hasn't been. After checking around, other subpar experiences have recently been reported.

A little more on the wine. The 1999 Pinot Noir was a William Selyem Mendocino county. WS fans were worried that with the sale of the winery, and new winemaker Bob Cabral, things would slide. This is a particularly happy wine for WS fans, since it's newly sourced grapes and made entirely under the new winemaker and quite tasty for those of us who like the fruit forward California berry/cherry style (without annoying oak). As well as being pretty reasonably priced (per the mailing list).

The cabernet was a 1995 LaJota 13th (?) Anniversary. Wilfrid is right, it tasted more Bordeaux like than I expected (or than the 1994 12th Anniversary).

Finally, the Yquem was the fabulous 1990, sold by the ounce. That's civilization at it's best!

They couldn't be friendlier towards BYOers than they were to us.

Edited February 12, 2003 by Beachfan (log)

[lizziee]

As for the food, Spago is, was, or should have been, more than we experienced.  It was hearty, but not inspired.  First time in many that it hasn't been.  After checking around, other subpar experiences have recently been reported.

Unfortunately, our last meal was also uninspired. One of the things that I could always count on was the consistent first rate experience at Spago. Although the service was exemplary, the food was mediocre - a first for us.

[Wilfrid]

As long as it wasn't just the curse of Wilfrid. As for celebrities, the table behind us were certainly acting and dressing like they were straight off a magazine cover. Extraordinary.

[hollywood]

As for the food, Spago is, was, or should have been, more than we experienced.  It was hearty, but not inspired.  First time in many that it hasn't been.  After checking around, other subpar experiences have recently been reported.

Unfortunately, our last meal was also uninspired. One of the things that I could always count on was the consistent first rate experience at Spago. Although the service was exemplary, the food was mediocre - a first for us.

Maybe it's deworsification. Maybe it's the divorce.

[hollywood]

As long as it wasn't just the curse of Wilfrid.  As for celebrities, the table behind us were certainly acting and dressing like they were straight off a magazine cover.  Extraordinary.

A likely sign they were not celebrities.

[Jinmyo]

As long as it wasn't just the curse of Wilfrid.

Then the food would have been cold as well.

[Wilfrid]

No temperature problems to report.