Woke up. Felt slightly chirpy, until I realized I’m a has-been writer whose blog attracts only a fraction of its once-sizable audience. It’s a good thing there’s more than enough food in this city to sustain me, because with out it I fear my sanity would be compromised. What’s more, I have DINNER CLUB to look forward to every month. If you’ve not read one of these posts before, allow me to briefly explain:
Shortly after I moved to Los Angeles my roommates birthed the idea of a monthly dinner club. It was 2007, and I think it was Sari who suggested the name “Dinner Club For Day People.†The idea was that once a month a group of friends would go out to eat, and at each meal one member of the group was allowed to invite a “Day Person†as their plus-one. A “Day Person†was defined as someone who was not a douchebag, or the kind of person you might befriend randomly at a seedy bar or party (you know, a “Night Personâ€). Alas, Sari disappeared off the face of the earth, other roommates dropped out or moved away, maybe there was a n awkward breakup involved, and the idea languished in limbo. Finally in 2011, the newly rebranded “Dinner Club†came to life. As Louise put it, our group of friends consists of successful people who deserve to celebrate it. The rules of the new Dinner Club were quite similar to the original iteration. Once a month we would meet at a restaurant of one person’s choosing, and that person (the chooser) could bring a plus-one. The plus one must be vetted by the other club members before they can join in the fun. If all goes exceedingly well, the plus-one might even be made an official member of the club.
Since re-launching Dinner Club (v2.0) we’ve remained fairly consistent in our once-a-month culinary adventures. We started with Simbal (Amanda’s choice?), moved to Kinjiro (David’s choice?), and this month Nate (with his plus-one Kelie) managed to score us a reservation at Otium, one of the biggest recent estaurant openings in Los Angeles. In fact, Otium just started dinner service two days ago, so it’s easily one of the hottest eateries in town right now – and if the early buzz is any indication I’m sure its hype and the resultant rush of diners will continue well into 2016.
Chef Timothy Hollingsworth is a former Chef de Cuisine at The French Laundry in Napa Valley. He represented America in the Bocuse D’Or in 2009. Since coming to LA he’s opened the Texas BBQ joint Barrel & Ashes (it’s…pretty good!), but Otium at the Broad Museum downtown has been greatly anticipated ever since the restaurant was announced. You’re not hear to read about the chef, you’re here to read my embarrassing attempts at food criticism. So let’s get to it:
We had to wait a bit even though our reservation for seven was made for 8:30pm. We walked over to the bar area (not the most comfortable section of the restaurant) and ordered some drinks. According to Mark, the cocktail list was narrowed down from 20 options to six or seven, which have been honed to perfection. I ordered the Old Fashioned, which was quite good. That was the most popular choice, as David, Amanda and I all consumed one. A few people opted for the sake/yuzu/pepper drink, and Nate of course ordered the bonkers banana rum cacao drink that came with a weird vape ball emitting plumes of smoke. I’m not kidding. The drink was insane.
We were seated. We ordered some SAUV BLANC because wine is the way to go during dinner club. We cheers’d, and cheers’d, and cheers’d some more. We cheers’d everything we could imagine and more. Do we cheers when wine glasses are refilled? Do we cheers when each dish arrives? What’s the proper amount of cheers per Dinner Club meeting? Doesn’t matter. Food’s coming out hot.
By the way these are the worst photos I’ve ever taken, but it was quite dark in our section and I didn’t want to be one of those assholes whose camera flash is popping off every two minutes. Sorry for that.
No, we’re not praying. We’re studying the menu VERY intently. After deciding on a few starters, we each chose one larger dish from the menu to share with the table.
Oyster. Shallot. Mignonette. Horseradish. What a bright and zingy bite to start the meal. I’m not a huge horseradish fan but the vinegar in the sauce totally overpowered it, which was fine by me.
Hamachi. Nori. Avocado. Sweet & Sour Tomatoes. Another fantastic bite. I could have ordered another but that would have been uncouth. In true Dinner Club fashion at least two or three of us tried to scrape all the avocado off the plate. Also Maryn and I were practicing our resting bitch faces around this time so I don’t remember what the consensus was regarding this dish. Did we love it? Were we nonplussed? Other than the fact that I liked it, I’ll never know what everyone else thought.
Foie Gras. Funnel Cake. Strawberry. Fennel. Balsamic. Foie gras FUCKING funnel cake. This was easily the star of the show for pretty much everyone at the table. We heavily considered ordering a second one for the table. If you order one thing off the menu at Otium, make sure it’s this. If you have to order two? The short rib. But more on that later.
Little Gem Lettuce. Bottarga. Vinaigrette. Our server Brandon (who was fantastic and amiable and all the best qualities a server should have) described it as a play on a classic cesar salad. He wasn’t far off, as the bottarga stood in for the anchovy. While not my favorite dish of the evening, it’s always important to consume SOMETHING green and vegetal (as opposed to only the most opulent meaty items on the menu) and this was a delicious counterpoint to the rest of the meal.
Spinach Bucatini. Egg. Bacon. Clam. Crème Fraîche. To be honest I was not expecting much from the pasta dishes (and the price point is a little high here at $22) but the bucatini blew me away. The ingredients were so harmonious here, from the salinity of the pork to the softness of the egg and the cream…out of everything we tried tonight this dish was near the top of the list.
Dry Aged Beef Tartare. Lavash. Bulgur. Yogurt. Mint. I love beef tartare, and while the dry aged beef tasted fantastic on its own, there was one element here that left me underwhelmed. I couldn’t pick it out exactly, maybe it was in the yogurt…but there was one off note here in an otherwise yummy bite. I wish I had a palate refined enough to suss it out, but I don’t. Mark seemed to agree with me but neither of us could pinpoint the mistake here.
Tortellini. Castelmagno. Matsutake. Ham Bouillon. The tortellini themselves weren’t much to write home about but the bouillon that was drawn over them by the server was pretty outstanding. Of course, this dish was almost immediately overshadowed by one of the biggest scandal to rock Dinner Club since its inception. I’m talking about #GUMGATE
#GumGate2015 erupted at our table when David was attempting to pass either the beef tartare or the tortellini across the table to Maryn. Something…fell off his plate. Something fell off the plate and landed on the table in front of him. Was it…? Could it be…? Chewing gum!? Was someone in the kitchen CHEWING GUM? And did the lose their gum IN OUR FOOD? While we investigated the crime scene (Maryn tried to cut the gum with her knife and fork assuming it was something other than gum I guess?) accusations abound. Should we say something to the server? Is this the most egregious culinary faux pas of all time? NOPE. Turns out it was fucking Nate’s gum. Ew. Ew ew ew ew ew. WHO CHEWS GUM AT THE DINNER TABLE? WHO TAKES THEIR GUM OUT OF THEIR MOUTH AND LEAVES IT ON THE TABLE OR A STRAY PLATE WHERE IT MIGHT AFFIX ITSELF TO ANOTHER PLATE OF FOOD!? GROSS. NATHAN…THAT WAS GROSS.
Beef Short Rib. Potato. Everything Topping. We were all in agreement that the short rib was one of the best bites of the entire meal. Some people placed it ahead of the foie gras. I happened to think it was runner-up to the foie, but it was still outstanding. Juicy, tender and delicious. The potato was creamy and soft, the perfect accompaniment.
Cod. Burnt Onion. Clams. Purslane. The most stunning plate of the night was the cod, but my photo can’t do it justice because there was no flash involved so the starkness of the “burnt” appearance is lost here. It was a beautiful dish and the taste followed suit. Cod can be pretty boring, and this preparation was anything BUT boring. After this we ordered the pork belly with caramelized garlic, egg, rice and bok choy, but we were a couple bottles of wine in at this point and I guess I forgot to photograph it. Whoops! I also got the last bite of the pork belly so I don’t think I’m fit to judge it.
Banana Cream Grand Macaron. I’m not a dessert person, plus by this point we’d also ordered a bottle of prosecco so dessert is a little hazy. I think I had one bite, said “yum” and then went back to whatever conversation I was having.
Chocolate Torte. Persimmon. Olive Sable. EVO Jam. I don’t even think I got a bite of the torte. Again, I’m all about the savory plates. The sweet ones I could do without. We finished off our prosecco and…oh wait, I’m getting texts from Nate right now and he’s offered up pictures of the TWO dishes I forgot to photograph (SHAME ON ME!)
Pork Belly. Caramelized Garlic. Egg. Rice. Bok Choy. You’d never guess it by looking at this piss-poor photo of pork belly, but Nate usually has a really good eye for food. I mean, for fuck’s sake, he produces food shows for television. And yet he managed to make this pork belly plate look like a real shit show. Again, I got the last bite on the plate which was pretty much just a sliver of pork (yum) and some rice (…yum?).
Scallop. Bone Marrow Vinaigrette. Celeriac. Celery. I’m a terrible person. I forgot that our guest of honor Kelie ordered the scallop for the table. This was an phenomenal preparation, and I would order it again in a heartbeat if I wasn’t sharing two little scallops with SEVEN PEOPLE. You know me, anything with bone marrow immediately catches my attention, and the use of it in a vinaigrette here was both unique and tasty.
Chef Hollingsworth was in the house tonight as it was just Otium’s second or third dinner service since opening. Amanda caught him chatting with the kitchen staff, thanked him for an amazing meal, and made him pose for a photo with us. He was very kind to oblige. At least 2/3 of the photo are cute (or “cayoooot!” in Amanda-ese). I’m working on learning how to smile in photographs. It’s taken me 32 years to get to this point. By the time I’m sixty I might have it figured out.
John Carpenter – Through The Mirror [MP3]
