Providence – 6/17/10

Providence
5955 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038

While I had been to Providence only a month earlier, the restaurant’s anniversary promotion brought me and some friends in. During the month of June, the restaurant is offering their 5-course menu for $65 to celebrate their anniversary.

Unfortunately, the menu was hardly different from my last trip. The tasting menu is to be shared among the table, and we were a little pressed for time, so I stuck with the 5-course with one supplement (spot prawns).  The following was the meal, with some of the courses from the vegetarian tasting menu:

amuse bouche – gin and tonic, margarita, cured tasmanian sea trout

This amuse has been a Providence staple for some time. The “cocktails” are always a fun bite, and the cured sea trout, while kind of an odd pairing with the two “cocktails,” is fresh tasting and a good starter for the meal to come.

japanese kanpachi crispy rice crackers, coriander, soy crème fraîche

The kanpachi is a denser fish, and a bit chewy. The rice crackers added a nice crispness, and I thought the coriander really brightens up the flavors.

The vegetarian course was hearts of palm wrapped in asparagus with rice crackers and topped with a tomato.

bobby’s block island scallop japanese eggplant, ramps, reduction of vadouvan and sauternes

This was one of my favorite courses in my last outing, and I was happy to see it again. The scallop is perfectly seared, and fairly rare in the interior. The mild curry sauce, and subtle crunch from the bell peppers and eggplant, really separate this dish from other scallop dishes.

The vegetarian course was a carrot soup/grilled cheese combination. A curry foam and creme fraiche is added to the carrot soup.

salt roasted santa barbara spot prawns live spot prawns roasted in salt, served with spanish olive oil and lemon

We ordered this course a la carte to supplement the 5-course. A pan full of salt comes to the table, and the prawns are carved tableside. Three prawns are carved for each person, and topped with lemon and olive oil. Very simple.

The presentation is pretty impressive for this course. While not overcooked, the shrimp was a little more cooked than I would have liked it (I would call this a medium, compared to a preferred medium rare). I had this dish two trips ago, and it was more closely a medium rare on that trip. However, these were very fresh prawns – clean flavors and a nice sweetness made this dish.

wild halibut smoked paprika, squash, basil bread crumbs

This piece of fish was cooked really nicely.  The halibut was very flavorful, and the basil breadcrumbs were unique and really went well with this dish.

The vegetarian course was a poachaed egg over polenta, topped with black summer truffles, a tomato-bell pepper compote, and a frisee salad.

marcho farms veal tenderloin sweet peas, bacon, almond, and morel mushrooms

This is an exceptional veal dish – extremely tender, and somewhat mild in flavor considering it’s from the tenderloin. The peas, bacon and almonds complement and bring out the flavors of this dish. However, my top piece appeared to be cooked a bit more than the bottom piece. Each of the other diners had a really nice pink in the center, while this was brownish. I’m not really sure why this was, but it was rather irritating, though I don’t think it affected the flavor or tenderness much.

Comparatively, this is what the veal looked like on the previous visit.

yuzu curd, meringue raspberry sorbet, jasmine

The yuzu curd was fairly tart, and the raspberry sorbet added additional tartness. Though, there is a nice crunch from cookie crumbles. However, I find I’m more of a sweets type of dessert person.

Finally, the mignardises.

We were served white chocolate macarons, salted caramel and a chocolate pepper marshmallow. These were all good, and I really enjoyed the macaron. The marshmallow was interesting, with a very subtle peppery kick.

In all, another fairly solid meal, though not quite as good as last month’s. Part of that is probably attributable to having a very similar menu. Service was a little less polished this time around, as bread only came around once (we had to ask a second time) and water and drinks weren’t filled up as quickly as anticipated. Having said that, Providence remains one of my favorite restaurants in the city. I’ve become very critical because I’ve had some really great meals here.