Providence ()—Los Angeles, CA

We went to Providence for our anniversary and had a great time overall. The service honestly felt a little lacking compared to the other starred restaurants we’ve been to (not that many) as they seemed to miss the details in comparison, not to say it was bad at all. We were a little early for our reservation and were immediately seated in the lounge for drinks, though we weren’t seated at our table until 10 or 15 past our reservation time. We had a couple cocktails since I can’t drink wine right now that were good but not memorable. Pacing felt fine, maybe a little bit slow in some places but never rushed.

I don’t have a picky palate so I thoroughly enjoyed it all 🙂 If I had to choose some favorites, it’d be the spot prawns, scallop, and duck. I cook a lot and just really appreciated how perfectly cooked those were and how hard it is to hit that sweet spot.

Food:

amuse bouche: shima aji tartare with shiso; smoked king salmon, beet, potato crisp on pumpernickel; box crab, yuzu, and serrano(?) cream; a5 wagyu eclair

golden kaluga caviar, potato, egg curd, chive creme fraiche (potato felt overly oily)

kanpachi, celtuce, passionfruit vinaigrette, micro basil

rosemary salt roasted Santa Barbara spot prawns with a squeeze of lemon and olive oil

uni, warm egg yolk, champagne beurre blanc

uni on buckwheat, snap peas, shiitake, geoduck

red fife sourdough, normandy butter

hokkaido scallop, scallop stuffed morel, cauliflower puree, scallop xo

vermillion rockfish, ramp asparagus and yuzu puree, dashi poached hakurei turnips, roast asparagus and ramp

duck breast, smoked and pressed duck thigh, pickled and fresh cherries, cherry sauce

king salmon, fish chip, guanciale, olive, artichoke puree

blueberries, poached lemon peel, lime sorbet, lemon verbena foam, meringue

barley ice cream, bourbon caramel sauce, chocolate cake—all of the chocolate used was processed in-house

cocoa husk tea with fresh mint and chocolate syrup—like a minty hot chocolate in tea form

petit fours: strawberry basil tart, chocolate earl grey bonbon, salted caramel tart, chocolate praline stick

take home was a 75% providence dark chocolate bar