Patina & Blair's

Patina (located at Walt Disney Concert Hall)

After hearing mixed reviews about Patina, I wasn't sure what to expect, but thankfully, from start to finish, it was a great experience, at least food-wise. Service was a bit spotty sometimes, but it could have been worse.

In regards to food, I have to say that the appetizers were superb. The majority of the group ordered the Quartet of the Sea, which consists of 4 different seafood appetizers served all on one plate. It's a dish that changes depending on the seasonality of the seafood ingredients.

However, I ordered the Maryland lump crab cannelloni and melon appetizer and it was a big hit for me. The sweetness of the crab and the refreshing melon merged together in perfect harmony.

Everyone also enjoyed their entrees and desserts. Unfortuantely, my pictures of the entrees came out too blurry, so you won't see them in the photoset below. While everyone went for the lamb or the seafood dishes, I opted for the Crispy Jidori Chicken Breast with Lavendar. While I can't say that I tasted much Lavendar, the chicken skin was crispy and delicious and the breast skin was moist and tender, which is always a welcome thing.

For dessert, I went for the sorbet ice cream which included tahitian vanilla, a rich dark chocolate, chamomille lemon and unfortunately, I don't remember the 4th flavor. I really enjoyed the chamomille lemon and would have been happy with just that being the only sorbet in my dish. Unfortuantely, I didn't keep any notes on the desserts, so I don't remember the names of some of the other dishes, but you can at least see pictures of two of them below.


Blair's (Silverlake)

I've been hearing about Blair's for a while now, but it wasn't until last month that I finally got to experience it for myself. For those of you who don't know, Blair's positions itself as a bistro that serves New American Cuisine. If you want to know more about New American Cuisine, you can find out more on their website because here I'm just going to concentrate on the food.

Blair's menu is seasonal which is nice because they take advantage of what the best ingredients are for that time of year. For my dinner there, I went all the way from appetizer to dessert and what a treat my meal was. I started with the roasted beets, avocado and goat cheese on mixed greens with a beet vinaigrette.

This was a great salad with a lot of great textures and flavors: the creaminess of the avocado, the saltiness of the goat cheese and the weediness, slightly bitterness of the greens combined with the beets for great eating. My entree was the risotto with the butternut squash and also had unusual ingredients. How often do you see collard greens with butternut squash? At first, I wasn't sure about this combo, but the greens actually cut down the sweetness of the squash and actually balanced the dish really well.

Dessert was the caramel pudding trifle with strawberries, whipped cream and buttermilk cake. What I liked about this dessert is that it wasn't overly sweet and I don't think I've ever had a dessert that was made up of pudding and fruit before, so that made this dessert a little more different for me anyway.

Overall, both Patina's and Blair's were great restaurant experiences for me and I would definitely be more than happy to return to either of them in the future.

Patina
141 S Grand Ave (Cross Street: West Third Street)
Los Angeles, CA 90012
213) 972-3331
www.patinagroup.com/patina/

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594305212808/

Blair's Restaurant
2903 Rowena Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90039 (323) 660-1882
http://www.blairsrestaurant.com/

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594305236882/