Comments on: Providence (LA) – Science and the Sea

By: cirio

cirio — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:07:53 +0000

“Despite only receiving one Michelin star, I think this meal, and restaurant, are deserving of two.”

Nice prediction. I think when u say this is the best seafood place in the country, u may have hit the nail right on the head.

I went to Providence last summer and I’ve been going about once a month religiously now.
His artistic style of textural pairings along with flavors is profound. Whether is the gelee with oysters you described, or uni with cauliflower mousse, dover sole and roasted marrow, or king crab leg with persimmon flan, Chef Cimarusti really caters to the underlooked detailed features of each sea item he uses.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 02:48:11 +0000

The next time you’re in L.A., I’d encourage you to visit La Casita Mexicana (www.casitamex.com), in Bell, which is just south of East LA, about 15 minutes from downtown. It’s a small, friendly Mexican bistro with a focus on quality ingredients from East LA growers who focus on traditional Mexican produce. It is the antithesis of the stereotypical greasy Mexican spot, and guac and margaritas are not offered. They do have delicious moles, traditional chile rellenos, flans, soups, homemade lemonades and tortillas, and so on.

Keep up your good blogging work.

Steve

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:54:36 +0000

Hey Chuck,

I ended up going into Patina just for dessert this weekend. I must say the pastry chef does an outstanding job. His stuff is extremely unique in presentation, and everything I tasted on the plate was spectacular in it’s own way. We did a dessert wine pairing too and the sommelier was fantastic (I heard he was nominated for James Beard award a year ago too). Anyways, I highly recommend you going in to order a few of this guy’s desserts.

Hope this helps!
Justin

By: chuckeats

chuckeats — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 05:43:48 +0000

Justin, let us know how the dessert tasting turns out and report back (or include a link to your blog if you have one.) Thanks for the compliments.

By: Justin

Justin — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:38:10 +0000

Hi Chuck,

I think you should go in for a tasting of the desserts at Patina, and while you are at it get the wine pairings and cheese! I read a review from Angelenic on the desserts at Patina, and I made my reservation for this weekend. They just look so good, and the pastry chef has been getting such great reviews.

Btw I am new to your site and I love it!

Justin

By: ChuckEats

ChuckEats — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:36:42 +0000

Ray – dessert is an area I need to focus harder on this blog. There are a few reasons my dessert reviews are generally lacking:

a) In the beginning, I was never very excited about dessert – most restaurants just served you chocolate something – and it never seemed to flow with the meal. However, it seems like restaurants are trying much harder to let desserts continue the story told by the chef.
b) I’m usually a bit tired (and/or inebriated) by that point in the meal so note-taking suffer a noticeable drop-off in quality
c) It gets darker in the restaurant and the photos don’t turn out; as such, I just write the whole thing off and stop taking notes too
d) Restaurants will generally give you a menu but it often lacks the dessert portion. Without a menu, I sometimes don’t feel I can represent the dishes accurately.

It’s definitely an area I need to work on b/c I’ve had some good desserts lately. The desserts at Providence were good to very good; but I’ve long since forgotten what I ate.

ck – As you know, you win some, and you lose some. There are many more restaurants out there to try.

By: ck

ck — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:27:31 +0000

I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog. I am a cook, first and foremost and am cooking at the 3 star michelin level and enjoy the same restaurants as you do. But I have to disagree because I felt as if my meal at Providence was very inconsistent and overrated. I wanted to love this restaurant but I couldn’t find one thing that would bring me back for a second chance. I think when the waiter tried to convince me that the yellow fin tuna was kampachi, my hope was out the door. Later did we find out that they ran out of the fish and tried to pass the tuna off. Good eating!

By: Ray

Ray — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:27:19 +0000

Hey Chuck,

I am assuming that the talented pastry chef Adrian Vasquez didn’t ‘wow’ you with his desserts as you did not review any of them. I do like the comparison with Le-Bernardin. However, as you mentioned, it is more modern.

By: ChuckEats

ChuckEats — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:33:10 +0000

Patrick – this blog is my first, and only, foray into food writing. I’m assuming that the quality of restaurants I cover has made it popular among the ‘right’ audience for such an endeavour as mine – including introductions from friends of the blog. Sometimes I am amazed by who reads this thing. I try to disclose when (I know) the chef knows who I am because someone will b**** about it at some point if I don’t; however, my focus is on documenting the meals I eat and the things I learn – not “proper” reviewing with anonymous visits nor VIP bragging (unlike other popular food blogs today.) I will learn a lot more, and (hopefully) experience the upper limits of a chef’s skill, as a guest of the house instead of as an anonymous diner.

Paul – the chef’s tasting menu costs $150 and I added a few glasses of wine on top of that. There’s a tasting menu option for ~ $125 and one could also just order a la carte. I’ve had the chef’s tasting menu with all three visits.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 19:08:49 +0000

The food there looks very very very attractive and like you said it looks like it deserves more than 1 Michelin star IMO, P.S how much did the meal cost you Chuck