Restaurant: The Belvedere
Location: 9882 South Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills, Ca, 90212. 310-551-2888
Date: February 14, 2014
Cuisine: California French
Rating: Good food, turbo service
Every year, my wife and I try somewhere different for Valentines. Not only is this one of the best grossing nights of the year, but it’s also one of the least diner friendly. Restaurants tend toward overpriced fixed menus and aggressively tight seatings. This year, we went for the fancy dining room in the Peninsula, the Belvedere.
The menu for tonight.
And the vegetarian variant (of which my wife took everything but the hot pot — she had the fish instead).
From my cellar: 1995 Robert Ampeau & Fils Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Combettes. 92 points. This is medium gold. Nose is very ripe fruit and honey, but not boytritis. Sweet and satiny and weighty, acid is failing. Finishes with baked apples and pastry.
Lovely mature Chardonnay.
I apologize for the lousy cellphone photos. I forgot to bring a better camera. A nice bread basket. Those crunchy parmesan things were highly addictive.
Beet Tartare. Variations of Beet Textures. Jewel Lettuces. Wild Flowers. The mix of textures was interesting and included freeze dried or flash frozen bits and other modernist touches. The flavors were a little mild, but it was certainly a pleasant dish.
Lobster and Shrimp Ravioli. Uni Butter. Petrossian Caviar. I’m a lover of this kind of seafood ravioli and the center didn’t disappoint. It also paired nicely with the uni. The broth was light. Perhaps a richer sauce might have had a little more umph, but I enjoyed it.
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Loup de Mer. Lemongrass-Kaffir Lime Vapor.
Mild and pleasant with those Thai coconut soup flavors.
Petite Grass-Fed Beef Filet Mignon. Perigord Truffle Potato Mousseline. Glazed Leeks. Beef and potatoes — but fancier!
Eggplant Bayaldi. Perigord Truffle Potato Mousseline. Glazed Leeks.
Caramelia Milk Chocolate Coeur a la Creme. Chilled Blood Orange Consommé. Citrus Segments. I liked this dessert. The heart itself was moist and sweet. The chocolate crunch thing under it was delicious, and the citrus consommé was refreshing.
This was a tasty meal and I enjoyed the light modernist touches. My biggest gripe was the turbo speed at which they served the dinner. They managed to get us out of there in 1:15 minutes total! Wow. The food came nearly immediately and the pace never let up. That being said, service was attentive and they filled the wine glasses frequently, but the meal was so fast we couldn’t finish the bottle.