Location: 212 South Beverly Drive. Beverly Hills, CA. (310) 859-3418
Date: October 10, 2018
Cuisine: French Californian
Rating: Great Theme
When it opened several years ago, Maude was a big deal on the LA restaurant scene. For quite some time they had a unique “one ingredient, one month” theme. I had gone 4 years ago in late 2014. But that was back several chefs ago, and now-a-days they have a “season” (of 3 months I think) with a wine theme and food to match. Reversing their early hesitation about corkage, if you bring on theme — you now get free corkage. yay! I went earlier this year for Burgundy and now I’m back with my wife on “date night” for Piedmont.
It’s still located on Beverly in Beverly Hills.
It’s still cute inside.
Quite small with an open kitchen.
Elegant table settings.
Tonight’s menu.
From my cellar: 1999 Paitin di Pasquero-Elia Barbaresco Vecchie Vigne Sorì Paitin. VM 92. The 1999 Barbaresco Sorì Paitin Vecchie Vigne is dark, powerful and opulent, with more than enough stuffing to age well for the better part of the next decade. Smoke, menthol, tar, black fruit and French oak blossom in the glass as this resonant, exuberant Barbaresco show off its unique, totally compelling personality. The French oak is present, but well balanced at the same time.
Bagna Cauda. Fresh farmer’s market vegetables.
And dip.
Bacalao. Parsley, garlic. Cod — with butter!
Agnolotti. Rocchetta Cheese. Could have eaten about 100 more of these.
Vitello Tonnato. Raw tuna on cheese with capers and EVOO.
Tajarin. Bresola, sage. Fetticini-like pasta with like bits of cured beef.
Ravioli. Braised veal and truffles! Awesome.
Vegetarian version without the veal.
Stick a knife in it.
Finanziera. Young beef, foie gras, sweetbread. Good stuff. Rich on rich.
A vegetarian alternative. Looks pretty meaty too.
Occelli al Barolo. Cheese soaked in barolo!
Bread.
In Maude 2.0 you go upstairs for dessert, which I really like. Last time, they had this incredible cheese and dessert buffet. They said that almost killed the pastry chef and now it’s been simplified. Too bad!
Sharon takes it in. Still there was a lot of good stuff up here.
Panna Cotta. Orange, persimmon, honeycomb. Delicious!
“Hot chocolate” with marshmallow and other goodness.
Petit fours.
Some kind of tea. May have been mint tea.
Oh, and they have little “presents” for the morning.
I found this new format for Maude much more pleasant. The food was good. Some dishes were excellent, really good, and some just solid. The service was fabulous. They were trying to go Italian with some success but it still felt a bit French — although certainly very good. The whole no corkage thing is a welcome relief. I loved the 2 locations thing and the loungey location upstairs. All in all a super fun evening!