Restaurant: Crustacean Beverly Hills [1, 2, 3, 4]
Location: 468 N Bedford Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. (310) 205-8990
Date: January 11, 2022
Cuisine: Vietnamese Fusion
Rating: Awesome as always
Crustacean is one of our regular haunts and features a great patio in these “outside is better” days. Tonight’s meal was a Hedonist wine dinner — but for some completely inexplicable reason I totally forgot to photo all of the wine. I have no idea why and I’ve never done that before. Wine was good though.
We’ve had a couple awesome meals here in the last couple of years.
For extra caution in these uncertain times we ate on one of their fabulous patios.
Our menu tonight.
Diver Scallop & Green Apple Sashimi. Earl Grey, Thom Yum Calamansi, Kaffir Lime, Ancient Grains. This looks like a bit of fruit or cucumber or something but was a mix of scallop and apple. It was actually incredibly delicious with a briny, sweet, spicy vibe and a contrast of soft and crunchy. Very bright too and unique.
A5 Wagyu Tartare. Rau Rum Salsa Verde, L’Amuse Gouda, Quail Egg. Another great dish. In fact, one of the best tartare’s I’ve had, but very unusual.
Roasted Bone Marrow. Escargot Brunois, Garlic Baguette, Rau Ram. I don’t normally like Bone Marrow (and it’s a total Yarom pick) but this was an amazing dish. It didn’t really come off as that bone marrow-like, but more like escargot with the snails and all that garlic butter.
Asparagus Soup with Langoustine and Black Truffle. Another unexpectedly excellent dish.
Smoked Pork Belly with Roasted Acorn Squash, Hazelnut and Vietnamese Caramel with Winter Truffle. Sounds too sweet and heavy but it was great.
Rib Eye Salt Block Steak.
With An’s Famous Garlic Noodles — can never have too many of these!
And Kung Pao Eggplant. Thai Basil, Thai Red Chili Gastrique. Pretty much just great friend eggplant.
Raspberry Sorbetto — French Raspberries, a touch of lime juice, and a splash of Amaro — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — I had to add a bit of Amaro for my “art” otherwise it would have been too simple — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #sorbetto #raspberry #amaro
Hazelnut at the Ritz Gelato — Nocciola (hazelnut) custard base made with Pure PGI Piedmont hazelnut paste then mixed with house-made caramel and crushed Ritz Crackers (for that salty offset) — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #hazelnut #nocciola #caramel #caramello #ritz #crackers
Overall, this was an awesome evening. Boy did the Ans treat us right and we had an incredible menu, amazing service, and great wines. A was initially skeptical of tonight’s particularly menu, as it had less dishes than usual and none of the “favorites” (except the noodles) but they turned out to be home run unique dishes that really knocked it out of the park.
Wines were great — if only I had taken pictures of them.
Discussing the food analytically. Very good, and most dishes varied from good to great. The Vietnamese influence is far more subtle, less heavy handed, then at most newer fusion places like Little Sister / LXSO or the more contemporary small plates style Khong Ten. Definitely more roughly 2000 in formal fine dining style — which I don’t mind at all. In some ways it feels like a millennium event fine dining place with Vietnamese — and to a lesser extent Thai and Chinese — notes. It’s a pretty fancy place, and priced accordingly — but they do knock it out of the park.