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Zengo – Macro Mall Medley

May27

Restaurant: Zengo [1, 2, 3]

Location: 395 Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Tel. 310.899.1000

Date: May 20, 2011

Cuisine: Latin-Asian Fusion

Rating: Color me confused — It’s in a mall, and it’s pretty good.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

As I discussed previously, this is a slightly commercialized but pretty tasty mall restaurant whose appearence has accompanied the rooflift of Santa Monica Place. This one is Latin-Asian fusion. Sort of Asia de Cuba meets Rivera.

The roof terrace is pretty awesome. I wish more places in LA had great outdoor spaces.

“Hot & sour egg drop soup, foie gras-pork dumplings / enoki / green onion.” This is one of two repeats from last time. It had a very inserting note to the sour, from tamarind I think. The richness of the dumplings too is very nice as is the texture of the enoki.

“Crunchy calamari salad, Lemongrass / Mixed greens / Orange-coriander sauce.” This was a tasty salad, mixing a nice dressing with tasty calamari. The batter was very good, with something sweet in it. The fry was a little strong, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good.

“Thai chicken empanadas. Chile poblano / Oaxaca cheese / mango-curry salsa.” These were heavy little fellows, and I mean literally. They weighed about twice what I would’ve expected. They tasted good too, but weren’t exactly light.

“Achiote-hoisin pork arepas, corn masa / avocado / crema fresca.” These are serious flavor bombs. The meat tastes a bit like a good short rib, and goes perfectly with the typical pairing of avocado and crema fresca. There is just a bit of heat from the chilies. This is one of my favorite dishes.

“Chicken Tandoori. Masala-achiote roasted chicken / black bean dal / cilantro & mango salsa.” The chicken itself was so soft it felt (and looked) a bit like shrimp. Tasty too, but not one of my absolute favorites.

“Chipotle-miso glazed black cod. Daikon radish / pea sprots lemon-togarashi aioli.” This is a reinterpreted version of the Nobu Matsuhisa classic. It’s a tad overdone.

“Beef short rib udon noodles. Shitake / Asparagus / Basil / Cilantro / Ginger-hoisin broth.” It’s hard in this picture to see the beef and the noodles underneath, but they’re there. This and the calamari were probably my favorites of the new dishes we tried this time.

Another view of the roof deck.

While this was still a tasty (and reasonably priced) meal, we did better with our selections the previous time. Perhaps that is because we forced ourselves to order some new things when some of the other ones (that we’d tried before) sounded better. I guess we know our own taste because they did!

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Bixa orellana, Cook, Egg Drop Soup, Foie gras, Fusion cuisine, Latin, Nobu Matsuhisa, Santa Monica California, Santa Monica Place, Soups and Stews, Zengo

Zengo 2 – part deux

Mar08

Restaurant: Zengo [1, 2, 3]

Location: 395 Santa Monica Place, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Tel. 310.899.1000

Date: March 4, 2011

Cuisine: Latin-Asian Fusion

Rating: Color me confused — It’s in a mall, and it’s pretty good.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

A month to the day after my first visit (REVIEW HERE), I went back to Zengo. As I discussed previously, this is a slightly commercialized but pretty tasty mall restaurant whose appearence has accompanied the rooflift of Santa Monica Place. This one is Latin-Asian fusion. Sort of Asia de Cuba meets Rivera.

Today’s menu. PDF version HERE. The menu is pretty much all tapas style (hooray!) where you order 3 or so dishes per person and share them all.

“Thai shrimp lettuce wraps, chorizo / peanut / cilantro / tamarind chutney.” The second repeat. All three ingredients are combined like most “Thai wraps.”

Close up. The shrimp has a nice crunch and texture. The sauce is tamarind, and quite sour. Overall very nice.

“Peking duck-daikon tacos, duck confit / curried apple / orange-coriander sauce.” These were YUMMY. The meat was very soft and BBQ flavored. You could hardly tell it from some good Carolina style BBQ-pork, but it wasn’t pork (duck). The sauce is light and sweet, the apple mostly for texture, and the daikon an interesting and very slick and cool (it’s wet) take on a taco.

Close up. The smoked flavor of the meat comes through strong, and it’s darn good. The other elements provide complementary notes and texture.

“Scallops al mojo de ajo, roasted corn-edamame salsa / bacon, cotija cheese / roasted garlic soy, yuzu-sriracha aioli.” Probably the least successful dish of the lot, but certainly not bad. The scallops themselves were tasty. The rest was like a slightly coleslaw’ish succotash, with bacon chunks. The bacon was really good though — when isn’t it?

“Pork carnitas rice noodles, pork shoulder / mushroom / cashew / soft egg / hot ’n sour sauce.” Another winner. The noodles are tossed first, allowing the poached egg to break an coat them with yolk — Korean style? These overall had a really nice flavor: salty savory. Like Thai egg noodles with meat, but with more things going on.

As I said last thing, Zengo is not subtle cuisine, it’s full of crazy bold flavor combos. But I’m still impressed, and doubly so considering it’s a mall restaurant. The all tapas style menu gets my vote too because I’m sometimes a more is more kind of guy, and I hate getting stuck with just two dishes.

If you enjoyed this, check out the previous REVIEW HERE, or just across the deck the interesting Dimsum Xino.

By: agavin
Comments (3)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Barbecue, bbq, Cooking, Egg Drop Soup, Foie gras, Fusion cuisine, Home, Santa Monica California, Santa Monica Place, Zengo

Mall Eclectic – Zengo

Feb08

Restaurant: Zengo [1, 2, 3]

Location: 395 Santa Monica Place, b/w Broadway & Colorado, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Tel. 310.899.1000

Date: February 4, 2011

Cuisine: Latin-Asian Fusion

Rating: Color me confused — It’s in a mall, and it’s pretty good.

ANY CHARACTER HERE

With the Santa Monica place facelift — actually more of a rooflift — the powers that be have installed 4-5 new restaurants on the top floor. Now, I’m not much for mall restaurants, but I’ve tried two and they were pretty good. These places live in a kind of hybrid space between chain and “one off restaurant.” I’m not a big fan of chains either, but I guess those big mall landlords don’t like to risk their profitable leases on companies that can go belly up on the drop of a plate.

Second, the locations are pretty sweet. The new mall is basically the old mall (3 stories) with the lid ripped off, and it’s pretty cool given the proximity of the Pacific and the scenic view down the 3rd Street Promenade. These are big places and they have cool heated patios with great views.

The concepts are also hybrids, Americanized fusions of popular international styles. Zengo bills itself as Asian-Latin fusion. Which I guess it is. I also have a review of the Modern Chinese / Dim sum, Xino.

Zengo seemed a trendy spot, and the warm February night put me in a cocktail mode, the drink menu above. Official version.

“Pomelo Mezcal Margarita, mezcal / fresh pomelo / citrus / grapefruit bitters.” Tasty, a bit bitter though.

“Tamarind-Togarashi Margarita, silver tequila / tamarind / citrus / togarashi salt.” Very interesting drink, tangy, and a tad spicy — but good.

Above is the special Dine LA menu, but the regular one can be found here. Another nice thing about this place is it’s more or less all tapas-style, small dishes for everyone to share. This is one of my favorite formats because I’m a flavor whore, the more the better.

“VEGETARIANO ROLL.” Sort of a california roll minus the crab.

“Hot & Sour Egg Drop Soup, Foie Gras Pork Dumplings, Enoki, Green Onion.” Also tasty. Sort of like classic hot and sour with meaty livery wontons.

“Thai Shrimp Lettuce Wraps, Chorizo, Peanut, Cilantro, Tamarind Chutney.” Another hybrid Americanized dish — but again good. The shrimp were nicely stir fried with that crispy crunch of good chinese fry. Strong zesty flavors, with a lot of tang in the sauce.

“Chipotle Miso Glazed Black Cod, Daikon Radish, Lemon-Togarashi Aioli.” A variant of the Miso Black Cod pioneered at Matsuhisa (REVIEW HERE). This one has a lot more flavors going on. Not only the sweet, but tangy and the richness of aioli.

“Grilled Beef Short Ribs, Manchego Cheese Potato Puree, Hoisin Adobo Sauce, Huitlacoche.” Rich dark short ribs, the polenta like potato, with a bit of cheesiness, and the sweetness of the Hoisin Adobo. Not bad.

“Mexican Chocolate Tart, Cocoa Nibs, Cinnamon, Whipped Cream, Chili Ancho Anglaise.” A nice blend of dry chocolate and cinnamon, the chili anglaise was good too. Combined it did make one think of spiced frothy Aztec drink.

This is not a subtle cuisine, but I’m not complaining either. The nuevo latino vibe is very strong, owing a lot to something like Rivera downtown (I have a meal worth of photos I need to write up one of these days). But more commercial. The Asian part borrows from every conceivable international pan-Asian dish. It’s not totally ground breaking food — and as I said very commercial — but what I tasted was very well done, and the patio and view really didn’t suck. So given the caveat of my distaste of malls and corporate restaurants, I deliver a tentative thumbs up.