2 ounces of foie terrine, perfectly rare through and through.
2 ounces of pata negra, served with crostini.

A sickeningly refreshing drink concocted as follows:

No. 209 Gin, cucumber, tangerine, agave syrup and soda. According to the bartender, each drink has 1 1/2 freshly squeezed tangerines.

Add above together and you have the hottest thing in WeHo since.. well.. Mr. Plant stopped throwing TVs off the balcony.

No hip restaurant can do without an open kitchen. Tony’s on Sunset sports a huge multi-million dollar kitchen. XIV down the block from RH rocks a more reclusive open kitchen behind glass panes. At the RH, open isn’t good enough. You are eating IN the kitchen. With the low service counter placed right in front of the central burners, you can almost feel the heat from the cooking fire. I love it (insert 3 exclamation marks). It’s Top Chef, WeHo style, minus Padma, but with a cool chef rockin’ a French name (tho he’s really from Louisiana?).

First up, Hudson Valley foie terrine with kumquat config. It’s kumquat season in SoCal… Wait, what am I saying. It’s foie terrine served rare. Who gives a hoot what fruit config is served alongside. Foie. Pink all over, with duck fat still in solid form (visible in pix below). This simply screams: eat me PETA.

But the most controversial duck offal isn’t enough alone, it must be followed by the world’s sexist pile of pork. To go above and beyond the call of duty, and to fight SLS Bazaar head on, chef Sebastien Archambault orders the pata negra directly from Spanish purveyors, bypassing the typical wait time of procuring said ham leg from domestic reseller. In case you’re wondering: what’s the big deal, son!? Bellota pata negra, the finest of jamon Iberico, is considered the bestest in all of Western hemisphere. These slices of jamon from piggies fed on acorn, and aged for thirty six hideously long months, make prosciutto tastes like lunch meat. Rolls Royce of ham.

RH’s generous portions must be noted. Let’s do some math. Domestic retail sourced pata negra is .. o… $1400 per piece from LaTienda which translates to roughly $160 a pound. Since most of us don’t have a proper carving knife, nor possess the skill to use said knife, we’d all be relegated to gnawing the exquisite meat off the bone. At RH, nearly 3 ounces pata negra jamon come with nicely toasted crostini graced with crushed tomatoes. Despite the serving tongue in the picture, I ate both with my fingers. Sorry chef.

This writeup can stop right here. They already had me at foie and grabbed my balls at jamon. Could’ve walked out of the beautiful room kitchen after the appetizers, but we had to test the kitchen.

To do so, I asked for more pork. Per simple calculus, over 3000 combination of cooking methodology, meat selection, sides, sauces, etc. can be formed from what RH calls the “Market List”. It’s Counter Burger-esque, but with your very own French chef at your mercy. That particular night, I wanted to omakase the pork & not let my narrow minded palate dictate the dish. The only thing I requested was for pork to come pink inside ala Forking Delicious’ brined pork chop. What exited the kitchen was a double pork chop with garlic confit, artichoke hearts, and pancetta. That’s right, there was pork on pork love, after the pork sex.

At the end, we were all too stuffed for dessert tho it mattered little. Staring at that sexy hunk of meat sitting on top of the beautiful marble counter running the length of the room was filling enough. Come for the market driven cocktails, stay for some simple rustic fair at this particular stretch of West Hollywood hot mess.

Despite its posh locale, RH is very actively trying to save you money. They participate in the Opentable 1000 points program, as well as offer a happy hour special during which every cocktail is complemented by a free appetizer.

And!! wait for it… this is fun part. Andaz Hotel is on twitter @andazweho! If you follow, you might get a chance to win a night of stay, with means… wait for it again!!! access to the ROCKIN’ WeHo rooftop pool with the gorgeous few. Ok. Now you can breathe.

(Thanks to Mr. Amter for the invitation to dinner and Love Life Hate Kittens for the great company)

RH at the Andaz

Browse Timeline

• « Tasca Happy Hour Menu.
• » Barbrix leaves me broke and hungry, Silver Lake

Comments ( 9 )

Add a Comment