Los Angeles, CA 90013
thegorbalsla.com
BBE strikes again! This time at Top Chef winner Ilan Hall's flagship restaurant in downtown LA. For 30% off the entire bill...how can you NOT order everything on the menu when you have a party of 6? Give us the gamut, please!
1. Bacon-wrapped matzoh balls, mustard aioli
2. Chips & herbs
3. Potato latkes, smoked applesauce
4. Crispy broccoli, soy & chilies
5. grilled corn, pimenton butter
6. Cucumber salad & sesame
7. Grilled green onions, romesco
8. Crispy Tripe, curry aioli
9.Whipped schmatlz, russian sourdough
10. Confit beef tongue, romesco, buttermilk croutons
11. Roasted bone marrow, mushrooms & walnuts
12. Burger, fried egg
13. Pork loin, summer squash, golden raisins
14. Twice fried chicked, grilled watermelon
15. Pork belly, dates & capers
16. Stout steamed mussels, squid ink butter
17. Bought the kitchen a round of beers
18. Sticky toffee pudding, ice cream, maldon salt
Overall, the meal with good. Nothing too exceptional, with some hits and some misses. Our favorite dishes of the night included the bacon-wrapped matzo balls, crispy brocolli, roasted corn, crispy tripe and braised tongue.
Some of the lows seemed to be menu fillers more than anything. Chips and herbs turned out to be a fancy way of serving french fries with aioli. My mom would have lectured me to no end if she saw the green onions with romesco - she definitely could have made that at home and made it better. The mussels were tasty, but left black gunk in everyone's teeth.
We were especially looking forward to the sticky toffee pudding. The Top Chef season finale had just aired a week or so prior to this dinner where Chef Hall made a special appearance to aid Ed in creating his final dishes of the competition. Ed handed the dessert reigns over to Chef Hall - which turned out to be a fatal mistake. Ed/Ilan ended up serving this sticky pudding and Ed got blasted by the judges for serving such a plain, simple and visually unappealing dessert during the most important meal of the competition. So we were definitely looking to try this infamous sticky toffee pudding. It was decent but definitely not a Top Chef-winning dish (if Ed was judged on this dish alone, it is not suprising that he didn't win).
Overall, the 30% BBE coupon made this meal a good one - had it not been for the coupon, we probably would not have enjoyed it as much. Will not be coming back anytime soon unless another coupon surfaces.