The best food and restaurants for today. Atwater, Hollywood, Silver Lake, Thai Town, Hollywood, New York and wherever my travels take me.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Orris, West LA

My friend Susan was in town from Australia for a conference at UCLA this week so it presented a perfect time to finally try Orris on Sawtelle. At the waiter's recommendation we started with the fried shishito peppers with prosciutto and parmesan. Squash blossoms stuffed with shrimp mousse and olive tapenade was a perfect use of squash blossoms which are pleniful at the farmer's markets right now. Snapper carpaccio with ginger was perhaps my favorite dish of the evening. The ginger dressing was perfect on the warm, sashimi-style snapper. Dungeness crab cakes were tiny but tasty; there are three to a serving, each about an inch in diameter and they are served on a whole-grain mustard sauce. Since I was still a bit hungry we finished off the meal with an order of fried chicken a la japonaise and a side of potato dauphinois. The chicken nuggets were simply fried and served with a spicy sauce. The potatoes were rich and gooey in their cream sauce. As the little plates of food kept arriving the restaurant patio where we were seated filled up as did the interior of the restaurant until the place was totally hopping. We whiled away our Wednesday evening, Susan drinking dark Asahi beer (she the government subsidizes the wine industry and that beer is relatively expensive in Oz) while I tried both a French and Italian rose followed by a Cab/Shiraz blend from Australia. We finally opted for a dessert of flourless chocolate cake with coffee gelato before finally rolling to the car. The bill was $111 plus tip so it wasn't a cheap night out but well worth it for the feast we had.

Orris
2006 Sawtelle Boulevard
Los Angeles
(310) 268-2212

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