The Bazaar
By Joshua Lurie
For dineLA.com
Slide into a black leather booth at this steak-fueled Pico Rivera throwback, where servers prepare four classic desserts tableside. For banana flambé, servers begin by adding brown sugar and butter to a pan, which caramelizes over the butane burner. Then comes the fresh sliced banana, canned peach and a waterfall of crème de banana, amaretto and rum. They tilt the pan to ignite the liquor, transfer the fruit to twin bowls of vanilla ice cream, then cook off the alcohol so it’s kid friendly and bitter free. Almond slivers crisp in the caramel and impart flavor. Pour the caramel sauce over the ice cream and voila.
Lawry’s tableside preparations date to 1938, highlighted by their “spinning salad bowl” and of course Prime rib. Longtime chef Walter Eckstein slow-roasts Prime rib for three-and-a-half hours with Lawry’s seasoned salt, then a server delivers the rib in a hooded silver cart. “The customer can decide what cut you like, what size and how you want it cooked,” says Eckstein. “It’s a show, but it’s definitely good quality.”
Several Korean restaurants end the meal with fried rice, utilizing flavorful broth loaded with goat meat, baby octopus or pork belly. At On Dal 2, owner Soo Kim specializes in swimming crab. Work your way through a bubbling cauldron of spicy soup loaded with vegetables and scissor-cuts of sweet crab. When you’re ready, the server removes residual crab and stir-fries the remains with rice, sesame oil, bean powder, curry, cilantro, seaweed and “special sauce.” The base of the rice forms a tantalizing crust in the pan.
Chef-owner Michael Cimarusti regularly stocks over 20 artisanal cheeses on his cart, depending on “whatever is available and looks good.” There’s no written menu, but your server may announce Kentuckiana cheesemaker Judy Schadd’s Sofia, a goat cheese layered with vegetable ash; Doigts de Chevre – French-made “fingers of goat cheese”; or Estrella Family Creamery’s Brewleggio, a Washington twist on Taleggio with a beer-washed rind. Each plate comes with dried figs, walnuts, apricot-black pepper preserves and Adrian Vasquez’s house-baked hazelnut-fig bread. “I just keep finding cheeses that we can’t be without and our guests can’t be without,” says Cimarusti.
Manhattan import Rosa Mexicano produces tableside guacamole for two at L.A. LIVE, relying on a signature 25-year-old recipe. Fresh-scooped avocado is folded with chopped onions, jalapeños, cilantro and chopped tomato, forming a chunky guac that’s an ideal match for crispy corn tortilla chips. The dip is presented in a molcajete, a fetching lava stone bowl.
During weekend brunch at José Andrés’ gastronomic pleasure palace, no cocktail is more stunning than the Tableside “Nitro” Blood Orange Screwdriver. Beverage Director Lucas Paya helped develop the recipe, which involves pouring liquid nitrogen and a blood orange-vodka mix into a bowl. Your server whisks the smoking nitrogen, creating an alcoholic slushee. The toppers: fresh-grated coffee bean and orange zest. At night, they make a tableside caipirinha using cachaça and lime.
BOA’s is best known for steaks, but you might as well start in style. Server John "Johnny Salad" Bain has built a following by preparing BOA’s dinner-only Caesar salad in dramatic fashion, twirling his pepper grinder and spinning the plate while composing your Caesar. He's also been known to do the moonwalk. BOA’s updated classic is more spicy than creamy, spiked with minced garlic, anchovies and a splash of Tabasco. Bain’s method is quicker and “as fun and entertaining as possible.”
Fogo de Chão originated in the mountains of southern Brazil, dedicated to “the gaucho way of preparing meat.” The Beverly Hills branch doesn’t have actual cowboys or fogo de chão - “fire on the ground” – but they do have unlimited meat. Sit down and flip your double-sided disc to green - Sim Por Favor (Yes Please!) – and “gauchos” flood your table with sword-shaped skewers. They slide and shave chunks of Cordeira (lamb chop), Linguica (slow-roasted pork sausages) and Lombo (pork loin), to name just three options.
Hollywood nightlife impresario David Judaken enlisted Lutèce Las Vegas veteran Keven Alan Lee to create chic pan-Asian cuisine. Tableside, Chef Lee offers New Style Bibimbap, a nouveau Korean classic with a hot stone pot loaded with rice, fresh-cracked quail egg, carrots, cilantro and house-made Ponzu sauce that contains chile, sesame oil and lemon juice. You get a choice of lobster, shrimp or sprouts. Stir the ingredients and rice forms a crisp crust on the sizzling pot.
The Bazaar, 465 S. La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, 310.246.5555
BOA Steakhouse, 9200 W. Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood, 310.278.2050
Dal Rae, 9023 Washington Blvd, Pico Rivera, 323.723.4427
EAST, 6611 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, 323.462.3278
Fogo de Chao, 133 N. La Cienega Blvd, Beverly Hills, 310.289.7755
Lawry’s The Prime Rib, 100 N. La Cienega Blvd, Beverly Hills, 310.652.2827
On Dal 2, 4566 W. Washington Blvd, Los Angeles, 323.933.3228
Providence, 5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, 323.460.4170
Rosa Mexicano, 800 W. Olympic Blvd, Downtown, 213.746.0001
PLAY
/ Dining
/ Featured Dining
BOOK IT
to LA >>
Show:
DAL RAE
LAWRY’S THE PRIME RIB
ON DAL 2
PROVIDENCE
ROSA MEXICANO
THE BAZAAR
BOA STEAKHOUSE
FOGO DE CHAO
EAST
