Chef Ben Bailly shows off his lamb cheeks. Photo by John Ales.

Is third time the charm for Ben Bailly? Bailly recently joined Cliff’s Edge as executive chef, where he was brought on to revamp the menu after stints at Petrossian and Fraiche Culver City. Cliff’s Edge is Bailly’s third restaurant since arriving in Los Angeles, and his food complements the Sliver Lake location nicely. The menu is elevated but not stuffy, which seems to speak well to the discerning hipster neighborhood.

During a recent visit to Cliff’s Edge, I enjoyed both the cocktails and the food. I really liked the Bitter Pill (Zaya 12 year rum, Fernet Branca, brown sugar, fresh lime juice, egg whites, orange oils), which had great depth of flavor. The Gold Rush (Buffalo Trace bourbon, honey syrup, fresh lemon juice, orange oils) and Question Mark (Bols Genever gin, lavender simple syrup, fresh grapefruit and lemon juice, Peychauds bitters, flamed grapefruit oils) were also winners, mostly because I love the bourbon-citrus combo as well as lavender in general.

As for the food, the Whipped Ricotta with lavender (again!), honey and olive oil is a must to start. It’s fluffy, creamy and fragrant. The Crispy Polenta served with mushrooms, egg, and Pecorino Romano cheese, as well as the Seared Scallops with lebne yogurt cheese, cauliflower, Vadouvan spice and salsa verde, are solid savory options.

The Skate Wing served with sunchokes, brown butter, pine nuts, lemon and capers was hands-down my favorite main dish. It was reminiscent of a fish and sunchoke dish that Bailly served at Fraiche that I also enjoyed. The Lamb Cheeks with celery root purée, rapini and hazelnut gremolata is another good choice.

The Chocolate Torta is what you should order for dessert. At once light, smooth and decadent, this cake is one of the best chocolate cakes I’ve had in a while. I don’t normally order the chocolate cake at restaurants, but I would definitely do it here.

Note: This meal was hosted.

Lamb sausage for Blue Cow menu

Mario Del Pero and Ellen Chen, the folks who brought you the uber-delish sandwich spot Mendocino Farms (now open in West Hollywood by Target), have plans to open Blue Cow, a more upscale restaurant, early next year. Blue Cow, to be housed in the space occupied by Casa in California Plaza in downtown Los Angeles, will also feature sandwiches at the heart of its menu and serve as a test kitchen for Mendocino Farms. Joshua Smith (Church & State, Anisette) will be executive chef, and Steve Livigni (La Descarga, Harvard & Stone) will design the seasonal cocktail menu. And there will be sandwiches of the ice cream kind from pastry chef Miho Travi. Sounds kind of amazing, right?

At a recent tasting at the new MF West Hollywood location, collaborating (yes, partnerships of this type are slated to be common at Blue Cow) chef Jason Travi of Fraiche restaurant fame debuted a couple of his creations for the Blue Cow menu: a turkey sausage sandwich made with Wild Turkey whiskey, apple compote and pickled mushrooms, and a lamb sausage topped with harissa, red onion, cucumbers, tomatoes and red bell peppers. While I really enjoyed the Mediterranean-inspired lamb sausage (and I’m not a big fan of lamb in general), the turkey sausage sandwich was too sweet for my taste. But, these recipes could very well change, as they’re still in the testing phase.

Also, I think I may have found my new favorite sandwich at Mendocino Farms: the “Not So Fried” Chicken made with roasted chicken breast rolled in soy-based “Krispies,” herb aioli, whole grain mustard slaw, tomatoes and pickled red onions on toasted ciabatta bread. Very satisfying.

"Not So Fried" Chicken sandwich from Mendocino Farms

Further reading:

Mario Del Pero of Mendocino Farms to Open Blue Cow Feb. 1 with Stellar BOH Lineup by Eater LA

Note: This tasting was hosted.

Eggplant caviar and smoked trout rillettes

Culver City just got a little cooler: Chef Benjamin Bailly, formerly of Petrossian in West Hollywood, has taken over the helm at Fraiche. And he has revamped the menu to blend French (he’s from France, natch) and Italian influences. Perhaps the best part, at least for me, is the reasonable prices for the high quality food: nothing is priced more than $28 on the dinner menu, with most items coming in under $20.

I recently had the pleasure of experiencing the dinner menu myself — along with Caroline of Caroline on Crack — at the invitation of Chef Bailly. Herewith, some of my favorites.

We started with a couple of the potted items under the Share section of the menu. I really liked the smoked trout rillette with lemon, chives and creme fraiche. It was creamy and packed full of flavor. The eggplant caviar (really just the seeds of the eggplant) topped with golden raisins and marcona almonds was also a winner — and pretty.

Eggplant caviar topped with raisins and marcona almonds

The brussels sprouts salad had lots of sweet and savory flavors with its mixture of chorizo, dates, almonds, manchego cheese and piquillo pepper vinaigrette. I loved the juxtaposition of the spicy chorizo against the sweet dates, and I’m a huge fan of brussels sprouts in general, so this salad was perfect for me.

Brussels sprout salad

And speaking of perfection, the mushroom agnolotti topped with more wild mushrooms, mascapone cheese and truffle butter was amazing. AMAZING. I could have lapped up that sauce all on its own. This is a must-order dish. I hear Chef Bailly also makes a truffle burger, which I will definitely go back for.

Mushroom agnolotti

From the entree menu, we had this crispy loup de mer served on a bed of sunchoke soubise (a béchamel-based sauce normally containing strained or puréed onions), wild mushrooms, crosnes (small crispy tubers in the mint family), salsifi (the root of a flowering plant) and bordelaise sauce. As you can probably tell, this dish was full of uncommon ingredients that required a bit of Googling. But while I was eating it, I didn’t feel like it was so exotic; rather, all the items came together nicely, from the perfectly cooked fish to the strange-but-tasty crosnes (the little white things underneath the fish that either look like seashells or larvae, depending on your point of view).

Crispy loup de mer

For dessert, I enjoyed the pistachio crème brûlée served with apricot sorbet and rosemary cookie crumbles (and a cool sugar design). I’m a sucker for anything pistachio, and I had never seen it served as a crème brûlée, so this was a treat.

Pistachio crème brûlée with apricot sorbet and rosemary crumble

Pistachio crème brûlée

We were also served a slew of cocktails by mixologist Kiowa Bryan, and my favorite was The Big Lebowski, a deconstructed white Russian. Most of the other drinks she graciously presented to us had just too much going on for my taste.

The Big Lebowski deconstructed White Russian

All in all, I would recommend the new menu at Fraiche for your next trip to Culver City. Thanks again to Chef Bailly for making this happen!

Note: This meal was hosted.

I’ve been to Riva once, but it was right before the announcement was made to convert the space into Fraiche, so I didn’t blog about it. I enjoyed my meal there, though I did feel it was a bit overpriced, which may have contributed to the restaurant’s demise. No matter; the new Fraiche under Chef de Cuisine Sydney Hunter (who was also with Riva) is elegant yet accessible, a great combination.

This tasting was special; crafted by Chef Hunter, the “mini” tasting was really a seven-course, three-hour meal complete with wine pairings that was just for us. So while what we had isn’t necessarily on the menu, it definitely showcased Hunter’s abilities and offers a look into the kind of cooking you can expect while dining at Fraiche.

Since this was an epic meal that left me full for the entire next day, I’ll give you the highlights.

We started with Japanese scallops with braised pearl onion, lobster glace, lemon oil, orange and sage, which was a nice light way to start a meal. You could tell that each ingredient was put there for a reason, and I especially enjoyed the onion with the scallop.

Japanese scallop

Next up was hands-down my favorite part of the meal: foie gras terrine layered with prosciutto and fig puree served with orange gelee, Campari gastrique and arugula. Once again, each ingredient had its place and purpose, and eating a little bit of everything on pieces of toast was definitely the best way to enjoy it, just as Hunter intended. I admit I’m not a foie gras connoisseur, but this piece had so much flavor from being cured and the inclusion of prosciutto and fig that it would have been impossible not to like it.

Foie gras (bottom), orange gelee, Campari gastrique, arugula (top)

I also liked the John Dory served with baby root vegetables pearl onions, turnips and carrots, and topped with toasted brioche crumbs. The fish was cooked on low in the oven in brown butter, making it tender and juicy.

John Dory

There was another fish dish, this one halibut, also roasted in the oven in brown butter, and served with cauliflower puree with nutmeg, caviar of cauliflower (the top part of the vegetable), paddlefish caviar, almonds, parsley, chanterelles, red currants and English peas. This one was also executed well, but the currants were too sweet for my taste.

Halibut

The kurobuta pork was served two ways, one was a bone-in chop with baby turnips, brussels sprouts, butternut squash puree and pumpkin seeds, and the other was a braised loin with lentils, carrot sauce and ginger-honey emulsion that was like a stew. I preferred the braised pork in the stew, which was more flavorful, though the other plate was beautiful.

Kurobuta chop

Braised pork

There was also rabbit three ways, with a confit, saddle and rack served up with a rich sauce made with the animal’s offal. This wasn’t one of my favorites, but I’m not a big rabbit person.  The mini rack was kind of cute, though.

Rabbit confit (top), saddle (center), rack (bottom)

The milk chocolate cremeux for dessert was a dish I had when the place was still Riva; it was good then, and it was good this time around, too. Once again each ingredient was integral to the overall experience, and the combination of the chocolate, candied pecans, brown butter ganache and coconut sorbet is perfect, but the candied pecans really make this dish with its crunchy texture. I just wish the brown butter ganache wasn’t presented like silly string.

Milk chocolate cremeux

Sommelier Iain Walling needs a shout out here; his choices to go with our food were somewhat bold, I’m told, but those risks paid off. I’ve said it before, but I’m not a big wine person so I can’t expound on the qualities of the wine we had. But I can say that everything Walling chose paired very nicely with each of our dishes. He even went with a beer cocktail of Framboise and Allagash White for dessert, which I liked a lot.

Framboise and Allagash beer cocktail

Though I enjoyed this meal, I would have liked to have tried some of the pastas on the regular menu, too, as they looked very tasty on other diners’ tables. Fraiche Santa Monica’s menu isn’t online, but Fraiche Culver City‘s is, so take a look to see what you can probably expect. Also take a look at the posts of my fellow diners Kevin of Kevin Eats, Will of FoodDigger and Esther of e*starLA.