Steak at Morels

What, you still don’t know what you’re going to eat for Christmas? Well, don’t worry — check out some of these Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals in Los Angeles and Orange County. (Note: I have not checked if these places still have available reservations, but I’m sure there will be last-minute cancellations in any case.)

Los Angeles

Christmas Eve

Marino Ristorante: This Hollywood eatery is offering a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner, a common custom in southern Italy. This 10-course feast will be offered during both lunch and dinner. The menu features traditional dishes such as Insalata di Rinforzo, a pickled cauliflower and vegetable salad that is typically eaten on Christmas Eve; Baccala Fritto and Baccala in Umido, two preparations of salt cod; and Italian dessert Souffle di Panettone.

Price: $59 per person
Address: 6001 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90038
Reservations: (323) 466-8812 or online

Patina: This downtown mainstay will be offering a special four-course prix fixe menu featuring Maine lobster salad, a fall glazed-vegetable mosaic, foie gras ravioli, and a choice of Pennsylvania roasted duck in huckleberry jus or Colorado rack of lamb with baby artichokes. Dessert options are a chestnut Mont Blanc with French meringue or macerated raspberries with chocolate gratin and milk emulsion. Menu here.

Price: $95 per person; $25 for additional artisanal cheeses; a la carte menu also available
Address: 141 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Reservations: (213) 972-3331

More Patina Group restaurants, including Café Pinot, Pinot Bistro, Zucca Ristorante, Nick & Stef’s Steakhouse and Kendall’s, will be having special dinners for Christmas Eve, too.

Christmas Day

Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro: This fancy-but-not restaurant at The Grove is offering two different meals, one at the more casual bistro with a seasonal soup or salad, choice of Chilean sea bass or filet mignon, and choice of a flourless chocolate cake or black & white chocolate mousse. The other meal will be served in the upstairs steakhouse with choice of lobster bisque or spiced butternut squash soup, choice of seared jumbo scallops or a beet and goat cheese napoleon, main courses of filet mignon and Maine lobster tail or roasted duck, and dessert of either molten chocolate cake or Mont Blanc sundaes.

Price: $35 in the bistro; $65 in the steakhouse
Address: 189 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Reservations: (323) 965-9595

Orange County

Christmas Eve

Leatherby’s Café Rouge: This eatery at the Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall will be serving a three- or four-course prix fixe featuring everything from mushroom feuillete to seared foie gras to oven-roasted goose. Full menu here.

Price: $54 for three courses; $64 for four courses; $15.95 for children under 12
Address: 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Reservations: (714) 429-7640

Pinot Provence: This hotel restaurant is offering the choice of a three- or four-course menu, with dishes including Dungeness crab salad, maple leaf duck breast with chestnut fondue, and rotisserie chicken with parmesan polenta. Full menu here.

Price: $55 for 3 courses; $65 for 4 courses; $15.95 for children under 12
Address: Westin South Coast Plaza, 686 Anton Blvd, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Reservations: (714) 444-5900

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Catal Restaurant and Uva Bar: This Downtown Disney eatery will be having a special three-course menu with items such as oxtail soup, butternut squash risotto, prime rib and slow-roasted duck breast. Full menu here.

Price: $45 for adults; $15.95 for children
Address: 1580 Disneyland Drive, Anaheim, CA 92802
Reservations: (714) 774-4442

We started off with four cocktails, of all which were too sweet for my taste, though the vanilla mango mojito wasn’t so bad. But you don’t go to a place like Morels for the cocktails; you go for the food and the wine, which I don’t know much about though I understand the restaurant has an impressive selection. We had wine pairings with all of our courses, but I can’t knowledgeably talk about them, so I won’t. Onward.

Vanilla mango mojito (left), gala apple martini (right)

Nectar margarita (left), something with raspberry that I didn't write down (right)

We sat down to start our meal with a cheese and charcuterie plate, which was so tasty and satisfying that I could have made it my entire meal. My favorite cheese on the plate was the petit basque sheep’s milk cheese, which was soft and reminded me of brie. I would have eaten the whole plate, which was piled high with all kinds of goodies, if I didn’t know to save room for the next three courses.

We then moved on to a Caesar salad made table side, complete with made-to-order dressing. You want more garlic or anchovy? No problem. I liked how it turned out the first time, though, so that’s what we went with. It was tasty, though it was just a basic Caesar without any kind of protein.

Next up was the steak tasting with filet, New York and rib eye varieties. There were also four kinds of salt you can use to accompany your meat, something I’ve never seen before. I’m not a big red meat person, but if I had to choose, my favorite combination would be the filet with the smoked salt. Use the salts sparingly, though. It’s easy to go overboard.

Filet (left), New York (center), rib eye (right)

Salts

Here’s my favorite part of the meal: the root vegetables that were served with our steak. Or, more precisely, the brussels sprouts that were part of the root vegetable side. These are by far the best brussels sprouts I have had yet. I hear the ones at Village Idiot are amazing, but I haven’t tried those. So Morels brussels sprouts are my amazing brussels sprouts. Served with pancetta, which is similar to bacon, these were perfectly cooked — tender on the inside and crispy on the outside — and had so much flavor that I was literally eating them off other people’s plates. The parsnips were good, too, but mostly because I don’t think I’ve ever had them before. They were new to me!

The lovely brussels sprouts in the center

Last on the menu were the desserts: a strawberry rhubarb cobbler and a pumpkin souffle. I preferred the cobbler to the souffle but mostly because I don’t like souffles much. I find the texture strange. I’m also not sure pumpkin lends itself to this medium; the flavor didn’t mix well with all those eggs. But I think this is a matter of personal preference here.

Strawberry rhubarb cobbler

Pumpkin souffle

Back to the fanciness of the restaurant. As the name indicates, it’s a steakhouse and a bistro, which means there are two menus. The steakhouse menu is obviously more expensive — there’s a $42 New York Angus sirloin on the menu — but a side of brussels sprouts is only $7. The bistro menu isn’t cheap, but it’s not too pricey, either. I’d go back just for the brussels sprouts and to try the mussels, which I hear are good, too.