Pork cemita

I also sampled the clayuda, a Mexican pizza of sorts made by smearing lardy black beans on a tostada, then topping that with Oaxacan string cheese, queso fresco and big pieces of pork and beef. The meat wasn’t cut up at all, so it’s kind of hard to eat. I preferred the cemita.

Clayuda

I had a horchata drink made with horchata rice milk, cactus (tuna) syrup, pieces of cantaloupe and pecans. It may sound strange, but it was actually very refreshing amid the spice of the food. I would definitely go back to Huntington Park’s Pal Cabron, which, not-so-incidentally, is owned by the same people who own the Oaxacan food chain Guelaguetza, for a cemita and to try one of their beer cocktails (micheladas).

Horchata. From Glutster.

Thanks to Sam Kim of LAist for sharing his Pal Cabron gift certificates with me!

We were served a bunch of potted meats to start. This is when I tried head cheese, trotters, rillete and beef tartare for the first time, and none were as scary as I thought they would be. I actually surprised myself by really liking the hand-cut beef tartare, which came with judion beans on the side. I also had escargot and bone marrow as starters, too, both for the first time as well. While neither were as that scary, I didn’t enjoy them as much as the beef tartare, which had a fresh taste to it, contrary to what I had imagined raw beef tasting like.

I think this is head cheese, but it could have been trotters or rillete

Beef tartare

The one appetizer that nearly the whole table went ga-ga for was the foie gras parfait with what seemed like whipped foie topped with quince confit. It was served with spiced bread, which I found to be too sweet a pairing with the quince; I opted to use some of the other more savory breads at our table to eat with this. The foie was very light and fluffy and just melted in your mouth. It seemed like the potted meats were a hit overall (read e*starLA‘s and LAist‘s takes).

Foie gras and quince parfait

My favorite main of the night turned out to be the sea bass served with orange-flavored vegetables. I normally don’t like sea bass, but this one was great. Other people loved the pork dish, which came with house-made sausage and what looked like pork belly but was really part of the short rib. Though I like pork, I don’t go crazy for it, though this was very good. I also tried a bite of veal sweetbreads, and while they weren’t my favorite, they weren’t bad, either!

Sea bass with orange flavored vegetables

Pork and sausage (at the far end)

Because I’m obsessed with brussels sprouts, I requested we have some to taste, so they showed up on the pork plate. They were cooked sous vide, as Chef Remi Lauvand informed us he did to make them tender. I’m not sure why he chose this method of cooking because the sous vide seemed to overcook the vegetables. Oh well, I guess I just prefer mine roasted.

My favorite desserts were the hazelnut cream puffs and the baba au rhum with slow poached pineapple. Once again, I’m not a big fan of desserts with cream, but both of these were wonderful, especially the baba with the pineapple. One of my fellow diners, Weezermonkey, also liked these two desserts best, and these two photos below are from her post.

Hazelnut cream puffs. From Weezermonkey.

Baba au rhum with pineapple

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.