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Roasted Brusells sprouts at Jean-Georges

I went to New York, and I fell in love.

In love with Jean-Georges restaurant, that is.

The eponymous New York fine dining establishment from Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten offered the most elegant and flawlessly executed meal I’ve ever had. What else would you expect from a place with three Michelin stars?

I started my meal with a plate of beautiful roasted Brussels sprouts, avocado, pistachio and mustard vinaigrette. These were some gorgeous Brussels sprouts, and they didn’t tase bad, either.

The sea scallops with caramelized cauliflower and caper-raisin emulsion were hearty yet delicate.

Sea scallops

The yellowfin tuna ribbons with avocado, spicy radish and ginger marinade is the most straight-up delicious version of the tuna-and-avocado dish I’ve ever tasted.

Yellowfin tuna

My absolute favorite dish was the crispy confit of suckling pig served with corn “pudding” and smoked bacon marmalade. O.M.G. Perfectly cooked and prepared. There are no words, really.

Crispy confit of suckling pig

Special thanks to my aunt and uncle for treating me to this meal!

Oliverio's Budino di Polenta

Oliverio, the delightfully sleek yet comfortable restaurant at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills, is celebrating its first anniversary by offering a special prix fixe menu through Nov. 20:

That’s four courses AND a glass of wine for $40 per person. This is an amazing deal, especially when you consider that the chicken dish normally goes for $24 on its own. The tuna tartare on a crispy risotto cake, the truffle pizzetta and the budino are some of my favorites. Check out my previous post on Oliverio’s happy hour menu for more dining recommendations.

This is the first post from ShopEatSleep contributor Houri Parsi, a long-time friend and budding food blogger.

I discovered this new restaurant on Beverly Boulevard a couple of months ago and kept finding myself coming back, if only for the cute waiters and sophisticated owners. Eventually, I invited my friend Maya to have dinner with me there so she could write about it on her blog. But then, because I am a) an over ambitious control freak, and b) an overambitious control freak, I suggested that I write it myself as a guest blogger. So, with much ado, here is the review of one of my new favorite dining destinations in Los Angeles.

To start things off, let me tell the regular ShopEatSleep readers a little about me. Unlike this blog’s author, I am not a fan of Los Angeles. I’m from San Francisco, which makes me bougie enough to say things like, “No thanks, I only smoke in Paris…,” and, “I make it a point to go Europe once a year, and I always stop in New York on the way.” My smug preference for cities with smug dining options makes L.A. a frustrating sea of places that require an hour of research to find and 40 minutes of promising your friends on the Westside that you will give the two hours of their life back to them if they could please just meet you east of the 405.

Then…Della Terra fell into my lap. It fills the void for a spot between a welcoming sidewalk café and a fancy place where you want to match your clutch with your heels. And since I know Maya is always watching the price points for her in-this-economy readers, I should mention that it’s a classy place you can go to without breaking the bank. With the exception of the steak au poivre, which clocks in at an impressive $27, everything else on the menu safely sits between $10 and $20. And most of it is consistently good.

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