On October 2 & 3, South Coast Plaza sponsored a two-day food tour for a dozen L.A. and Orange County food bloggers designed to showcase five restaurants and a single premium food shop. Clearly, not every bite at South Coast Plaza was life changing, but here are my five favorite tastes during the course of our gluttonous walking tour.

Okinawa native James Hamamori was the longtime chef at Asakuma in Brentwood, but left to pursue his own interests in Orange County. He now owns three Wasu Sushi restaurants throughout the county, but his crown jewel is undoubtedly Hamamori, a white jewel box on the third floor of South Coast Plaza with decorative blue accents. During our journey, Hamamori was the only chef to score two dishes in my Top 5.

Silky Hokkaido scallop sushi was lavished with a cluster of bursting Osetra caviar, a dusting of Himalaya pink salt and a light squeeze of lemon.

The broiled freshwater eel sushi was absolutely luxurious, a nearly caramelized eel fillet topped with a molten slab of Hudson Valley foie gras. The finish: a spritz of citrus-sweet orange zest.

When Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s opened in last year, it was designed to instill South Coast Plaza with contemporary opulence. The economy continued to take a tailspin, so executive chef Amar Santana has made the menu more casual to keep up with the times. The restaurant now bookends dinner service with twin happy hours and features an extensive menu of small plates that achieve varying degrees of success.

The night’s best small plate involved twin pipes of roasted bone marrow strewn with red onion “marmalade” and golden raisins. The tangy onion strands helped to cut the richness of the marrow, which is primarily beef fat. Slathered on supple toast, it made for several winning bites.

Amelia Marneau bombarded us with flurry of desserts at Marche Moderne, the contemporary French restaurant that she co-owns with husband Florent. Her pillowy sugar-lined beignet was undoubtedly the highlight, plated in a shallow pool of orange studded creme anglaise.

Pizzeria Ortica executive chef Steve Samson punctuated his pasta lesson by crafting a margherita pizza for each table. Samson fires his pizzas in a wood-burning oven using a mix of almond, cherry and applewood. The crust of his Margherita was blistered, pliable at the edges and sported a subtle sourdough tang. The toppings were simple but premium: crushed San Marzano tomatoes, Gioia mozzarella and basil. I’m still convinced that Pizzeria Ortica makes a better margherita pizza than any restaurant in L.A., and in 2010, L.A. will have an Ortica of its own. Samson said they plan to start scouting locations soon.

Note: FTC regulations dictate full disclosure. All South Coast Plaza meals were fully comped and they hosted most of the L.A. bloggers at the Westin St. Francis for the night of October 2. As we toured South Coast Plaza, several stops gave us takeways. NapaStyle gave us a bottle of wine, a tin of gray salt and a Michael Chiarello cookbook. Charlie Palmer’s gave us a bottle of wine and a wine opener. South Coast Plaza gave us a luggage tag, Kiehl’s body scrub, a jar of Antonello’s pasta sauce, three magazines and a cookie. Pizzeria Ortica gave us a bag of beans, cooking wine and a T-shirt. While we didn’t receive cash, every blogger knew going in that if we posted three tweets per stop, we’d receive a $100 gift card to South Coast Plaza, and that if we posted about our experience within 72 hours, we’d receive another $100 gift card. Later this week, swag will become available to Food GPS readers as part of a MASSIVE FOOD GPS GIVEAWAY.

Related Posts

1. Food GPS Giveaway: South Coast Plaza Swag
2. Seasons 52 Replacing The Clubhouse at South Coast Plaza
3. Macy’s Star-Studded Signature Kitchen at South Coast Plaza
4. AnQi adds Steam, Flavor and Spice to South Coast Plaza
5. Pizzeria Ortica Pasta Class

1. Pingback: OC Eating: South Coast Plaza Restaurant Tour – e*star LA on October 6, 2009

6 Comments

1. carter, October 5, 2009:

   Thanks for the disclosure. Wish your fellow bloggers would do likewise.

2. Gastronomer, October 5, 2009:

   Maybe full disclosure isn’t such a bad idea! This is the first time I’ve heard of such lucrative incentives. I’d go to Nordstroms with my $200 SCP bux

3. Joshua Lurie, October 5, 2009:

   I always made sure to specify if a meal was hosted, but this takes the idea to a micro level.

   Elina Shatkin wrote a good article explaining the changes to the FTC regulations, if you’re interested:

   http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/dailydish/2009/10/ftc-announces-new-guides-says-bloggers-must-reveal-payments-from-advertisers.html

4. mattatouille, October 6, 2009:

   I think the FTC disclosure bit is just fine in my book. I think it’s ridiculous that some people think we shouldn’t review a place if we got comped. I think if we disclose that we were comped the meal, then people can read our opinion with a grain of salt.

   Anyways, Ortica vs. Flour + Water? who wins?

5. Joshua Lurie, October 6, 2009:

   Agreed, Mattatouille.

   Flour + Water’s Margherita is slightly better, but Pizzeria Ortica’s Margherita is currently my favorite in Southern California.

6. RestaurantZoom, October 6, 2009:

   A little sourdough tang in the pizza crust…now that is worth talking about. Ummmm sourdough and what better place than in pizza dough?

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