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With so many amazing restaurants across this sprawled-out city, it can be tough to find just the right dining experience at just the right location. It can be even more of a challenge when looking for a multi-course meal created by an artistic chef who shows a progression and sources only the freshest, in-season ingredients. Here are 20 of the most impressive Los Angeles tasting menus, omakase experiences and kaiseki meals. Please proceed with caution; reading this will cause you to become hungry. Establishments appear in alphabetical order instead of in order of preference.
Patina [CLOSED]
Patina is located beside the Disney concert hall and the perfect end to a night out on the (Down)town. The restaurant’s sophisticated ambiance and delicate touch on each ingredient brings out a deliciously playful yet beautifully crafted menu from Master Chef Joachim Splichal.
Number of Courses: seven for the regular tasting menu and six for the vegetarian
Cost: Regular (which includes meat) for $130; Vegetarian for $90
Representative Dishes: braised veal cheeks, Farmhouse ricotta agnolotti (with a parmesan brodo and lemon) + terrine of Scarbourough beets
Executive Chef Michael Cimarusti has led this modern, fine dining restaurant to excellence with his expertise in seafood. Along with co-owner Donato Poto, the pair has created a seafood menu highlighting their love for pure flavors.
Number of Courses: Three options: a five-course tasting menu, a nine-course tasting menu, and a Chef’s tasting menu of 12 courses
Cost: Five-course menu for $105, $150 with wine pairing; nine-course menu for $140, $210 with wine pairing; Chef’s tasting menu for $190, $295 with wine pairing
Representative Dishes: Expect seasonal preparations of key ingredients like Santa Barbara sea urchin + “fish face.”
Red Medicine [CLOSED]
Red Medicine, from the partnership of chef Jordan Kahn, Noah Ellis, and Adam Fleischman, was originally more inspired by Vietnamese cuisine, with the chef trying to create dishes prompted by how that cuisine makes him feel. Red Medicine’s menu is still thoughtful, interesting, and impressive, and relies on not only seasonal ingredients, but also herbs and greens foraged from the wilds of the Santa Monica Mountains.
Number of Courses: Six
Cost: $65, with a $35 beverage pairing
Representative Dishes: Seasonal dishes might revolve around Dungeness crab or “foraged mushrooms.”
SAAM at The Bazaar [CLOSED]
Number of Courses: 22 servings
Cost: $150 per person
Representative Dishes: olives (modern and traditional) – so simple and yet so inspired; and of course, any of the jamón dishes.
Summary: Chef José Andrés creates remarkable and inventive dishes and cocktails in a molecular gastronomic style (à la Ferran Adrià) inside the SLS hotel. hile enjoying a meal at SAAM (seatings begin at 6:30PM), you’ll be in the private dining room, designed by Philippe Starck.
Shunji Nakao took over a West LA barbecue restaurant and has dialed up the cuisine found inside the rounded building many notches. Sit at a sleek wood bar and wonder at the creativity and purity of dishes the namesake chef serves.
Number of Courses: eight to nine
Cost: $100
Representative Dishes: tomato agedashi + squid with squid ink
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