Play of the Day

It would be fair to say, given my deep attraction to things edible, that my final weeks in the city of Los Angeles were unsurprisingly food-driven.  Also predictable as a relatively young epicurean with a tendency toward hyperbole: I more or less spent the last month of my tenure as though each meal might find me, mid-bite, with the soft whispers of the Judas that was immanent departure tickling my ear. I returned to most of my favorite restaurants* (both low and high brow and everywhere in between). And, being as I am an itinerant adventurer, made sure to find tables at a handful of new spots.**

The play of the day is a fond memory now: an exquisite supper at one such new restaurant, Alma. So glorious, dear comrades, was this dining experience that I would choose it among them all as my last. I will recall the meal recorded below fondly whenever I think of the foodie wonderland I want so badly to call home; that wild city to which I wish always to return; my sweet, my lovely, my lush culinary jungle, my Los Angeles.

Here is what we ate:

1.) smoky eggplant dip, puffed onion

2.) snails, fingerling potato, bérnaise, pickled garlic

3.) seaweed & tofu beignet, yuzu kosho, lime

4.) English muffin, uni, burrata, caviar, liquorice herbs

5.) young squash soup, mussels, red ale

6.) pigeon, celery root, pear, cabbage

7.) lavender roasted duck, corn, mido, chanterelle, blackberry

The restaurant is small, sparsely decorated, lovely and downtown. It also lacks air conditioning and was, mid heat-wave, well, hot. But I’d eat that meal again over molten lava. If ever I’m sentenced by God or man to die, let me first wander through those ephemeral seven courses as one would hope to wander the seven heavens after the reaper really comes.

It was the perfect send off.

Good bye, oh my beloved city. Wait for me, I beg you.***

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*Such as, but not limited to: Zankou Chicken, Bludso’s, The Park, Wat Dong Moon Lek, The Best Fish Taco in Ensenada, Sqirl, Barbrix, Proof Bakery, El Buen Gusto, Canelé, Umami Burger, Mother Dough, Cortez, and the backyards and kitchens of my culinary-minded friends.+

**Such as, but not limited to: Scratch, Lemon Poppy Kitchen, Chego and, read on, Alma.

***Next post: Cleveland, Ohio. Readers, a new adventure has commenced!

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+ See previous post.