Wednesday, 21 January 2009
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Crush event at Breadbar
Ok, i've really been slacking. This is backlog of my breadbar event Crush by chef Adam Sobel a while back. I was mainly attracted to this event since chef Sobel has worked at places like Guy Savoy, Charlie Trotter and Bradley Ogen. OMG, all restaurants I've dreamed of eating at! Being the foodie on a budget I thought I may get a taste of such refined gourmet cusine at a fraction of the price.
Needless to say, I was surprised when I found out the theme of dinner was STREET FOOD. Looking for gourmet, and here I get STREET! lol...Ok, being from Asia, I LOVE streetfood, but not loving paying 50 bucks for it!? However it was sort of intriguing...to see what chef Sobel interprets as "street food". Talking to Adam, I found out he just finished a tour of asia last year, where he fell in love with all the street foods... ya who can blame him....asian street vendors are the BEST. Anyways, thats where he drew his inspiration from. and oh, did I mention Chef Sobel was a CUTIE?!??! =)
breadbar's signature bread basket and dips. Mmmm this would be perfect for munching on with wine. Breadbar does not have liquor license therefore it's BYOB no corkage! A basket of this with yummy dips and a bottle of red wine can be the perfect budget friendly happy hour!
Marinated Bay Scallops, young coconut, kaffir lime vodka - the lime vodka and coconut sauce was pleasantly delicate, however, the scallops were not good quality/freshness and tasted borderline fishy.
Black bass crudo, fennel, preserved lemon, tomato confit, black olive, pickled cauliflower - Good variety of texture, from olives, diced bass, and cauliflower added a crunch. However I did not feel the flavors stood out. The bass was rather blend. This dish lacked a focus and punch of flavor.
Crush Ramen noodles, BBQ pork belly, poached egg, handmade noodle, spciy pork broth - Yes it is hard to please an asian person when u try to make asian food. Cuz we always like it the original way. Sobel's noodles were generic, the pork belly surprisingly tender with slight crips skin, the broth tasted like chinese pork stew... tasty but lacked depth of flavors from traditional japanes ramen. Overall enjoyable but not remarkable.
Liquid center potato gnocchi, fontina, chanterelles, toasted potatoe consomme, valderramma olive oil - Now this dish I'd say was highlight of the night. Could this because this is a very "western" dish, therefore I am not as critical? Not sure. But these gnocchi were heavenly little pillows, not a bit too dense. Amazingly comforting. And the chanterelle mushrooms just can never do wrong. YUM.
Korean style braised short rib, carrot ginger sauce, crispy rice salad - tasted like if you did korean BBQ with a quality piece of short rib. This was done well but again nothing exciting for an asian person like myself.
Slow cooked lamb shank tagine, fresh chick pea falafel, harrisa scented yogurt - The lamb was tender, flavorful, but yet not too heavy. This was also one of the better dishes. The falafel though, was tough and grainy.
Pineapple in all forms - My favorite dish of the night. Now THIS is what I came looking for. Creativity that turns out elegant and tasty! I wanted dishes that excites my tastebuds, not familiar asian flavors interpreted in a western eye. Pineapple sorbel in a pineapple soup with kiwi seeds swimming around. This dish was beautifully presented and so refreshing, not overly sweet. I gobbled this down.
"stoner sandwich", warm belgium waffle, nutella, pistachio gelato - Chef Sobel admitted this was a dish he came up with while being stone with munches! lol! He grabbed whatever he had in the fridge and slapped it together... and bam! comes a fun dessert! I can see kids loving this as afterschool snack.
Overall, the meal was a pretty good variety/deal, 5 course of $55. I do applaud that Chef Sobel drew inspiration from his travels and tried to creat what he is passionate about. However, I must say it is so hard for re-creations of asian food to please an asian palate, since the "street food" I grew up with ties so much with my nostalgic memories, in a way that I would almost always prefer the original. And it is pretty hard, for any chef, to make ramen that can beat ma and paps that have been making ramen their entire life for a living. I can, however, see an american tongued customer finding this concept interesting and exotic. This meal definitely was not what I was expecting, but nontheless entertaining. Chef Sobel seemed very adorable and young. I wish him the best in his new business ventures!
Breadbar
8718 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
310 205 0124
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