BLACKBURN AND SWEETZER

I’ve been meaning to post about my dinner at Simon LA at the Sofitel hotel at La Cienega and Beverly Boulevard. They have a farmer’s market menu on Wednesdays—this particular Wednesday included antpasti (olive oil crostini and fava puree, burrata with arugula pesto and heirloom tomatoes, California prosciutto and wood oven roasted olives), grilled pacific halibut with scarlet corn, white pluots, rosemary and organic extra virgin olive oil, and a passion fruit souffle with nectarine creme brulee. My friend and got a French beer and unfiltered sake to accompany, plus we also shared a peanut butter and fudge sundae.

The presentation of everything was fantastic, from the drinks all the way to dessert. In terms of the meal, the burrata, pesto and tomatoes was incredibly tasty, the best of the quartet. The wood oven roasted olives were a miss for me; I like olives but would have preferred them un-roasted. The halibut was very summery. It was one of those dishes that I was slightly unsure of with the pluots, which were served fresh and not cooked, but I was pleasantly surprised at the pairing. Desserts are pretty sizable here, and really we should’ve just split one. The souffle was very tangy and relatively light, while the sundae was quite large, especially since it came with these cookie sandwiches. But it’s really difficult to go wrong with a sundae and this one did not disappoint.

Our server also brought out this plate of cotton candy, which looked something like a clown’s wig. Kind of crazy, but a playful dessert idea as an offering. I’m not a cotton candy fan, but my guess is that fresh spun cotton candy would win others over. Pics below, including the menu to get an idea of pricing.