The Bazaar by José Andrés
I wouldn’t quite categorize dining at The Bazaar by José Andrés as a place where you go grab a bite and eat a meal. It’s more like a dining “experience”.
I honestly didn’t know what to expect from a restaurant that describes itself as “a collection of magical dining experiences”. What I did know that the Boyfriend and I enjoy new food, and especially new ways to prepare food.
And in the style of molecular gastronomy, which I’ve seen Andrés prepare dishes for Anthony Bourdain on TV, I was excited to try out The Bazaar located inside the hip, swanky, and slightly pretentious SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA. You definitely have to dress the part when dining here – we spotted C-lister celebs like Hulk Hogan and son, as well as Shane Sparks, one of the judges on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew.
The Bazaar serves its food in the style of tapas, or small plates, and our server suggested for the two of us about 8-10 dishes. The menu also offers traditional tapas and modern tapas. The latter incorporates more of molecular gastronomy techniques that drew is to the restaurant in the first place. Still, we took the advice of our server and ordered 1/2 of our dishes from the traditional side, and 1/2 of our dishes from the modern.
Our first dish, Tortilla de patatas ‘new way’, is a warm potato foam with a slow-cooked egg 63 and caramelized onions. Let me just tell you how divine this little bit was. It was so rich, yet delicate and had the most delicious onion flavor. I could have eaten five of these. If all the dishes were going to be like this, I was going to be a very happy camper.
Unfortunately, it was followed up by these Japanese Tacos. Imagine a piece of unagi from your favorite sushi spot. That’s it. Yes it was in a cucumber shell and accompanied by a shiso leaf and chicarrones. But all we got was a hit of ginger and none of the crunchy texture you’d expect from a taco.
Next arrive at our table were Sea Scallops with “Romesco” Tomato-Almond Sweet Pepper Sauce. We always enjoy scallops, and these were wonderfully cooked, but the Romesco was very strange in texture. Seemed like something in it was undercooked and just plain grainy.
Not Your Everyday Caprese Salad is a new twist on the original. Served with cherry tomatoes, “liquid” mozzarella balls, and pesto with a little balsamic vinegar, I found the flavors to be just like the traditional. But the explosion of the mozzarella balls was very watery instead of creamy in texture, making it quite a surprise.
This “Philly Cheesesteak” was very messy to eat – much like your traditional cheesesteak. This air bread filled with cheese and topped with Kobe beef was tasty for me. The cheese was a little runny, we didn’t even realize it was in the bread until it started oozing everywhere. The beef slices were yummy; definitely another dish I would eat again!
Probably the heartiest dish was the Beef Hanger Steak with Piquillo Pepper Confit. My first taste was just the beef by itself. I proclaimed it was bland until I ate it with all the elements on the plate, peppers and all. Boy was I wrong, this dish is delicious! Hearty, a little smokey with a little hit of sweet among the savory.
Another dish from the traditional tapas menu is the Halibut with Cauliflower Puree and Raspberry. The fish itself was a little overcooked but everything else was yummy. Who says raspberries are only for desserts and cocktails? This sweet fruit gave a nice twist to the dish and enhance the puree.
Our dinner service took a while, each dish came out one at a time so we always had to wait for the next. After an interesting meal, we were hoping that the last plate, our Paella-style Pasta with Monkfish and Shrimp, would end our experience on a high note.
Unfortunately, the paella took a while to come out. And when it did arrive, it was a mushy mess. It was a plate of over-salted pasta without the crunchy that you would expect from the traditional dish. Nonetheless, we ate the entire plate so that we could make our way to dessert.
The Bazaar actually invites dinner guests to enjoy desserts in another area of the restaurant/hotel instead of at your table. After waiting more than15 minutes to be re-seated, we gave up and called it a night. We had been dining now for over hours hours now and we still had a 45-minute drive home to do.
So we missed dessert but then again, I’m not sure if it would have really been worth it. If I were to ever dine at The Bazaar again, I think I would ask the chef to prepare a tasting menu of his choosing. With so many dishes to choose from, it’s hard to know what the most delicious dishes are and it would be nice if they chose for you.
Have you dined at The Bazaar by José Andrés? What dishes would you recommend for us to try next time?
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