I knew the Luxe Hotel on Sunset served up a good happy hour, but I had never had the chance to partake of their full dining experience. Since I'm a sucker for seasonal menus (any excuse to enhance the Fall experience in L.A), I decided to join my friend, The Food Pervert, for some dinner at the On Sunset Restaurant last week to try their new Fall fare. When we arrived, I was happy to see the familiar face of French Chef Olivier Rousselle, whom has resided at the Luxe Hotel as Executive Chef for a number of years now.
We first started with and organic zucchini soup with smoked trout. Immediately I was impressed with the creativity of the dish. The bold green color of the zucchini was eye-catching along with the chalkboard style presentation. The subtle flavors of the zucchini were a good contrast to the smokier, bolder flavor of the smoked trout. Next, The Food Pervert and I were served a crab cake with a remoulade and fried basil. I truly enjoyed this appetizer. The remoulade was spiced with curry and it complemented the meaty crab cake extremely well. A small, citrus-dressed Frisee salad with mandarin oranges was served next to the crab cake to balance everything out. Let's just say, I cleaned my plate.
Our second dish was a Filet Mignon carpaccio with capers and a little bit of lemon dressing, I believe. How could you not be excited to try this dish? The Filet Mingon was thinly, perfectly sliced and extremely tender. Heaps of spicy arugula, salty capers and lemon tang were a classic combo of flavors for this dish. Personally though, I would have loved actual shards of Parmesan cheese instead of crumbled, for a sharper flavor and tangible texture.
Before our meat course, we tried a Cioppino. I loved the fact that my bowl included a sample of each of the seafood components: shrimp, scallop, mussel, whitefish and salmon. The broth was served at the perfect temperature but I was craving a little more seasoning in it. The fennel garnish added some fun flare, too.
Lastly, we tried a dish of roasted lamb with seasonal vegetables. I devoured this dish. The lambs chops were cooked a perfect medium rare and surrounded by different varietals of peppers and stuffed, roasted tomato. There was a creamy dish on the side that tasted like a parsnip puree - addicting. The additional pickled vegetables strewn on the plate added that little zing I needed to break up all of the rich flavors.
Chef Olivier has conducted a great new selection of seasonal dishes - you can obviously tell which ones are my favorite. If you are in L.A. on business or pleasure, or perhaps you want savory meal after an art day at the Getty, On Sunset Restaurant at the Luxe Hotel could be your perfect Fall dining setting.
On Sunset Restaurant (Luxe Hotel)
11461 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310) 476-6571
