For Valentine's this year, it fell on a Monday which meant that 2011's Valentine's dinner for Diana and I had to be pushed back due to scheduling conflicts. That also meant that we got to skip all the stupid prix fixe menu hoopla restaurants make you do on these holidays. Usually it is overpriced and you may not even get what you want from the regular dining menu! Celebrating Valentine's on Valentine's Day is overrated, or at least... food-wise :P
I decided on The Foundry on Melrose, in Mid-City, this year since it is helmed by chef Eric Greenspan, who's somewhat of a celebrity chef now, having competed on "The Next Iron Chef" and several appearances on other Food Network's TV shows, and I've been wanting to try out The Foundry for awhile. Turned out to be a good choice! :]
The Foundry on Melrose
7465 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
The Foundry. And yes it is located on Melrose Avenue haha.
The menu (click to enlarge).
We weren't seated in the patio like I requested but we did get to sit right in front of the semi-open kitchen. It was hilarious and extremely entertaining since chef's are known to have a really dirty mouth, and the whole time we were there we heard the F-word being dropped constantly. It's also cool to watch them work and trying to guess what they are making from the ingredients they are adding to the pan or pot. The chubby one is Chef Greenspan!
Some of the wine selections. Hmmm gotta check out this wine company based in LA!
Three Saints Cabernet Sauvignon. Can't really go wrong with cab.
Sweet Tea Vodka. Sounds nice but didn't taste that nice! Needs to be sweeter!
They give out small bread dishes throughout the meal. Bread rolls with Parmesan cheese.
Forgot what this was, but I think it was some sort of foccacia. It came with this awesome balsamic vinegar spread!
I decided to order a la carte from the menu. Endive and pear salad with goat cheese, tarte tatin & black pepper vinaigrette. Ridiculously good.
Love that flaky crispy tarte pastry on the bottom!
Grape glazed pork belly with eggplant (boo), almonds, and garlic chips. Only got it cause it was pork belly. Great glaze but no on the eggplant :P
Eggplant I can do without, but what a glorious piece of pork belly. Sweet & salty from the glaze!
The famous grilled cheese sandwich!! Taleggio in raisin bread, with apricot-caper puree. You can choose to add short ribs, which I did. Seriously, best grilled cheese ever! it was on the "Best Thing I Ever Ate" show and I can see why!
I'm still craving for more of that creamy, melty, savory goodness :9
More small bread dishes! Biscuits!
Diana decided to order off the Market Menu, which is a prixe fix. You get three courses for $39. Actually it's a really good value!
Started off with shellfish and pork belly ragout in herb pistou & with rouille toast. A must for shellfish lovers.
Crispy skin salmon with sunchokes, grapefruit, and arugula. Cooked perfectly with the middle being medium rare. I need to learn how to crisp the fish's skin like that!
Chocolate bread pudding with caramel ice cream. I love bread budding and even more when they make chocolate bread just for this dessert. Dedication! That caramel ice cream is good enough by itself too.
Since we had to wait for awhile for the grilled cheese to come (forgot our order), they comped us a free dessert. I even heard Chef Greenspan said "COMP THEM" before the waitress came over and told us hahah. I picked the spiced donut with persimmon chutney and ginger whipped cream.
What can I say, I heart donuts. That ginger whipped cream is amazing. Totally caught us off guard how ginger-y the cream is. Perfect way to end the night :]
Definitely come check this place out if you get a chance. It's a nice place for a date or just a night out with friends. They also have different live music playing on different nights! I for sure will be back for the grilled cheese It's like... there's an emptiness inside me until I eat that damn grilled cheese haha!
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