October 7, 2012

• Birthday treat @ ink - A very bad cold+cough…iPhone 5…and a new automobile acquisition all contributed to a three(almost four)-week delay of this post, my apologies!

  So, here we go…..

  ink opened its doors in 2011 and is chef Michael Voltaggio’s first restaurant. He is the winner of Season 6 Bravo’s “Top Chef”. He moved to Los Angeles in 2008 and opened José André’s The Bazaar, where he achieved great acclaim even garnering a rare four-star review from the LA Times. After that, he took up residence at The Dining Room at The Langham before starting his ink project. Ink occupies quite a special spot on Melrose Avenue, its former tenants include the legendary Ma Masion where Wolfgang Puck first made a name for himself in the late 1970s; this spot also housed the likes of Tulipe, Itameshi Ya, Jozu, Citrine, Kumo and Hamasaku. After Hamasaku went out of business, the space sat vacant for two years before chef Voltaggio took over. The main dinning room still retained Hamasaku’s sushi bar, while the remainder of the room is sort of an industrial-chic artist studio.

  

  

  I’m allergic to alcohol, so I had this mint-infused lemonade, very refreshing indeed…..
  

  W had the wine…..
  

  the tasting menu…..
  

  Halibut served sashimi style layed over a chilled block of honeydew melon, the melon provides a juicy crispness and sweetness to this opening course, while the powdery horseradish adds some zest to the mix, what a refreshing way to start…..
  

  

  Egg yolk half cooked and in rolls, paired with different kinds of mushrooms cooked in various ways (deep fried, sautéed, sliced raw), these ingredients combined altogether raised the luxurious taste and texture even further for the silky and smooth egg dish, this is a delight for mushroom aficionados…..
  

  Black cod is deliciously butterly soft, with a rich savory texture nicely paired with the peppery spicy shisitos, together with the uni sauce, this dish is a good mélange of tastes and flavors…..
  

  Veal cheeks covered under a light fluffy crepe, the meat itself was all sort of delicious, with great tender and succulent savor, I barely needed to chew, the pairing with curds and buttermilk was spot on…..
  

  

  Dessert…..
  

  Apple, crémé caramel, walnut, burnt wood ice cream – this is the apple dessert that’s quite interesting, its flavor is so adorably amped up by the sugary crémé caramel, at the same time, the wood ice cream and walnut added smokey savory notes to the dish and balanced out the sugar nicely, all with great textures to this dessert…..
  

  

  Chocolate, ice cream, spiced tofu – the chocolate and vanilla ice cream was nicely tarted up by the addition of spice, balanced by the nutty taste from the Nutella and walnuts, this is definitely for chocolate lovers…..
  

  

  Yuzu curd, plums, matcha, rice milk sorbet – yuzu curd together with the plums are quite delicious, with a definite tartness to this dish, the matcha and rice milk sorbet served to add some weight and body to this dessert, and played off the citrus gorgeously…..
  

  

  My many thanks and hugs to W for treating me to this fantastic dinner, and also snapping a few of the above photos in extreme low lighting. It was a very dear meal but totally worth it. Overall, the cooking is quite complex – liquid nitrogen, hydrocolloids, sous vide, dehydrating, high heat roasting, low temperature cooking, smoking, etc., etc. I noticed the cream for the apple dessert was infused with ashes of applewood to give it a special smokey taste. All the dishes are very well executed and beautifully plated. I’ll be signing up for another visit soon!

  ink. | 8360 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069 | 323-651-5866 | www.mvink.com

  • 11:41 am
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