I rarely rave about Los Angeles restaurants, but buckle up my devilish darlin’s, there’s a new dining place in downtown LA that will rock your taste buds.
I hate being late to the party with information, but Faith & Flower’s dineLA menu, which concluded last Sunday, was off the charts. There was so much delectable food that I had a complete meal for the next day.
The name of the restaurant pays homage to the 1920’s and modern day. It is derived from “Flower” referring to the street on which the restaurant is located today and “Faith” for the street’s alleged name during the early 1920s.
Before I tempt you with the divine dishes, let me first introduce you to some of the nicest, most professional staffers I have ever encountered at a restaurant.
Manning the revolving door and running the ship is the Vivacious Queen Victoria who was elegant Saturday night in her black and white ensemble.
We were then introduced to Jared Hooper, the adorable, preppy corduroy blazer wearing wine director. Jared waltzed over and provided an Evelyn Wood speed course in wine….knowing a bit about wine, having grown up in a Spirited family and being fortunate enough to visit with the Rothschild’s and Antinori’s, I was impressed by Jared’s knowledge.
He introduced us to Iilu. The wine ($90) was outstanding…elegant, rich and well rounded with a great finish. The name Barabba is a play on words with the grape variety Barbera. It is from the Monferrato region of Italy.
My trusty foodar had pinpointed Faith & Flower. OpenTable shut me down. The newly minted dining establishment was booked for weeks in advance for dineLA. I called to see if we could reserve an Early Bird slot (oh my) for last Saturday night or if they served at the bar. Victoria said they were completely booked, but come on down and see what transpires.
Like a vampire, I don’t make a practice of consuming fluids and dinner foods before dark, but we were first to the party at a touch after 5pm. We had just seen the divine, Buyer & Cellar play at the Music Center and when in downtown LA, carpe diem, baby.
I was anxious to try Faith & Flower as it had opened 3 months ago while we were out of town. The restaurant is gorgeous and it was fun to see it empty, affording me the opportunity to take in the full effect of the modern yet elegant decor by AvroKO Design.
There is ample dining space in the main dining room, as well as the bar and outside. A beautiful private dining room sits up to 60 guests.
Executive Chef Michael Hung has an impressive background, including stints at Michelin-starred La Folie and Jardiniere in San Francisco. His Executive Sous Chef, Huy Nguyen also spent time at Jardiniere. They both make magic in the kitchen, creating sumptuous rustic Californian cuisine.
Back to the food, the star of the evening. We decided on the dineLA menu because it sounded enticing and was the deal of the century. Seriously, 2 appetizers, 2 entrees and dessert for $45.
Our informed and accommodating server, Ryan, guided us through the menu and suggested we order 1 of everything…for the first time ever, I complied.
We started our culinary adventure with deviled Jidori eggs with Korean chili and kimchi. This gave your grandmother’s deviled eggs a whole new image. The eggs were devilishly delicious.
The next appetizer presented was a summer squash salad with fennel, capers and Idiazabal cheese (Spanish unpasteurized sheep milk cheese). It was refreshing.
Ryan brought over an amazing Longanisa sausage made in-house with a blood and vinegar sauce. I am not a major sausage consumer, but these were so flavorful with just the right amount of seasoning. I find sausage often have a back bite…not these.
Rounding out the first course was the shrimp and grits toast which was created specifically for the dineLA menu. It consisted of Oregon bay shrimp that were sweet and juicy, fab creamed corn on a thick slab of toasted bread…heaven. This needs to be considered for a permanent place on the menu.
The entrees were plentiful and delectable. First up, a marvelous handmade egg spaghetti with roasted corn, cherry tomatoes and miso butter. It had an appealing sweetness.
A wood-fired oven BLT pizza followed with wild arugula, herbed aioli and avocado. The crust was perfection and the ingredients blended superbly.
Allow me to digress briefly away from food to more material matters. I had to include this amazing entryway piece. I commented on it and Victoria told me that is came from the old movie theater across the street. I covet this piece.
Between entrees, a lovely patron ventured over. She thought we looked well informed and satiated so she inquired as to what to order. We told her everything on the dineLA menu.
The seared steelhead trout arrived hot and perfectly prepared with warm cucumbers and beets, caraway bread sauce and Gribiche, a mayonnaise style cold egg sauce made by emulsifying hard-boiled egg yolks and mustard usually with a canola or grapeseed oil.
I couldn’t even attempt to consume the mesquite grilled skirt steak adorned with heirloom tomatoes, watercress and peppercorn jus. It made for a very tasty Sunday dinner.
Desserts were caramel creme on chocolate cake with dulce de leche and peaches and cream, made with angel food cake, blackberries and sweet corn ice cream…yum. All this heaven for $45 per person.
Have Faith in the Los Angeles dining experience. Faith & Flower is located in the unglamorous South Park area in the Watermarke Tower, but the downtown area is finally changing and all for the better.
Make your way to this new, exciting restaurant…Faith & Flower. Even the music is satisfying.
Faith and Flow 705 West 9th Street Los Angles, California. Open for dinner Sunday-Thursday 5:30-10pm, Friday-Saturday 5:30pm-12am. Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30am-2:30pm, Brunch on Saturday and Sunday, 10:30am-2:30pm. Bar Sunday-Thursday 5-11pm, Friday-Saturday 3pm-12am. Social Hour Sunday-Thursday 5-6:30pm. faithandflowerla.com.
