Foie Gras Crawl

[djquinnc]

I had this idea in my head to have a little foie grad crawl before 7/1. Places I can eat a dish at the bar and move onto the next. Providence, Hatfields, and Animal all come to mind, since they are in my neighborhood. Any feedback on this little plan of mine?

[PeterCC]

djquinnc, I went on another foie gras bender this weekend and had it at Providence, Petrossian, and FIG. Winners: ravioli at Providence, gazpacho at Petrossian, parfait at FIG.

I started a blog to document all this foie-ness, including my foie-xperiences last weekend at Shunji, Animal, and Hatfield's. Feel free to check it out at http://offaloffal.com/

[Dirtywextraolives]

Has anyone tried the foie & jelly donut at Umamicatessan yet?! I may be making a trek for it this weekend, wondering if it's worth my time & hassle.

[AAQjr]

I liked it, try their coffee bar as well. They make an excellent cortado. I don't know if any doughnut by itself is worth a trip to downtown, but if you combine the trip with some other eats or drinks it would be part of a fun evening.

[Dirtywextraolives]

Oh absolutely, I don't even eat doughnuts as it is, was only intrigued by this one b/c for the forbidden foie......

Yes, we'd do a whole pork tour down there if we went. Thanks for letting me know it's worth the trip!

[sarahbeths]

Pre ban I'm hitting Melisse (been, loved the foie) and Animal (still need to read your report, never been.) Another place I had great foie was JiRaffe in Santa Monica. And it's kinda gimmicky, but maybe for variety the foie cotton candy at the Bazaar. Though the first time I had it, I was dismayed it was a pate and not a real piece of foie. The 2nd time I had it, with proper expectations, I liked it better. I'm not a huge fan of pate style.

[TonyC]

If you do 1 order of torchon from Papilles and 1 order of foie with black summer truffles from Petrossian, there will be enough duck fat swimming in veins to skip the rest of the foie non-sense.

I don't want spam with foie. I don't want spam, ever.

[PeterCC]

Who mentioned spam?

[Zagut]

Foie Gras spam. Now that's an interesting idea. Bet it wouldn't sell because of the hate for spam.

[djquinnc]

I was just at Papilles last night. Chef Tim Carey's torchon is really a thing of beauty. I'm glad I got to have a portion before the month's end. I would encourage anyone to frequent Papilles, foie or not. It's one of my regular haunts nowadays.

[chezwhitey]

Get your statins ready.

[latindancer]

Farmshop @ Brentwood Country Mart has goose liver from Savory in Culver City. It's outstanding and they have a small amount left. I highly recommend it.

[SilverlakeGirl]

Great idea!

If you are looking for attendees, I am very interested.

[PeterCC]

I haven't written up my experiences from my own food tour (http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/854184), where I hit both Hatfield's and Animal, but I think it's a great idea. Are you going solo or with others? I found Hatfield's to be really easy to get a seat at the bar, but the bar fills up quick at Animal. There were people loitering as early as 5:30 PM waiting for the place to open, and the first bunch of people who didn't have reservations rushed the bar. I was lucky, as a solo customer, to get a seat at the bar without a res.

[maudies5]

I would "crawl" to Surfas and get your fois gras there. I talked to someone there today and they just received a big new shipment of the really good stuff. Lots of demand.

[Dirtywextraolives]

Excellent idea as long as OP knows how to prepare it. Myself, we are doing Melisse & Petrossian for their foie dinners.

[djquinnc]

I just made a reservation for dinner next week at Providence. They are offering their five course prix fixe for $75 as an anniversary promotion. Hopefully, I'll be able to suppliment some foie goodies in there. As many times as I have dined there, I have yet to try the foie gras ravioli.

[zack]

the foie gras ravioli dish was part of the 5 course when i went earlier this week, so you're in luck.

[J.L.]

Petrossian's "Farewell to Foie Gras" dinners ($100pp, $150 with wine pairings) also features an excellent foie gras ravioli. It's ongoing every night this month.

Oh, and also foie gras ice cream for dessert...

[PeterCC]

http://www.petrossian.com/index.php?f...

First and second course are on the regular menu (for now). J.L. Do you know if the third, fourth, or fifth courses are available a la carte?

[sarahbeths]

WHOA! good to know! how long does it last? (Providence promotional dinner)

[J.L.]

My server at Petrossian said they're flexible with the foie gras menu options, which I assume means you can request them a la carte.

The "Farewell to Foie Gras" at Petrossian continues each night until the ban kicks in. Since they've always been a purveyor of fine foods like caviar, truffles, and foie gras, Petrossian has a huge supply of foie gras on hand anyways. I bought a bunch of foie gras from their on-site boutique to be stored for future cooking - it won't be available for sale once the ban kicks in...

[PeterCC]

Providence's five-course for $75 promo lasts until the end of this month.

[groover808]

What day was this? Planning to go this Sunday and hoping 5:30 pm arrival will work...

[PeterCC]

It was Saturday.

[groover808]

FYI, went to Animal this past Sunday (last Sunday in June) and lined up about 5:10. We were the 4th party in line and the first 3 parties along with a single person 2 parties behind us got the bar. By the time they opened I'd say maybe a line of 20ish or so people consisting of maybe 10-12 parties.

3 minutes after taking our info, got seated at a 2 top near the bar with the stipulation we had to be done by 7:30. Maybe 2-3 parties got seated as well and everyone after that had to wait for the 2nd seating. As we were leaving at 7:30, they quoted 2.5 hour wait for a walk in.

Tried the Foie Terrine, Hamachi Tostada, Pig Ears, and Foie Biscuit.
- Terrine: Nice, dense, and buttery, solid
- Hamachi was a nice surprise, flavors from my mother's kitchen, nice and bright with a nice fusion of vietnamese goi on top of a ceviche-like base
- Pig ears: Better than I remembered, crisp, limey and addictive
- Foie biscuit: Had this 1 time before as well and remember why I loved it the first time. Very rich, but perfect portion. Great balance of salty from the sausage and sweet maple, this dish screams I love foie

Desserts of bacon bar and tres leches.
- Bacon bar: Good, but I really enjoyed eating the salt and pepper ice cream alone...you can really taste the salt
- Tres leches: Just ok, a bit dense and the frosting a tad too sweet

Glad I went back to Animal as I've only been once before!