
Executive chef Steve Benjamin makes beautiful red noodles from yellowfin tuna and shapes the strands to form a rose at Jean-Georges Beverly Hills. (photo by Jill Weinlein)
Jean-Georges Beverly Hills reopened its elegant outdoor dining terrace this month and is offering diners an exclusive prix fixe seasonal tasting menu. There are two formal seatings to enjoy chef Steve Benjamin’s exquisite autumn-influenced plates.
Choosing the earlier seating last Friday night, we were led to a white linen cloth table in the garden patio on the ground floor of the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.
Our server, Robert, welcomed us and offered a beverage to begin our experience.
My husband ordered a glass of Santa Barbara County’s Tatomer dry riesling, and I chose an exquisite-looking Negroni with a lavender sprig and the Waldorf Astoria monogram etched in a large ice cube.
The evening’s amuse bouche offered three unique tastes of autumn – an ethereal and foamy butternut squash shot, a confit cube of butternut squash with beet dust, and tender and flavorful chestnuts in a bowl.
The next course resembled a savory French mille-feuille with two tempered organic egg yolks in between two layers of thinly sliced toasted brioche bread. On top was a generous spoonful of Petrossian austere caviar. Robert told us a special ruler is used to cut the brioche slices to their exact size of perfection. The buttery brioche and creaminess of tempered egg yolks cooked for over one hour, tasted like the most elegant melted cheese sandwich. The saltiness of the caviar made this a perfectly balanced dish.
Chef Steve Benjamin delivered the next course – yellowfin tuna noodles. This talented chef said he was named Steve after Steve McQueen.
“He was my father’s favorite actor,” Benjamin said.
The yellowfin tuna was put into a pasta machine to create long stands that looked like thick noodles. Chef swirls the noodles into the shape of a rose and adds sliced radish and microflowers to elevate its appearance. Robert poured ginger dressing from a carafe into the bowl to enjoy with chopsticks and a soup spoon.
I remarked to my husband how each of the serving plates were unique and different. One of my favorites was an abalone-shaped bowl with king crab risotto made from Japanese short-grain rice simmered in herbal tea, fennel, chives, black pepper and sprigs of dill. Generous crab pieces and blanched cauliflower florets glistening with lime zest and lemon juice adorned the dish.
Benjamin prepares Jean-Georges’ signature roasted black cod exquisitely with microgreens dazzling the top. The fish is crusted with cumin, coriander and green pepper spices on top of the skin making it crispy and flavorful. A small carafe of Jade sauce made with lemon braised celeriac and fragrant green curry, cilantro, mint and tarragon was poured around the base of the tender and perfectly cooked white fish.
After the surf arrived the turf – slices of tender, melt-in-your-mouth Snake River ribeye cap grilled with caramelized garlic. A colorful beet and red wine-reduction sauce was poured into an artistic swirl on the plate. Each of the three potato dauphine puffs had a red vein sorrel for decoration. There was also a dusting of pink peppercorn on the white plate to add more artistic flair. The perfect pairing for this dish is a glass of 2014 La Sirene de Giscours cabernet sauvignon blend from France.
For the dessert course, we first received a small warm chocolate cake with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and a thin crunchy tulle tower. Master chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten was the first chef to create the molten chocolate cake. Over 20 years ago, he created a surprise chocolate cake with a pleasing and warm dark melted chocolate flowing through the middle. Valrhona chocolate dust and broken chocolate bits are strategically scattered around the plate.
For the pièce de résistance, Robert brought five bite-sized colorful sweets from the restaurant’s mignardises cart. There was a chocolate cookie, a coconut macaroon, fudge-like chocolate with the words Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills emblazoned on top, and colorful blue and orange macarons. This one-of-a-kind celebratory dinner is $185 per person. Guests can order a sommelier’s wine pairing for an additional $140.
For an exquisite dinner, Jean-Georges Beverly Hills offers the ultimate dining experience on Thursdays through Saturdays starting at 5:30 p.m.
$$$ 9850 Wilshire Blvd., (310)860-6700.
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