Posts
It was our four-year and we were both extremely busy; L with her job and I with mine. I just started a new position at an Internet company and was pushing sixty to seventy hours a week!
“No excuses,” I told myself and dialed the number to Hatfield’s. We had tried to have dinner there multiple times but the stars never aligned. Schedules were checked, phone calls were made, appointments were cancelled. This time, it would be different. We cleared our calendars. We crossed our fingers. And waited.
Thursday rolled around and, miraculously, no cancelled reservations, no critical deadlines on Friday! We made it. I guess this relationship had staying power after all?
The Hatfields helmed the kitchen (Quinn the executive chef, Karen the pastry chef) at Cortez in San Francisco (where I had a great meal when I was up in Union Square for a conference) and have been creating their own following here in Los Angeles with their rustic and yet refined cuisine.
We reached the restaurant five minutes late for our reservation
I handed our server our bottle of Saintsbury Pinot Noir and requested it be put on ice briefly as it was sitting out for a while, which he did without hesitation. We looked at the menu while we waited. We were hoping to order one tasting menu and a few additional dishes but unfortunately the tasting menu needs to be ordered by the entire table. We opted to order a la carte instead, requesting to share the kabocha squash ravioli with fresh black-eyed peas and brown butter and ordering the striped bass with creamy Swiss chard, chanterelles and parsley-garlic broth and the slow-cooked beef rib with spaetzle, Chinese broccoli and yam puree for our entrees.
Before too long, we were brought warm cheesy rolls, which were delicious with the butter showered with salt, pepper and chives. Wine poured (which had opened up and was showing extremely well considering all the abuse I put through it with moving and lack of cellaring) and rolls buttered, things were looking great.
Our appetizer came, which we dove into. Honestly, it was absolutely an example of how something so simple could be so impactful. Kabocha squash with brown butter, potentially a standard pairing, but combined with earthy, fresh black-eyed peas, gave the dish another dimension that left me wanting a second serving! Since we are small eaters, I held off and waited for our entrees, which arrived not too long after our plates were cleared.
The beef rib was extremely solid with the spaetzle a standout (resembling an exceedingly refined macaroni and cheese) and the rib meat being tender and yet crispy on the outside: a perfect texture contrast. Both the yam puree and Chinese broccoli were also delicious components that added their own unique element to the dish. L’s striped bass was slightly weaker if only because the fish itself was under-seasoned, but every component of her dish was well executed, with the chard having an incredible, savory depth of flavor (Quinn really has a way with vegetables!). She was ambivalent about her entrée but I demolished the rest of it!
Finally, after a small mini-food-coma break, we flipped open the dessert menu and knew we would be ordering the baked-to-order chocolate-peanut butter truffle cake with salted caramel ice cream. Yes. Peanut butter. Chocolate. Baked to order. Sign us up!
After a few minutes of expectant waiting, the cake arrived with fanfare. We cracked it open and … wow. Utterly rich and satisfying, comforting and comfortable, it was truly a fantastic end to our meal. The salted caramel ice cream was a perfect mix of salty and sweet. The flavors popped and yet melded together cohesively – not a novel pairing necessarily, but perfectly executed.
We continued to linger over the remainder of our Pinot Noir and our shared memories, remembering stories and funny moments throughout our relationship. We walked out into the night, thanking Hatfield’s for helping us cap off another fantastic year.
Hatfield's
7458 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
http://www.hatfieldsrestaurant.com
