Rivera - Fine Latin Dining Experience In The Heart of Downtown Los Angeles (Los Angeles)

Rivera

Backlogs, queues, however you refer it, I have a backlog problem for my blog. Thankfully, with good pictures and occasional note taking, it has allowed me remember most of my meals. As I was going through my old food pictures, I came across my dinner at Rivera back on Thanksgiving of 2009. With Chef John Rivera Sedlar as one of the chefs on tonight's season premier of Top Chef Masters season 3, I figured it's as good time as any to post this. Since this dinner was almost a year and half ago, I'll go with the ever popular picture post.

piquillo relleno - Stuffed spanish pepper, chorizo, gruyere, jerez, avocado oil

caballito de sopas dobles - Two latin soups, different flavors, different temperatures

Usually two soups are served, but on this particular night, the soup that was brought out was the butternut squash. I would have to say, it was fantastic!

tortillas florales - Housemade Nixtimal Tortillas, "Indian Butter"

This is one of the must order items at Rivera.

conchas - Oysters of the day, cucumber caviar, mezcal

patates xips - Caviar, chipotle-lime crema, kennebec potato chips

You really can't go wrong with caviar.

melon de mar - Poached maine lobster, compressed melon, chile verde gelee

arabesque - Scallops, eggplant, preserved lemon

duck enfrijolada - Goat cheese, stacked blue-corn tortillas, black bean puree, chile rioja sauce

trucha - Tasmanian sea trout, saffron quinoa, yellow gazpacho sauce

maya puerco pibil sous vide - Banana leaf braised pork shoulder, peruvian potatoes

pomegranate

Palate cleanser. It's time for dessert!

baba cachaca - Citrus, dulce de leche

bizcocho de avellana - Hazelnut-chocolate sponge with orange-cava sorbet

torta xocolata - Chocolate torte, drunken pineapple

Now, this is Rivera, how can I forget about the cocktails here? Even if you're not hungry, Rivera is one of the best cocktails bars in all of Los Angeles.

Tony Manzana

This is easily one of my favorite cocktails. As what many have said, it's an "adult apple juice."

Tejocotes

Blood Sugar Sex Magic

Blood Sugar Sex Magic is probably my favorite cocktail here in Los Angeles. With ingredients like basil and whiskey, those are not typically my favorites, but for some reason, it just works.

Trio of Infused Tequila

La Bamba

With the meal complete, Chef Sedlar invited us for a tour of the kitchen and along the way, he showed us the use of the famous stencils that appears on the plates of most dishes at Rivera.

Step by Step Process

Even though it's been awhile since this meal, I definitely remember this being a fantastic dinner. Great food, drinks, and vibe, what's better than that? Good luck Chef Sedlar, I'll be rooting for you on Top Chef Masters!

Me and Chef Sedlar

Rivera Restaurant
1050 South Flower Street
Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213) 749-1460
Website

Pintxo - The Second Of My Three Part Montreal Dinner Crawl (Montreal, QC)

Pinxo

After our quick snack earlier at L'Express, we headed to our late night tapas reservation at Pinxo since our earlier walk in attempt was a fail. With the pleasant description on Lonely Planet Montreal and Quebec City we went in with pretty decent expectation of good food.

Cava Codorniu

Since we were at a Spanish tapas place, we figured it's appropriate to start off with sangria, but to our dismay, we didn't see any sangria options on the menu. After flagging down a server, we were told Pinxo does not serve sangria. "WTF??" I thought, so after going over the wine list, I picked out a bottle of cava. I liked the cava, it's refreshing, as always, but I wanted my damn sangria. Fail.

When people ask me, how do you manage to remember meals from a year ago? Usually, looking at the picture will help me remember the taste and my reaction to the dishes. Sadly, this was one of the few times I might have to go with a picture rundown of the meal my friends and I had at Pinxo:

Falsa Lasana de Sardinas (Fresh Marinated Sardine Filet with avacado and peppers)

I enjoyed the flavors of the sardine, but the dish itself wasn't too memorable.

Foie Gras y Gazpacho de Fresa con Pimientos (Foie Gras & Sweet Bell Pepper and Strawberry Gazpacho)

Definitely not my favorite preparation of foie gras.



Salpicon de txangurro del Puerto de Zumala (Dual of fresh marinated crab and shrimp with peppers)

I really enjoyed the use of the crab meat and shrimp here.

Tartar de Salmon y Escalera de Verduras a la Parrilla (Salmon Tartare & Quintet of Grilled Vegetables)

Salmon tartare, been there, done that. The grilled vegetables were nice, but nothing too special.

Vieira y Chorizos (Scallop and Chorizo)

Quite a tasty delicious. Hard to go wrong with chorizo added to any dish, right?

Higo Relleno de Jamon Serrano y Queso Mahon (Stuffed Figs with Serrano Ham and Mahon Cheese)

Wasn't one of my favorites, but it's probably due to the fact I'm not that keen on figs in the first place.....

Alcatxofas con almeja y jamon serrano (Artichokes with clams and serrano ham)

Clams, artichokes, and serrano ham. Great mix of ingredients, and it was one of the favorites at our table.

Marques de Caceres Rioja

After finishing the cava, we decided on a simple, and light rose to accompany the rest of the dishes.

Bakalao a la Bizcaina (Filet of Basque Cod served with a tomato and pepper sauce)

Another delicious dish. The fish itself was tender and I enjoyed the tomatoes and peppers used in the sauce.

Carrillera en salsa de Rioja (Braised Beef Cheeks served with Mustard Potatoes)

Delicious. Simply delicious. The beef cheeks were tender and flavorful. Not much more I could have asked for.

Txori Morci (Chorizo Sauce with Black Pudding Surroundings)

Sadly, I don't remember much about this one....

Morcilla de Burgos (Black Pudding w/ Apple Chutney)

This one was quite good, but I'm a fan of black pudding, so it's hard for me not to like a black pudding preparation.

Although I was slightly disappointed with the lacking of sangria of a tapas restaurant, Pinxo was a pretty good spot to munch on some Spanish tapas in the streets of Montreal. While the meal has a few misses, it was definitely a good experience. Was it memorable? Probably not, but not all meals needed to be that way. Since we didn't get any dessert at Pinxo, we were off to the streets of Plateau Mont-Royal in search for some sweets. What did we get you ask? How about dinner #3? A large takeout plate of smoked meat for each one of us from Schwartz, to savor in the comforts of our hotel room.

Smoked Meat from Schwartz

Did we finish the smoked meat? Hellz Effing no. It did make for one helluva breakfast the next morning though! There you have it, 3 dinners in one pleasant Montreal evening.

Final Rating (Pintxo): 7 out of 10

Pintxo Montreal
256 Rue Roy Est
Montreal, QC H2W 1M6, Canada
(514) 844-0222
Official Website

Schwartz's
3895 Boulevard Saint Laurent
Montréal, QC H2W1X9, Canada
(514) 842-4813
Official Website