FarmShop Now Offers A La Carte Dining at Dinner

FarmShop, the pricey but delicious restaurant that opened in the Brentwood Country Mart in December, began dinner service in September, with a prix fixe menu of one starter, one entree and cheese or dessert for a set price.  Modeled on Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc in Yountville, the food is served family style and there are no choices (except between cheese or dessert).

Beginning this week, FarmShop is now serving an a la carte dinner menu as well, so if you aren't in the mood for what is on the set menu or you want more or fewer dishes, you can create your own meal.  Dishes include Sweet Corn and Avocado Salad, Roasted Organic Chicken and Steamed Bouchot Mussels.

I am particularly excited to try the lamb, which is rumored to be joining the menu soon, as well as the Sunday night fried chicken.

FarmShop: Brentwood Country Mart: 225 26th Street, just South of San Vicente Blvd, Brentwood.  It is located adjacent to ReddiChick.

Full menu below:

today's dinner Friday October 21, 2011

tonight's family style three course menu forty-eight per person Sweet Corn & Avocado Salad Wild king Salmon Andante Dairy's Rondo or Frog Hollow Farms Warren Tart TO START Red Butter Lettuce Salad windrose farm carrots, radish, soft herbs & red wine vinaigrette     11 Sweet Corn & Avocado Salad herbed farro, sungold cherry tomatoes & garden mizuna     13 Frog Hollow Farm Warren Pears burrata, pomegranate, smoked almonds & wild arugula   14 Roasted Butternut Squash Soup  wild mushroom conserva, crėme fraîche & pepitas     10 Chickpea Hummus crispy chickpeas & wholegrain lavash    12 Salmon Rillettes fresh and smoked salmon with pickled vegetables& olive oil flatbread     16 Speck Ham marinated melon, heirloom lime & fennel pollen     14.5 FOLLOWED BY   Calotte of Prime Beef oven dried munak ranch tomoatoes, crispy potatoes & chimichurri     35 Pasta Mancini Alla Chitarra walnut-mint pesto, ricotta cheese & hot pepper     18 Wild King Salmon smashed baby beets, green olives, dill-yogurt & arugula    29 Roasted Organic Chicken corn & sweet peppers, calliope eggplant & pistachio salsa verde    26 Steamed Bouchot Mussels french curry, mustard, white wine & frites     27   ON THE SIDE   Smashed Beets spiced yogurt & wild arugula     8 Crispy Potatoes rosemary & garlic     7 Fried Eggplant local honey     8 Marinated Olives  preserved orange     4.5 Heirloom Tomatoes opal basil     6          CHEESE   Andante Dairy’s Rondo goat & cow     9.5 Bellwether Farms Pepato sheep     9.5 Fiscalini’s Bandaged Wrapped Cheddar cow     9.5 any three for fifteen dollars/ served with local honey & flatbreads        DESSERTS Chocolate Devil’s Food Cake dark chocolate mousse & candied hazelnuts     8 Lemon Custard huckleberry sauce & pistachio shortbread     8 FHF Warren Pear Tart frangipane, mission fig marmelade & mascarpone cream     8

Happy Hour Arrives at Bar Bouchon

Bar Bouchon in Beverly Hills has a new happy hour menu that should put smiles on many hungry folks faces.  I may not be able to order a Petit Sandwich au Fromage Grille with a straight face, (that would be grilled cheese to the English speaking residents of LA) but $6 for a grilled cheese sandwich on brioche is not a bad deal for the 90210.  Even better, the French take on a Steak Tartare sounds delicious and savory with capers and cornichons ($9).

The setting on a pocket park facing the Montage Hotel has the feel of a quiet corner in the 8th arrondissement of Paris.  So heft up your $5 brew and dig into your steak tartare.  There is much to be happy about with this menu.  Monday - Friday from 4 - 7 pm.

Bar Bouchon: 235 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills.  Phone: (310) 271-9910.

First Look: Brunch at FarmShop

FarmShop, the much anticipated restaurant and bakery from Jeffrey Cerciello, opened for brunch this weekend in the ex-City Bakery space in the Brentwood Country Mart. Cerciello is the former director of operations for Thomas Keller, the chef/owner of The French Laundry in Napa Valley, which has led to high expectations for his first solo venture.

The front of house management smartly throttled seating, so the kitchen would not get overwhelmed on its first day.  Even when there were open tables, the host held back seating people, so that the orders could get staggered and customers could get their food promptly.  This was a smart and confident move which I commend, as I have seen many new restaurants fail to handle the initial rush in a smooth manner.  The crowd was typical Brentwood, upscale and some families, including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver and actress Jennifer Garner.

I was joined by fellow bloggers Christine Choisauce and Julian  DJ Jewelz.  We began our meal with the Fresh and Smoked Salmon Tartine ($12).  As were all the dishes we ordered, this one was beautifully presented and the salmon was served with sliced caperberries, dill and crème fraiche.  It was unusual to see both fresh and smoked salmon in the same dish and the caperberries were an interesting take on the traditional side of capers that often comes with smoked salmon.

The "Steak & Eggs" ($20) is pastrami, fried potatoes (from Weiser farms), green tomato ketchup, sunny side up eggs & rye toast.  The menu listed roasted mushrooms but the potatoes appear to have been substituted during our visit.  Switching out the steak with pastrami in his version of this classic dish is emblematic of the playful nature of Cerciello's dishes, which echoes the way some of Keller's dishes such as Peas & Carrots are named.  The sunny side up egg was cooked just right with a solid white and a runny yolk.  Combining the pastrami, potato, and runny egg together made for an excellent dish.  This was my favorite of the day.

The Chicken Liver ($12) was served chopped in a bowl with grapes, caperberries and toast.  There was an ample portion of chicken liver, which spread nicely onto the toast.  (We requested additional toast and it arrived very quickly.)  The caperberries were almost like olives in their pickled flavor.  The chicken liver was rich and unctuous and was something I'd gladly have again.  The sweetness of the grapes contrasted with the sourness of the caperberries to provide a full range of flavors on the plate.

I did not sample the Hangtown Fry ($22), but it was much enjoyed.  It is a fritatta with griddled Hobbs' bacon, fried oysters, pickled chiles and rye toast.  Again the presentation was spot-on with the circular fritatta placed plum in the center of the round plate and the herbs specked evenly in the eggs.

Poached eggs ($3 per egg) is a dish that can be a good "testing" dish for a kitchen, to see how it executes and FarmShop passed with flying colors.  We dipped toast into the poached eggs which were cooked perfectly and were very happy.

Overall the plating was beautiful on every dish, and more importantly the kitchen is executing smoothly and successfully as every dish we had was a winner.  There were no hiccups and Cerciello (pictured below) was on hand and presented a relaxed demeanor.  I have yet to go to a restaurant during its first week in which the kitchen seemed so in control.  You don't need to worry about a "getting their sea legs" period with FarmShop; they had them on day one.  FarmShop began serving lunch yesterday and dinner, which will be served family-style, should begin shortly.

Note that the fresh and smoked salmon tartine is from the bakery menu, although it is available at the tables if you ask.

FarmShop is located in the Brentwood Country Mart: 225 26th Street, just South of San Vicente Blvd.  It is located adjacent to ReddiChick.  No reservations.

Thomas Keller does Hamburgers

Thomas Keller, the chef/owner of the French Laundry in Napa Valley, has been talking about opening a burger restaurant for years. In 2006 when Ad Hoc opened, it was supposed to be a temporary restaurant (an incredible placeholder) until his "Burgers and Half Bottles" would take that space. But Ad Hoc became so popular that it couldn't be closed, and the burger concept has still not come to fruition as its own establishment.

Thursday night, at Bouchon in Beverly Hills, hamburgers went onto the menu for the first time at a Keller restaurant, that I am aware of. These burgers are only available Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings after 9 pm. The burgers are ground on-site from a combination of cuts of beef (sirloin, brisket and chuck.) They are served with a mountain of Bouchon's famous french fries.

The first burger ordered went to a well known local chef who tried to order one at 7:30 on Thursday evening. No dice. So just after 9 pm, Chef de Cuisine Rory Herrmann brought out the first burger to the appreciative customer who had already eaten a full meal in the interim. There were no leftovers.

Last night a compatriot and I went to Bouchon to try this burger for ourselves. It is $21 and is not on the written menu. The idea is somewhat reminiscent of the midnight burger at Pulino's in New York or the 10 pm burger at Holeman & Finch in Atlanta, but don't worry there is no bullhorn at Bouchon, and no limit on how many burgers they will serve in an evening.

Our burgers arrived, beautifully presented, but alas overcooked. We sent them back and they were very gracious about it. They grilled us new ones and in the interim sent out Salade de Melon (summer melon salad with French feta, picholine olives, arugula & citrus vinaigrette) and Salade de Tomates (heirloom tomato salad with English cucumber, grilled red onion & young basil. Both were very good and the melon had been pressed to give it an intensity of flavor and color.

Then the main attraction arrived: two burgers cooked perfectly to medium rare. The meat was nicely seasoned and was loosely packed. The burgers had been cooked quickly and chef Hermann told us he was trying to get the same level of doneness the whole way through the burger, rather than the traditional way of having the exterior be significantly more well done than the middle.

The burgers are beautifully presented (I had mine without the tomato) and served with enough french fries to feed several normal people or half of the women in Beverly Hills. The overall verdict was that the burgers were quite good. I prefer the burger I had a few months ago at Comme Ca, because it had some char on the outside while still being medium rare in the center. If you are into char on your burgers, these are not the burgers for you, as that is not the effect that Chef Hermann is going for. I'll have this burger again, perhaps splitting it with someone, so I have room to eat more of the menu, such as the legendarily decadent foie gras in a jar.

We were pleased to see that in addition to the Animal sauce (ketchup, mayo, cornichons), Heinz ketchup was served (in small bowls, not bottles). As Hermann said, why mess with recreating something that everyone already knows and loves.

We sat outside on the balcony, which I think are some of the best seats in the house. There are heatlamps if you get cold, its quieter and you get the great view of the gardens and the Montage hotel.

Bouchon Beverly Hills is at 235 N Canon Drive. Phone: (310) 271-9910. Website: www.bouchonbistro.com