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Mon-Wed. 6:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Thu-Fri. 6:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sat. 11:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m.
Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
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just stunning, beautiful and delicious food. all around.
i'm just sad i didn't get to try the philly cheesesteak sliders...oh well, next time! but seriously, if you're in the mood for a dress-up-go-all-out-dinner, this is your spot.
decor:
unique. none of the chairs match which is hilarious. they have the most interesting set up too. it's like a restaurant, bakery, candy shop, lounge, and museum all in one. very very cool.
food: try these
-beef cheeks
-caprese
-mushroom risotto
-cotton candy/foie gras
-philly cheesesteak sliders
-croquettes
-squid
drinks:
-ask for the grape-based martini (i dont think it's on the menu) the bartenders are super friendly and knowledgeable. another nice touch was the fresh fruit they had lined up to use for the drinks.
to sum it up, you really feel like you've entered a different universe. it was definitely one of my best dining experiences i've ever had.
Proprietor/Chef: Jose Andres
Sous Chef: Marcel Vigneron
3.5 stars
Dining: Rojo y blanca at SLS & dessert at the Patisserie
If you are a gaudy following of Phillip Starke, you will surely appreciate the Saam Tasting room designed by Mr. Starke himself. A friend pointed out a piece of furniture to me, and of course, I recognized it as being one of his pieces, surely gaudy & pure plastic tackiness.
I have always admired Jose Andres vision ... in his eyes, food is best served like art. He wants the best world of traditional with his own modern twist to it. Unfortunately, I have not had the pleasure of eating at Mini Bar nor The Saam Tasting room to experience the full blown innovative 10-12 course meal.
I had a wonderful dining experience, but the taste to me just fell short of flat. I was looking for something more, and unfortunately more never came. Our server, who was most helpful, although he reminded me of Beavis on crack...super hyper and a bit all over the place. Let's review each tapas in more detail shall we?
West coast oysters - deshelled drizzled in lemon and black pepper. It tasted just like it looked. complete BLAH.
Sauteed wild mushrooms w/ hazelnut praline - one of the better dishes i enjoyed throughout the evening. Great combination of salty and crunchy sweet. Mushrooms generally have a undertone of bitterness which brought all the flavors to a home run.
Endive, goat cheese, orange & almond - A refresher on the palate. It's good, but interestingly enough, the first time I had this was at Jaleo, exact ingredients. To say the very least, not very original.
Arctic Char w/ chick peas, cucumber tzatziki - The fish was cooked perfectly and the tzatziki sauce was quite delicious, though I felt the amount of sauce was inadequate.
Watermelon skewers - hmm, it tasted like watermelon and tomatoes. The least inspiring dish out of everything we ordered.
American caviar cone - I'm not a big fan of the whipped cream...but the caviar was good, in a light sweet way. It had a softer bite than I expected.
Sea urchin buns stuffed with avocados - The urchin had a crunchy delectable bite. I wish there was more of it.... after one bite, all that was left was the bun!!
The pitcher of red sangria we had was awesome. Pure sugar cane mixed in with fruits and berries.
After we were done with dinner, we headed over to the Patisserie room. Desserts included the chocolate mousse and nitro coconut floating island. Not impressed with the chocolate mousse with pear sorbet dessert. I was a bit confused with the chunks of pear in the mousse. I didn't think it went well together at all. The Nitro Coconut Floating Island (Marcel's choice) was actually the better dessert. Foamy, tart, sweet goodness.
Overall, not too bad of a dining experience. All the tapa dishes were ornate and beautiful. Everything just looked way better than it tasted. How LA.... I loved the decor of the restaurant itself.. it was indeed bizarre and very eccentric. Ony cuz' I'm a fan of Marcel and Jose Andres... I'm a sucker for a nice ambiance. I do want to come back to try other dishes that I didn't get to pick the first time around. Maybe I'll find some winners....
This place is a culinary orgasm.
Where to begin?
Coming here was a last minute decision and I only called about half an hour before arriving to the SLS hotel to make a reservation. They put my name down and I only waited about 15 minutes once I got to the restaurant. Considering they were pretty busy, that was good time. The wait area is near Bar Centro so you also have the option of having a drink (or two) while waiting.
The décor in here is bizarre and I spent about 10 minutes just walking around and looking at all the artwork and unique furniture pieces. While I didn't have any dessert on this particular day, I'm tempted to go back just to sit in the patisserie area. Not only did the desserts look FF (Freaking Fabulous), but the ambiance was super trippy.
All of this is great, but the main attraction here is the food. The Bazaar offers one of those incredible dining experiences where presentation, taste and creativity are mastered. Yes, the portions are tiny. Yes, you order about 20 courses for a fulfilling meal. Yes, it turns out to be on the pricy side at $8-$20/dish. But it is so, so, SO worth it. I don't remember everything I ordered, but here's a rundown of some of the dishes we wiped clean:
Hangar Steak: This was one of my favorite dishes of the night. Cooked to a perfect medium rare with an amazing red pepper sauce. I can still taste it in my mouth. In fact, we ended up ordering two of these because we liked it so much.
Beef Cheeks: Incredibly tender and melts in your mouth, just as beef cheeks are supposed to do. This came with clementines and had a sort of citrusy sauce. Very, very good.
Chicken and Dates: I normally don't care too much for chicken because there's no "WOW" factor to it. It's healthy and kind of generic, but here it was made into a masterpiece. Again, cooked to perfection. Super juicy with an amazing sauce and paired excellently with the dates.
King Crab Buns: This was one of the more unique dishes that surprised my tongue (in an awesome way). The buns were soft, fluffy and tasty and amazing with the crab. Highly recommended.
Tuna Ceviche: Definitely not like your everyday ceviche. It looked more like a roll at a sushi joint but the different ingredients definitely came together really well. The tuna was soft and fresh and the dish was enjoyable but definitely not as unique as some of the other stuff.
Salad with Tuna Belly: This was one of the less impressive dishes of the night. It was still pretty tasty, but the potatoes and peas overpowered the taste of the tuna belly completely (sin!).
Caviar Cone: Tiny, tiny, tiny. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
I don't remember the other dishes we ordered, mostly because the whole night was a blur of "holy shit that's good!" The only drawback was that I went with a couple of pussies who don't eat foie gras or sea urchin (we shared everything) and I really, really wanted to try a couple of the dishes with those ingredients. No worries, though. Once I sell one of my body parts, I'll be back.
Now i gotta say the menu was exquisite and this was only one of the really basic..basic...basic creations the chef (happens to be from America's Top Chef) made for us.
Caviar cones-i would never expect the whipped cream with caviar in a crispy cone to have tasted soooo delicious.
Bellini drink-very light and not overpowering, i could still taste the great flavors of every dish. It was a great compliment.
Avocado purse (jicama)- i dont like avocados or guac but they served it in a purse made out of jicama and the faces around the table were all like "this is a knock out"
Mini tapas with cilantro dip-these mini potatoes boiled and served in an olive oil and cilantro dip had to have been the most basic yet tasty dish of the night. As the French would say, "la piece de resistance"
Mini capresse appetizer-i love fresh mozzarella and tomatoes and so have the mozzarella in semi-liquid form was a cool twist.
Oysters in lemon juice & garlic-served in a sardine can like it came straight out of the grocery store, it tasted delicious and yet i felt like i could have made that at home :)
King Crab wrapped in raspberry vinaigrette-what a creation...for all you seafood lover give this a try, the real raspberry and vinaigrette left you yearning for more of the majestic king crab legs
Tuna ceviche wrapped up in Avocado-as the name implies the tuna was wrapped in a fine slice of avocado. As i mentioned b4 i hate avocados but found this very edible
Mediterranean Frtters-now if they make these in the mediterranean i am moving cuz they were...WOW...almonds and pistachios and am not sure of the rest but it was yummy
Baby corn on corn purée-by far the tables favorite dish the mini baby corn on a bed of corn puree had a sweet and crunch taste to it.
Brussel sprouts with apricot -just enough to make you realize you should have ate all those brussel sprouts when you were younger :)
Lamb covered in potatoes and mushroom purée-last but by no means the least the lamb was so well done that everyone at the tale that thought lamb to be gammy or "bambi meat-like" had a change of heart.
Filet Mignone-honestly after all the other items mentioned above, although it was tender and succulent i wanted more of the others :)
I intentionally waited a while to do this review to see what foods stuck with me and as you can see...they all made a lasting impression and earned every star.
I feel like I've just woken from a dream.
A strange dream in a dark candyland populated by well dressed smiling monkeys, impossible chandeliers and clouds of liquid nitrogen.
And this man. Marcel from Top Chef.
The words "Savor Life Slowly" repeating faintly but insistently in my mind.
I've emerged from the world of José Andrés, where food is art, art is ironic, and irony is for sale.
Parts of the meal are coming back to me. I remember flashes of brilliance, whimsy and contradiction. Textures and tastes that deceived and surprised. Dishes that reminded me of a history not my own.
But ultimately the experience of a meal that was greater than the sum of its parts.
Let me try to paint a picture.
[Pics here: http://bit.ly/NblEm]
Nitro Caipirinha. Rising out of a fog of liquid nitrogen like a caipirinha in slushee form. Prepared tableside, liquid nitrogen is stirred into the caipirinha until it reaches its desired consistency. That being the consistency of delicious.
Papas Canarias. Salty wrinkled potatoes with a mojo verde. If baked potatoes are good, baked baby potatoes are better.
Mussels, canned with olive oil, vinegar and pimenton. The salt of the sea meets the sweetness of tomato broth meets the acid of vinegar.
White asparagus, yogurt and black olives. A tiny forest of asparagus trunks rising from a can. Desolate. Resolute.
Embutidos platter. Chorizo, lomo and salchichon. Jamon Serrano Fermin. Dry cured ham, sliced thin. Folded onto a slice of Catalan style toasted bread, lathered with a tomato salsa and manchego. A taste of Spain.
Endive, goat cheese, oranges and almonds. A perfect bite to cleanse the palate. The crunch of the endive, the soothing goat cheese and the brightness of orange.
"The ultimate Spanish tapa!" Ensaladilla rusa. Potatoes, carrots, mayo, tuna belly. If José Andrés wants to call this the ultimate Spanish tapa, who am I to argue?
Brussels sprouts, lemon purée, apricots, grapes, lemon air. The tart preparation belies the bitterness of the brussels sprouts. Surprisingly light.
Bunuelos. Codfish fritters with a honey alioli. Battered fish, in any language, tastes good.
Sea scallops with a romesco sauce. Sweet. Perfectly caramelized. Simple and flavorful.
Japanese taco. Grilled eel, shiso, cucumber, wasabi, chicharron. Thinly sliced cucumber replaces the tortilla. José Andrés does Japanese masquerading as Mexican.
Organized Caesar. Caesar rolls topped alternately with a quail egg yolk and parmesan. You say organized. I say deconstructed. Everyone fights over the quail egg.
Watermelon tomato skewers, Pedro Ximénez reduction and lemon dressing. A visual treat. It tastes like it looks. Watermelon and tomato.
Boneless chicken wings with a green olive purée. Andrés does fried chicken. The Colonel should take note.
Butifarra Senator Moynihan. Catalan pork sausage, white beans and mushrooms. Frank and beans Spanish style, if you will.
Beef hangar steak, piquillo pepper confit. Seared medium rare. Juicy and pink.
"Philly cheesesteak". Air bread, cheddar, Wagyu beef. Essentially thinly sliced Wagyu over a puffed bread with cheese. Don't ask for cheese whiz.
At this point, I'm stirred from my slumber and lead into some half-dream room. Glass bells cover perfect groups of candy, like some laboratory of sugar. The Alchemists tried to turn lead into gold. Here the ingredients are sugar, flour, eggs and cream. The results are just as alluring and desired as the precious metal. Sweet Little Snacks.
Creamy Chocolate Heart. Coffee and cardamom. Dense. Rich. Chocolatey. Good.
Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta. Apricots and muscat gelatin. Dig down. Scoop up. Taste. Repeat.
Ice cream and sorbet. Orange, peach, strawberry. Refreshing.
Traditional Spanish flan. Vanilla and fruit. A classic to end the meal.
And with that, the dream gives way to waking.
Save for a final image. A beautiful girl resting her head on a concrete pillar. "Soft Like Silk".
I wonder if she shared the same dream.
[Pics here: http://bit.ly/NblEm. Don't forget to UFC here!]
One of my Top 3 restaurants in LA! All the dishes are unique and tasty. I've been here for dinner 3-4 times and also for brunch once and dessert and also partied at the bar there. My faves are the hangar steak, foie gra cotton candy, the avocado dip thing, the canned oysters, wow really too many to name. But I'm sure everyone has mentioned every dish I like anyways. It is truly a unique dining experience. I love the decor and how after dinner you can just wander to all the other areas. The bar area is pretty fun with a tartot card reader and plenty of pretty people. One time I saw and took pics with Mr. Andre himself!! Also saw and took pics with Marcel from Top Chef couple times too.; woohoo!
Updated review for Saam room:
This meal took 5 hours. Now, I didn't think this was gonna be a 2-3 hour dinner, but 5 hours was way too long for this. Many of the dishes are quite small and spread out that you stop being hungry from fatigue before being full.
Anyway, the Saam room is definitely a great way to try what the restaurant has to offer, as there are a number of dishes not on the regular Bazaar menu. However, I don't think the meal was 'delicious' per se, but moreso a very unique experience involving unique dishes and preparations I would not have anywhere else. Dragon's breath was fun, and the caprese, olive oil bon bon, olive ferran adria were interesting. The 'main' course was A5 wagyu with a truffled cotton candy which I thought was pretty good. The wagyu's fattiness definitely was consistent with my A5 expectation.
Overall, there was nothing wrong with the meal. It just wasn't as great as I was expecting. The server did forget to give us the menu at the end of the meal (we chose to wait until the end to hold the surprise), which was rather disappointing.
I've been to the Bazaar a couple of times now. It's always been a pretty interesting experience.… Read more »
WOW, how I LOVE The Bazaar...let me count the ways... And how I love José Andrés for bringing to Los Angeles such a high concept, magically, bizarre bazaar of a restaurant to the endless stream of the nice but conventional. Thank you!
Definitely one of the best places to people/celebwatch nowadays. I came with a friend to check it out during DineLA week. And we were extremely lucky to sit at a table next to Anderson Cooper dining with José Andrés! I had just watched "Made in Spain" that morning and read Cooper's tweets that morning via TweetDeck about life in Afghanistan. How surreal to see them dining in front of me while I bit into some authentic Serrano ham.
I am also a huge fan of the dessert bar/patisserie area. This whole floor of the SLS hotel is designed by one of my most favorite designers, if not the best, Phillippe Starck. And there's a section for a different mood, time or theme depending if you want to hang outside, the bar, inside, art section, high tea, tapas but it all works together perfectly.
There is also an art area which can only be described as eclectic and like someone mentioned, ironic. It's bizarre, psychedelic, beautiful and sometimes ugly and erotic: Gold piggybanks, diamond studded pasties, whips and chains, vintage pistols, Justin Timberlake tanning photos, couture dresses just to name a few things.
Try the Passionfruit Martini! WAO! So DELICIOUS as if I were tasting passion fruit for the first time. I will come back again and for high tea. I have to try the famous Ferran Adria "Olives" and Nitro and cotton candy cocktails next time. Portions are pretty small which are made up in quality and artistry. Overall the food is fantastic, but not the best... but combined with the playfulness in sometimes how you have to eat the food or the technique in which it was prepared, abstracted or deconstructed elevates these dishes to another level. Some of the dishes like the philly cheesesteak on air bread and hangar steak are the proverbial bomb!
Come here for a sophisticated and playful experience and not just for the food. The Bazaar oozes of creativity hitting all the senses.
Completely amazing. Went here as guests of friends so I cannot comment on the prices although I know it is very expensive. The food was EXTRAORDINARY! So many flavors of awesome it was mind bending. Tha ambiance and mood were cool without being totally pretentious in the Phillipe Starck designed space. Service was excellent but I probably shouldn't judge service since our friend clearly knew most of the staff. It was like a family reunion.
We had several items and I loved everything. The last item we had was delectable: foie gras wrapped in cotton candy, on a stick: awesome. tastes worked together wonderfully. a new fave over Graham Elliot's foie gras lollypops coated with pop rocks in Chicago.
Went here for a friend's birthday brunch...they were too booked for the high tea so we had to settle on sitting in the other room and ordering off the tapas menu.
There were 9 of us...and three people that were over 50 ( her mom, aunt and grandma) but that are all very hip and enjoy gourmet meals in beverly hills all the time. Let's just say, they were less than pleased with the menu and the tapas.
First of all the "specialty" drinks were a little weird looking. The bloody mary has a weird green foam on top that is just not appetizing.
The grapefruit mimosa was yummy but way overpriced in my opinion for the amount and for what it was.
The tapas...
um, yah. Not so great.
Some were decent, but small. Others were big, but gross.
Here's the short list:
1. bagel and salmon- not a bagel. Not salmon.... 4 tiny crispy cones with half a teaspoon of cream cheese in them and topped with large salmon roe (orange salmon eggs). I didn't have one but my best friend did....and I didn't WANT to have one after I saw her face. She loves sushi and adventurous food but said these were disgusting.
2. 12 egg omelet- twelve tiny quail eggs in a round omelet that is about the size of a 45 record, served over rice. This was actually pretty tasty, though I don't really think I needed 12 eggs. I could have done with just 6.
3. avocado wrapped ceviche- this was actually damn good...if not a little salty. It also was swimming in a thing of oil that I could have done without. But really tasty. We ordered two because we were starving (after 6 other plates).
4. Eggs benedict- UM...GROSS. This was the WORST version of eggs benedict ever. Everything was just so damn slimy and mucuous-y. I get it...we are doing exciting food here...but can it at least be appetizing? How about we don't F up a perfectly good dish by making it totally uneatable.
5. Philly Cheesesteak sandwich- This is NOT a sandwich. It's a slice of raw-ish meat on a cracker filled with air and a weird cheese-ish substance inside. You get two little ones on a plate (1 was enough for me)...and it's certainly not what anyone would expect when they order a sandwich.
6. Lox and bagel- this was ok. Again served on the air filled cracker thingy with the cream cheese inside. It wasn't what I thought I was getting but the flavor at least tasted like what I ordered, even though the consistency didn't.
7. Endive boats with cheese and nuts- these tasted good but were so not filling...I might as well have eaten air and then given them 12 bucks for the honor.
8. French toast (it's called something else)- this was good but VERY sweet. It was one of the few things that actually resembled real food though.
9. Pancakes- THANK GOD FOR THESE... I normally would never order anything like pancakes because I like to watch my waistline...but I NEEDED these. I was starving still after all of the things listed above!!! They were tasty, fluffy, small enough to manage and came with good syrup and fresh berries. The only complaint is that the infused butter that comes on top, looks like snot. Sorry...but I just don't want my food to resemble things that come out of my nose. Really off putting...so once I saw that, I asked them to leave it off of mine....and it was delicious without it.
So, for all of this...and drinks...we had the "privilege" of paying $825 and being so hungry that people left early to go get in and out.
I get what they are trying to do here...I really do. I even enjoyed my first visit a lot (we sat in the bar and had only 2 tapas that were safe)...but I would never actually plan to eat a MEAL here again. I would come for the ambiance, the quirky decor, the great service and a special drink...but that is about it. Mortons is right next door and I would MUCH prefer to eat there. Or, even in the other restaurant in the SLS...we went there for dessert and it was delicious.
Also adding to my low star rating is the fact that the valet lost my car keys and it took them 37 minutes to get my car for me while I stood outside in the wind. Not exactly the kind of service I was expecting.
This place was booked for dinner a month in advance, but they have a really big bar area that is… Read more »
The Bazaar at SLS by Jose Andres is by far the prettiest restaurant I've ever been to in my life. Furnished with chic chandeliers, Victorian sofas and other cool furniture, this restaurant will do wonders for those who appreciate a well-decorated place.
There are four main parts to this restaurant, each with its own decor concept (which I won't go in to). The first is the bar area, which is what you see as soon as you walk into the place. To your left is the dining area, to your immediate right is the Patisserie, and to your far right is a "gift shop" which looks more like a showcase of ridiculous things. The Patisserie was my personal fav...Made me feel like I'm at a wedding reception. They lay out all the desserts on a long table in individual glass cake stands, decorated with cute pink teacups, pearls, ceramic cupcakes, beautiful flowers, etc. Definitely appeals to the female crowd.
TAPAS - Mix of modern and traditional food. We ordered more than what is listed below, but I can only rank the dishes that I'd personally tried. (Listed in order from best to worst):
PHILLY CHEESESTEAK (Air bread, Cheddar, Wagyu Beef) : 5 stars - Amazing dish, loved that it had melted cheddar in the bread (a pleasant surprise!)...it sucks that one bite costs you $8, but aside from that, it was delicious. A definite must.
CROQUETAS DE POLLO (Chicken and Bechamel Fritters) : 4.5 stars - If you can imagine condensed chicken noodle soup ... fried... this is what it would taste like. So good!
NOT YOUR EVERYDAY CAPRESE (Cherry Tomatoes, Liquid Mozzarella) : 4 stars - Aside from the coolness factor of the liquid mozzarella, it is still your everyday caprese... But very tasty
CORN ON THE COB (Baby Corn, Corn Nuts, Popcorn Shoots) : 3.5 stars - The person responsible for ordering this dish got alot of sh*t for it ("why would you order THAT here???? its corn on the cob"). Lo and behold, it was actually pretty tasty. Nice job, Brian C.
SEA URCHIN SANDWICH (Avocado, Steamed Buns) : 3 stars - 3 teeny bite size "sandwiches" come in a bamboo steamer. Good, but nothing mind blowing.
SEA SCALLOPS (Romesco Sauce) : 3 stars - Good, but nothing special.
JAPANESE TACO (Grilled Eel, Shiso, Cucumber, Wasabi, Chicharron) : 3 stars - Great presentation, ok taste
COTTON CANDY FOIE GRAS : 2 stars - Really cool concept. Definitely a "try only once" type of thing though.
BEEF HANGER STEAK (Piquillo Pepper Confit and Natural Jus) : 2 stars - The meat was so tough to chew! Not cool...
Overall, the dinner was less than what I'd hoped for... plus I was still hungry.
DESSERT - After you are finished with your meal, your server will bring you dessert menus and/or ask if you'd like to have your dessert at the Patisserie. YOU MUST GO TO THE PATISSERIE! I repeat.... YOU MUST GO TO THE PATISSERIE!!!! and so we went....
While we waited for our order to come out, our new server brought us these AWESOME chocolate covered pop rocks. Tasty and new. (5 stars)
I am happy to report that the dessert portion sizes were more normal. We had the following (ranked from best to worst):
APPLES "CARLOTA" (Bread Pudding with Saffron Sauce) : 4.5 stars - The bread pudding was incredibly moist, and the saffron sauce was such a great complement. The only con was the it was served cold.
SLS TRES CHOCOLATE MOUSSE: 4.5 stars - Three layers of different kinds of chocolate mousse with chocolate covered pop rocks on top. SO good. I liked the dark chocolate layer best.
GREEK YOGURT PANNA COTTA (Apricots and Muscat Gelatin) : 4.5 stars - A clean, fresh and light dish compared to the others. It was great.
TRADITIONAL SPANISH FLAN (Vanilla and Fruit) : 4 stars - It is exactly what they say it is, but really great texture. (I've had some horrible flan in the past... ) The side of vanilla was amazing too.
HOT CHOCOLATE MOUSSE (Pear Sorbet and Salty Hazelnut Praline) : 2.5 stars - I had a couple of bites of this, and realized if you don't have a hazelnut in your scoop, it's an average dish... jello pudding with fruit in it.
NITRO COCONUT FLOATING ISLAND (Passionfruit and Vanilla) : 2.5 stars - Apparently this is their best dish. Maybe my taste buds were effed up, but I didn't think it was that great...
The Bazaar is a restaurant that one should experience at least once. At such ridiculously high prices, I'm not sure the food is worth it to come back for dinner. I will, however, definitely be visiting again for tea and dessert.
Note: This place was voted "Top Newcomer" in the 2010 Zagat guide for Los Angeles
So despite the DB's who were snapping photos of everything and standing up to pose and interrupt everyone's dining experience with their crazy annoying flash, we had an amazing time. The service was fantastic, the atmosphere gorgeous ( this is a well laid out and amazingly decorated space). The only design element I hated were the bathrooms. F%$# those sinks! Anyway, the FOOD! I will never forget those brussel sprouts, the philly cheese steak, the couscous or the amazing white beans and homemade sausage. The drink menu is crazy fun, but they also have an exceptional wine list. Take the dessert in the separate patisserie area where you see pastry chefs building your perfect dessert. A sexy meal. I can't wait to go back.
If it weren't for my great group of friends, I wouldn't have enjoyed our $975 meal as much as I did.
We ordered the tasting menu and added 3 additional items that were highly recommended by other Yelpers.
The service was HoRRible. We had to hunt down a waitress to order our drinks in the bar, about 70% of our food arrived all at the same time and the servers barely announced what was being served. We had to literally force them to stop and tell us what we were about to eat. Then we couldn't understand their english. I have a food allergy, and no one bothered to advise us of the ingredients of the dish being served. But lucky for me, I have friends who tell me if there was dairy in the food.
The food was good, not spectacular or memorable. I do have to admit I did enjoy the philly cheesesteak, the cotton candy foie gras, croquetas de pollo chicken and the egg thing. Many of our items were pretty salty and the presentation was very nice on some and really, really bland on others. The magic mojito was very good.
Moving to the patisserie was much better. We were all finally able to hear each other talk. The display of the desserts were quite appealing and the size of the desserts served to us was fun to share. Again, the servers barely told us what was being served to us.
Now the valet. I get it, it's Beverly Hills so I must pay $10 to have my car parked. Every valet out there gives you a ticket to pick-up your car and requests that you show the ticket to ensure that you are picking up the actual car that you own. I got nothing! I walked up to my car, the guy gets out, closes my door and that's it. I would think that in Beverly Hills, they should be even more careful that someone doesn't get their Bentley stolen.
OK food + bad service = I'll spend my hard earned cash elsewhere.
But if I am to return. It would be for desserts and a magic mojito!
absolutely love this place!!!!!! it's ridiculously sexy, decadent, fabulous, fun, unusual, outlandish, silly, delicious, not very cheap... but quite magical and spectacular and worth every penny IF you order wisely!!!
Here's what I recommend:
Magic Mojitos (a traditional mojito, sans sugar, poured over a martini glass filled with cotton candy) (5 Stars)
Philly CHeesesteak (5 Stars) *order one per person - they musn't be shared :)
Croquetas de pollo chicken & béchamel fritters (5 Stars)
Watermelon tomato skewers (5 Stars)
Sautéed shrimp garlic, guindilla pepper (4 Stars)
Embutidos platter with Chorizo, lomo, salchichon (4 Stars)
Mussels (ceviche style) olive oil, vinegar, pimentón (4 Stars)
Green asparagus tempura romesco (4 Stars)
Traditional Spanish Flan (4 Stars)
I give this place a solid B.
The service was what made me give this place 3 stars which is kind of funny reading the reviews before me. Our waiter was really attentive and even gave us a free appetizer on the house because he really liked our table.
These items are what we ordered:
Dirty Martini: just get the regular version, this one is pretty salty
Nitrogen Caipirinha: Expensive but worth it for the experience.
3 Cheese Plate: Its cheese how can you really go wrong?
Sweet Potato Chips: I really like anise so I liked this dish, there were mixed feelings amongst the others.
Philly Cheesesteak: Ok its true, this dish is one to order.
Beets: OK
Wild Mushroom Rice Idiazábal Cheese: I read somewhere that it was salty and its true they make it almost inedible. We had to ask them to take it back and the 2nd one was much better.
Norwegian Lobster: Good
Croquetas De Pollo Chicken And Béchamel Fritters : OK
Japanese Taco: Good
American Caviar Cone: Good
Papas Canarias Salty Wrinkled Potatoes, Mojo Verde: OK but really couldn't have too much of it, very salty.
Rossejat: OK
I really want to give this place 5 stars because of its service and decor, but the food really was whatever. Not worth the money unless you're getting treated.
If you do decide to have a meal ask for Chad in the dining room and Gabriel for the patisserie. They were both wonderful.
Bazaar was bizarre indeed. Also the worst service I've had in a restaurant in my entire life. I'd like to say it was an off day for Bazaar but I've read similar reviews on CH and our waiter in the patisserie commented on how many people complain about service. I'm not a fussy person and don't ask for much but the level of service we received was beyond reproach. The only reason I didn't give them 1 star was because of several outstanding dishes which I could eat again but won't because I'd never step foot inside Bazaar even if they comped me an entire meal. This place is strictly B&T crowd.
The crowd pleasers
1. Philly cheese steak lives up to his billing.
2. Japanese taco was lovely.
3. Caprese was tasty and fun to eat.
4. Sommelier was extremely friendly, nice and helpful.
Service issues
1. When you ask the host if he can help find the sommelier because we've been waiting for 10 minutes after already ordering food listen to the question and don't just say, "your server will be back soon". Also take out the ear piece you're not in the secret service asswipe.
2. Don't take our food order and tell us you're going to find the sommelier and disappear for 15 minutes. Literally disappeared for 15 minutes which led to issue #1.
3. God forbid when you drop off the plates at our table you would explain what the dish is or even tell us what we're eating. Maybe that's part of the fun with Bazaar, order 12 dishes and try to remember every single ingredient in each dish.
4. It took another 20 minutes for them to move us to the patisserie after we had indicated we were ready for dessert.
5. We were sitting at our table for almost 30 minutes between a few dishes. Some came out within minutes of each other. The pacing was absolutely brutal.
The whole meal took almost 3 hours and could have been an hour shorter with better pacing of dishes and servers acting in the best interest of the restaurant and customer. I can't imagine Bazaar with any staying power if they don't address these issues even though the bar was absolutely packed to the gills.
The fact that I was getting married in 3 days was the only reason I did not explode, complain, cause a scene or leave a very small tip. It was not worth the aggravation to introduce more stress into my week. After cooling off and enjoying my absolutely wonderful weekend I'm happy to have stayed calm but am even more convinced of how terrible a dining experience the Bazaar was. Esquire best restaurant of 2009 my ass, this isn't even the best restaurant on La Cienega Blvd.
SHORT review: Don't go out of your way to make reservations. Just go to the bar and have your tapas there. And yes, the Philly Cheesesteak is the go to menu item. Wish TGIF's made a rip off of it and I could order a dozen at a time! Ha ha.
LONG review:
We FINALLY got reservations for a Wednesday night at 6:45 pm and were there for Dine L.A. week. I had read plenty of reviews about the food but didn't know what to expect for the location. WOW is all I have to say. It was sensory overload for me as I walked in the door. There were clearly 3 distinct "areas" - dining room to the left, bar in the middle and then a museum to the right? Yes it looked like a museum but I discovered the cases were items that you could actually shop for (ah ha, the bazaar part - doink I'm a dork!).
I was waiting for my friends so I hit up the bar and the bartender Mike was AWESOME! Incredibly friendly and ready to make ANY drink and concoct any drink. I said, make me something with Veev and he put like 20 different ingredients together and voila it was fantastic. As I sat at the bar, I saw that folks were ordering their tapas there. Nice - what I plan to do next time!
Friends arrive and we check in our whole party and it was interesting. The "host" was the perfect mix of snobby/polite. Service but letting us know we weren't the important people. We were sat at a table adjacent to the bar (split by curtains) underneath the direct fan of the air conditioning system. Too cold, can we move? No, but we'll turn down the air. They did.
Waiter for this part (I'll explain later) was incredibly friendly and helpful and steered us in the direction of "Oh yes, do try the Dine L.A. menu because it has good offerings and is a good price." So what did I have? So many items, that I'll just describe what I actually ate...
PHILLY CHEESTEAK: YES, it is that good. All that you've heard is true. This puff of bread (two bites worth) has a layer of thinly sliced rare wagyu beef. And when you take that first bite, silky smooth flavorful cheese oozes to meld with the other elements of goodness. Tip - after that first bite, prop up the bread - you don't want to lose that cheese to the plate. Second bite even more divine. It IS a philly cheesteak without the heaviness or grease. Masterful reinterpretation of what is already a good thing!
CROQUETAS de POLLO: I believe 5 small rolls of perfectly crisped croquettes came out. Good crisp and to be honest? Average taste. If you like croquettes, go to PORTO's in Burbank.
EMBUDITOS PLATTER: Generous portion of various types of "ham". Rows of three types of "ham" of chorizo, lomo and salchichon. Remember I'm the FAKE foodie so I'm not sure how they are supposed to tast, but nothing jumped out at me other that the cut of the hams - one was sliver thin, another fat, and one inbetween. Decent flavors and definitely portion good to share and comes with bread.
APPLES & MANCHEGO - I believe it was called that for the Dine L.A. menu. Another interesting and FAB interpretation of apples and cheese. I expected slices of apple and slices of cheese. What we got was a fettucine of green apple adorned with a haystack of manchego. It looked gorgeous and with this presentation provided a different texture and taste as the apple and cheese blended together. Fantastic.
TUNA CEVICHE and AVOCADO ROLL - Very good. A LOT of avocado though that it almost overrides the tuna but quite good.
After all of that and more, we were then whisked away to the "museum" part of the restaurant which is designated for DESSERT! Very cool. You keep your bill but get assigned to another waiter. Our dessert waiter was very nice, BUT very slow - so disappointingly slow that our 5 star rating had to drop to a 4 star. Not just the slow service, but the dessert too. It was good and very cool, but it wasn't to die for.
CREAMY CHOCOLATE HEART - Eh. Reminiscent of molten lava cake and I'm tired of that. But friends did enjoy.
PINEAPPLE dessert - Ugh, I can't remember the name and I'm not sure if it's the Pineapple & Fennel Salad one that's listed on their menu. Whatever it was it was SUPER cool. The foam is nitrogen (?) chilled, so it's cool to break into the softness of the pineappleness stuff. Cool to have once but wouldn't get it again.
I ordered a chocolate chip cookie that never came.
I knocked down a star because of the service.
The food is still great (although not as memorable as my first visit - probably because this time we ordered off the dine LA menu). But, it took forever to get our waters refilled and to get our checks. Our server was nice, but she seemed preoccupied with god knows what... We were there for a late reservation and was one of the last tables left so it shouldn't have taken her a long time to take care of our check. Oh well... but, still the meal was great because of the food and company. I still highly recommend this place to anyone who hasn't tried it yet. It's an experience!
I've been wanting to eat here for such a long time and finally, I went last night with my best… Read more »
HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE KILLS! Ok, kills is too harsh a word but it definitely ruins. Maybe it's our fault, we chose to go to the bazaar for LA restaurant week so it might've not been up to par but out of all the dishes we had, the only BOMB one was the philly cheesesteak in air bread, caprese salad and the cod fritters. The caprese salad had these really delicious mozarella balls that were watery on the inside, cheesy on the outside - very fun to eat. Everything else was mas o menos. The bill came out to around $80/person. For that price, I'd rather eat in-n-out 16 times in a row.
I watch food shows all the time and I always hear "gazpacho this gazpacho that" so I wanted to try it....it's freaking COLD TOMATO SOUP DUDE! and...the japanese taco was nothing special.
The drinks were unique but "gimmick-y"...example: a bartender walks around like a dim sum server with a cart and asks if you want a "liquid nitrogen" drink. It's basically lemony rum, mixed with liquid nitrogen so it becomes a slushy. They do it right in front of you so it has that small wow factor but overall, it tasted like a margarita. They also have this cotton candy drink where the server places a cup with cotton candy over it, then pours the drink in so it melts in front of your eyes. Again, gimmick-y.
Anyway, I'm sure the Bazaar has seen better days. I will say one thing. The Decor, especially the RESTROOM DECOR is spaztastic!!! When you're in the dining room then enter the restroom, it's like *cue the angel voices* a completely different universe, all modern and white with a bunch of bright lights.
check out the pics for some of the so-so dishes.
This place has some of the best people watching in all of Los Angeles.
A mixture of:
Reality TV Stars who've acted like hookers
Hookers hoping to get on a reality show
Rich People with their high to mid-priced hookers
Bachelorette parties
Out of towners
I recommend, if you do nothing else, get the Serrano ham, the most buttery delicious melty coma-inducing "cold cut" imaginable, and then take your drink over to the dessert area. The table by the entrance is the best for the above-mentioned endless hooker-watching, and slowly savor your coffee and "floating island" dessert as the implants, fake eyelashes and thigh-high boots teeter by...
Bazaar is a bizarre mix of foods, styles, shapes, sizes, colors, textures, and flavors. There is really not a better way to describe it. The waiters wearing white gloves serve tiny portions of the most oddly combined food off silver platters and every bite does something different in your mouth. The mixes of sweet and savory trigger philosophical pondering over wine mixed with cotton candy. The liquid olives were a blast and while not everything on the menu is amazing, there is so much to choose from. It's a fun experience to venture into the deconstruction of food.
You can't eat this kind of food everyday nor would you want to but if you're feeling playful and adventurous with a craving for something special, give Bazaar a try.
The staff at Bazaar are very friendly, accommodating, and can readily answer most all menu questions, though kind of forgetful and spacey. Our waiter was enthusiastic, helpful and honest about the menu. The atmosphere is lively, comfortable. The crowd is allovertheplace: tourists, hollywood types, and crowds of friends. We had the dineLA menu and were all mostly satisfied. Our friends seemed especially pleased with the foie gras sandwiches, wrinkled potatoes and chicken croquetas; and we liked the carrot fritters, Catalan pork sausage, and the apple/fennel salad.
I was underwhelmed by the brussels sprouts...a serving of some outside leaves just doesn't cut it with me, lemon puree was a little weak, lemon air was wonderful. The Philly cheesesteak came colder than room temperature. The lamb was just ok, tender but flavorless-which I think is pretty hard to do with lamb.
Overall an nice place for the atmosphere, great for jamon and drinks.
I'm too lazy to write a detailed review so I'm going to copy & paste my younger sister, Grace P.'s review.
I am seriously not a fan of places with bad service, especially if the meal is not cheap. Come on, I don't expect 5 Star service from McDonald's but if you're one of the top restaurants in Los Angeles, and it costs about $70+/person for a meal, the service better be good.
I loved The Bazaar up until dessert. I feel like the service went out the window. Yes, mistakes occur but if it does, you should APOLOGIZE for the inconvenience. All I wanted was a "I'm sorry ma'am, I'll take care of this right away" instead of just grabbing the check and taking it away to fix it.
Thanks Bazaar for wasting my time.
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2.5 stars.
I had been dying to try this place, so I was finally able to during DineLA. I loved the movement. You start in the bar, go inside to have your meal, then move to tables on the opposite side of the bar for dessert. It's very smart to keep people moving to open up tables.
Food is amazing. I will give the food 4.5 stars. Everything is tapa style, so it's all shared. We started with delicious Philly cheesecakes and Japanese tacos. I actually enjoyed the cotton candy foie gras except the texture. It was a cube and felt odd in my mouth after the cotton candy melted. The mussels, scallops and spinach were PERFECT. The Jicama wraps were fresh and light.
While we were eating, the waiter came and changed our plates, which is fine. But I was literally mid-bite of my brunelo. So my hand and brunelo were awkwardly mid-air, waiting for the new plate. Then when we were paying our check, we used 2 cards and cash because we were all paying separately. They didn't count the cash and decided to just charge extra onto my sister's card. It took FOREVER to get it sorted out, and the manager never apologized. We sat at our dessert table for an hour. I thought it was extremely rude of them. Five star restaurants receive five stars for EVERYTHING - food, decor and especially service. Bazaar still needs to learn that.
I had tried calling to get reservations during Dine La Week. ... but it was all booked. We decided to test our luck and drove from OC to LA to see if we could land a table. The Hotel itself is nothing to cry home about from the outside.. but the inside... has all that jazz! It's a bit confusing at first because I didn't really know where the bar ended and the restaurant started. It was quite overwhelming at first.. all the different rooms and different decors in each one. The Bar is ultra sleek and sexy. You can order drinks and only a limited menu is available.
We were not lucky enough to get a table but we were able to sit at the Tapas bar. We sat directly in front of the Garde Manger Station. He was in charge of the Cold Items such as the salads and Cold Appetizers. It was pretty neat to watch the Chefs in action. I actually enjoy watching the masters at work.. We didn't mind sitting at the bar.. it was a lot less stuffy and much more relaxed. Even at the Bar we were able to order the Dine La Menu.
Here are the items we tried:
Nitro Caipirinha - This was prepared table side. The waitress was nice enough to let me be part of the experience. She passed the whisk over to me and I felt like I was in High School Chemistry Class again. The result was a beautiful adult slush with colorful edible flowers. It came with a baby spoon rather than a straw. It was definitely a fun drink. $20 for this experience.
Mojito traditional style - nice strong drink.. perfect mix or mint and citrus. Per my bro we were supposed to get the surpise Mojito with the cotton candy.. we were glad we stuck with the traditional because it looked like it was punched with more fresh mint.
The Infamous Philly Cheese Steak- Man this tasted like heaven ... The Air bread with the Wagyu Beef Slices..and the pop of cheese that bursts all in your mouth. The portions were quite small and I left me yearning for more.
Catalan style toasted bread, tomato with Jamón Serrano Fermin (Dry cured ham) This was one of my favorite dishes. Traditional, simple flavors. The Jamon had the perfect amount of marbling. High grade Olive oil makes a difference also on the bread.
West coast oysters lemon, black pepper- How could canned seafood taste this good. They were bursting with flavor. I only wished I had more!
Mussels olive oil, vinegar, pimentón - Not as good as the oysters but also enjoyable.
Sea scallops Romesco sauce - Scallops were cooked perfectly but I felt the Romesco sauce was way too bland.. it did nothing for the scallops... was missing a bit of acid. This was one of my least favorite items of the night..
Canarias Salty Wrinkled Potatoes with Mojo Verde dipping sauce - This was recommended by our waiter. They looked like rocks when they first came. My bf really enjoyed this dish. I felt it to be extremely salty and I was in desperate need of a palette cleanser after that dish. Interesting dish. I think I would have enjoyed this dish with a good beer.. to be able to compete with funky flavors that were going on.
Beef hanger steak piquillo pepper confit - Beef again cooked perfectly.. we got peices that were kind of veiny. The Piquillo Peppers had a nice texture and very soft taste. Ok dish.. forgettable.
Foie Gras Cotton Candy Lollipops - WOW. Now this was a fun dish. It brought a smile to my face seeing it come by. How fun is this.. I love Foie Gras and with cotton Candy.. perfect balance of savory and sweet. These were ordered off the regular menu
Rossejat paella-style pasta, shrimp - My bro had rec this dish. It was the most disappointing. It reminded me of a dish that I would have made in Jr High after school. Just very uninspired.. and the shrimp were not even de-veined. It had no Paella flavor at all .. just lots of salt. I think this dish is an embarasment to the rest of the menu. This was actually ordered off the regular menu..
Traditional Spanish Flan Vanilla Bean Foam and fruit - The texture of the Flan was delicate, silky and luscious. The Vanilla Bean Foam was was a nice touch.
Assortment of Sorbets - Vanilla bean delightful, Coconut.. reminded me of sun tan lotion, Raspberry perfectly balanced with tartness and sweetness.
We had 2 glasses of white wine and a glass of Muscato to go with the Foie Gras Lolipops
Our drinks ended up being almost more than our meal! Overall we had an amazing time and we are looking forward to going back. This is definitely a place that will burn a hole in your pocket but the experience we had was very very memorable. We have never had so much fun anticipating our next dish.. Everything was so playful and the cooking methods were not compromised.
All said and done with 5 drinks including a coffee at the end $200 before tip. Worth it.... =)
4 stars instead of 5 because of price.
This report is several months old and the following meal was enjoyed in June, during my last trip to Los Angeles, accompanied by the delightful Mr. Richard and the beautiful Lisa. I won't comment on the surroundings or décor; suffice to say the artist in me was thrilled with all the eye candy. It is not an understated, demure room by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I would hazard to guess it could have been designed by Jeff Koons, if Jeff Koons did such things.
Sweet potato chips with Greek yogurt foam with star anise and tamarind. Delightful concoction of crisp, light chips (so much better than the bagged version, which I adore). The hint of tamarind and star anise enhanced the creamy yogurt. I think we were cleaning the bowl with our fingers...
Traditional olives with Piquillo peppers. Served in a can, these were to tease us for what was to come, the MG'd liquefied version. Traditional and piquant, a perfect amuse.
Liquified olives. The liquefied olives were the Molecular Gastronomic version of the traditional olive. Served in a mason jar, a waiter deftly and carefully served them in utensils similar to Japanese soup spoons so they could be consumed in one bite, letting the vinegared goodness squirt gleefully in our mouths. Bright, enticing, and very adventurous.
Caprese salad. How does one make a simple caprese salad better? For starters, making the globular bites of cheese and cherry tomatoes exactly the same size. Second, peel the perfectly ripe tomatoes. Third, use the very best olive oil, freshest basil, and enhance with blanched garlic. This offering was quite simply, the very best caprese salad I have ever experienced, with each ingredient speaking its own language, yet complementing its partner.
Guacamole with jicama and fritos and cilantro. In this dish, the jicama was sliced paper thin to act like an Asian wonton wrapper, encasing the guacamole. This was one of the first dishes to be served which, while perfectly fine, seemed out of place with the other Spanish flavors. In fact, being a California native who has eaten various versions of guacamole my whole life, I found the filling rather pedestrian, although the packaging was certainly unique. It looked pretty, but did not inspire me or send me through the rapturous ceiling as the previous courses had done.
Paddlefish caviar cone. So simple and again, so very, very good. The tuille cone - which so often can be made so thick as to overwhelm that which it contains - was paper thin and showcased the ample caviar. Just enough crème fraîche and chives to balance out the saltiness of the caviar.
Conservas - raspberry and vinaigrette with King Crab. Another tin-served course, there is a refined palate at work that knows how to marry two seemingly disparate delicacies such as raspberries and crab. Here, succulent crab with a hint of vinaigrette and edible pansies provided a cool repass from the salty caviar. This was a favorite of mine and I was very lucky to have such good friends let me eat the bulk of this course.
Papas with bacon (Canary Islands); potatoes cooked with salt water served with mojo of parsley, cilantro, and cumin. I admit it; I am not a cilantro fan and was fairly sure I wouldn't enjoy these potatoes as they were meant to be eaten, with the mojo. And I was incredibly wrong. Somehow the pervasive soapiness that I get from cilantro was absent here and instead, I got to experience delightfully tender morsels of salted potatoes, dipped in the enticing sauce. While dusted with a fine layer of salt, these were not too salty at all.
Avocado with tuna, rolled with cornnuts and micro cilantro. Like the guacamole purses, this was a course that failed slightly for me. And I like avocados! The creamy texture of the obviously great tasting avocado was too similar in mushiness to the interior tuna concoction. It was only the addition of the house-made corn-nuts that provided some much-needed crunch, but it was not enough. I'm sorry to say that I don't recall the sauce. All I recall was a mouth full of mush.
Nitrogen Capairinha. To hearken away from our wine, we opted for the extra charge ($30) to try the molecular gastronomic capairinha. Prepared tableside, the ingredients are combined and then nitrogen is added to create the most decadent, alcoholic slushy imaginable. Made with a premium cachaça, Sagatiba, the shared indulgence cleansed our palate and excited us for what was to come. Expensive yes. And worth every penny.
Some bread. Bread is not automatically served at Bazaar as it is in most restaurants. We had asked for it early on as there were many courses from which we wanted to sop up sauces. Having the bread arrive so late in our meal, we realized why there was a delay: They were baked to order....
The rest of the review is at http://www.feast-blog.com (complete with pictures).
2.5 stars.
I had been dying to try this place, so I was finally able to during DineLA. I loved the movement. You start in the bar, go inside to have your meal, then move to tables on the opposite side of the bar for dessert. It's very smart to keep people moving to open up tables.
Food is amazing. I will give the food 4.5 stars. Everything is tapa style, so it's all shared. We started with delicious Philly cheesecakes and Japanese tacos. I actually enjoyed the cotton candy foie gras except the texture. It was a cube and felt odd in my mouth after the cotton candy melted. The mussels, scallops and spinach were PERFECT. The Jicama wraps were fresh and light.
While we were eating, the waiter came and changed our plates, which is fine. But I was literally mid-bite of my brunelo. So my hand and brunelo were awkwardly mid-air, waiting for the new plate. Then when we were paying our check, we used 2 cards and cash because we were all paying separately. They didn't count the cash and decided to just charge extra onto my sister's card. It took FOREVER to get it sorted out, and the manager never apologized. We sat at our dessert table for an hour. I thought it was extremely rude of them. Five star restaurants receive five stars for EVERYTHING - food, decor and especially service. Bazaar still needs to learn that.
We were disappointed to say the least but glad that we checked it out for happy hour although not a bargain at all. This is a 5 star establishment but the service was not up to par. We waited 30 minutes for a drink that was just okay. Tryed 4 different bite size dishes which were all good but so tiny you needed a whole meal after. It would take all night to try and be satisfied here with enough food. Yes, the philly steak puff was very good, as was almost all that we tasted here but the sizes of the dish for the price is REDICULOUS!! We were visiting from out of town and had read reviews about how this place was the restaurant of the year in Esquire Magazine so were glad we checked it out but were much happier at our final destination that night and glad we did not stay for a full dinner here!
You have to check out The Bazaar. First, the cocktails.
They make the Nitro Caipirinha table-side. Of course, playing with liquid nitrogen is always awesome. And it tastes good! Smooth, strong, and they put little edible flowers on top that actually add a nice flavor to the drink. I also tried the Salt Air Margarita, which was a really neat idea. Instead of having salt on the rim, they have a froth on top, supposedly to make the salt less overpowering. It tastes too salty if you just sip the top, you have to drink from the bottom, know what I mean? Finally, the Magic Mojito with cotton candy. Very cool idea, but it ultimately tastes a little flat, so I'd pass on it.
Now, FOOD! Not all of the dishes are spectacular, but the stand-outs are unforgettable. What they call a "Philly Cheesesteak" is a small pastry puff filled with cheese, topped with juicy, super-thinly sliced Wagyu. Biting into the "air bread" felt like eating a cloud, light and heavenly. After the initial bite, the satisfyingly tangy cheese slowly oozes out; it's so awesome.
My buddy Jessica wanted to get the Jamon Serrano Fermin. I was thinking, "Why get prosciutto? I can do that at home in 5 seconds.." but it ended up being one of the best dishes of the night. The jamon serrano was SO marbled and smooth. Delicious. They serve it on this awesome bread with a super-thin layer of tomato (not slices, more like a spread) which was so smart and juicy.
The codfish buñuelos were amazing as well. Perfectly fried little spheres of deliciousness. So good. And the flan! Top-notch.
Easily one of the most memorable tapas places, I think. Not easy on the wallet, but I'll never forget the Philly. Ever.
This place really is A-OK. I give it 3 stars not because the food was bad but because my group of 6 ppl had to sit on the most uncomfortable wooden bench while eating our $600 dinner. How do they expect ppl to enjoy the food? I know Starck was going for the contemporary mismatched furniture decor but I looked over at the table next to us and they had regular comfy chairs and a pretty table w/ red laser beam lights. I felt like I was sitting at the reject's table.
You'll definitely have more fun here just people watching and looking at overpriced designer toys and decorations. I would rather have a drink at the SLS lounge area than eat at The Bazaar. The food is good and pretty to look at, but it's not amazing and it's definitely overpriced. I recommend the japanese tacos, philly cheesesteak, and cotton candy foie gras (which is actually just pate, not real foie gras). I'll go back, but just for their dessert or afternoon tea or people watching.
DineLA Restaurant Week is full of ripoffs - The Bazaar could become one easily if you don't choose wisely. Unless you get some Jamones y Embutidos or certain Pescados y Mariscos, you will most likely pick items that will cost you about $44 on a regular day.
The Asian inside me came out in full force. I was determined to pick the most expensive dishes that still looked appetizing to me.
I had:
Philly Cheesesteak - 5*: Innovative & delicious, plus it was 10:20pm and I was extremely hungry.
Embutidos Platter - 4.5*: Ok, it's not innovative but it tasted great! Plus, the tomato bread really filled me up. I would give this the "best value" dish on the DineLA menu.
Sea Scallops - 3.5*: The two huge scallops were cooked perfectly BUT the sauce was really average.
Beef Hanger Steak - 4*: Delicious but not unique or special.
Creamy Chocolate Heart - 3*: I learned that I'm not a cardamon fan. The cake was moist but the chocolate cake I had for lunch at La Cachette was far superior.
Total Cost if Purchased Separately: $60
Total Savings: $16 (27% off!)
My friend ordered:
Jamon Serrano Fermin - 4.5*: Like the Embutidos platter, it was filling and delicious.
The Ultimate Spanish Tapa! - 2*: Uh...I think they call it the "Ultimate" because if they called it anything else, no one would ever order this thing. It's a glorified potato salad with canned tuna. Very disappointing.
Butifarra - 3.5*: Delicious mushrooms, but the wiener was too small.
Traditional Spanish Flan - 4.5*: Sure, it's not "modern" but it sure was tasty. Yummy vanilla cream!
Total Cost if Purchased Separately: $52
Total Savings: $8 (15% off)
Result of best value game: I win!
But we both lost the game of good service. We had reservations at 9:30. We arrived at 9:10 but we weren't seated until 9:40. In the meantime, we watched people make out in the bar area. Hello, this is a HOTEL so get a room?!?! No one came to take our order for almost half an hour. Finally, our first dishes came out at 10:20. At that point, I was ready to faint. During our dinner, the waitress rarely came to check on us. Everything was so slow. We didn't linger any longer than we had to but we weren't out of the restaurant until almost midnight. Hey, for a weeknight, that's past my bedtime.
When writing a review for The Bazaar, there is so much to write about, but there is really only one place to start--the food. The food really made me go "wow" because of the arty presentations and the intense, vibrant flavors that followed. As with any tapas place, some dishes stand out more than others. Here is a rundown (listed in order of preference).
5 Stars
(Not your everyday Caprese) Truly an astonishing dish in the way that it managed to maintain the core elements of the familiar caprese salad but then became something completely different and new. Very red cherry tomatoes with cleverly placed herbs giving them the appearance of luscious red apples (I don't know what they put in those tomatoes, but they were the most vibrant I've ever had). Soft gels of liquid mozzarella. Pesto. Balsamic vinegar. Olive oil. Nuggets of air bread. You eat all the ingredients in one bite (via spoon). The best word to describe the dish is transcendent.
(Brussels sprouts) Brussels sprout leaves presented as a nice, light salad. Well paired with a citrus sauce/garnish that included lemon, apricots and grapes.
(Seared figs with Jamon Iberico Fermin) Wonderful combination of figs, thinly sliced cured ham (similar to prosciutto) and hazelnuts.
(Philly cheesesteak) Air bread (a very light pastry-like bread but with a distinguishable crust) that was filled with melted cheddar and then topped with thin Wagyu beef and chives. We started with this, and I was so hungry that I did not really get to enjoy it. On the second serving (later in the meal), the beef felt much more pronounced. Melts in your mouth.
(Hilly cheesesteak) The Philly with tasty thin mushrooms on top instead of beef. If you like the Philly, you have to get the Hilly.
(Sweet potato chips) Very light and tasty sweet potato chips with a mild yogurt dip finished with tamarind. Housemade chips are often greasy (and sometimes paired with an overpowering dip). This dish avoids both pitfalls.
4 Stars
(Beef hanger steak) Nice color on the beef and very tasty. Flavorful braised pepper base with a stark red color. Hanger steak is a cheap yet tender/flavorful cut of beef so I've had it at many restaurants (Beacon, Ford's, Hatfield's, Foundry). This one tops them all.
(Sea urchin little sandwich) Sea urchin is not my favorite seafood, but this was good. It was served with avocado. The most disappointing part was the dim sum steamed bun--not as memorable as the air bread.
(Sauteed wild mushrooms) Mushrooms were great and perfectly cooked but kind of ruined by too much salt. Garnished with herbs (rosemary). Mixed mushrooms are often unevenly cooked with some wilted--not the case here.
3 stars
(Tuna ceviche and avocado roll) I was expecting something a little more creative. Too much avocado. Something you could get at any very good restaurant.
(Cotton candy foie gras). Cotton candy was good as was the foie gras center, but the cotton candy disintegrated too quickly, and you are just left with a chunk of foie gras to chew. It reminded me of The Simpsons episode where Homer wraps a thin waffle around a full stick of butter.
(Hot chocolate mousse) The presentation was pretty bad. It was served with pear sorbet (good), pear cubes, crunchy hazelnut concoctions, and chocolate pearls. It was just okay (because I love chocolate) but pretty disappointing.
2 stars
(Papas Canarias) Fingerling potatoes stacked in a bowl that gave off the appearance of stacked rocks at a pond, which kind of looked right next to the algae-at-a-pond looking mojo verde. Bland.
The Bazaar has a very interesting setup with unique dining rooms (white room, red/black room and a dessert bar). Very off-kilter decorations and furniture fit the menu (even though it comes at the expense of dining comfort). We had a little bit of a wait (even with a reservation), but that is to be expected at a hot new restaurant. Service was efficient, but you will get a lot better, more knowledgeable service at other restaurants in the same price range. The server's In-N-Out like wristband probably helped get the food out right and quick but...kind of tacky.
Based on the scores above, the food would grade out to a little over 4 stars. Yelp says that a 5 stars review means "Woohoo! As good as it gets!" so I only give 5 stars to places that are the "best of something" (best cookies, best restaurant, and so on). I've been to many tapas restaurants in L.A., and I can't imagine one out there being better than The Bazaar.
Hmmmm. . . .
Honestly, you are going to a restaurant at the SLS hotel so don't complain if the bill is too high and the food is too little. BEWARE yelpers!
The Place:
I think the decor of this restaurant is fit to NYC style and it is incredibly well designed. I cannot imagine how much $$$ was thrown into all the furniture of this place. It must have been a fortune.
Service:
For my own experience the service was good. No complains and you would definitely expect that. Friendly staff
Drinks:
Drinks were really good. I was sipping my old gf's martini minute after minute and wishing one of those for myself. Of course, I didn't want to be the guy holding up a glass of martini around the restaurant and pretend I'm Samantha from Sex in City and my old GF is Miranda. LOL
Menu:
This is very interesting cuz you would read the menu and order something you might think you know what it is but once it comes it is totally different from what you had in mind so go and knock yourself out. I think the food is bizarre thus it must be name of the restaurant. Instead of Bazaar it must be called Bizarre.
David
Good meal tonight!
http://www.getafork.co...
Okay, let me appologize, I don't really feel inspired to write this review, so I'll stick to the basics here (and you can get a good idea of the vibe and energy from others reviews)...
Get: Caprese, olives, HANGER STEAK, Flat bread with Manchego, Steak Sandwich, Foi Gras lollipop, Lamb, Tomato Stew thing, Greek Panne Cota, Floating Island (though it's not really a floating island as it lacks the custard)
Don't get: Chicken Croquets (yuch, like bar food, really nasty).
Is it expensive? Absolutely not - assuming you only want to eat one bite of something and not drink. Otherwise you will drop MAJOR coin here. Drinks are around $16. Dishes average $10 (and each person should have 4 - 8 dishes). I spent $200 with tip for 2 people without drinks. With drinks $300+ would be easily reached.
Will I come back? Yes, absolutely (already been here twice). I could do this place every 2 months or so. It's creative, it's fun, it's cool, it's exciting, and it's delicious.
First impression was Whoa...which way do I go? There was so much to take in, and everything was so eclectic, illuminated, and glossy. Pretty cool! We opted for the limited drink/appetizer menu in the bar area and cozied in to a cool sofa where we could soak it all in.
Samplings from the cocktail menu were pretty good and I liked my Halli Berry Gin Martini. The table-side Caiprihani was pretty cool too but not necessarily worth the price in taste. Our tapas sampling included some Guacamole wraps that were really delicious. The cod fritters had some bones (but after alerting our waitress she did remove them from our bill). We also had the Air Bread Philly Cheese steaks. There were small, but tasted delicious. Heed the warning however...they come with a happy ending and the cheese seems to make a little mess if not careful.
Before we left we did take the time to browse through Moss, the restaurant/hotel store/gallery. Pretty unique items for the ultra chic folks in our lives.
We enjoyed our visit for the ambiance and experience, and the food did taste good. Downside was we left having spent well over $100 for 2 and trying to decide where to go next to eat.
You can go to a nice steakhouse in LA, but there are lots of nice steakhouses everywhere...you can go to a nice italian restaurant in LA, but there are nice italian restaurants everywhere...but there is nothing as unique and eccentric and, dare I say, fun as Bazaar (at least that I have tried, I heard Opaque is fun but the food doesn't compare to Bazaar)...
The good - damn near everything...the food is so unexpected and so delicious I found myself licking the plates (despite the dirty looks from onlookers)...highlights included the fois gras, the caprese salad, and the philly cheesesteak...also loved the nitro caprahina and coconut nitro floating island...the key word is unexpected...you won't expect the flavor, you won't expect the preparation of the dish, and you won't expect:
The bad - the portion size...this is a quality over quantity place...if you want to "fill up" (I'm a pretty big guy so take the suggestion liberally), expect to pay at least $100 per person...we did, even with the dineLA menu, but we did order items not on the dineLA menu...might be cheaper to do the chefs tasting menu, $95 for 22 bites...I say just grab some in n out before, try a few of the dishes, a drink, explore the museum/candy shop and call it a night...
So yeah, definitely try the fois gras, caprese salad, philly cheesesteak, nitro caprahina, and nitro coconut floating island in the dessert room...the cesar salad is pretty cool too...also if you don't get one in your drink, ask for some cherry spheres and try them with a spoon, not a fork...trust me on that last part...
Many of you will go seeing this on DineLA... FYI be careful in what you choose. MANY of the items could be ordered on any given day for the same price as their DineLA menu, OR CHEAPER. That disclaimer being said
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Great place to go if you want an eccentric dining experience. They have sectioned off their restaurant into various themed areas running from chic to whimsical to stunning. There is also an area which is sort of a museum.
Great first date place if you don't mind paying $60+ per person. Lots of random things to comment on if the conversation stops.
Food was interesting and a unique experience and worth going to once, but not at all worth price, or going back for.
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LADIES: they will move you to the pastry area for the desserts. As cute as it is. . . .it may be a death trap! There are very high bar chairs which are difficult to climb onto(climb, not sit), NO MINI SKIRTS you will slip off the chair and well. . .yeah. . . also. . the bar on the bar stool is VERY LOW. Expect an uncomfortable dessert time. . . unless you like swinging legs like little kids. . .
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Food: 3.5
Really intense flavors. If you are a bland food person, you probably won't like it. That being said, sometimes the intense flavors did not mix well. Other times, they were as expected.
Philly Cheesesteak and Japanese Tacos would not really startle anyone. Eel was better than the waygu beef $8
The cured ham tasted a little sharp, sort of like sharp cheese, for my liking, though the accompanying bread was delicious. $12-15? (can't remember)
Scallops- perfectly seared, but the accompanying sauce was a little odd. . . imagine red pepper flavored, but without the spice.
Shrimp- waaayy too much cayenne pepper for my spice intolerant self.
oysters- found them puzzling don't get them.
cotton candy foie gras- DO NOT GET tastes like a cube of cheese with crunchy rice in it with a little sugar
hanger steak- peppers under the steak were intense sort of like the canned pickled red peppers people get sometimes.
Fried cod balls- actually tasted like crab cake, again a choice for the cautious and non adventurous.
Chocolate cake was like most lava cakes, not sweet enough for the cake and the center was too sweet. The perfect molten to cake ratio was not obtained.
Traditional Flan- actually not bad. really good when you eat it with the accompanying cream.
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Service: 4
Guy who answered the phone: 5 he gave us estimates, and detailed information on the best way to get there. SUPER FRIENDLY.
Busers: 4 Pretty quick on spotting an empty plate, especially as we were on the outside terrace with maybe two other customers.
Server: 4 very friendly. explained in detail as we looked helplessly at the menu.
a little slow on the water refill. . .
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$10 for valet parking. . .really annoying. . . after paying a lot for merely intriguing food. . .NOT VALIDATED
I could not tell if I was actually at the Bazaar or if I was just being sat in the lobby for my afternoon tea. I think I was considered B-list riff-raff and they thought it was appropriate for me to be sat in front of the entrance and a table that made me look like I was part of reception.
The SLS and its restaurants are as LA elitist as you can get. The clientele were dressed like they are out to be seen... on a Saturday afternoon. All the people working there looked unhappy that they haven't had their breakthrough role yet.
So for $26, you get your choice of tea (a second pot is complimentary... hurray!) and several courses of an actual singular bite (two if you are being polite). Most of the bites consist of some combination of fish egg (ikura or American cavier), goat cheese and some sort of bun or bread to hold it together. The final course was mint chocolate and some gummy thing in rice paper. Alright, so I was not really paying attention to the food.
My focus was on the tea. I decided to be bold and select a green tea, knowing full well that I could be severely disappointed. I skipped the imperial tea, which is a dragonwell tea from China and went for the jugular. Gyokuro. Expensive, delicate and high maintenance... hmmm can't think of any parallels.
I was convinced that they would not brew it correctly. I was daring them to eff it up.
According to http://www.japanesegre... one must do the following for gyokuro:
After you have brought the kettle to a boil allow the water to cool for about 5 minutes. A slightly lower temperature of 70 to 80 degrees Centigrade (160-175 degrees Fahrenheit) is best. Steep for 2-3 minutes.
Not included in this instruction is to warm up the tea cups which you are serving the tea on. Alright, that was extra credit, so no points lost for not doing this one.
So the tea turned out to be great and was brewed correctly. I am certain that the server was not the one who did this as he did not seem all that knowledgable. Of course, in keeping with the elitist theme of the hotel, I was certain to pronounce gyo-kuro as one would speaking Japanese. That didn't work out so well. I am not certain how one would pronounce this otherwise. If Kyoto = ki-yo-to then I guess gyokuro = gi-o-ku-ro.
Be sure to visit their restrooms. Super fancy and ultra modern. In case you enjoy seeing yourself in the mirror while using the urinal, you can actually be surrounded by three mirrors.
They also have an area with a bunch of kitsch stuff on display as if it were a museum, not the least of which is some "naughty" gift wrap. I guess you can buy some if you are so inclined.
Valet parking is $10. Seriously. If you don't want to pay for it, have your limo driver drop you off and park somewhere nearby until you are done. The valet parking has two ladies working it. Both know that you don't belong there and are very unfriendly. Don't expect a "thanks for coming to the SLS" or whatever. Unless you are famous.
The SLS was exactly what I expected, except that the green tea was done right. It is a great place to do the LA scene or whatever, but aside from entertaining an important client or entertaining a very cool lady friend, this place is for A-list types, not B+ like me.
Trisha and I came here to celebrate our August birthdays and overall fabulosity. The place looked sexxxy enough for the occasion, with its chiaroscuro dark-yet-lit lighting scheme and plush trimmings. We sunk into armchairs at our table and decided to stay a while.
The service was enthusiastic, but a bit harried. I felt gently rushed into ordering. I wanted to try EVERYTHING. To say the menu is extensive is an understatement. It's like the Spanish Gourmet Cheesecake Factory with miniscule portions.
I settled for the items that I couldn't not try: The Philly, King Crab with Raspberry Vinaigrette, Serrano Jamon with caramelized figs, and the Cotton Candy Foie Gras. My favorite vegetarian and I were not destined to share.
The first thing to hit our table was a basket of sweet potato chips with a tamarind anise yoghurt dipping sauce. 'That's one large amuse bouche!', I thought. It didn't thrill us- the oddly spiced yogurt sauce looked better than it tasted.
Then some cones showed up. Caviar with a cauliflower mousse for me, Tomato and guacamole for T. This freebie was far superior! Only one bite, but what a decadent, delicious one.
A minute later some watermelon, hamachi, and foam dish, and a mozzerella salad, not ordered, hit our table. This was when we became genuinely confused. A third and fourth freebie? "Um, we didn't order this?" The puzzled runner whisked the dishes away. A minute later, he brought us some watermelon skewers. "Sorry about that. This is for you."
The watermelon and tomato skewers were refreshing as a pallat cleanser, but not much going on in terms of preparation or innovation.
And then the Philly showed up and changed everything. Of course, it's nothing like a philly, but a fabulous little hord'ourve made of an "air bread" puff, topped with rare, seasoned sliced beef and filled with an show-stopping liquid cheese. Liquid cheese doesn't sound that appetizing, does it? But this stuff was so sharp and flavorful and satisfying that you could put in a thimble and use it effectively in a mouse trap.
The "Hilly" is the vegetarian version with shrooms instead of beef and it seems to have the same mind-blowing effect on Trisha that the Philly had on me.
The cotton candy foie gras was a textural shock when I bit into it expecting a molten morsel of warm foie and instead sunk my teeth into a cold, thick lump of pâté. The flavors were interesting, creative, intriguing, but I do not want to eat pâté' off of a stick--even if its candy coated. And no dice calling pâté straight-up "foie", that's literally like comparing a pork shank with a hot dog--one is a meat and the other is forcemeat! I'm glad that I tried their signature dish, but I probably wouldn't order it again.
The serrano jamon with carmalized figs brought me back to a sweet, sweet place. I fell in love with jamon in Spain this summer, and while the slice of the meat was so much thinner here than there, the flavor was the real deal. The figs in that sweat pan sauce were everything I wanted them to be. This is something I would insist that you order when you visit. Do not defy me!
Another service snafu was that the 'nitro caipirinha' didn't happen for about half an hour after I ordered it. I don't know why this item isn't on the menu, a friend told me about it-- It's the classic brazilian cocktail frozen with liquid nitrogen, table side. No ice is used, so the texture is silky. And the spectacle of them making is it awesome--like having Mr. Wizard as your bartender. Be warned, it's a $20 cocktail. They gave us two of them for the price of one because of the half hour wait.
When dessert time comes, Bazaar has an ingenious plan for their customers. They whisk you away to their "patisserie section". So you get to feel like you're getting some hot new adventure and they get their precious table back for the next reservation. So smart! But I don't really enjoy schlepping over to a new table, and the "patisserie' section is just some little tables in their lobby.
The desserts are quite expensive, though I have to admit that the white chocolate coconut cake with passion fruit gelee was heavenly and worth every bite. There's a 'nitro coconut' if you prefer iceless frozen sweets to the alcoholic caipirinha.
When our bill came, all the freebies brought to our table were on it, so we had to explain that we hadn't actually ordered that stuff, and the dessert waitress gave us a bit a 'tude about that. Weeks later, I learned that a friend of mine who was working at the Bazaar that night, but in a private tasting area, had arranged for those freebies to come over to us. Awwww! But the restaurant was a bit of a train-wreck that night so her sweet gestures didn't quite go according to plan-- a kitchen-view table and post-meal Kitchen tour she'd planned fell to the wayside.
But that Philly, man! I will be back to try some more.
I'm updating my review on Bazaar because of the 2nd experience I had.
After my friend had expressed her disappointment in the service we received at the Bazaar, the general manager apologized for our unsatisfactory experience and offered us a chance to try the Bazaar one more time.
We returned to the Bazaar and was given the best waiter they had on staff that night. He was full of energy, incredibly polite and had a passion for food that was hard to miss.
We left it up to our waiter to pick all the food for us, since he had already proven his knowledge of the menu within 5 minutes at the table.
We were served 16 different types of tapas.
LOVED:
Philly Cheesesteak
Braised Veal Cheeks
Cotton Candy Foie Gras
"Corn on the Cob"
Seared Figs with Jamon Iberico
Tuna Ceviche & Avocado Roll
Cheese Plate (I heart Cheese, especially the Idiazabal and the Murcia Al Vino)
Chocolate Mousse!
PRETTY AVERAGE, BUT DELICIOUS:
Papas Canarias
Wild Mushroom Rice
NOT-SO-MUCH:
Sea Scallops in Romesco Sauce
King Crab
After hearing rave reviews on what is considered one of LA's best restaurants, I finally had the… Read more »
$4.00 Buffalo Trace
Los Angeles, CA
Late Night Happy Hour
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Neighborhood: West Hollywood
Category: Lounges
Neighborhood: Hollywood
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: Mid-City West
Category: Hotels
Neighborhood: Echo Park
Category: Tapas Bars
Venice, CA
Category: Wine Bars
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