Opus: A Delicious and Slow (in a good way) Dinner

When I lived in San Francisco, my favorite restaurant up there was (and still is) the Slow Club. Located on the outskirts of the Mission District, this is the type of place where you could spend 2-3 hours immersed in conversation, great food, innovative drinks and a perfectly balanced atmosphere. It's elegant but not fussy in the least. One could feel as comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt as they would in a dress and heels. And the pace of the courses was always pleasantly slow and easy going.

I'm lucky to have found a similar restaurant in Los Angeles: Opus. I've now been to Opus a few times, and it's always a pleasure introducing people to this relatively new restaurant. So when my friend Tawny wanted to catch up over dinner, I knew it would be the ideal place.

We sat at the bar and decided to go for the 6-course tasting menu. I asked Dustin, the bartender (who has a very good knowledge of wine and spirits, I must say) to ask Chef Josef Centeno if he wouldn't mind doing a tandem tasting menu for us - meaning, we'd both get six different plates. I had just been to Opus a couple of weeks prior, and was interested in trying some new dishes. Dustin came back and said that the Chef would be more than happy to, so we ordered our drinks (a celery margarita for Tawny - Dustin's creation - and I had a glass of barbera) and we anxiously awaited the first course.

Dustin - bartender extraordinaire!

For my amuse bouche, Chef sent out a golden beet salad with Parmesan and spring onions. The nutty Parmesan was the perfect contrast to the slightly sweet beets.

Golden beets - nutty and sweet.

Tawny got what I think was a fennel pane cotta (I have had this before but it was mountain potato last time, I think) which she loved. BTW, I am not going to be 100% accurate in my food descriptions because it was a lot of different dishes and I didn't take notes :). Anyway, she really liked this and said she was surprised by the new flavors.

One shot of deliciousness

Next up for me was the avocado cream with caviar and creme fraiche. It was creamy and cool with a nice salty bite from the caviar. It may be meant to eat alone, but I scooped it up with some pita chips that came in our bread basket, and it was just lovely.

Creamy avocado and caviar

Tawny got the egg with creme fraiche and (I think) bacon inside - it was soft boiled and she said she could eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner every day. I'm a sucker for this as well - my mom used to make soft boiled eggs like this for my sister and I when we were kids. OK, maybe she didn't add creme fraiche, but you get the idea.

Egglicious

Next up was one of my favorite courses at Opus - the soup course. Tawny got the creamy clam soup with a generous helping of fried pork belly bits on top, while I got a silky, sweet pea cream soup with a lobster dumpling - perfection. The soup could stand alone but the addition of the lobster dumpling really rounds out the fresh, pea flavor.

Clam soup for Tawny



Sweet pea soup for Clare

Before I go on, I should update you all on what we're drinking at this point: Tawny asked for straight tequila, so Dustin chose the Corzo Silver. He warmed up a snifter glass before pouring the tequila in, a process that opens up the wonderful aromas of the tequila. I had a white wine that he chose, though I can't remember the name. It was crisp and light, much like a Marlborough Savignon Blanc - one of my favorite types of wine.

Back to the food: For my next course, Chef sent out a sesame encrusted mackerel on these curly root vegetables that had the texture and mild flavor of sunchokes mixed with Japanese radishes. I've seen these at the Farmer's Market in Pasadena, but have never tried (except for once, at Opus a while back). The fish was wonderfully oily and delicious. My mom makes a seaweed-marinated mackerel sushi for our traditional Japanese New Year's celebration, which has always been a family favorite, and I always order this fish at sushi restaurants. But I hardly ever see cooked mackerel on the menu of a non-sushi resto; most people just don't have an appreciation for this blue-collar fish.

Mackerel with curly Q veggie

Tawny got a seared scallop with what I think was some sort of potato pancake with caviar. She said it was melt-in-her-mouth goodness, so I'm guessing she liked it. It's scallop and it's caviar; to borrow from my favorite Ina Garten, "How bad can that be?"

Scallop with caviar

You're probably thinking that we're completely stuffed at this point, but the pace of the meal was nice and slow and we were actually feeling quite fine. And because there are very few starchy carbs in the mix, it's totally possible to eat everything on your plate (which we did) and still have room for the next course. That is, unless you raid the highly tempting bread basket with its cheese bread, cardamon bread and pita chips.

The poultry course was next, and Tawny got quail with green beans and some other veggie, and I got fried squab. I love the flavor of squab, and this fried version really blew me away. Light and crispy, this is better than any fried chicken I've ever had. And the vegetable accompaniment was a surprise: buttery brussel sprout leaves and fresh, slightly cooked cherry tomatoes and a few slivers of preserved kumquat. I make brussel sprouts frequently, but have never considered using just the leaves. I think even those who abhor brussel sprouts would love this. Tawny said her quail was the most tender and flavorful quail she's ever had, so big thumbs up from both of us on this 5th course.

Quail, lovely quail



Fried squab, lovely fried squab

For the meat course, I got steak and veggies while Tawny got a braised veal. Her veal was fork-tender and delicious. My steak was cooked perfectly and I got more of the brussel sprout/tomato side along with what I believe were cubes of squash. Fantastic.

Tawny's veal and vegetables

Steak and veggies

I'm ashamed to say I forgot to take pictures of the next course, which was a cheese plate Chef put together. It had an amazing blue, plus two other cheeses and almonds and apples. We devoured it before we had a chance to take pictures...guess that's all I need to say about how good it was!

Last but not least was the dessert course. The pastry chef sent out her version of a funnel cake - light, crisp and slightly sweet ribbons of warm donut with a lemon-curd center, fresh strawberries and a side of whipped cream. The only thing that could stand up to this was the other dessert dish: A peanut butter and banana cake topped with salted peanuts. This was my favorite of the two because I am a serious sucker for banana desserts and I love the balance salt gives to something so rich and sweet. It was absolutely perfect.

Funnel cake


Banana and peanut butter cake

At some point before dessert, Tawny switched to Glenlivet and I got a glass of white port (after her Glenlivet, Tawny also went for the port). Then later, Chef Josef came out and had us try a new beer he just got in - dark, slightly sweet and not-at-all bitter (I am not a big beer drinker, especially the dark ones, but this is something I could drink easily). I wish I could remember the name, or where it was from, but I think the food and wine coma set in at that point so I'm afraid I can't describe it beyond what I've just written.

I am thrilled to have found my Slow Club here in LA. The food, atmosphere, service and prices (we dropped $100 each for food and drink) combine to create a relaxing, fun and eye-opening culinary experience that anyone can, and should, enjoy.

Opus Restaurant - click for more info