Jonathan Gold Discusses Allumette in Echo Park

Jonathan Gold files thinkage on Miles Thompson's Allumette in Echo Park, an adventurous eatery with a style of food he likens to "a refined yet Etsy-ish approach to modern cuisine." On eats:

You have left the world of kale salad far behind — left it behind for the pleasures of poached monkfish liver served with ponzu soured with the Japanese pickled apricot umeboshi and garnished with peeled sea grapes, a tart-sweet Caribbean fruit I admit I knew only from the splendid Derek Walcott poem of the same name. I'm not sure even Thompson, who is just 25, knows quite where his multi-layered conceptions are taking him, but it is going to be an interesting ride.

Diners are advised to create tasting menus from a selection of about 15 dishes like "a salad of ripe heirloom tomatoes and soft-cooked egg with a sliver of crisp-skinned branzino on a bed of chewy tapioca scented with shellfish stock" followed by "a gooey fritter of pig's trotter with fennel and Angostura bitters." Desserts are equally unique, but after consuming cheesecake mousse with uncooked cookie dough, Gold wonders, "Is this the point where haute cuisine meets Cold Stone Creamery?" [LAT]

[Photo: Elizabeth Daniels]

B-Rod gives two stars to Girasol and chef CJ Jacobson: "Girasol, which opened in July, feels almost as if Jacobson put all his experiences into a blender and poured out a restaurant smoothie ...Blunders in actual cooking seem strange, given some of this food's careful complexity, yet they're not uncommon ...The chef also has been quoted as saying that the Valley needed a restaurant like this, somewhere swank and a little serious, with high design and a locavore ethos. He's probably right." [LAW]

The Elsewhere: Darin Dines at Searsucker, Gastronomy tries Yama Seafood, kevinEats at Opus Sushi, and Thirsty in LA visits Son of a Gun.

Allumette

1320 Echo Park Ave Los Angeles, CA 90026