Jonathan Gold Discusses Orsa & Winston

This week, Jonathan Gold takes an extended look at Josef Centeno's Orsa & Winston, the chef's ode to fine dining in the small shoebox of a space next to Bar Ama in Downtown's Historic Core. Gold is entranced by the elegant cooking that he thinks best encapsulates L.A. cooking:

"So one day may include fennel panna cotta with cypress seeds; a bright egg yolk in its shell with pancetta, crème fraîche and sherry vinegar in the manner of Paris' l' Arpege...A week later, you may be served instead raw big-eye tuna wrapped in fried veal, a composition of yellowfish head — sautéed sinew, a briefly seared scrap of eye muscle, a scoop of cheek tartare seasoned with the Japanese spice paste yuzu kosho

The will to mix traditions without losing sight of the fact that they are traditions: Raw Tasmanian sea trout is garnished with Japanese yuzu kosho, shaved French breakfast radish, Mediterranean olive oil, California pink grapefruit and microherbs presumably from Ohio. It tastes like Italy, Japan and Spain. It tastes like Los Angeles."

According to Gold, Centeno's obsession with detail and tasteful combinations of culinary genres shows that the Downtown chef has returned to form. [LAT]

Besha Rodell forgoes a review this week to tout her version of LA Weekly's 99 Essential Restaurants, ahead of the upcoming food festival this weekend.

The Elsewhere: Tasting Table checks out Glazed Donut Bistro and Whiz, FoodGPS likes the spicy stir fried soondae at 8th Street Soondae in Koreatown, DarinDines goes to the Factory Kitchen, and GastronomyBlog swoons over Katana's wagyu beef.