No shit, it looks the part lmao
wot?
Celebrity chef? Check. Super arty plating? Check. In a hip district? Check.
How would LA Mag not name it a top 10 new restaurant? lol
Thatâs fine and all, go try it and then tell me that your prejudice was right
Iâm taking the piss from LA Mag, not Wolf lol
Wolf - Melrose, W. Hollywood
We were with the young members of our clan. It was Wolf or E.P. & L.P. Thankfully, the ladder didnât get back to us in time. Will explain the âthankfullyâ later.
Starters:
Lodge Bread w/Pan drippings (no picture).
I see why some have mixed feelings about restaurants now serving âpan drippingsâ with the bread service. It definitely isnât like your mamaâs pan drippings, but itâs a nice twist on the usual butter or evoo.
Crispy Potatoes w/Chive Aioli, Rosemary, Horseradish
(kevinEats pic)
Did anyone put this on their Best Bites? Holy Moly. You guys werenât kidding. Creamy on the inside and incredibly crispy on the outside. Maybe par-baked, skinned then deep fried? I hope for my vegetariansâ sake it wasnât in tallow.
Brussels Sprouts w/fish caramel, purple radish & lime (no picture)
Did I mention I was with young dudes? Far from being brosâ, but not exactly the brussels sprout crowd. Well, they ordered seconds. Crispy, sweet, salty, pungent.
Second Courses:
Let the Beet Drop - w/yuzu, satsuma, berries, almond, goat cheese snow, nasturtium
Too bad the lighting wasnât good for pictures. Great looking: rising âsmokeâ, dissolve in your mouth merengue, the whole nine yards. It was not my favorite dish. It was a little dull in flavor and the textures didnât compliment each other.
Mushroom Risotto w/pine nut, sorrel, peas, pancetta
(again, problem lighting for photos)
They happily made this without the pancetta. It was still savory, and spread beautifully. I would order it again.
Tom Kha - Pork belly, black tiger prawns, black kale, cherry tomato confit (possibly galangal & lemongrass)
Gorgeous. Weâve been discussing this dilemma. So Iâll say, If you are going to deconstruct an âethnicâ dish, add foam and charge $30, please make it as good as this. The belly could have been crispier (Animal has spoiled me for life). Tiger prawns were perfect, broth (sauce) was delectable. I loved this dish.
Braised Beef Cheek w/Jerusalem artichoke, turmeric peppercorn sauce, baby chicory
Sooo tender.
Vadouvan Lamb Rack w/ratatouille, panisse, olive dust, lebneh, jus
I did not try. But it was devoured like Leo DiCaprio did in Revenant. Not a scrap left .
Imbibing:
Wolf in Sheeps Clothing
Titoâs vodka, elderflower, cucumber, habanero, lemon.
(Thanks again kevinEats)
Tasty⊠if you like your vodka cocktail without much vodka. Someone inexplicably ordered a red wine blend of Merlot & something else. It was left on the table. And of course, there were a couple of Old-fashioneds
Desserts:
I wanted the Blueberry SoufflĂ©, but didnât think ahead (15 minutes). We went with desserts to go.
Eton Mess w/meringue, berries, black tea ice cream, vanilla whip & a Banana Bundt w/burnt honey ganache, habanero hibiscus ice cream, toasted coconut streusel
I worried berries not being in season. This was as beautiful as it was sweetly delicious. Except for the wonderful habanero hibiscus ice cream just skip the banana bundt. This should be made by hand (mixers add too much air).
I was literally frightened when @Silverlakebodhisattv compared it to Bottega Louie noise. But we were there at 6:30; no problem.
Turns out, the guys had been to E.P. & L.P. Opinion? The romantic of the crew liked Wolf better and bookmarked it for a possible date night.
Yes, there is a show off quality to Chef Marcel, with his listing of celebrity accolades and all. But he has put a leash on the gastronomy jazz. And he was there all night, quietly expediting. That counts, to me anyway.
So there it is. This took longer than I thought but a very good dinner.
How the heck did Kevineats get such incredibly bright light in the place??
Interesting that they donât seem to change the menu much/at all, these are the same dishes from nearly a year ago that Kevineats had. Guess thatâs not a big deal, just interesting.
Seems like they improved the presentation of those beef cheeks quite a bit from when Kevineats had them, though, haha
Did the Tom Kha actually taste anything like a tom kha?
If I recall correctly, Leoâs character survives the bear mauling in the Revenant, which I am assuming the lamb did not =P
went here for brunch a few months ago, it was not very good. AT ALL.
Canât give an opinion for dinner.
Yes.
And I like Wolf. Been twice and it is solid. I canât say great (other than the spuds), but solid.
Maybe since kevinEats was there on official business they turned up the lights for professional grade pics. BTW I didnât read their review. I was just looking for better pics on the internet. I donât think Iâve read any reviews except for this board and they were also on a âbest brunchâ list a while back (supposedly good chix & waffles).
The Tom Kha had the definite flavors, but richer, bolder; more like an entree in a rich sauce as opposed to a soup.
Haha⊠To clarify my Leo / Revenant comment; I meant him devouring any flesh he could find when he was starving to death .
Anyway, we enjoyed Wolf. Itâs close. So thanks to @Nemroz weâll definitely add it on our neighborhood go to list. I look forward to trying what we are calling âthe sexy fish dishâ chef has a video of on the website.
P.S. Itâs a nice looking space too. Great looking bar.
Yep⊠I concur .
@Nemroz You taunted us.
The menuâs a little different from when you went there, and the preparation seems to have changed a little for the better.
Let the Beet Drop The online menu wasnât exactly what we had as there were pistachios, mini orange slices and blueberries. And an amazing mixture of textures. Itâs clear Mr. Vigneron is no stranger to molecular gastronomy. The scarlet semi-globes in this dish were like puffs of air that made you believe you were eating a beet. And the steaming âgoat cheeseâ made for a spectacular presentation. The black thing on the left was a real beet (or it looked like one), but it was somehow dried to make it almost like beet jerky. There were of course regular beets, and they were perfectly complemented by the pistachios and citrus.Candidly I didnât care for the red fruit spread on the bottom of the plate, which tasted like raspberry. But thatâs just me. This is a large dish, which is a theme here. This would be a meal for one person. Following is the picture of Let the Beet Drop.
âTom Khaâ The ingredients seem consistent with the online menu, but the pictures I saw previously in this thread show much smaller shrimp, and seemingly smaller pork belly. We were taken aback by the size of the portions. Itâs not Claimjumper size, but two could easily dine on one appetizer, one âplateâ and one side, especially if itâs the potatoes, which Iâll describe next. Hereâs the Tom Kha.
Crispy Potatoes We had read about these, so of course ordered them, but had no idea of the size. Itâs basically four medium-sized potatoes, cut in half. The notion of any two, or four people getting through this dish along with everything else is wonderful, if unrealistic. The sauce is some kind of creamy something. I didnât like it. But I loved the texture and the taste of the potato.
Hereâs a picture of the potato up-close, with the pork belly in the background.
Smoked broccoli on the online menu turned out to be broccolini with the same ingredients. This was a major win as I prefer broccolini.
As we walked away, we commented that the waiter wasnât douchy. A delightful evening.
Love those spuds
I believe Marcel uses a Blumenthal prep for those potatoes.
Boil the fuck out of them until they turn fluffy, cracked, and almost falling apart. Then fry hard in animal fat or tons of butter until crispy on the outside.
no coating?
Awesome. Seems like you liked it as well. Why did you feel the need to point out the nondouchiness of the waiter? Did I miss something?
Frequently when thereâs a new or trendy restaurant, the wait staff has somehow let it get to their sense of self. So you have the waiter with attitude. At Wolf, the waiter was down to earth and just a normal guy. Very refreshing.
Yah, @lilmikey - I wasnât sure about it, but I really liked Wolf.
Listen to this guy. Thatâs pretty much how I would describe the dish, if I wasnât too lazy and it wasnât too lackluster⊠itâs style and no substance.
I really need to pay attention to the difference between broccolini and baby broccoli⊠My esteemed FTCâers have hipped me to the fact that there is indeed a differenceâŠ
Yikes. I was afraid of this. Just donât tell my son⊠St. Assisi.
Yep⊠preconceived notions. I might have thought a Marcel Vigneron restaurant would have that vibe. But nope. Good experience all around.
Donât judge a book by its cover⊠or reality tv appearances. He appears to be a hard working dude who knows how to run a solid restaurant.