It was a sad day when Chef Laurent Quenioux closed the wonderful Bistro K about 2 years ago. I had some of the most memorable culinary experiences there, such as the 2006 Xmas dinner which was my first prix-fixe multi-course meal, and Valentine’s Day dinner with Jonathan who wrote a wonderful review for Potatomao. Since then Quenioux had guest chef at the Vermont Restaurant a few times (see this and this) but it just wasn’t the same. It was not easy to find a place that has good, interesting and innovative French fusion dishes for the price that Quenioux offered at Bistro K in Los Angeles or other cities.
Few months ago Quenioux finally opened Bistro LQ. I was overjoyed. Just like Bistro K, it offers innovative French-fusion dishes and reasonably-priced tasting menu: 6 courses for $65, 9 courses for $85. Though unlike Bistro K which was BYOB with no corkage fee, Bistro LQ has a wine list and wine pairing is available. There’s also the addition of a cheese cart and dessert tasting menu. I saw people came in later in the hour to just have cheese with wine or dessert. The new space is a lot larger, though I found the lighting to be too dark and not great for pictures taking for my point-n-shoot camera. I’ve tried my best to brighten the pictures in Photoshop to do the pretty dishes in justice.
Jon and I decided to try the 6 courses tasting menu with wine pairing. Though it turns out to be 9 instead of 6 due to the amuse bouche, intermezzo and cheese course.
Amuse bouche – Mussel with hummus and homemade bread. Good.
1st Course: Hamachi with Avacado Puree, broil egg york and shishito.
So many different flavors that works well together, a brilliant strong start. The fish was fresh. Love the broil egg york that’s runny inside (how did they manage to just broil the surface of the egg york?). One of my favorites of the night. The wine pairing was a Junmai sake.
2nd course: Seared foie gras on top of French brioche and black chanterelle mushrooms, with cotton candy syrup(!)
A crazy dish that I wasn’t sure of. Foie gras on top of french brioche sounds like richness on top of richness. I’m not sure we needed the candy syrup since the brioche was already sweet. The chanterelle mushrooms provide some savory balance which was nice. The seared foie gras was delicious as always, I think it’s great with just the mushrooms. We were however amazed at the wine pairing as this is a difficult one. The wine works so great with it.
3rd course: Scallop with “Thai Juice”, candy ginger, bone marrow and huckleberry.
One of the highlights of the night. A Thai-French fusion dish, the flavors were intense. The tartness of the lemongrass in the juice contrasted nicely with pieces of bone marrow and candy ginger. The huckleberry at the bottom was a nice touch. Again the wine pairing works great with it, I cannot imagine eating this strong dish without any wine.
4th course: Sea bass with lobster bisque, tartar and pistachio mousse
A straightforward “normal” dish that’s solid good. It’s a bit light tasting after the very intense previous dish.
Intermezzo: Uni with Tapioca
So incredibly delicious.
5th course: Hare, chestnut puree, persimmon puree, quince puree
I was starting to get full by the time the meat course came out. The hare was well cooked, tender and not gamey. The three kinds of puree was quite interesting and all went well with the meat.
Cheese course:
condiments: (clockwise) pear with spice, red pepper mustard, apple, pickled onion, cranberries, truffle honey,
After the meat course came the cheese cart. Since we didn’t have strong preference so we just let the server picked it. He gave us a sample of different types. I was amazed at the amount of condiments. The truffle honey was really really good.
We asked for two different desserts:
Dessert 1: Huckleberry sorbet
Beautiful. The Huckleberry sorbet was subtle tasting.
Dessert 2: Chocolate three ways: souffle, spice mousse with lemongrass and truffle, Marshmallow with Chocolate syrup
We both like this one more than the sorbet. All 3 were amazing, especially the spice mousse that’s in the middle.
More bread (came with the cheese course) and assorted pastries.
We were bursting full by the end. The wine pairing was amazing from start to finish. You can tell that the Chef clearly loves food, loves experimenting with food, and really wants the patron to go along on his culinary flights of fancy. They don’t always work, but at least they’re interesting. I love the passion in experimenting and creativity. It was a very satisfying meal and quite an experience. The meal was even better for me because my boyfriend also proposed 🙂 I think 6 courses for $65 is reasonable, given that Sona‘s 6 courses is $85 ($95 now) and Ortolan‘s tasting menu is $80-145.
They have a special Holiday menu for December 24th and a Cassoulet (a hearty Southern France stew dish) Dinner menu for the 29th and 30th. I actually can’t wait to go back and try their 5 courses dessert tasting menu ($30).
Bistro LQ
8009 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90048
(323) 951-1088
Tags: Cheese, French, Fusion, Prix fixe, tasting menu
