September 27, 2012 Off

Ink (West Hollywood)

By in 09: Weho, Favorite Food Entries

We’ve been feeling fatigue toward “small plates” restaurants because there are so many of them in LA now. I used to be excited about the concept of small plates because it’s a great way to taste interesting dishes and share them with a group, like dim sum, tapas and Izakaya. Now it seems like all the new “it” spot opened in the past 2 years are small plates restaurant. Plus paying $9-$20 for a small dish became not so appealing unless it’s truly fantastic.

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Top chef’s winner Michael Voltaggio‘s Ink was one of these “it” joints and it was really hard to get a table as soon as it opened. I’ve heard great things about it though my waning interest in small plate joints kept me from making effort to score a table. When the unfortunate Foie gras ban took place few months ago, it finally motivated us to give it a try! Their menu is seasonal and changes constantly. I was delighted to see how interesting all the dishes sound on the menu.

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Cuttlefishgreen papaya, peanut coconut cream, black lime

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Hamachidashi sponge, soy yuzu, radish, rice cracker
One of our favorites of the night.

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Foie gras – waffle, smoked maple, hot sauce
Here’s the dish we came here for. The foie gras was so silky and buttery, in fact it feels a bit like you’re eating a bar of butter. With the waffle and smoked maple this almost feels like a dessert. Anyways, farewell to foie gras for now…until when I travel outside of California.

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Burrata – trout roe, apricot, persian saffron
Sugar Snap peas – a mojo of itself, coffee, cardamom, coconut (no pix)
Another favorites of the night among the group.

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octopus, ink shells, young fennel, pimenton

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Pork Belly, charcoal oil, bbq flavor, corn

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Chocolate ice cream, spiced tofu, nutella sponge, powdered ganache

Every single dish was really good! I haven’t been to place where I truly enjoy every dish from start to finish for awhile. I was amazed at the creativity and originality in the combination of flavors. There were a lots of surprises in the pairing of ingredients and how they make these pairings worked. The plating was also artful and you feel like there’re a lot of heart put into each dish. Two big thumbs up for Ink!

Now with creative dishes like these, I wouldn’t mind paying $9-20 for them. And my excitement for small plates have restored…a bit. 🙂

Ink
8360 Melrose Ave Ste 107 Los Angeles, CA 90069
323-651-5866

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