Eric The Flay Slayer
A first Somebody beat Bobby Flay!! Congrats Chef Eric. I have given him his Knight Name "Eric the Flay Slayer"
This week I had the opportunity to go to dinner with one of our clients and his lovely wife. I do not get up to Los Angeles as much as my wife so she suggested RedO but they became so difficult to deal with to adjust a reservation from 4 guests to 5 we just had to dump them. That proved to be the best choice I have made all year, her back up plan was The Foundry http://www.thefoundryonmelrose.com/index.html. The Foundry is on Melrose Avenue among a variety of eclectic boutiques, stuffy restaurants (RedO) and tattoo parlors, the Chef Eric Greenspan is the Chef/Owner of this intimate Bar/Cabaret/Eatery. The dining room is on the patio which is covered in the winter. After we got our drinks this jolly gentlemen rushed up and said welcome to the restaurant our chips and salsa would be there in a minute, I think I looked at him like he was mad and then realized we had just been punked by Chef Eric. I went back to the line and shared a laugh with him and we came to a general agreement that the decision to come to the Foundry was going to be a winner. Chef recommended the Tater Tots and the Crispy Octopus to start. This was a great start to the evening these are not your ordinary Ore-Ida Tatertots, the are perfectly round half mashed potato, half dense pastry that is deep fried to perfection accompanied buy dips of blue cheese fondue and violet mustard. the Crispy Octopus is crunchy, tender, smokey with lentils and pomegranate pretty frikking good. As a starter I had the beet salad with hazel nuts and blue cheese, my friends had the house salad and crab and spinach fondue. Chef Eric sent over one of his signature grilled cheese sandwiches that had sun dried tomatoes, cilantro and brie (another low fat treat). For entrees we had the Duck Confit with Quince, the Hangar Steak with Fingerlings, The Tuna crusted with Porcini Mushrooms and the Brisket with Spaetzle. Everyone loved their meals, I ordered the Brisket and felt that I should have ordered something different it wasn't that it was bad, it wasn't what I expected. The table ordered some great deserts but the highlight was the lavender ice cream. All in all the is a must go if you are in LA and if you want to get a better idea of how good Chef Eric is the watch him square off against Bobby Flay on Sunday November 21