Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Brunch at Hotel Bel-Air



Who wouldn't want to eat at a Wolfgang Puck restaurant?  He has rule the LA dining scene since 1980s!  I have always enjoyed eating at his restaurants.  From the old days at Spago on Sunset strip to  Pizzaria & Cucina at Crystal Mall in Las Vegas, he seldom miss the mark with his menu.  Wolfgang's restaurant at the recently renovated Hotel Bel-Air continues with much flair.

First, you have a choice of eating in the dining room, private dining room, or terrace.  With sunny southern California weather, terrace is always the prefer choice for me.  The floor is laid with Spanish terracotta which adds to the casualness of the space.  There is also a lovely fountain in the vincinity which makes the ambiance just right not to mention the terrace is right next to a  Swan lake with Swans in them.  But I digress.

The brunch menu is actually not super brunchy.  What I mean by that is the choices given is more lunch to me than brunch.  I had tagliatelle pasta to start.  They are filled with wild field mushrooms, parmigiano reggiano, and parsley.   Perfectly cooked; al dente...just the way I like my pasta.    My second course was an Alaskan halibut with sugar snap peas, torpedo onions, asparagus, Ligurian Olive Oil (Liguria is a region in Italy close to Monte Carlo.  They produce the best olive oil in Italy), with spring garlic emulsion.  Cook to perfection.  Fish was not dry at all.  It was cooked perfectly.  Everything played off with each other beautifully.

It really was one of the top five brunch I ever had.  One negative thing though is that the terrace area gets flies.  Lots of them.  However, the restaurant remedy it by putting two small lemon scented candles on your table.  And for some reason the smell chases the flies away so I wasn't swatting flies as I was eating...it would have been a disastrous experience had I had to do that.  All in all it was lovely and I would definitely return.  The food was light and on point. The space was elegant yet casual.  Service was friendly but professional.  Another successful restaurant opened by Wolfgang.          

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