Black Cod, Kale Greens with White Dashi Scented Milk Foam, Carrot

There is something exciting happening at The Royce in Pasadena. As the flagship restaurant at one of the oldest hotel establishments in the Los Angeles area, they are putting out something so contrastingly nouveau from the kitchen. The long overdue remodel is no slouch, either, with its effortlessly classy and fresh take in fine dining ambiance. The crown moldings are still there, but gone are the drab curtains and dark yellow tinges. What you’ll find instead is a white motif accented by sea and granite blues with just enough florals and art museum-esque flourishes.

Interior of The Royce

Finally, this dining room is creating a dining experience where the food is reflective of its backdrop. But make no mistake, Michael Voltaggio’s year-long run may have generated just the hype The Dining Room needed for its denoument and transition into The Royce, because The Royce is an entirely successful, new entity completely deserving of its own buzz under Executive Chef David Feau’s (Patina, Le Miravile, Lutece, trained under Guy Savoy) direction. My dinner took place a few months after he landed back in September, so it’s safe to say he’s settled in here.

My guest and I very much enjoyed the tasting menu, with such beautifully integrated flavors adorning each dish and painting vibrant pictures with central themes. That is, each presentation, though featuring pretty exotic ingredients, knew exactly when to stop. Sommelier Eric Espuny’s perfect wine pairings delightfully accentuated the nuances of each. If you dine at The Royce, you can expect the perfect marriage of French techniques and Californian ingredients.

Globe Omaha Artichoke, Pressure Cooked Beets, Hand Harvested Mache Salad, White Truffle Vinaigrette

I have to say that there was nary a weak component in our tasting experience. Before ordering, I convinced my guest to trust the chef and resist doubling up on the foie gras, steak and lobster, and to try everything in both 5-course tasting menus. I’m so glad we did. Our amuse bouche was a most savory Romanesco cauliflower soup paired with a tiny piece of roast duck breast, beets, apple and celerac coconut calamari. What that set us up for was a beautifully seared scallop with shaved foie gras, rhubarb granite and carrot “salad” (paired with ’07 Schafer Frohlich Nahe Medium Dry Riesling) as well as an artichoke and beet dish with Globe Omaha artichokes, pressure cooked beets, hand harvested mache salad and white truffle vinaigrette (paired with ’09 Château Guiraud Le G Bordeaux Blanc Sec). The mildly tart rhubarb granite cut the richness of the scallop and foie gras while the carrot salad provided slices of sweetness. The freshness of the beet dish was a great match for the mache salad, featuring the buttery sweet and nutty greens underneath artichokes, all seasoned with a well-balanced white truffle vinaigrette.

Salsify Prepared Four Ways | Braised, Braised and rolled in leeks ash, Pureed with goat cheese, Tagliatelle with cajun spices

The next round of courses yielded a lobster salad with butter lettuce, sweet onion and pomegranate “hot and snow” (paired with  ’06 Domaine Leflaive Macon-Verze). The powdery, vaguely sweet snow was an interesting texture to add to the buttery shades of the lettuce and lobster – especially with the addition of the sweeter pomegranate seeds. The salsify prepared four ways (paired with ’98 Kalin Cellars Livermore Valley Semillon), however, was a provocative study of the root. Not only was the vegetable completely new to me, but the diverse ways it was prepared in order to ultimately arrive on the same plate were mostly intense in flavor. The root has been described to taste like oysters. The dry, complex Semillon wine paired with this was a great way to cut the salty, creamy and robust essences on the plate.

Agnolotti Filled with Parsnips, Green Lentil and Mousseron Mushroom Veloute, Sorrel leaf

Probably my favorite farm fresh-themed dish was this combination of tiny vegetables covered in a mushroom veloute (paired with ’07 Aia Vecchia Lagone Toscana). The agnolotti were to die for, adding just the perfect amount of backbone to carry the vibrant flavors of the vegetables through, including the sweet parsnips and herb-likeness of the sorrel leaves. Truth be told, I could sip the veloute on its own. The berry notes of the Aia Vecchia were a nice added touch. The black cod (paired with ’08 Ramey Chardonnay Russian River Valley) in the title picture was also a standout, having been perfectly cooked and its mild, fatty taste enabled to stand on its own. The kale greens were topped with a white dashi scented milk foam, an ingredient I couldn’t begin to dissect but could distinctly tell it was meant to bring the greens and fish together; it did so successfully. The carrot was a sweet go-between. The fruity Chardonnay the dish was paired with was a nice compliment to the fish and kale greens.

Continue reading →