Opening a restaurant named after a celebrity chef has its upsides and downsides: The house is packed from day one, but people feel warranted in critiquing the hell out of everything. And while it’s true that things at Gordon Ramsay could use a little tweaking, it’s not as though such improvements are out of reach.
What doesn’t need any work is the decor. Diners enter through the hotel lobby, a stunning black-on-white-on-gray art deco maze that’s as classy as can be. The restaurant itself takes that look and injects it with the shiny gold bravado of a Wall Street raider’s bachelor pad, circa 1985. It’s over the top—and we love it. Embrace the flash.
We aren’t as wholeheartedly prepared to embrace the food, however. Make no mistake—it’s good food. But most of it won’t really get up in your mouth and dance. A notable exception is the pineapple soufflé with coconut and Thai curry ice cream, which is a fun dessert served tableside. But the broiled black cod with pigs’ tails and Kumamoto oysters is the dish that steals the show with its perfect flavors. Before the squeamish squeal with dismay: The piggy tails are chopped up, so you wouldn’t even know you’re not eating chunks of bacon.
Other dishes are perfectly delicious but not quite what you’d expect considering the ostentation of the joint. The smoked pork belly is three bites of tastiness, but the kind of tastiness you’d find at any respectable barbecue shack in the city. It does, however, come paired with what may be the most perfectly cooked langoustine in L.A.
Such are hints of what the kitchen is truly capable of, and things are likely to shape up once Ramsay himself shows up later this summer. For now, it’s still a fun place to people-watch. And with the small-plates setup, it’s not as expensive as you’d expect, especially for a place that replaces your napkins at a second’s opportunity and has three servers working each table. They’re all very polite too in the face of the excess. We wonder if they’d blink when we go back for three orders of the pigs’ tails.
Food: Small, elegant plates—three per person, plus a shared dessert—will leave you full for a day.
Scene: A mix of curious foodies, minor celebrities and dudes in white T-shirts hoping to network.
Insider tip: Bring cash. Guests of the restaurant still need to pony up at the hotel’s valet stand.
Katherine Spiers is a contributing editor for Metromix Los Angeles.
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