Home > Los Angeles Restaurants > Editorial Review > 'It': foodie extravagance

Brace yourself, young foodie: the season for white truffles has arrived. The tuberous, odorous delicacy—something like a distant, photophobic cousin to the mushroom—has been causing a feeding frenzy amongst the culinary elite. Lack of rain and bad pollution in Alba resulted in a piss poor season, jacking up the already impossible prices. One mad person in Hong Kong bid $210,000 for a single, 750-gram hunk of dirt-encased fungus—that’s nearly $8000 for one ounce.

At Spago, the prized ‘shroom isn’t quite that much. A thin, truffley blanket atop a plate of pasta, risotto or pizza will only set you back $120. (Yes, we said “one-hundred-twenty.”) If you’re still with us, savor the extravagance with an order of the signature agnolotti. These adorable pillows are handmade and stuffed with the season’s freshest produce: peas in the spring, corn in the summer. For fall? Pumpkin in a mascarpone puree. Tossed in brown butter, the pasta itself is amazing. But add a tableside presentation of truffles that releases the earthy, intoxicating fragrance with each paper-thin shave, the dish is absolutely ethereal—and utterly autumnal.

In case you’re counting, a C-note’s worth of truffles yields at least a dozen shaves. Welcome to the big foodie leagues, kiddo. It's time to open a truffle fund.

Add a comment