I just had the most amazing dinner. I love going out to eat, and tonight was such a treat. I caught word of this new “pop up” restaurant from my Dad so Jake and I decided to check it out. We started celebrating his birthday last night with a limo to a local martini lounge and continued the celebration at Le Comptoir at the Tiara Cafe in downtown LA. It features a weekly-changing menu with all produce locally grown. This is a special kind of restaurant because it is only open Thursday-Saturday for a couple of months. In addition to its seasonal opening, there are also only twelve seats available. Needless to say, we were thrilled to get a reservation. Since I will slaughter any attempt at sounding gourmet, or French, I will share our meal with you in lamens terms but still share the fancy verbiage.

Our meal started with “amuse”, which is French for bite-size, cheese stuffed pepper over grits. I was unable to snap a photo because I was too busy devouring the delicious for dourves.

Our first course was a “Broccoli veloute, creme fraiche, and crackers” which was basically a creamy broccoli soup with little crackers filled with the most delicious cheese. This soup was to die for.

The second course consisted of “oeuf sur la plat, sunny side up egg, tender greens, herbs, and flowers”. This was a bit of a DIY portion because we were able to fold in each addition to the egg as we pleased. Very fun…and tasty.

Next, was my favorite. In Chef Gary Menes words, we had a “roasted delicate squash, mustard frill, barley, preserved cherry compote, and chanterelle mushrooms”. I have always been too picky to try squash, but I finally see how much I have been missing out. And mustard frill?! YUM!

The fourth course was the main event. This was entitled, “poularde, young chicken ouched in whey, cracking, carrots, parsnips, hearts of romaine, and french shallots”. Chef Gary shared that the restaurant community is starting to move more towards the natural shape of foods, rather than altering fruits and vegetables to seems more appealing. As you see from the photo below, it is still a very interesting and artfully created plate.

Lastly, we indulged in something sweet…and chocolately. This, surprisingly, was my least favorite of the courses. The dessert consisted of a chocolate mousse/pudding with a caramelized orange peel, rich chocolate sauce, and pomegranate seeds. As I am writing this I am questioning myself on why it wasn’t my favorite, but perhaps I was just too full from everything else.

I almost forgot to mention the best part. THE BREAD. The most amazing, hot-out-of-the-oven bread I have ever tasted. How this bread was created is beyond me, but I would happily go back many times simply to sample the bread. It was AMAZING.

Overall, we had such a fantastic night. It was such a special treat to get to taste delicious foods with new and unexpected flavors, and of course celebrate Jake’s 23rd birthday.

*To make a reservation, email lecomptoirla@gmail.com