Round two of Breadbar's "rent-a-chef" program featured highly acclaimed Japanese chef Noriyuki Sugie, aptly named Crudobar to reference Chef Sugie's inclination for Japanese-Mediterranean sashimi and small bites. The first round was a short stint by former Bastide chef Ludovic Lefebvre in late 2007, where the rock-star chef cleverly merged Asian, Italian, and French flavors in small plates at Breadbar's Third Street location. Breadbar has a hipper take this time around at their more spacious outpost in the quasi metropolis of Century City.
The night began off-kilter with a misplaced reservation, but our dinner party easily nabbed a table in the chic designer space. Well-grained wood paneling, brusque leather effects, shear metal lining, and gloriously high ceiling aggregately lent an urbane environment for a mid-city supper on a cool spring evening in LA. The skyscrapered background and dim interior lighting appropriately vibed with lounge tunes courtesy of guest DJ Lisa Kensington.
The initial reservation hiccup wasn't the only one of the evening as our refreshing amuse bouche of watermelon gazpacho, ever so slightly spiced to balance the sweetness, was followed by nearly forty minutes of nothingness. Our server seemed to forget that while another highly acclaimed Japanese chef by the name of Urasawa was sitting behind us, it wasn't the only table to be served. After numerous little hints of "where the hell is our food," the neophyte waitress got the idea and reminded the chef to start cranking out our requested omakase.
The supposed chef's tasting menu was to be a sampler of every dish on the menu. Repeat - a taste of each of the eighteen different dishes listed and subdivided on the menu as "raw bar" and "little bait," the latter signifying gently cooked dishes. The refreshing and appetizing gazpacho failed its purpose because it whetted our hunger for a perilous eternity, almost like an operatic overture followed by eight hundred measures of silence. This inordinate and intermittent pace continued through the meal and destroyed any gastronomical momentum the chef desired with the tasting menu.
Thankfully the dishes that eventually did poke their overdesigned selves onto our table almost made up for the deplorable service. I say overdesigned because those thin long baby chive leaves were a constant garnish and got boring after a while. The first course had small pieces of fresh sea urchin suspended in a pool of creme fraiche and gelatin and was topped with crunchy roasted rice puffs and "mountain caviar", a moniker for a generic but tasty roe. It would have been far better consumed with a spoon rather than the cheap wooden chopsticks given to us.
A trio of delicacies came next on a dish shaped like a massive, warped sliver of a golfball the size of a small basketball. One of the watchface-sized pieces was torchon of foie gras topped with a miso kumquat compote while the other was a similarly portioned monkfish liver with a sweet-tangy confection with an ever so slight crunch. The monkfish topping's composition eludes me but both of the buttery indulgences made their unctuous dues. Each respectively reminded me of the platonic ideal of terra and aqua in their ultimate lipid forms, with the accompaniments providing a distinctive offset to the heavy flavors. The constrasting sliver of seared bonito was topped with pickled jicama that relieved my poor palate of the previous two bites. Its freshness and lightness was one that I desired would continue throughout our degustation.
Instead, the trio was followed by a raw scallop salad tossed in a creamy mayonnaise and perched in a massive mussel shell the size of a burly man's open hand. The shell was hopelessly craddled on a small mound of sea salt which our server nearly toppled upon serving it. I wished this dish had a contrasting texture or flavor but instead the scallops were mired in the heavy sauce. The crab guacamole that came next was a no-brainer. Put two things as delicious as crab and avocadoes together and you won't fail. The preserved lemon gave it the necessary Asian counterpoint flavor.
A ceviche of octopus, chinese sausage, and arugula switched back to the "crudo" in Crudobar. The meaty flesh of the octopus contrasted with the smoky sausage and pepperly arugula, each bite almost scrumptious. A standard issue tom ka, a tangy Thai lemongrass soup with coconut milk came with clamlike mussels and nickels of chinese sausage. One of my dining companions enjoyed this highly, but another found the broth too salty. I'd begun to realize at this point that my water cup constantly needed refilling because of the overzealous salinity in most of our dishes required constant thirst-quenching.
Second to last was an odd stew served in a parchment-wrapped bun. Once opened, fresh blackened squid, chorizo, artichoke hearts, and tapenade swam in a liquid which reminded my heavily of non-Cajuned gumbo, but more watery. I sat eating this dish in wonder, trying to think of what the chef was trying to make me taste. I thought it an unusual pairing with the meaty, tender squid juxtaposed with the beefy consomme and artichokes. Confused as I was, I ate it all anyway, ordering another batch of bread to soak up the liquid.
The final savory course was my favorite - an adorable slider of fried black cod with a wasabi tartar sauce and accompanied by a cornichons and a spicy tomato compote (curiously called a chimichurri). While the compote was delicious, I didn't match well in its acidity with the "mini filet o' fish". The cute little cornichons would have served quite well as the sole harmony of the dish. Dessert was a simple white chocolate "risotto" that reminded me again that this crudo tasting wasn't as light as purported. But, the risotto had the ideal bite and made me smile, which is what dessert should always do. In the end, I believe we didn't receive many of the promised dishes in our omakase, jipped of the numerous "raw bar" dishes on the menu.
While these types of adventures are meant to conjure up the wildest creations and the edge of culinary imagination, I was unable to pinpoint Chef Sugie's precise direction with the selection of these dishes. There was neither a focused progression of flavors nor a common thread to conceptualize the scattered and mismatched dishes of the evening. Perhaps Chef Sugie was distracted by the luminous Urasawa who dined with an entourage of a dozen other expatriates. But more understandably, this environment isn't one where he's developed a proper rhythm nor pieced together a menu that reinforces the genius displayed at his previous venues. Whatever the matter, a few dishes stood out, namely the slider, octopus ceviche, and crab guacamole.
If Breadbar wants to continue this trend of haute fusion cuisine at its swanky dining rooms in prime Westside locations, it would do better to prepare its waitstaff to attend to diners who expect high quality service, in addition to matching the quality of the dishes. But on the whole, it certainly ought to continue pursuing the best and brightest young talent in the culinary world to treat those willing to take a little risk.
Crudobar @ Breadbar Century City
May 1 through May 14
10250 Santa Monica Boulevard R-2
Century City, CA 90067
RSVP 310.277.3770
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