For my dad’s birthday, we went to one of his favorite restaurants, Providence!

This was the only picture I was able to take with my good camera because I was not going to take it out for all of the courses.  Sorry, but you will have to deal with phone pictures from my mom’s old iPhone.  Not the best, but she was the only one with a charged phone!

Also, I should mention that I really wanted to take pictures of the interior decor, especially because they will be shutting down temporarily to redesign, but you can find pictures online if you are interested in seeing what my sister and I call the “fancy barnacles.”

I hadn’t heard that they will redesign the outside, but here is a picture nonetheless.

We ordered off one of the four tasting menus that they offer.  We had the Market Tasting Menu.  I should have taken a picture of the menu, but I was a bit worried that I would bother the other diners.  Maybe I can have better descriptions for you at a later date, but until then I’ll do my best to recreate the menu descriptions AND of course there are the pictures!

While writing the post, I just gave in trying to remember everything and I called up Providence directly.  The nice hostess offered to e-mail me a copy of our menu from that night, so I will updating with the real descriptions soon!

Gelee of ginger beer and rum

I love the small touches and additional “courses” to the regular menus.  Beautiful!  This one was a take on a cocktail, which was the perfect thing to start off our meal.  🙂

The presentation is always spectacular.  Refined and rustic together!  By the way, the stone with the butter and sugar was for the bread plate.  I did not take a picture of their breads, which I always love.  The Nori (seaweed) focaccia, bacon brioche, and rolls are superb!

A few people at the table could not eat shellfish, so instead they received this cute amuse bouche!  I cannot remember what it was since I had the Dark and Stormy myself.

A small bite with of scallop, sushi rice, bits of nori, and tiny puffed rice crackers wrapped in a nasturtium leaf.  This is what sushi should taste like.  It was fresh, perfectly balanced, and the contrasting cream and crunchy textures in one single bite was absolute perfection!

Crispy salmon skin with salmon roe-topped mousse

This presentation is one of my favorites.  A regular dip could be boring, but the careful addition of the roe, edible flours, and chives just brightens up the dish along with adding to the flavor.  I adored this dish, and even though I am sensitive to oversalted food, the salty salmon skins were flawless when coupled with the “dip.”

Terrible picture, but a wonderful bite!

This is the worst picture of the bunch.  Try to use your imagination because this was a wonderful creamy broth with some surprises at the bottom!

A wonderful mix of delicate fish, pickled vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers.  The oversized, beautiful glass dish highlighted the gorgeous colors.

I loved the soft scrambled eggs served in an eggshell.  Even better was the uni inside and the tiny brioche croutons on top!  Creamy, earthy, and wonderful!

Nancy’s day boat sea scallop (maine) beets, spiced hazelnut, ras el hanout

I love cheese courses.  I’m not the only one because it feels like the entire dining room lights up when the cheese cart is rolled into the dining room.  There were so many choices and we had many opinions at our table, so we just decided to have the restaurant select our final plate.

Along with the 5 selections, we had candied walnuts, rhubarb preserves, and dried figs!

lemon cloud, marshmallow bavarois, oro blanco, raspberry, perilla

What this was, I really had no idea while I was eating it.  We had two men from a neighboring table who joined us, so I missed out on hearing the descriptions of the desserts prior to starting.  It was so light and refreshing.  The sweetness of the cloud with the grapefruit segments was a nice tart way to signal the ending of the meal!

chocolate sorbet, candied nibs, creme chantilly

A lovely, rich dessert with small puffs of creme to cut through the dense cake.  Delicious!

Mint macaron, raspberry gelee, madeleine

This part of the meal is always bittersweet.  It is so sad to end the meal, but when the final bites are so lovely and sweet, I can’t help but look forward to this.

Bonus, a couple of people at our table were too full to have their whole desserts, so I was gifted these for the next day.  Yay!

Overall, one of our favorites in L.A. for the food and possibly my favorite in terms of presentation.  The “ooh” and “aah” factor goes a long way with me!

Providence
5955 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
(323) 460-4170
providencela.com