Wonderful Ink

I was first introduced to his restaurant on my birthday last April when my brother and cousin took me there; located at 8360 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles.

Some relatives were visiting for a few days and wanted me to make reservations for 3 nights. The first evening was Osteria Mozza, and the second evening was Ink. The third was Livello which I will blog about later.

There were 8 of us and they gave us their private room which was quite cozy and intimate.  We first had some cocktails...our server, Justin, was the best!  I knew what I wanted to order but didn't know how much to order for 8 people as these were little plates. They left the ordering to me and  I wanted them to taste some of the outrageous dishes Michael Voltaggio is know for.  I gave Justin my list and he took charge (in a good way). 

We ordered snap peas, with coffee and coconut ice. The last time I was there, they had carrots instead of the snap peas.  This was not only fantastic but so much fun to eat. The coconut ice looked like rice krispies covered with snow. There was ham with manchego biscuit and almond honey butter which was delicious. Another dish was the brussels sprouts with pig ears. I blogged about a few of these dishes previously:
http://solittlethyme.blogspot.com/2012/04/ink-restaurant.html

The beef tartare, served with hearts of palm and sea bean chimichurri and horseradish was very good.  Gnocchi with egg, scallops, with a beef mushroom sauce and fried onions on top was like no other gnocchi you've ever had! Soft shell crab with tarragon mayo, capers and potato was excellent. The halibut with sweet potato fries was also good. Octopus, ink, shells, young fennel was enjoyed by all. The short ribs with chicharron, carrots, thinly sliced tendon (don't make faces as you haven't tried it) with horseradish tofu was heavenly; so was the pork belly with charcoal oil made from leek ash served with a side of sweet corn puree.

My nephew's wife, Deepa is a vegetarian so the poor deprived girl could not share our excitement but she did order something that Justin suggested. The charcoal potato. This looked like charcoal briquettes! They were boiled potatoes then smoked and grilled in squid ink and salt and served with a garlic aioli. It came with a little bottle of black vinegar you could spray on the briquettes. I wanted to try it but Deepa never offered; I guess she needed all the briquettes she could get.

For dessert, Justin recommended the chocolate and nutella sponge, rice ice sorbet, macarons and yuzo; and the Greek yogurt with strawberry, rhubarb and Japanese peaches. We also ordered the apple with caramel, walnut, and burnt wood ice cream which I have had before and was delicious as ever.

I apologize for being repetitious in describing the dining experience at Ink but it can only be described as: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!