I made last minute reservations for Friday night at Bavel the new Mediterranean restaurant opened by the owners of Italian hit Bestia in downtown LA. I wasn’t especially hopeful there’d be any kind of availability since I checked basically the night before! But I kept hitting refresh and eventually a 6:15 popped up.
Just a tip – for those of you who don’t know, restaurants usually only apportion a few tables to the online reservation system and keep the majority of their tables available for call in reservations as well as walk-ins. It’s because Open Table charges them per reservation whereas reservations via phone or in-person are obviously free to the restaurant. I used to do restaurant accounting and at the time, it was $7.50 per reservation. When margins are already tight, it’s definitely a cost consideration for the restaurant. So, if you don’t see any availability online, you should definitely give the restaurant a call and they may still have something for you.
When we arrived, they seated us promptly at a table on their covered patio. Unfortunately, I forgot to snap a pic but you’re not missing anything…while the patio was nice, it lacked any kind of ambience. My sister, never one to NOT complain, then asked the hostess if we could move inside instead. What a difference! There’s a gorgeous open kitchen and we could see all the action front and center. It was literally the best seat in the house.
Like true boozers, we got our drink orders in asap. I got the Japanese whiskey cocktail. My sister got a dirty martini and my boyfriend got a cocktail made with mezcal. I’m usually a red wine or whiskey girl and cocktails only if they’re not too sweet…unfortunately my cocktail was definitely more on the sweeter side and was heavy on the licorice…another flavor I’m not a super fan of. It was totally my fault for not reading all the ingredients as the cocktail contained amaro. Regardless, I do feel like the cocktail lacked a little balance but take that with a grain of salt. Luckily, my boyfriend offered to switch with me and of course,I took him up on his offer.
Our waitress saw that we were clearly a decisive bunch and came back to get our order as soon as drinks were delivered. I’ve got to say, the service throughout the meal was super efficient and very attentive. Our water was constantly refilled without having to ask and the food was coursed out perfectly. But back to ordering! Everything on the menu looked amazing.
The entire menu looked so delicious but with only 3 of us, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we just weren’t going to be able to try everything. Oh well, it just meant we’ll have to come back!
The waitress said that she usually recommends 2 to 3 starters and a couple entrees to share. With that in mind, we started with the Foie Gras Halva which was creamy foie with an appropriately sweet date puree, topped with black sesame seeds and served with thick, toasted buckwheat bread. First off, can we talk about who ate half our plate before they even brought it to us?! #PlatingFail #GimmeAllTheFoie
But for real, for anyone who’s ever had liver but never foie, the difference is that while the iron flavor is super strong in other liver dishes, it’s a subtle back note in foie. Foie is just this rich, savory deliciousness. The date puree really complemented the spread in a very traditional way. Also, can I just rave about the textural crunch that the black sesame seeds give to the whole dish? Who knew it would make such a difference?!
Next up was a totally unassuming dish – Marinated Tomatoes. It sounded refreshing and we weren’t expecting much…whipped feta, sea salt, olive oil…and something called smoked eggplant powder. I had never had smoked eggplant powder before but whether it was just that or the combination of it all…this dish was mind blowingly good. It was the perfect balance of tart, but not too tart, a hint of sweet but also completely savory…frankly, if there were any dish we wish we could recreate at home, it would be this one.
Our meal was off to a fantastic start! Next, we got the scallop crudo with pomegranate molasses, citrus, serrano chile oil, charred cucumber, mint, and black sesame. Normally, I avoid crudo as it’s kind of boring to me but sister pup wanted it so we got it and I ate my words…and the scallops.
Lately, we’ve been on a bit of an octopus kick. Octopus is hard to do right by. In the wrong hands, it can often turn out chewy and over done. We had a feeling that would not be the case here. The grilled octopus was served with orange infused yogurt, sumac, dried bell pepper, sungold tomatoes, and chervil. Sumac is one of my favorite spices. If you’ve never had it, it’s got this citrusy, salty flavor. And in contrast, as I mentioned before, I generally dislike licorice…BUT I like star anise in Asian cooking and I really enjoy chervil. Go figure. Chervil’s got a light anise or licorice flavor to it that really complemented the whole dish. And we didn’t even need to cut the octopus with a knife, it was sooooo tender.
Our meal had reached its midway point and next up was the Slow Roasted Lamb Neck Shawarma. I don’t know about you but I generally hate eating frou frou food. I like meat centric, rustic, shareable dishes. It’s probably due to my food sharing Chinese culture and my immigrant parents who look at tiny “tapas” dishes as a ripoff. I’m glad to say this was anything but frou frou. We ate it as intended and told to us by the runner. Basically, it’s like a Mediterranean ssam bar or a make your own Mediterranean taco buffet. You want to tear off a piece of the pillowy laffa bread, wrap it around a chunk of the lamb neck, drizzle some tahini and stuff it full of the pickled veggies and turnips. It’s a such an unctuous bite.
Our last savory dish of the night closely followed the lamb neck. We got the braised wagyu beef cheek tagine prepared with golden raisins, turnips, chiles, preserved meyer lemon and served with a side of couscous. The cheeks were totally tender and so well balanced. Sometimes tagines prepared in this manner can be a little too sweet for my liking but this was nicely proportional.
Man, we were stuffed. It was the perfect amount of food for 3 foodies or 2 tiny asian girls.
We ended the night with a Persian mulberry ice cream served with a black raspberry and orange blossom white chocolate chunk and we also got the black halva chai tea ice cream served with moscato poached pear and sticky honey pirouettes (basically, those tuile cigar cookies I’m sure you’ve seen before). We were split on which one was better. I loved the chai one but both were super yummy and a great way to end our night.
Now for the damage…the total for all of those dishes plus 4 cocktails came out to $281.49. Note there is a 4% Kitchen Fee which they put in tiny print on their menu. This is supposed to benefit the non-tipped staff wages…implying that you should still tip your servers fully. Not to debate the logic of this, but the simplest way, if you are against it is to just deduct the 4% from your tip amount. So, with a standard tip of 18% that works out to about $110.72 per person. Obviously, this is not the place to go if you’re on a budget. But for a Friday night out and some truly fantastic food, one of the best restaurants in LA, it was totally worth it.
