Rivera

Chef John Rivera Sedlar is no stranger to the LA dining scene. In the late 80's and into the mid 90s', he brought us Saint Estephe, Bikini and Abiquiu restaurants. They have all since gone to a better place, and to be honest they were around long before my second life as a crazed foodie. Chef Sedlar also briefly co-piloted the Jetson's-like Encounter restaurant at LAX airport, and has authored a few books including Great Chile Relleno and Tamales. He marks his return to the LA dining scene with Rivera restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, and since its inception this Latin restaurant has been commanding extreme praises from established restaurant junkies. LA Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila had this to say in her review of Rivera -- "Rivera's food is so utterly unique. I couldn't believe it was actually that good and had to keep pinching myself."

With a praise like that it was no wonder Rivera made its way onto my restaurant hit list, and last Thursday my wishful outing to Rivera was fulfilled.

Located at the street level of the Met Lofts in downtown LA, Rivera was bustling when I arrived for our 7:30pm reservation. While waiting for my friends to arrive, I parked myself at the crowded bar and glanced over the cocktail menu.


Rivera's bar has made a name for itself with its ingenious cocktail concoctions from in-house mixologist Julian Cox. I go for a drink aptly named Blood Sugar Sex Magic -- rye whiskey, red pepper, agave nectar, and basil. The drink is served in a large, heavy glass outfitted with a mammoth ice cube from Névé Luxury Ice Company. Said ice cube is designed to melt slowly and is made from the purest water sources available, so as to not dilute your $14 drink with unwanted tastes or water.


The taste is incredible and quite unlike anything I've had. Packed with texture and a little spice, the drink exhibited both sweet and savory undertones and has just the right amount of alcohol. A perfect way to start the night.

Minutes later I head over to our corner booth table to join the rest of my group. We're seated adjacent to a wall of custom designed tequila bottles filled with a six-year anejo made especially for Rivera. You can purchase a pair of bottles for a nice sum of $2,000. More on that later. We take our menus and debate over what to order, and ultimately went with a serving of nearly all of the appetizers so as to try a variety of tastes and textures.

First up is Ensalada Española with frisee, Spanish cheese, and marcona almonds:


I'm not a fan of frisee and its stringy, fibrous texture and the frisee here is particularly large. It sort of reminds me of the weeds you might pull from someone's ill-kept lawn (hey I'm just being honest!) The cheese and marcona almonds are very nice, however, and help tame the sprawling frisee.

Our next dish is a plate of fresh oysters:


I'm not sure of the origin of these oysters, but they were plump, juicy and full of that vibrant, just-out-of-the-ocean taste. Notice the stenciling work on the plate; the "writing" is indeed edible and appears to be a mixture of seasonings to be paired with the oysters.

The Chile Pasilla Relleno with burrata arrives next:


Expertly charred and served chilled, the chile is crisp and hits you with an intense, smokey taste. The burrata within is luxuriously smooth and creamy and pairs well with the stronger taste from the chile, creating a texture combination that reminds you this no ordinary chile relleno. This is wonderful play on a very traditional Mexican dish and I loved how the flavors from the smokey chili and the creamy burrata intermixed. One of my favorite dishes of the night.


Continuing with the chile theme, the Piquillos Rellenos is brought to our table. These are stuffed Spanish peppers with chorizo, golden raisins, and Gruyere:


The first thing I'd like for you to notice is the plating -- the chilies aren't just tossed on a plate with some other ingredients and a companion sauce on the side. Instead, they're carefully positioned on an elongated, gleaming white plate and topped carefully with slivers of green onion. Drops of sauce are placed along the perimeter of the chilies making for an easy mixing of chile and sauce. There is so much detail and craftsmanship behind this dish and the resulting taste did not disappoint. The combination of chorizo, raisins, and Gruyere gave the stuffed chili a taste slightly on the sweeter side, and the variety of textures was a playful experience.


Our next dish is Cordorniz Cubana -- grilled quail with black beans:


Again the plating is immaculate. Not a single drop on the expansive plate. Just try doing this at home at your next dinner party. The quail itself was grilled nicely with some nice char on the skin. The mild tasting meat was tender, juicy, and imparted no gaminess whatsoever.


Here we have Bacalao Negro Fresco -- seared black cod with Serrano ham crisp:


Cooked to absolute perfection with not a hint of dryness, the black cod was so delicate and mild in taste, just as a fresh black cod should be. It flaked uncontrollably atop the plate as we tried to portion it five ways. The accompanying ham crisp added a savory texture and heightened the overall taste of this dish. Wonderful.

Cordero Vasco - Basque lamb chops, chorizo, piquillos, olives, capers:


More beautiful plating with exquisite stenciling work is teamed up with succulent lamb chops and a pungent sauce. Cooked to a nice medium rare, the lamb was delicious on its own and I actually wish there was less of the pepper and caper sauce, which overpowered the rich lamb meat. Nonetheless we left nothing on the plate and I made sure to scoop up all of the sauce, olives and all.

Our next dish is the Tamal -- braised pork short rib with seasonal mushrooms, Guajillo sauce:


Served atop a banana leaf and draped with aromatic Chanterelle (?) mushrooms, this is quite unlike the tamales my family puts out during the holidays. The pork was incredibly tender and a bit spicy, and the masa was pillowy soft and packed with fresh corn flavor. I'm not certain the pairing of tamal and mushrooms was intended; I ate them separately as I didn't want the spiciness of the tamal to overpower the delicate mushroom taste. My favorite dish of the night, the tamal has my name on it when I return.

We're getting close to our final savory dish. Here we have Choros Al Vapor -- Mussels, chorizo, ajo amarillo-pisco broth:


The taste from these incredibly fresh black mussels was kicked up to notches unknown with that amazing ajo amarillo-pisco broth. Adding bits of chorizo to each slurp added a nice saltiness, and the peppers contributed some texture. But the highlight here is that broth, which we scooped with the charred bread. Our group really enjoyed this.

Our final savory of the night happens to be the only dish we selected from the Large Plates menu, Kurobuta Pork Chop with mole and sweet potato:


Perhaps the only misfire of the night, the meat was overcooked and a bit dry, though the rich and complex mole helped salvage the overall dish. Had the pork been cooked slightly less, this would have been a wonderful combination, but because the pork was overcooked all I could really taste was the mole sauce. The provided sweet potato was delicate in taste and texture--I wish there was more of it.

With our appetizers and one main dish behind us, it's time for a round of desserts. We opted for three items but when our server mentioned the special of the night--olive oil cake--we just had to make it an even four.

Ladies and gentlemen, our spread of desserts:


Top left to bottom left: Hazelnut-chocolate sponge cake with orange-cava sorbet, olive oil cake, citrus with dulce de leche, chocolate torte with drunken pineapple. It was a bit of challenge to split each of these five-ways without making a mess and while trying to taste each dessert in the way the pastry chef intended, but somewhat we managed it. Our favorite by far was the olive oil cake, which was super moist and almost bread pudding like. We wrapped up the night by noming on homemade cookies and we had no shame eating them at the table =).

That concludes our River dinner and it was fantastic and memorable one at that. Service was stellar and was easily some of the best I've experienced at any restaurant. Our waiter was very knowledgeable of all the dishes, and gave us an entertaining lecture about the Tequila Club which I alluded to earlier. Yes for $2,000 you can join River's Tequila Club and have your own bottle of anjeo stored along the side windows of the restaurant. Perks also include food discounts and access to private events, and comes with requisite gawkers who'll be gazing upon you when your server brings out your private bottle of anejo. OK so who has $2,000 they want to give to me for this club?

At one point during our dinner, our server mentions Max Weinberg from the Tonight Show will be sitting in table across from ours. Mr. Weinberg opted to sit at the bar instead. Was it something I said?

Before I close out, I'd like to call your attention again to the beautiful platings of each dish. You'll notice the gratuitous use of white space in each of the dish arragements. Expansive, table-hogging, and gleamingly white, each plate engulfs its food, and it's this use of white space that helps separate the chef's artistic creations from the rest of the distractions that might be on the table. Works of art, indeed.

Special thanks to Linda, Sarah, Jennifer, and Roberto for joining us, and more thanks to Linda for bringing a fantastic Zinfandel for our table to enjoy. Lastly, thank you @shopeatsleep and @djjewelz for recommending the Blood Sugar Sex Magic. I wasn't sure what to order at the bar, but you two were quick to step in with that recommendation.


Rivera
1050 S. Fower Street.
#102
Los Angeles, CA 90015