Anisette

Last week my cousin-in-law Holly came to stay with us for a week as she was trekking her way back from a semester abroad in Sydney to home-sweet-home in Toronto. During her stay, jet-setter Holly asked if we could venture out for some fine French fare. Well she certainly picked the right city in which to make that request! Let's see, we have Anisette, Comme Ca, Petrossian, Church and State, Bouchon, La Provence, La Cachette Bistro...we Angelinos are so fortunate to have such great options when it comes to French dining. I'll admit it took me a few moments to narrow my choices to a few selections, and in the end I went with Anisette for a variety of reasons. It's close to our house, and I've been there for brunch and totally fell in love with the food and the scene. Plus, I had a GroupOn offer in my back pocket :). So off to Anisette we go on our Friday night out on the town.

We arrive promptly for our 7:30pm reservation and as expected the place is packed, loud, and lively. We're quickly led to our table on the second floor, overlooking the main dining room. Nice.


The restaurant is housed in a former bank building with a decor that is distinctly brasserie: mosaic tiled floors, aged wooden fixtures, a zinc bar, and antique mirrors. Look up and you'll see the intricately detailed pressed-tin ceiling. Helming the kitchen is Parisian-born Alain Giraud, a four-star general in the culinary sense. Named Bon Appetit's chef of the year in 2003, chef Giraud is no stranger to the LA dining scene. In 2002 he opened Bastide on Melrose Avenue, a restaurant which earned a 4-star LA Times review, and prior to this he opened restaurant Lavande in the Santa Monica Beach Hotel. Lavande commanded high praise from from the critics, including Best New Restaurant by Esquire and Los Angeles magazines. Going back even further in his career, chef Giraud spent time at various Michelin-starred dining rooms in France, most notably l'Ermitage Meissonnier in Avignon and Grand Vefour in Paris


Anisette's menu boasts a variety of familiar French dishes, from onion soup to steak tartare to duck confit. The restaurant is currently offering a special Provence pre fixe menu. A reasonable $38 gets you a first course of ratatouille, a second course of either grilled lamb or bouillabaisse, and a dessert. This pre fixe seemed like a great deal since ordering the three dishes separately would amount to $46 to $48, so naturally I went with this.


Vegetable ratatouille terrine, basil emulsion. My first course of the pre fixe was this interesting take on a traditional French Provencal stewed vegetable dish. Shaped like a terrine but certainly void of any meat, this ratatouille was a bit underwhelming in terms of flavor and texture. I was expecting crispier and more pronounced components within the terrine, but instead the vegetables were slightly mushy and I had a challenging time discerning the different varieties. A creamy basil emulsion added an earthy and softly acidic flavor to the ratatouille. I also enjoyed the lightly dressed frisee and black olives, though in the end I would rather see more effort put in to the terrine itself.



Pan roasted sea bass, ratatouille, pistou. I loved the presentation with the wide slab of sea bass draped over the ratatouille, and an arc of pistou (a garlic and basil sauce) along the lower edge. The buttery sea bass was delicious with a slightly flaky texture and a crispy skin that was cooked to spotless perfection. Bright flavors from the pistou paired well with the mild fish and wasn't overpowering. This was my wife's dish and it was actually my first choice, but when she ordered it I decided to go for my backup (one of my rules when eating out!)



Steak au poivre with fingerling potatoes, seasonal vegetables, sauce au poivre. The outside of the steak was nicely seasoned and charred, and the inside was perfectly
cooked to medium rare. I tried a few pieces and found the steak to be quite delicious and juicy, but it was slightly chewy. Using prime aged beef would have certainly helped but of course that would have elevated the price to CUT or Mastro's levels. Nonetheless the steak was very good and Holly cleared her plate. End of story.



Bouillabaisse with safron broth, rockfish, rouille. My second course and it was outstanding on every level. Let's start with the rich, deeply flavored broth which tasted as if it had been simmering for days if not weeks. Generous servings of clams, rockfish and massive shell-on shrimp of the fork-and-knife variety kept me busy poking and peeling and chewing for quite some time. Slurping the intense broth with large bites of the fresh seafood virtually eradicated all unpleasant memories of the lackluster ratatouille. On its own the bouillabaisse is listed at $27 on the ala carte menu and believe me it's worth every penny.


We're finished with our mains and now it's on to desserts (as if we're going to pass up desserts in a French restaurant) The Provence pre fixe offered a dessert course of either fromage with dried fruit bread or a cherry almond tart. I had been in the mood for a savory cheese plate so the fromage was my first choice, but when Holly summoned the waiter for a cherry almond tart of her own, I decided to swap the cheese for the tart and then have her order Anisette's famed lavender ice cream. You've got to love eating out with other foodies =).



Lavender ice cream, strawberries, creme chantilly. Anisette regulars know of the restaurant's epic lavender ice cream but this was my first time experiencing this, and it certainly won't be my last. Intense, fragrant lavender really came through in the soft-serve style ice cream. Creme chantilly added a bit of over-indulgence while the fresh strawberries helped to tame the whole experience. Delicious to the last scoop.


Cherry and almond tart with balsamic ice cream. As much as I loved the lavender ice cream, I loved this tart even more. Bittersweet cherries paired so effortlessly with the sweet almond tart shell and the silky balsamic ice cream. I've been making tarts at home for the past few months, experimenting with different crusts and sweet fillings, but Anisette's pastry chef has taken me to school with this one.


Those two desserts put me at the tipping point in terms of fullness and I left extremely satisfied, especially after scooping the last few bites of the cherry tart (quite honestly one of the best restaurant desserts I've ever had). Our server was prompt, courteous, and not overbearing; I could see him quickly jaunting from table to table but he never appeared to be hurried whenever he tended to our table. Our dishes came out quickly with just the right about of time between my first course and the mains, and our water glasses were topped off frequently. The restaurant was probably at capacity when we arrived and when we left and so reservations are likely a must on Friday and Saturday nights. Also, the bustling scene combined with gratuitous amounts of metal and wood furnishings made us raise our conversational voices ever so slightly, but we didn't seem to mind. Overall, I can easily recommend Anisette as an excellent choice for authentic French in the Santa Monica area.



Anisette
225 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401