A Fraiche Start

Seeing a great restaurant shutter can be a heartbreaking event, especially if that restaurant served an particularly sought-after item. That was the case for me with Riva in Santa Monica, which recently closed and then quickly reopened as the second outpost of Fraiche restaurant (with the original location neatly tucked away in downtown Culver City.) Gone are Riva's incredible wood-fired pizzas, boutique-style Italian dishes, and the Chocolate Hazelnut Purse--a dessert so decadent that it made an appearance on Food Network's The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Let us now have a moment of degustatory silence to remember Riva and their second-best* pizzas in Los Angeles.

(more on that later)

Also gone is Jason Travi, who prior to Riva's resto-ration was the executive chef of both restaurants; the two locations were and still are under the same Fraiche management. The arm-tattooed chef Travi put forth some amazing seafood and meat dishes that drew in the masses and so I'm not clear as to why he and the Fraiche group parted ways, but according to a few sources, chef Travi is taking some well-deserved time off to be with his family and will later return to LA's culinary boxing ring with a restaurant of his own.

Nonetheless, Santa Monica now has its own Fraiche establishment on Wilshire boulevard, just shouting distance from the street circus, er, um, Third Street Promenade. Parking here is easy; just pick one of the $3 lots sprinkled all over 3rd and 4th streets, and if you arrive a little early like I did, you can kill some time by reading about food at the neighboring Barnes and Noble. Joining me for tonight's dinner were Linda, Mike, Daniel K., Jen, and Roberto. Reservations are absolutely required at this place; it was seemingly packed throughout the entire night and the smallish bar area has maybe enough chairs for a few couples.


Upon stepping inside I didn't notice any dramatic decor changes and that's a good thing. High ceilings, gratuitous use of stonework, and crisp white linens dominate the scene. I did catch a glimpse of Riva's wood-burning oven but it wasn't being used; perhaps that's because they're no longer serving pizzas here? I'll be more than happy to take that underutilized oven off their hands, for a small fee of course ;).


Our group of six tucks into a round table centered in the main dining room. We request bottled water while Daniel K. commandeers the wine list and orders a bottle of red wine for our group. The dinner menu here is nearly identical to the one in at the Culver City location and emphasizes the use of locally available and in-season foods.



We debated over ordering a tasting menu of 5 dishes versus going the old school route of sharing appetizers and entrees. Our server couldn't divulge the exact dishes of the tasting menu, only to say the dishes are mostly up to whatever the chef wants to serve. I would much rather see these dishes clearly outlined in the printed menu so as to avoid issues with food allergies or food preferences. So, we went the traditional route of appetizers and entrees; besides, our foodie group isn't exactly shy about sharing so this seemed like the better choice in either case =).

One issue that I'll point out is that when we tried to order foie gras, we were told the chef wasn't happy with the quality of the day's supply of foie gras and thus no foie gras was being served. I appreciate this commitment to quality, but I would like to see Fraiche either print the menus daily or have their wait staff announce menu changes as soon as the menus are handed out.

Our appetizers arrive in short order, all plated nicely and served at the same time. My appetizer pick of Speck and Burrata with arugula, 7-year balsamic and Sicilian olive oil was superb:


Speck is a juniper-flavored ham similar to prosciutto and is smoked rather than air-cured, giving it a distinctly smokey taste. It paired beautifully with the creamy burrata , and the 7-year vinegar with the the arugula provided a pungent finish. I also got to try the beef tartar and the country pate. The beef tartar was quite good with a nice texture and a mild, beefy taste. The pate was just OK in my opinion and I would have liked stronger flavors and slightly softer texture like the I had at Daniel Boulud in Las Vegas.

We waited uncomfortably long for our mains to arrive and I'm guessing the kitchen has some fine tuning to do after the recent makeover. I went with Lamb Spezzatino with ricotta gnocchi and gremolata (Italian herbs):


Tender pieces of lamb were swimming in a wonderfully rich sauce, making for a delicious and hearty taste. The mildly flavored gnocci were equally delicious, especially when eaten with a generous scoop of that spezzatino sauce. Linda and Roberto opted for the Kurobuta pork chop and the wood-fire braised pork and I was able to sample portions of both. The pork chop was cooked perfectly (a little underdone--the way it should be IMO) and had a nice, juicy flavor. I'd probably order this if I ever come back for dinner.

It's time for dessert and our group goes with three selections of Chocolate Bread Pudding, Beignets with Strawberry Jam, and Grapefruit Sorbet.





The Chocolate Bread Pudding (first pic above) came with toffee, spiced bananas, and peanut butter ice cream. The bread pudding itself was a bit dry and had a cake-like consistency and taste; I was hoping for something like the soft, moist bread pudding I completely devoured at Bar Food. The rich ice cream helped make the "cake" more palatable, while the crunchy toffee and soft bananas added interesting texture. The beignets (above) were served hot and had a comforting, richly sweet taste. Pair it with the provided strawberry jam and you have yourself gourmet strawberry-filled donuts. Delicious! As for the grapefruit sorbet, I had very little of this but it was actually much sweeter than I was expecting. In short, I wasn't too thrilled with Fraiche's dessert offerings and was much happier with Riva's selection of tiramisu and that hazelnut purse.

Service was good overall despite the long wait for our mains and the aforementioned issue with the foie gras (I think Daniel K. is still recovering from this!) Our water and wine glasses were topped off appropriately, and all our dishes were presenting nicely and all at the same time. I'd consider going back for the lunch deals and to maybe explore their tasting menus--although I would like those menus printed and with clear indication of what's being served. In summary, this is a fine start for the new Fraiche and I'm looking forward to seeing what new entrees and desserts will come out from the kitchen, and I'm crossing my fingers that they'll be firing up that wood-burning oven sometime soon.

*OK so about Riva's pizza, as good as they were, this place still serves the best pies in LA =).

Fraiche
312 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401