Bazaar Foods

Living in a massive metropolitan area like LA, it seems like every week of the calendar has some sort of special event - beer weeks, summer concerts out the wazoo, and multiple dates dedicated to dining.  While we never find ourselves with a shortage of amazing spots to eat, we enjoy taking advantage of the various "Dine LA"/"Dine LBC" events, as it gets us into new places and allows us to try multiple courses, all for one set price.

This time, we decided to go for broke, and we booked a reservation at Jose Andres' spot, the Bazaar, which is inside the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills.  Although the price point was high - $110 per person - it came with 15 different courses, all of which were tapas sized (tapas seems to be the main focus of the restaurant - mainly neuvo Spanish flavor with a modernist preparation and presentation).  The menu sounded cool, the reviews were good, and we were happy to support Jose Andres; he's done an amazing job with his group World Central Kitchen getting to disaster areas around the globe and feeding folks until the associated federal government can get their crap together and take over.  Additionally, we love him because he was the guest chef on an episode of Emeril's Eat the World show on Amazon, and he seems absolutely delightful - he's a hugger - so we were happy to give him some of our money (he also has the notable - in our perspective - distinction of pulling out of the restaurant in the Trump Hotel in DC when Trump made his comments about immigrants in 2015 - Andres is an immigrant himself, so it made a great deal of sense, at least to us).  We hadn't done a bit of living large in a while, so we went for it, and it was a blast.

Doesn't this man look like a lot of fun?

Thankfully, we chose to go on a Saturday, so I did a long run that morning, and after hanging out in DTBK for the early afternoon, we had time for a nap before starting the long journey to Beverly Hills.  It took us a bit over an hour to get there, and after doing some advance research (what, me?), we ended up parking in the garage at the nearby Beverly Center mall.  The hourly rate at the Center was $1 for up to four hours, which significantly beat the $19 parking fee at the SLS Hotel (sidebar - I try not to complain about how much everything costs out here, but for real - NINETEEN DOLLARS?  That is supremely redonk).  Anywhoo, we strolled the short distance to the hotel and easily found the Bazaar.

Where did we park?  4E!

We checked in with the hostess and were invited to chill out in the bar area and order a drink while our table was prepared.  We were happy to accept the invite, and we enjoyed the relaxing and people-watching.

The decor here is super fun,

and totally over the top.

It makes me wonder what his spot

in Vegas looks like.

In just a bit, we were escorted to our table, and I was thrilled to take what I quickly dubbed the "Dr. Evil" chair.

One meeeeellion dollars.

Wait, I'm missing something here...

So.Much.Better.

Mad photoshop skillz, I have.

Here's the menu - we had a lot of fun following along:

Be sure to read the lines in italics below:

"Oh, you want it your way?

Feel free to go to McDonald's."

As you might imagine, all of our courses were lovingly crafted, and they were just as gorgeous to look at as they were delicious to consume.

Fancy cheesy poofs

The Fermin Embutidos Platter

Steamed bun with caviar - 

this was so good

Ceviche

Mushroom ramen -

honestly, this was the one disappointment.

The broth was kinda boring and lacked any real flavor.

We ended up eating the pork belly (awesome)

and ditching the rest.

Our meat and potatoes - also outstanding.

While we were eating, we were drinking as well - Chris mainly stuck to wine, but I wanted to try some of the craft cocktails they had on offer.  One of the cocktails - Bazaar's version of the caipirinha - was made tableside with liquid nitrogen from a little cart they were pushing around the restaurant (it was pretty loud - the cart, not the drink - and the first few times it went by, I thought the hotel had a really noisy freight elevator).  I couldn't pass it up, and it turned out to be, essentially, a tiny, delicious, alcohol slushie.

Noms!

With the savory portion of our meal pretty much concluded, it was time to move to the sweets.  First up were the Japanese peaches, which were considered a segue from the mains to the dessert courses.

Lovely and delicious, like many of the items we enjoyed

At this point, it was time for us to move from the main dining room to the dessert area, located right next to the bar we'd visited earlier.  Chris grabbed an espresso to keep him awake on the drive home (he was in charge of driving home, as I'd driven up), and we enjoyed both the flan and black forest items.

Lovely gooey flan

The black forest presentation...

...and a surprise after a few bites!

We had an awesome experience at Bazaar, and we'd highly recommend it. I don't know that we'll be back too soon, mainly because it's pretty far away from us, and it's obviously pricey; however, we enjoyed our time there, and hopefully, Chef Jose will put our funds to good use in his efforts around the globe.

Later!

Amy