Dinner and a movie. We’ve all done that hundreds of times, right? It’s an American institution. In New York, they have dinner and a show, but the choices are somewhat limited in the rest of the country. That is, everywhere but Los Angeles. And in the “Only in L.A.” category falls my dinner last night, but we’ll get to that in a second. First, a little background.
Last September, as my fiance and I were ramping up for our wedding, we went out for our last dating anniversary at a restaurant we’d wanted to try ever since seeing the head chef on Top Chef Masters. That chef was Suzanne Tracht and the restaurant was Jar. It was fantastic. Everything we ate that night was just crazy good and if the place wasn’t just a tad above our normal eating out budget, we’d be there every week. We did however, sign up to be on the mailing list.
Cut to 5 months later and we decided that instead of fighting all the crowds on Valentine’s Day, we’d wait a couple weeks and hit up Jar again. Come to find out it was also right around our three month wedding anniversary, it seemed perfect. (Yes, we’re big on anniversaries. Any excuse to go out to eat, really.)
But as I said earlier, this wouldn’t be just your average dinner. We got a play reading right there in the restaurant and then another amazing dinner. The play was “An Infinite Ache” by David Schulner, which was about a couple on a first date and then a quick blast through their lives together. Playing the couple were Julia Ling (Buffy, Chuck) and Eddie Kaye Thomas (American Pie, How to Make it in America). They were both great, although the play was obviously geared toward the male character and that left Thomas doing most of the heavy lifting, which he did fine. We were the youngest people in the place, except for the actors, which was nice. We both love observing the older set and likewise being representatives of the younger for them, even if we are probably closer to their ranks these days. Ha.
We were greeted with some sparkling wine while we waited for everyone to arrive and be seated. Right before the show, we decided to get some drinks. Now, obviously I’ve grown up a bit from when I started this here blog oh so many years ago, but hey, it is still called SorryIGotDrunk, right? When push comes to shove, there really is nothing like a good old fashioned girlie drink to get the evening going, so Mrs. Lou got the Sourberry which is Ketel One Citron, muddled straw-berries fresh lemon and simple syrup. I, being a lifetime fan of the little chewy treats you have to unwrap to enjoy, got the Starburst. It was sugary wonderfulness consisting of Grey Goose Orange, Peachtree schnapps, fresh orange and cranberry juice. The perfect couple of bright colored drinks to get us through the show.
Like I said, the show went well. Breezed by in 45 minutes and then it was on to our dinner. The Prix Fixe menu was such:
First Course:
Butter Lettuce Salad, breakfast radishes, parmesan, lemon garlic vinaigrette
Wine Pairing: Cremant de Bourgogne, Simmonet Febcre, Brut Rose, NV, France
Second Course, choice of:
Jar’s Signature Pot Roast, carrots, caramelized onions
Wine Pairing: Ciavolich, Ancilla, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Italy 2008
-or-
Roasted Wild Salmon, shallot and lemon vinaigrette
Wine Pairing: Pinot Noir, Carmel Road, 2007 Monterey
Served with family style sides: duck fried rice, Jar fries, pea tendrils and asparagus
Dessert Medley:
Chocolate and Butterscotch Puddings with freshly whipped cream
The salad was kind of amazing. The lemon garlic vinaigrette was so good, I ended up dipping my bread into it after I’d eaten the salad. The Brut Rose was a great compliment as well. We decided to divide and conquer on the entrees. She got the pot roast and I got the salmon. Really no complaints. We were more split on the sides. We both liked the fries and the pea tendrils, but m’lady loved the asparagus and duck fried rice more than I.
Both the wines were fantastic and I’m sure they were more expensive than we’d purchase on our own so that’s always a plus. Overall, I have to say the night couldn’t have gone any better. Not a bad way to spend four hours and a couple hundred bucks. We’re already planning our next visit. There are definitely more things on the menu that need to be sampled.
In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller, “If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.” The “one” in this case being a menu to Jar.
As always, Mahalo,
Lou
