Samuel was moving to Burbank, so we decided to meet friends who housed him for the night while setting up his new apartment. It was a wonderful reunion to see them and we are so grateful for thee super warm welcome he got as well(a homemade veggie pizza on landing!)
I wanted Sam to have some great veggie meals so we all went to CROSSROADS in West Hollywood and while the place was jammed and a tad noisy, we were lucky to be in a small back room (save for the screechy lady at the next table). We started with a bottle of Ste. Michelle Ethos Chardonnay 2015 from Washington State as I wanted to shy away from California Chards and the menu was loaded with them. It was an oddly perfumed wine that was funky and minerally at the same time, but we liked it just fine with the food that all began to arrive in stages for the evening. We ordered a ton of starters to share(it's like veggie tapas) and they were all superb:
Tasty rich Whipped Feta came with an interesting topping of macerated blood oranges to place it all on yummy grilled sourdough.
Mushroom tart was a divine tart with duxelle, boursin cheese, roasted maitakes atop and bordelaise sauce!
Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms were filled with soft cheese and deep fried to perfection and may have been the best ever!
Baked Mushroom "Scallops" Rockefeller Style had tiny mushrooms that looked like bay scallops (the taste was uncanny as well).
Impossible Cigars were phyllo stuffed with Impossible "meat" substitute and dipped in Almond Milk Yogurt..WOW.
My choice was also amazing: Artichoke Oysters were artichoke leaves with an artichoke puree, crispy oyster mushrooms resembling real oysters, a dash of bearnaise sauce and kelp caviar atop. OMG this was superb.
The main courses were all delish as well as we moved on to a tasty Davis Bynum Russian River 2017 Pinot Noir.
Squash Tortelli were light and in a rich sage butter.
Tagliatelle Bolognese was as if the sauce were made with meat!
Homemade Italian Sausage with peppers, onions and tomato demi sauce could have been real pork!
My Scallopini Parmesan was tasty and quite large, but we all shared everything and even managed to taste the Truffle Potatoes with fresh thyme and shaved parmesan!
The food here is rich and we all decided to pass on dessert.
A great start to a very quick visit.
