During my recent evening visit to the fabulous Getty off of the 405 in Los Angeles, my boyfriend and I ate at the restaurant there. We made reservations online, which should have given us a clue as to how fancy the place really is, but we showed up in shorts and flip flops anyway. The cool thing is, even though the service is really elegant and the food is artful, they really don't care how you dress. I think they call it California casual dining.
They sat us near the window at a cute table with white linens. The menu was very Californian, with fresh appetizers, salads, and main dishes that included lots of seafood. The bread plate came out with parmesan crisps, sourdough, and rye, with butter, salt, and an olive tapenade. It was hard to stop eating the bread and tapenade.
I decided to start with the corn and leek soup with a morel fritter, and my boyfriend chose the dungeness crab salad with papaya, cucumber, and melon water. My soup was perfectly creamy and light and reminded me of summers eating sweet corn on the cob (picture above). The morel fritter was good, but nothing remarkable. The dungeness crab salad had a surprising citrus flavor which perfectly matched the cold temperature of the dish. It was a refreshing starter.
For my entree I chose the striped bass with eggplant caponata, romano beans, and lobster polenta. The fish was lightly seasoned and grilled, which was conducive to tasting the basic flavor of the fish itself. The beans were good, but I didn't care for the eggplant caponata. It was just a mushy mess. The lobster polenta was the star of the dish. The polenta was creamy and it tasted of lobster, in addition to the huge pieces of lobster meat in the polenta itself.
My boyfriend chose the muscovy duck breast with corn, New Zealand spinach (yes, really), and barbecue corn wrap with mascarpone horseradish and pink peppercorns. It's a lot of ingredients that tasted just alright to me, but I'm all about the seafood. The cut of duck breast was juicy and the spinach was good, but the corn wrap I could do without. He ended up really liking it, though (picture above).
Our waiter was very attentive and brought us the dessert menu. I opted for a latte and my boyfriend chose the dessert called "Berries and cream." It was a strawberry sorbet with vanilla panna cotta and fresh berries. Very pretty presentation, and my boyfriend was happy with the result (picture above). My coffee was rich, creamy, and full-bodied. But for the price I paid for it, it better have been!
All in all, I would recommend this place for a nice date (the Getty itself doesn't hurt either), but not an everyday meal option because of the price. However, you do get what you pay for in the ambiance, the attentiveness of the waitstaff, and quality of the food. The restaurant is only open on Fridays and Saturdays for dinner (those are the only days the Getty is open until 9p.m.) and the view outside is amazing. They are also open for lunch Tuesday-Sunday.
The Restaurant at the Getty1200 Getty Center Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Reservations: (310) 440-6810 or
websitelunch
Tues - Sat 11:30AM to 2:00PM
Sun 11:00AM to 3:00PM
dinner
Fri - Sat 5:00PM to 9:00PM
