Tuesday, February 12, 2008

1500 Ocean Review


Restaurant week was a few weeks ago. We went to 1500, which is located inside of Hotel del. I failed to recap about it for two reasons: laziness and a lack of pictures. The boy forgot his camera! Instead, I've gathered a bunch of pictures that I found on other websites or blogs.






Here's what we ordered:
Appetizers: Celery Root Soup: Grilled mushroom, chive oil and Cured Yellowtail: Jicama, chili, avocado mousse

Main Course: Seared Diver Scallops: Squash puree, shaved brussel sprouts, almond brown butter and Grilled Angus Beef Culotte: Olive oil crushed potatoes, smoked bacon, persimmon salad

Dessert: Warm Chocolate Chipotle Cake: Caramel ice cream, banana and Mango Crème Brulee: Fennel compote

Everything was very very good. They also start you out with bread for the table. There are 2 kinds of bread, cheese biscuits and something else. I don't remember what the other bread is because I didn't like it and I LOVED the cheese biscuits. I probably had about 4 of them. I really wanted to have more, but I was being self-conscious about how many I had. Nobody else was eating as much as I was. Everything we had was perfectly cooked and tasted so good. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough of it! Not that the portions were small, I just wanted more :) My meat was perfectly cooked and the crushed potatoes were the perfect compliment to them. The bacon added a nice touch to the potatoes. The scallops, were again, perfectly cooked - brown on the outside and nice and buttery on the inside. The cake was sooooo good. I'd never had chocolate that was spicy, so I was really excited to try this out. I enjoyed the little kick the spice gave to the desert, the boy not so much. The mango creme brulee was just as good, smooth and creamy. Perfect for anyone who doesn't really enjoy chocolate.

Bread basket (Following pictures stolen borrowed from Alice Q Foodie)


Chipotle cake


A few notes, not food related. It was difficult to get a reservation. When we got there it wasn't very busy and I saw lots of empty tables the whole night. Weird. Maybe people didn't show up or they underbook so that hotel guests won't have trouble eating there if they want? The service was great. The waiter was very attentive. There was also a guitar player at the restaurant. We were seated a few tables away from him. At first I thought it might get annoying, but he wasn't overly loud or anything. It ended up being nice background music. The decor was elegant and nice. It wasn't as stuffy or old as I had expected since the del is an old hotel. It would be nice to go back when the weather is warmer so that we could eat outside and enjoy the nice oceanside view.

Overall, it was a great meal. And at $40, a definite steal!

1 comment:

That Girl said...

I'm so glad you liked it. We for sure didn't have any bread basket when we went. Or maybe I was just too drunk to notice. But I have a picture of the beef in my blog if you need to steal it - although it is rather dark (alcohol is not my friend camera in hand)