LAFW: Lunch at Patina with Joachim Splichal, Jonathan Waxman and Daniel Boulud

Have you ever been thrown in a foodie frenzy? On Friday, October 14 there were so many special lunches as part of the Los Angeles Food and Wine Festival that I had a hard time deciding where to go. I ultimately decided to stay in Downtown and head to the lunch hosted by Joachim Splichal at Patina with Jonathan Waxman and Daniel Boulud. Both these chefs were visiting from New York for LAFW.

Our lunch was paired with wine. The spaghetti with dungeness crab by Jonathan Waxman was paired with a 2009 Sandhi Chardonnay, Santa Rita Hills. I was pretty excited about this pasta as I love seafood and found the prawn to be a bonus.

There was plenty of crab in this dish and I did enjoy the chardonnay with it. The wine complemented the flavors of the light but rich sauce.

Patina Executive Chef Tony Esnault sent out the Seasonal Vegetable Mosaic. At first we didn’t think much of it but each of the 14 different vegetables had its own flavors that ultimately made this the most remarked upon dish. Vegetables! It was paired with a pinot noir which also surprised me because I didn’t think to pair it with such but the savory stock really went well with the medium red.

This dish will be served again tomorrow as part of the Patina Alumni dinner.  Unfortunately the dinner is sold out but after party with oysters, pig and pinot is still available at Kendall’s ($30/person).

Next up was Daniel Boulud’s roasted guinea hen. The dainty entree was the right portion for lunch. We savored this with 2007 Skylark/ Rodgers Creek Syrah, Sonoma Coast.

For dessert we had Patina Pastry Chef Sarah Koechling’s Warm Roasted Figs which was a panna cotta with pine nuts, nougatine and lemon sorbet. It was paired with 2010 Kunin Wines Late Harvest Viognier, Paradise Road Vineyard. I quite liked the gentle panna cotta. The day was particularly warm and it was an appropriate dessert for the day.

It was quite the Patina Restaurant Group day for me. Later that evening, I would find myself at Kendall’s for a pre-theatre snack. I had the calamari. I enjoyed it while dreaming of another taste from these star chefs.

Patina Restaurant

141 S Grand Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012 – (213) 972-3331