Last night was definitely a beautiful dining experience to say the least for my friend Keisha and I. It was our second time celebrating #dineLA and we definitely enjoyed every minute of it. On the first night of #dineLA, out of the 300+ beautiful restaurants to choose from, we decided on The Church Key here in Los Angeles on Sunset Blvd. The ambiance was relaxing and the low lighting definitely gave a romantic dinner vibe. The price point for our meal was $39 and from all of the delicious food we received and the great service it was most definitely worth it. We had to choose between three menu items for each main course and two desserts.
The first two courses we chose were: a stuffed avocado with a tuna tartare, Japanese cucumber, radish and a ponzu aioli followed by crispy pork belly, Korean chili glaze, escarole "Kim-chi" with a fried egg and cilantro. The tuna was a refreshing start to our meal with all of the great qualities a tartare can have and it was elegantly executed. The flavors blended very well together and I also absolutely loved the crispy pork belly. It was both crispy and soft and I never thought the flavors of "Kim-chi" and the chili glaze would blend so well with the fried egg and cilantro. (Sidenote: But then again I love cilantro on everything.)
Our main courses were: Tapioca crusted Tai Snapper, Green papaya salad, Thai basil nuoc cham, peanuts and crispy shallots followed by Red Wine braised beef cheeks, parsnip puree, and a horseradish gremolata. The Tai Snapper was just the right amount of crispy in my opinion and the green papaya salad with the nuoc cham all meshed together so well with my palette. The winner that night though was definitely Keisha's choice: the braised beef cheeks. They were so tender and cooked so perfectly and the gremolata was a nice touch of flavor to make it so savory and satisfying.
For dessert: we both chose brioche donuts with a brown butter glaze and cinnamon caramel. The butterscotch pudding did sound quite appetizing, but we were definitely in the mood for some donuts. The donuts were spot on to end our beautiful meal. The sweetness of the caramel and brown butter glaze was something we both just looked at each other with approval about. There was also a hint of saltiness that we both loved and were trying to figure out where it was coming from. What's funny is that we both just planned on ordering the #dineLA menu, but there were a few carts going around the restaurant that caught our attention. The Church Key actually has dim sum carts that go around every 20-30 minutes to bring you small tapas type plates like mac and cheese, tacos or even popcorn (which i'm pretty sure they're known for).
There's even a cart for alcoholic liquid nitrogen popsicles, which were very similar to what otter pops look like, but made in house. We ordered a strawberry tequila popsicle with some mac and cheese fritters and a fried halibut taco. ALL absolutely delicious and we wanted more, but we had to stop ourselves. I know for a fact that I will definitely be back for more another fantastic dining experience at The Church Key and i'm really grateful I had Keisha my foodie adventure partner with me to enjoy it. Thank you to #dineLA for making this all possible and i'm excited for the next stop on my list of bookmarks to eat.