The Value of Sharing
Orris offers upscale tapas, attentive service, and a chance to reconnect with friends
By Richard Foss
Fashionable dining from shared plates has a certain irony - after all, for most of human history, that was the rule. The presentation is more ornate in upscale tapas places than at home tables, but the social dynamic is the same, and maybe that's why it's so attractive. Sharing everything binds us together, giving us a common experience to talk about. You can easily overlook that in places where everyone's lives are similar, but in L.A., our experiences are more likely to divide than to unite us.
Which makes it somehow fitting that Orris doesn't take reservations. This little hotspot on Sawtelle manages to be upscale and egalitarian at the same time, a formula that in the wrong hands means everybody is treated like dirt. Here it translates into some of the most courteous service I can remember receiving on the Westside.
We dropped in on a Saturday around 6 p.m., slightly more than an hour before we'd have to leave for a concert. Since it was early, a table was ready. Our server gave us a short menu with regular dishes, another with seasonal offerings, and a brief recitation of daily specials. We explained our time constraints and selected a sampling to be delivered in whichever order the dishes were ready.
What followed was a fast but relaxing meal. My glass of Castoro Cellars Viognier ($8.50) materialized simultaneously with plates of tuna tartare ($9) and ahi tuna sashimi ($9.50), followed closely by braised duck breast ($8). The two tuna plates started with the same raw material but treated it very differently - the tartare was chopped and mixed with mild seasonings, then topped with a drizzle of spiced oil and served with rounds of melba toast. The mixture worked like a good salad dressing - no single seasoning dominated, and the effect was to enhance the natural flavors of the fish. The portion was sufficient that everyone got a few bites, and extra melba toast appeared magically. The sashimi was far from the usual sushi-bar standard, thanks to a soy-onion relish with a dash of yuzu, the tart Asian citrus that tastes like a blend between orange and lime. The four pretty medallions of fish vanished in a flurry of polite math, since we were a party of five, but we all got enough to agree that we liked it and would order it again.
We had no such problem with the duck breast, as there were 10 slices. It was served cold in a lightly peppery sauce, with a dab of yuzu-chile paste on the side. That paste seemed more ornamental than essential, because the delicious duck needed no further seasoning. The meat was tender and the flavor rich, and, if I were looking for a place to introduce someone to the joys of duck, Orris would rank high.
We continued with sautéed shimeji mushrooms ($8), grilled vegetables with French feta ($9), grilled quail with white beans ($8.50), and ravioli filled with shrimp mousse in shiitake mushroom sauce ($8.50). The shimeji mushrooms were a delicious revelation to some at the table: With their bulbous stems and tiny caps, they may look odd in the Asian market, but, rather than being woody, shimeji stems have an even, soft texture and delicate flavor. Chef Hideo Yamashiro knows not to tamper with perfection, so these mushrooms were simply sautéed. The grilled vegetables were naturally tasty, with crumbles of an excellent feta, the rounds of zucchini and eggplant merely coated with oil before cooking. (French feta has a lower salt content and creamier texture and is a good choice when the flavor of the cheese really counts.)
The grilled quail was similar to traditional Middle Eastern preparations, with enough pepper and garlic to accent the meat nicely; only the ravioli didn't come up to our expectations. The combination of a slightly sweet mushroom-cream sauce with the shrimp mousse was a bit too similar in flavor - I'd have liked a bit more herbal or vegetable taste to balance things.
Since we had time, we finished with desserts - an excellent apple puff with caramel-drizzled vanilla ice cream and a flourless chocolate wedge with coffee ice cream. We were delighted to have started the evening in such a wonderful way, and we easily made it to the show.
Orris is a place of creative brilliance with excellent service, the brainchild of a chef who has given L.A. some fine restaurants. Share some plates and conversation here, and you're likely to go back for more.
Published: 03/08/2007
DIGG | del.icio.us | REDDIT
