Ortolan

Ortolan can be found at W 3rd St 8338. The following is offered: Restaurants: Californian. The entry is present with us since Sep 8, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Los Angeles there are 15 other Restaurants: Californian. An overview can be found here.

Ortolan is a really special restaurant, primarily known for the tasting menus prepared by the chef, Christophe Eme. (It's not uncommon to see him when you are leaving.) Ortolan is famous for its vials of fruit and vegetable emulsions, which they pass out in a test tube-like rack as an appetizer. Most holidays tend to have their own pre-fixe meals with accompanying wine flights. Although the meals are expensive, you more than get what you paid for when you filter in the romantic surroundings, amazing food and nearly feudal service. There is a lounge/bar in the back of the restaurant next to a wall covered with potted cooking herbs; the dining area is modern and bright, but there is a bricked in dark section that looks like an old European mansion's dining room. Since Ortolan is on 3rd Street, you should definitely use their valets unless you enjoy long walks.

Recalls the restaurant Monica Bellucci and her French hubby, The Merovingian, dined at in Matrix Reloaded. A similar crowd can be seen here on certain on nights. Test-tubed and shot-glassed food makes us feel a cruel joke is being played on us Americans by genius French Chef Christophe Émé. Unique creations like the egg and caviar cooked in hot ash with whipped cream and vanilla: a resounding Oui!

Named after a small bird that's been savored to near extinction by French gourmands (and now an outlawed delicacy), this wonderful restaurant is cleverly designed into four separate sections: a glamorous main dining room with creamy leather booths and crystal chandeliers; a more rustic dining room with Pennsylvania barn-plank flooring and a long communal table; a small, dimly lit bar; and a...

Perhaps the most critical step in the road to Ortolan was Christophe's tenure as executive chef at L'Orangerie, an L.A.-area restaurant widely regarded as the finest French restaurant in town. Christophe enhanced L'Orangerie's reputation with his contemporary menu design, featuring elegant dishes that focused on simple preparations and fresh ingredients.

The elegant, chandelier-obsessed French restaurant Ortolan is so dark in certain sections that the wait staff provides guests with mini-flashlights to read the menu. Oddly enough, it’s partially owned by (geek alert) Star Trek: Voyager actress Jeri Ryan, but more importantly, the food and style are overseen by her boyfriend, ex-L’Orangerie chef Christophe Eme, and it shows – sometimes...