Ice cream that’s on the edge
Once there was rocky road.
Now, several of Los Angeles’ top chefs are using herbs and spices to create a variety of ice creams you won’t find at Baskin-Robbins.
“Ice cream is just a really great canvas to paint on, if you will, because it’s very basic,” says Sona pastry chef Michelle Myers, who recently sent out Szechuan peppercorn ice cream with a warm chocolate-banana tart.
“A lot of Caribbean countries have banana compotes they put spices in,” she says. “So it kind of made sense to me.”
Craig Strong, chef at the Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena, recently offered a bright green tarragon ice cream with his cherry and almond croustillant. Now he is serving a warm almond clafouti with almond-thyme ice cream. The ice cream also has a touch of honey.
“The thyme pulls it a little off center,” Strong says. “I want food to have an element that’s interesting without being weird. If it’s just honey and almond, it’s missing something. It needs more character.”
At Alex on Melrose, pastry chef Corinne Blinman serves her tarte Tatin with rosemary ice cream.
“In France, there are certain bakers that make their tarte Tatin with rosemary,” says Blinman. “So basically, instead of putting rosemary into the apple tart, I put it in the ice cream. It gives it a twist.”
The Room menu at Rockenwagner features a vanilla-poached heirloom tomato with dried fruit and basil ice cream. (In case you were wondering, it is a dessert.)
“We chefs have to push the envelope,” Hans Rockenwagner says. “Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we don’t. But unless you try, you never find out. This basil ice cream has been very well received.”
In fact, Rockenwagner says the tomato-basil combo “probably outsells the chocolate dessert on our Room menu because people are intrigued.” He admits, though, that the littlest diners might be deceived by the confection, which is the same color as mint ice cream.
“Some kids would probably say, ‘Woo. What’s going on here?’ ”
-- Leslee Komaiko
Small bites
* Knoll’s Black Forest Inn serves its last dinner Feb. 28. “We’re going to retire after 44 years,” says Hildegard Knoll, who ran the front of the house while her husband, Norbert, manned the stoves. “We were successful when we started and still successful when we ended. But now we are in our 70s so it’s time to enjoy life. Also, we got a tremendous real estate offer.”
Knoll’s Black Forest Inn, 2454 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 395-2212.
* Vibrato, the supper club at the top of Beverly Glen from the Smith Brothers (Parkway Grill, Arroyo Chophouse, etc.) and jazz legend Herb Alpert, is open. Greg Smith calls the cuisine “new American.” Sharon Funt, formerly of the Patina Group, is executive chef.
Vibrato, 2930 Beverly Glen Circle, Bel-Air, (310) 474-9400.
* Oliver Cafe and Lounge, the latest from Linq owner Mario Oliver, is open for breakfast, lunch, happy hour (wheat grass martini, anyone?) and dinner in the former Wells Fargo bank vault adjacent to the new Sports Club L.A. (there’s an entrance through the club too). The menu includes risotto breakfast brulee, vegan ratatouille and New York pepper steak.
Oliver Cafe and Lounge, 9601 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 888-8160.