Café Pinot with Grand Hotel Restaurant Manners

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Café Pinot feels like a secret garden cleverly tucked into a pocket on the dark side of the main Los Angeles Public Library.  New Executive Chef Phillip Martin’s recently introduced fall seasonal menu that includes both new dishes and a few of the restaurant classics with his touch, reflects the care and craftsmanship that has always gone into this DTLA treasure.  Now, obsessed with the Spanish series, Grand Hotel as I am, this radiant gem becomes the contemporary dining version of the hotel’s lush restaurant and afternoon tea grounds for me as well.  

These are the Maguire Gardens (named after the developer who helped preserve the library after the 1986 fire), a favorite DTLA outdoor space of lush plantings that all that remains of Bertram Goodhue and Carleton Winslow’s original library gardens. Part of their plan recreates Goodhue’s original Islamic-influenced design with cypress lined tiers of steps flanking long shallow pools.

The second of Joachim Splichal’s portfolio, it has been my favorite since it opened.  Warm wood and earth tones add to the organic, hushed feel of the 1920’s craftsman interior.  Glass walls allow the restaurant to fall away into the park itself.   Outside dining in the manicured park is exquisite and intimate, whether by day or as the center of a glittering skyline at night.

International inspiration is folded into the cuisine described as Cal-with touches of shishito pepper and calamansi and shimeji mushroom making an Asian statement in the menu.

The wine list is reasonably priced with many California and French labels.  The helpful server picked a modestly priced Canyon Road Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast for our red.  Medium-bodied and smooth with accents of cherries, raspberries, and vanilla with a silky finish, it is still light enough to pair with fish.

Even the cocktails hold international lure.  The Copper Pot in its Moscow Mule copper mug translates into more of a romance language version than Russian with Casa Noble tequila, grand mariner, honey, watermelon cubes, fresh lime, basil, and cilantro.

Happily, each engaging dish begins with the same class French technique since Café Pinot opened, with evolving inventive touches that are surprising and delightful.  The menu also includes shareable small and large plates (though Crispy Lamb Sweetbreads would never fall into this category for me).

Crispy Lamb Sweetbreads with cumin Rojo, leeks, cucumber roll-up, yogurt and mint, our favorite bite of the evening in the Small Plates section, reflects both middle eastern and Latin inspiration.  Only adventurous chefs with confident technique take on the challenge of this dish utilizing both the thymus gland (from the throat) and the pancreas gland (heart or stomach).  When Lamb sweetbreads are soaked and blanched well as they are here, it takes away the usual offal musty flavor.    As a result, Chef Martin’s sweetbread is perfectly smooth, tender and moist with a crispy outside complementing the mild, creamy flavor of the inside.  And the sweetbreads interplay beautifully with the rich, more acidic flavors of the spice and yogurt, just as they should.

In the Small Plate section, Hamachi Crudo with tomato, watermelon, Fresno pepper and kalamansi, a cross between citrus and kumquat, known as the Philippine lime, but with a more sour taste.  Mushroom confit and tarragon are new additions to an Australian Beef Tartare but more unexpected is the additional crunch of jicama and the Little Gem lettuce cover-up.

Fennel composed salad has a Northern California autumn flair with pear, citrus, hazelnut, Humboldt Fog cheese and black pepper.

All the pasta are made fresh in-house daily using cage-free eggs.  Spaghetti Alla chitarra, known as “guitar spaghetti,” gets its name from being pressed into long strands using a stringed chitarra cutter, which seems to make a guitar sound as you mold them.

Our favorite in the Large Plate section was the Market Fish, here delicately crusted, tender salmon with confit fingerling potato, Himeji mushroom, leek, and nasturtium.  The nasturtium was such a nostalgic reminder of when it grew wild in our nearby Silverlake home — Chef Martin says he still finds it growing all over the area.  The confit fingerling potato was a smart, innovative transition between the fatty salmon and the mushrooms and leeks.

Dessert can be flamboyant – don’t forget this is also a special occasion party venue.  But our own grand finale came at the restaurant’s closure.  It even topped the time I was at a dinner at Café Pinot with the legendary Gloria Steinem after a library lecture.  On this evening I  was carrying home a very thoughtfully composed little bag of bread heels by the restaurant staff, a faulty parking structure gate would not let me leave the garage.   No one was in the garage so I phoned the closed restaurant for help, and Manager George dashed right down to help even after hours.  Now, I don’t know what could be a more Grand Hotel experience that this.

Café Pinot, www.patinagroup.com/cafe-pinot.

700 West 5th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071,  parking available at the adjacent Library, located on Flower St. Validation required. Weekdays 1st 2 hours $6, after 5 PM & Weekends first 4 hours FREE.   Tel. 213-239-6500