Mezzanine at NoMad Hotel (Los Angeles, USA) ★★☆☆☆

When I first heard about NoMad, the swanky hotel group out of New York City, opening a new boutique hotel in downtown Los Angeles, the first thing I wanted to find out was whether co-owner and current best chef in the world (according to World's Best 50 restaurants) Daniel Humm would bring along his Eleven Madison Park to the west coast with him. If he decided to do so, it would really add some extra substance to our LA trip. Unfortunately, it never materialized and instead, he brought us a totally different concept in NoMad Mezzanine, a casual fine-dining restaurant which is both vibrant and bustling.



I knew NoMad LA would be swanky but I didn't expect it to be quirky at the same time.



Mezzanine is located, well on the mezzanine floor of the hotel. After taking the elevator up, we quickly identified ourselves at the reception and were soon led into the U-shaped dining area by the hostess.



We started things off with some flatbread-style bread with mushrooms and rosemary on top.



Dungeness crab ($26) - My friends have warned me about Daniel Humm's obsession with acidty before but they assured me that I would love it. But I did not.

This had the making of a solid dish. The pile of Dungeness crab meat was nice and sweet but the salad made with avocado, apple and vadouvan (along with the dressing) was way too acidic to a point where it kind of ruined the crab meat. Not a good start.



Hamachi ($27) - Jelloman had the hamachi marinated with citrus, daikon and agretti, and she was saying more or less the same thing. They could have toned down the seasoning a little bit so we could at least taste the natural flavors of the hamachi.

It really paled in comparison to a similar dish we had at 71Above this afternoon.



Pan-seared scallops ($38) - Finally, something to cheer about. The diver scallops were seared to lovely golden brown color with hen of the Woods. Good work from the amaranth and sorrel to put the finishing touch onto a very delightful dish.



After each of us had finished our starter, plates emptied and, fork and knife placed side by side, we were fully expecting the team here to clear things up (and there were plenty of them walking around us left and right) and get our main dishes ready. But for more than 20 minutes, no one came to our rescue. There were waiters and waitresses in suits standing around talking to each other but no one bothered to ask if we're finished. And of course, no sign of our main dishes coming either. So at the end, I had to grab a server who was walking by and told her we were done.

Suckling pig ($42) - My main dish finally did come after waiting for another 10 minutes. This was a nicely executed suckling pig which has been confit with kumquats. I thought it was fairly tasty but a little too heavy with the seasoning especially the bacon marmalade.



We didn't want to wait another half an hour for dessert so our night ended early when I promptly asked for the bill at the conclusion of our main dishes.

It was not a particularly happy dining experience. Where did it go wrong? Well, the pacing was slow, the music was loud (in general, the place was very noisy like a bar), some dishes were over-seasoned and service could have been more attentive (although they were very very friendly). So really a lot of things went wrong there.





Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$$
Address: 649 South Olive and 7th Street, CA 90014, USA
Tel: +1 213-358-0000
Website: www.thenomadhotel.com/los-angeles/dining/mezzanine