The Bazaar by Jose Andres

"Sip liquor slowly" were the words imprinted on the cocktail napkins at the SLS Hotel in Los Angeles. Despite the hustle and bustle of a trendy hotel bar/restaurant, everything about The Bazaar is a leisurely stroll through culinary heaven. Jose Andres has skillfully created an entire menu of tapas (small plates), from your modern olives with a liquid center, right down to your cotton candy covered foie gras, and jicama wrapped guacamole. Andres, one of today's most inspired chefs, uses molecular gastronomy to entice and excite his eaters. Andres' swag can partially be accredited to his foundational education under Ferran Adria in Spain.

Cotton Candy Foie Gras

First off, I want to give a huge thank you to the Rasulo Family for letting me come to celebrate a birthday. I had a fantastic time and I'll probably never forget this meal. I'm sure Amir will never forget his Magic Mojito, either... or at least all the teasing that came along with it.

Everything was a small plate, and they brought out each item one by one, allowing us to enjoy the flavor of everything separately. We started with the sweet potato chips served with greek yogurt and tamarind dip. Gone in sixty seconds flat. I have no idea how they got the yogurt so fluffy, I doubt it was just by whipping it. Needless to say, we ordered another one as soon as our waiter, Josue (because there can't be more than one Jose at the Bazaar!) came back with our second item.

Sweet Potato Chips and Greek Yogurt Dip with a Tamarind Swirl

My favorites were the jicama wrapped guacamole, the tuna ceviche wrapped in avocado, and the cauliflower couscous- which we think was actually shaved cauliflower made to look like couscous, not actual couscous.

Jicama Wrapped Guacamole

Tuna Ceviche with a Coconut Lime Sauce (I think).

Cauliflower Couscous with pomegranate,
pine nuts, and raisins.

The most exciting to eat was the dismantled Caprese salad. Apparently, Jose Andres has a think with tomato hearts, I don't think he'll ever serve a tomato slice. This was a tomato heart ball and a mozzarella ball that had a liquid center (exploding cheese!), sitting on top of pesto, sprinkled with crackers and drops of a balsamic vinegar reduction. We put a piece of each thing on a spoon, clinked spoons, and popped it all into our mouths. Cheers!

Caprese

We did order meats and boneless chicken wings, but I didn't eat them since I only eat fish so no pictures of those. The shrimp we had was great, perhaps bordering the overcooked side but the oil it was sauteed in... wow. We wanted to ask for "air bread"- the only bread we saw on the menu- to dip in this, but we never did. We did drink little spoonfuls of it though :)

Shrimp sauteed in garlic oil.

The other three things I got pictures of were tempura asparagus with a romesco sauce and a baby beet and goat cheese salad with pistachio crumbs. Oh yeah, and a "California Cone" which was guacamole inside of a crunchy corn shell topped with a tomato heart.

Tempura Asparagus with Romesco Sauce.

Baby Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Pistachio

California Cone

To top it all off, we got three desserts. After all, it was a birthday dinner. So we got a molten chocolate cake flavored with coffee, served with whipped cream or ice cream I can't tell; a flan that was delicious and I don't usually like flan; and a coconut floating island. Molecular gastronomy at its finest. Josue told us that they use liquid nitrogen to puff up the coconut stuff, it was kind of like a soft, liquidy meringue. Whatever I was eating, it was great and the passion fruit sauce around it was soo flavorful- yum!

Molten Chocolate Cake

Flan

Coconut Floating Island with Passion Fruit Sauce
and Caramelized Bananas

On the SLS website there is a tab labeled "Experience The Bazaar" which is so fitting. That's exactly what this was- an experience. Now, how do I get a recipe for that yogurt dip??