Restaurant Review: The Tasting Kitchen (1633 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice)

Yesterday evening I had planned to have dinner with a dear friend of mine - a celebratory friend date, actually, rejoicing in her new role as mommy and also reconnecting over a glass of wine and tasty treats sans the little one. Although we had originally planned to try Cjelina, the wait was 45 minutes (apparently Cjelina is not experiencing that little thing called a recession). Rather than waiting, we strolled down the street and, serendipitously, in fact, happened upon the Tasting Kitchen. When we came upon it my friend remarked that she had read something about in a blog or article recently and wanted to try it. We walked past the lovely bamboo covering the windows and into a homey little restaurant with lots of wood and cozy tables. Rather than walking straight into the dining room, there is a suspended wall separating the dining room from the door way, making a sort of hall/entry way, at the end of which is the host. When we were ushered around the wall and seated at the table, we noticed that contained in the suspended wall is a fireplace, adding to the comforting atmosphere.

Apparently the Tasting Kitchen (which replaced a defunct restaurant) is a temporary set-up while the restaurant undergoes some changes. I hope it doesn’t undergo too many changes because it is just delightful the way that it is. The menu is handwritten everyday, with spaces to be filled in for various food groups. I.e., "hen", "pork", "beans", etc. It's roughly set up into four sections with the first two supposedly being more like appetizers (as the server informed us), then entrees and then desserts. The division between the sections is really nothing more than a few extra spaces, so I'm still not sure what makes a "hamburger" more of an appetizer rather than an entrée, but I digress.

Unique takes on comfort foods with lots of seasonal ingredients is how I would describe the menu. The wines are listed at the end. Service was extraordinarily friendly and pleasant, and when I asked for a red that was really fruity I was told that although they didn't have one that evening that he would recommend, that he would be happy to open a bottle of an Italian wine that he thought would fit the bill. I also appreciated the fact that he volunteered that his suggestion was only $8/glass instead of leading me astray.

In any case, the La Crima was delicious, with lots of blueberry and notes of vanilla, setting off the evening and allowing us to settle in with the menu. We ended up sharing a really lovely dish of sautéed green beans, crushed toasted almonds, pancetta and a few chunks of creamy burrata thrown in - a nice use of burrata outside of the usual burrata caprese route. The other appetizer was also unique - endive, just barely coated in a browned butter sauce, with a little soft apricot compote and a tiny bit of sage. Fresh, not overwhelming, and delicious. I opted for the roasted hen with baby rutabagas and kale and my friend opted for the burger. I did not try the burger, but it looked great and I can attest to the quality of the fries - made better by the addictive aioli dipping sauce which was more sage than garlic and obviously using very very high quality olive oil. Again, a unique take on the usual garlic aioli. The chicken was perfectly cooked, juicy, and just what I was looking for. A shared apricot tart rounded out the meal with flaky pastry, ripe apricots and a little vanilla ice cream on top. Not cheap but not outrageous - the entire bill was 100 (before tip, with three glasses of wine).

I recommend trying it before they revamp the place (target date - the beginning of Fall).