Otium- LA

Otium is a modern restaurant located in downtown LA, 222 S Hope, Los Angeles, CA 90012, right near The Broad Museum. It serves modern American cuisine, and its chef, Chef Timothy Hollingsworth, is known to have branched off from the famous French Laundry, headed by Thomas Keller. Therefore, his cuisine and his style of cooking is said to be similar to that of Keller’s and French Laundry’s, and the time he spent there had a clear influence on his food.

Otium is famous for its cocktails; specifically, they are known for the flavored ice cubes in their drinks. Although I am sadly too young to try their cocktails, the adult part of our group seemed to favor the saffron lemonade, with tequila, grapefruit, chamomile, and chili.

A picture and link to the menu is below, for your viewing reference.

Menu

As we often do, we decided to order family style and put both appetizers and entrées in the middle. One of our appetizers was the crispy potatoes, served with creme fraiche, pepper, and lemon salt. This was one of the favorites of the table, as they were perfectly cooked and the accompanying creme fraiche went along perfectly. So much so, in fact, that we ordered a second not soon after!

We also ordered the ceviche and the albacore; both seafood dishes seemed to complement each other. I found that the avocado in the ceviche was the major difference between the dishes. The albacore was more Asian in taste with the Thai vinaigrette, whereas the ceviche was traditionally Spanish and Mexican in nature.

Above, the albacore, below, the ceviche.

The hoe cake was specially recommended by our waiter, who also recommended dishes like the khachapouri and porkbelly french toast. A twist on the standard Southern chicken and waffles, the hoe cake added kale to what is traditionally supposed to be a meaty dish. But the chicken pieces on the side of the dish were few, not overwhelming at all, and certainly not in the quantities of standard chicken and waffles. Instead, the kale and pepper on top covered the top of the hoe cake, where usually that space would be filled with maple syrup and fried chicken.

Khachapuri, or Khachapouri, is a traditional Georgian/Albanian pizza. Usually, it features cheese on bread, topped with a sunny side up egg. Otium added prosciutto and truffle to the mix, a European influence.

An off-the-menu item that our waiter recommended was the porkbelly french toast, which was literally the best thing ever. Hot from the kitchen, we individually prepared our porkbelly on toast, dipped in a delicious jam sauce. Everything was perfectly cooked, and somehow, I think, the kitchen managed to blend these strange flavors together into one truly delicious dish! I’m envious of my past self. Honestly, she is so lucky.

We also ordered the chicken, served with potatoes and aji verde sauce. The shishito peppers were a nice addition, despite the fact that they were not spicy. The onion also went well, slightly sweet, and delicious dipped in the sauce served with the chicken.

Our last savory dish was the mole, served with eggs and blue corn tortillas. Of course, the mole was the best part. For those of you who don’t know, mole is a Mexican sauce, and the addition of mole to the sunny side up eggs was delicious, especially with the yoke running through the cheese and tortillas. The cotija cheese also went well, its salty taste adding to the runniness of the eggs and the dryness of the tortillas.

Now for desert! As you may guess, we ordered one of each dessert. The ice cream sundae was surprisingly good, ordered for a fellow kid at the table. The lemon ice cream complemented the blueberries nicely.

6 spoons. 1 bite. A food war, as you can well imagine.

The calamansi sabayon, under the name “Dutch Baby”, funnily, was the best dessert served to us during this meal. The mixed berries and the sweet flavor of the dessert was heaven in a bite.

In addition to the Dutch Baby, our last dessert was the mille feuille, served with hazelnut. It was a little difficult to eat, just like the sabayon, but in both, the taste certainly made that up. 😉

(vanilla balls in middle of mille feuille= oh no how do I eat this without looking like a barbarian)

(I guess I’ll just look like a barbarian)

This delicious, while pricy meal was a beautiful mix of flavors that left me feeling fat but satisfied.

I would highly recommend this restaurant to any downtown LA goers looking for a fancy meal.

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Cheers! See you at the next meal!

Anya