SAAM, chef's tasting room at Bazaar, Los Angeles

Alan and I have just returned from a week on the west coast. We split time between Los Angeles and San Diego and ate well in both places. One of our dinners was with a group of Alan's colleagues at SAAM, the chef's tasting room at Bazaar in the SLS Hotel, Beverly Hills.

We arrived early to the hotel to have drinks. If you haven't been to or experienced The Bazaar, its unlike anything I've ever seen before. With five different themed areas all bleeding into each other, it's a dizzying array of colors, sights and sounds. There's Bar Centro ~ literally a bar in the middle of the space ~ packed with decked out LA'ers in couture and tourists watching them. We sat at this long, raised bar table for a little over an hour having drinks and people watching.

Around us there was also two main dining rooms called Rojo Y Blanca decorated as you can imagine in red and whites serving ala carte and tapas.

There's a dessert room with an open kitchen called Patisserie which we were told is where you are "taken" after you finish dining to enjoy evening sweets. Then there's this odd store without walls tucked up in the front of the space called Regalo. And finally, there's SAAM; the private chef's tasting room in the back of the restaurant secluded away from the bustle of the other scenes. SAAM is where we ate dinner.

We had an 8pm reservation and eight people seated against the wall in a lovely, comfortable table with cushy seats and understated decor. The tasting menu consists of 22 small bites showcasing fresh ingredients and the chef's work with molecular gastronomy.

So here we go!
Course #1:  Kaviar Kir Royale; a champagne cocktail with "caviar" eggs made out of liqueur at the bottom of the glass. It didn't have nearly as much flavor as I was expecting.
Course #2:  Beet & Yogurt; a roll of soft beets and creamy yogurt encased in a flaky, simple pastry. Much lighter than expected but not a flavor combination I enjoyed.

Course #3:  Oyster & Jamon and Course #4:  Parmesan Macaron; served together, the oyster was a fresh little bite that went well with the salty ham. The Parmesan dish had herbs in it and both of these dishes complimented the sparkling wine (2008 Schramsberg Blanc de Blanc) we were having with the beginning of the meal.

Course #5:  Seabeans in Tempura; a fabulous preparation of a simple vegetable, the tempura was warm, crunchy and light with a natural saltiness. Seabean is actually Glasswort, a plant growing in Europe in salty marshes and sea coasts.

Course #6:  Jose's Combination; yep, that's prosciutto with caviar and it tasted as good as it looks.

Course #7:  Patatas Bravas (fried potatoes with allioli and chili sauce). I don't think I liked this course very much...it was a little spicy but otherwise pretty bland.

Course #8:  Chicken Skin & Cigala (langostine): this dish was AWESOME. But I mean, come on! It's fried chicken skin (think pork rind only with chicken) with a langostine over it and then a green cucumber foam. What's not to love?

Course #9:  Not Your Everyday Caprese: another knockout course. These mozzarella balls were extremely delicate and you needed to pop the entire thing in your mouth so it didn't break. Then when you did, with some of the tomato and fresh basil puree it was like an explosion of Caprese in a liquid happy bomb. Really amazing.

Course #10: Crispy Nigiri: no picture and can't remember anything about it.

Course #11: Uni & Eel: done like a risotto of eel with Uni on top this was crazy rich and decadent. It made me very happy though a bit heavy on the palate considering we were only halfway through. But loved this course.

Course #12: Chipirones (Northern Spanish style of cooking squid in it's own ink): I'm a pretty big fan of squid thanks mostly to Marea in NYC. This was a nice little course - the squid was pleasantly chewy, especially the body portion which so often is too tough. Nice one overall.

Course #13: Banh Mi (Vietnamese baguette sandwich): Not for me...I didn't like this sandwich at all. It was bland and filling and I didn't finish it. Could have skipped this course altogether.

Course #14: Carrots: Blue Hill at Stone Barns has taught me to never take a carrot for granted. Thank goodness I didn't dismiss this course before giving it a try (since I don't like raw carrots, was a possibility). Really superb. The sweet carrots and bitter edible flowers were simple and complimentary to each other.

Course #15: Mirugai (geoduck or large saltwater clam): I really thought this was some sort of white fish since the taste was rather mild and the texture delicate. To find out it was actually some creepy looking giant clam thing makes me even more impressed with this dish. Excellent taste.

Course #16: Wagyu & Mushroom Escabeche: Yummy! Is that enough of a review? And the broth was made of bone marrow so double yummy!!

Course #17: Mushroom & Duck Liver

Additional Course #17A: Wild Mushrooms & Black Truffles: this course was probably the hit of the evening for the rest of the table and I really, really, really wanted to eat it and love it. But I had hit the food wall to quote Adam Richman of Man vs. Food. I literally couldn't eat it - it was so rich and I was on the brink of total stomach shut down.

Course #18: Japanese Baby Peaches: no picture and I skipped this one too still reeling from food overload.

Course #19: Dragon's Breath Popcorn: no picture but honestly there wouldn't have been a way to capture the coolness of this course. We each popped a frozen piece of "popcorn" in our mouths and were told to breath out of our noses. The reaction was a stream of "smoke" looking like a fire breathing dragon exhaling. So very cool. The taste itself was not the highlight of this course. Watching each person in turn breath fire was frigging awesome.

Course #20: Frozen Apricot Timbale with Amaretto

Course #21: Desert Dessert
Course #22: Sexy Little Sweets

Summary: I really enjoyed this entire experience. Most of that had to do with the fun group of people and lively conversation. Most of the dishes were interesting enough or downright fabulous to overshadow the few misses they served. The service was attentive and fun and our head server dealt with this rambunctious crowd very well. I loved the intimate feeling of this private room and felt comfortable and not rushed. While I personally had a hard time handling this many courses (unusual for me, but it can happen), I do like it when high end restaurants do lots of little bites or plates. It's worth the trip and probably one of the better truly "foodie" experience to be had in Los Angeles. Final note - at $120 per person fixed cost this comes in as a moderate priced dinner (not nearly as scary as some of the NYC chef's tastings) with a pretty good wine list.

Zagat's Rating: 27-26-25
Jenn's Rating: 92