[Los Angeles] [American] Campanile

Campanile
624 S La Brea Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
(323) 938-1447
http://www.campanilerestaurant.com

We had a wonderful Valentine's Dinner at Campanile this year and have been wanting to go back again.  Dr. P is a wine lover and he was very interested in trying Campanile's "Friday Night Flights".  Every Friday, Campanile offers 2 sets of "Friday Night Flights" menu consisting of 3 appetizer-size entrees and 3 paired wines.  The price was $38, but recently it was reduced to $25.  3 dishes and 3 wines for $25?  Sounds like a good deal.  We made our reservation for Friday at 7pm.


Bread & Butter

The meal started with La Brea Bakery's olive bread.  We loved the olive bread and asked for a 2nd basket.  As I was looking around, I noticed not to many people ordered the "Friday Night Flights".  Hmmm.... I thought most people came here on that day for the special menu, but guess not.



2008 Cotes du Ventoux Rose "L'Instant," Domaine de Fondreche /
2008 Cotes du Provence Rose "Vieilles Vignes," Domaine St Andre de Figuiere /
2008 Costieres de Nimes Rose, Mas Carlot

We ordered both the "Blushing Beauties" (rose wine) and the "World Traveler" (red wine) menu and shared.  I loved all the rose wines, especially the Mas Carlot.


"Blushing Beauties" ($25.00)

The 3 dishes pairing with the rose wines were all raw seafood:  raw Hawaiian ono, raw Virginica oyster, and raw salmon.


Raw Hawaiian Ono
with fregola sarda salad

The Hawaiian Ono was my favorite dish of the three.  The ono sashimi was really fresh and just melt in your mouth.  The fregola sarda salad was citrusy and refreshing.


Raw Virginica Oyster
with kumquat mignonette

Raw Virginica Oyster was very "oystery".  It had such a strong oyster taste that pretty much overpowered the kumquat mignonette.  The oyster taste lingered in my mouth for such a long time and I couldn't even taste the next dish.


Raw Salmon
with cucumber salad & dill

As I mentioned earlier, I ate the Raw Salmon, and didn't even taste anything.  All I could taste was oyster.  If I didn't see the salmon, I would have no idea what I ate.  So I told Dr. P to try this dish before the oyster.  He said the salmon tasted very fresh.  It didn't have a strong salmon taste but it was very good.  Too bad I didn't get to experience that.


2007 Pinot Noir, Whitcraft Winery, Santa Barbara /
2006 Bourgogne Rouge, Meo-Camuzet, Vosne-Romanee /
2006 Pinot Noir "Blue Slate," Meyer-Nakel, Ahr

Dr. P liked all the red wines paired with the "World Traveler" menu.  I liked the reds too, but still liked the roses a bit more.


"World Traveler" ($25.00)

"World Traveler" menu had 3 meat dishes:  Veal Scaloppini, Grilled Lamb, and Flat Iron Steak.  We both thought the "World Traveler" had better value than the raw seafood.  It had so much more food comparing to the other set.


Veal Scaloppini
with arugula & saba

Veal Scaloppini was delicious.  The meat was tasty, and salad was really good, too.


Grilled Lamb
with currant mostarda

This was Dr. P's favorite dish.  I really liked the currant mostarda sauce.  The lamb was cooked perfectly and very tender.  But it had a strong lamb taste that reminded me of the little lamb in my school farm.  >_<  Before the lamb taste never bothered me and I actually liked it.  But ever since I started working with the farm animals, anything tastes or smells like farm animals just makes me feel so guilty.


Flat Iron Steak
with harissa

When I saw the Flat Iron Steak with harissa on the menu, I actually knew what "harissa" is!  Just a few weeks earlier, I made Harissa-Crusted Tri-Tip Roast for Dr. P!  I agree with Dr. P's comment, "Campanile's beef was cooked better, but your harissa sauce was better."  The Flat Iron Steak was cooked to a perfect medium.  Their version of harissa sauce was made with chili oil.  But I made my version with Sriracha.



I liked the rose wines, but not the food that came with it.  The meat dishes were much much better.  $25 was a great deal for the red wine/meat flight, but not so much for the rose wine/seafood flight.  Portion was small so we weren't really full when we left the restaurant.  It was still fun trying all the different wines and food though.  I think we would like to come back again to try the Friday Night Flight again.  And I wish Chef Mark Peel will be there next time.  He wasn't there this time, and we thought the food would be even better if he was.

So what did we do after the not-so-full dinner at Campanile?  Dinner #2 of course!

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