[Los Angeles] [Seafood] The Water Grill

The Water Grill
544 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 891-0900
http://www.watergrill.com

The Water Grill is on a pretty high position at my "to-try" restaurant list.  I took advantage of dinLA and took my parents there for lunch. 



We had an early reservation at 11:45am.  The very nice host apologized for the slightly colder temperature since they just opened.  We sat down with our menu, then waited... waited... and waited... for the waitress to come and take our order.  The restaurant was quite empty at the time.  But service was really really slow.  Later when the restaurant started getting busy, service actually became faster.  Another interesting thing I noticed, most of the patrons were Asians.  I noticed the same thing last year at all the dineLA restaurants.  I guess us Asians know a good bargain when we see it.




3 course dineLA lunch menu was $28.  They serve exactly the same menu at dinner for $44.  So I guess it's wiser to come to lunch.  3 of us ordered everything on the menu.


Bread

Three kinds of bread in the basket: baguette, olive roll, and ciabatta.  We all liked the ciabatta bread the most.  As I mentioned before, service was really slow at first.  So we sat and finished the whole basket of bread.  No refill was offered.


White Chowder with Manila Clams
Weiser Farm potatoes, Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon

The white chowder with Manila clams was DELICIOUS!  The soup was thinner than your regular clam chowder.  It was so flavorful and full of fresh veggies.  3 big Manila clams, but my mom got sand in her clam.  This soup was listed as $13 on their regular lunch menu.


In House Cured Alaskan Salmon
Aple-brown mustard seed salad, crispy Weiser Farm potatoes with sunchoke and dill

In House Cured Alaskan Salmon was my dad's favorite appetizer.  The chopped salmon was seasoned perfectly.  The little quail egg was a nice touch.  Mom said that the food presentation was beautiful.  It almost seemed like an art piece that was too pretty to eat.


Cucumber Rolled Spicy Big Eye Tuna
Heart of palm puree, ruby grapefruit and Tobiko wasabi

I like the cucumber rolled spicy big eye tuna the most.  Chopped spicy tuna was wrapped inside a thin slice of crispy cucumber.  The tuna was a lot spicier than I expected, but it was so good.  This dish was listed as $17 on the regular lunch menu.


Grilled Columbia River White Sturgeon
Coriander spiced Garnet yam, rapini, baby roasted beets, pearled fregola and oregano

Dad and I both thought the grilled Columbia river shite sturgeon was the best main dish.  The sturgeon was very meaty and buttery.  It had the texture of cod.  So soft that I almost felt like I didn't need to chew.  I love the roasted golden beets that came with this dish.  $36 on regular menu.


California "Pacific Ridgeback" Swordfish
Polenta batons, red pepper tomato ragout, roasted garlic Swiss chard and Tuscan salsa verde

Swordfish wasn't our favorite type of fish.  It tends to be dry if not cooked right.  Water Grill's swordfish was probably the most tender swordfish I've ever had.  Yet it was still a little dry comparing to sturgeon and salmon.  We didn't like the swordfish as much, but it wasn't because they didn't do a good job cooking.  It was simply our preference of fish.  The best thing on this plate was the polenta batons with the salsa.  The texture was "firm tofu" like, but it was even better than tofu.  There were 3 pieces on the plate.  I wished they would replace the swordfish with... let's say... 20 more pieces?


Orkney Island Scottish King Salmon
Sauce soubise, trumpet royale mushrooms, red wine reduction and black garlic puree

Orkney Island Scottich king salmon was recommended by the chef to serve medium rare.  Since mom doesn't eat raw fish, we requested to have it fully cooked.  Even though it was fully cooked, the fish was super moist and soft.  The crispy salmon skin was equally delicious.  There were cubes of "tofu" (most likely it was polenta cubes) on the plate.  Just like the "tofu" on the swordfish plate, DELICIOUS!  Love the trumpet royale mushroom, too.  Dish was listed as $38 on regular menu.


Blueberry Mascarpone Cake
Lemon, candied corn, creme fraiche ice cream and blueberry sorbet

Time for dessert!  When we first saw the blueberry mascarpone cake, we thought it looked a lot like Chinese Wheel Cake.  It didn't taste like the "Wheel Cake", but the "structure" was exactly the same.  Instead of the red bean for Wheel Cake, there was blueberry jam in the middle of the cake.  The cake was crumby, and yummy. 


Red Velvet Pudding
Cocoa nib streusel, raspberry and mascarpone ice cream

The red velvet pudding was exactly pudding.  It was just soft and chewy chocolate cake.  I don't know.  None of us really liked this one for some reason.


Sorbet Assortment

Sorbet assortment came with strawberry, mango, and pineapple sorbet.  Everything was great, but everything was "bite" size.  I mean, seriously, I can finish each sorbet in one bite.


Mignardise

Tiny winnie mini complimentary mignardise came with the check.  Each piece was about the size of my fingernail.  None of the free dessert tasted good though.  



The food at water grill was exceptional, especially the main dishes.  They really know how to cook fish well.  Even though service could be faster, the waitstaff was polite and friendly.  One thing we didn't like about was the portion.  After the meal, none of us were full.  Wanna hear my mom's comment about portion?

Mom:  The portion is so small here.  I feel like I am eating.... boogers.
Me:  Mom!  It's not that small.
Mom:  Fine.  I feel like I'm eating.... rat's poo.
Me:  Ewwwww....
Mom:  Fine fine fine.  I feel like I'm eating.... ladybugs.  Better?

So my parents thought the food was good.  But in our budget concious Asian mind, my parents said, "you can go to a Chinese seafood restaurant, spend the same amount of money and get a banquet table.  You can get lobster, crab, fish, meat and veggie and feed 10 people with the same price."  Well, I guess that's true.  But I just want my parents to experience a different kind of dining experience. 

We had a really good time chatting over lunch.  My parents thanks me for taking them out to this fancy restaurant that serves "ladybugs" portion.  But they want me to save my money next time.

P.S. 2 hour valet with Water Grill validation is $6.  Without validation, it's like $10 for every 10 minutes (something like that... can't remember exactly...) and $30 maximum for the whole day.  Crazy!

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