4/5 Jay K. 3 years ago on Google
As
our
days
continue
to
gradually
shorten
to
match
the
figurative
darkness
we
will
be
facing
together
in
the
winter
months
ahead,
are
we
not
entitled
to
some
escapist,
flighty
fun?
With
luck,
stress-eating
our
way
through
the
peak
of
the
pandemic
could
distract
us
from
ceaselessly
calling
B.S.
on
the
idea
that
our
global
leaders,
who
have
been
so
poor
at
managing
this
crisis
to
date,
are
going
to
heroically
sort
out
how
to
nimbly
distribute
a
possible
vaccine
to
billions
of
people.
If
a
descent
into
heroin
addiction
and
alcoholism
isn't
a
viable
option
for
you,
perhaps
a
few
trips
to
Otium
is.
That
is,
of
course,
if
Otium
actually
served
food
anymore.
It
does
not.
Otium
temporarily
closed
on
March
16th.
It
is
now
seven
months
later,
and
it
has
yet
to
reopen.
Who
knows
if
it
ever
will.
If
it
does,
I
hope
their
"Potato
Gnocchi"
is
still
on
their
menu.
One
of
my
favorite
cured
meats
to
eat
before
COVID-19
canceled
dining
was
guanciale,
an
Italian
bacon-like
product
made
from
hog
cheeks.
Wherever
guanciale
showed
up
on
a
pasta
dish,
I
wanted
double.
(Nowadays
I'm
happy
with
half
of
a
pouch
of
Oscar
Mayer
bacon
bits
on
my
linguine.)
In
Otium's
bowl
of
gnocchi,
the
guanciale
is
salty,
rich,
juicy,
and
just
a
little
funky
--
it
rhymes
with
the
black
truffles
and
grease-glistened
dumplings
sprinkled
with
sage
and
parmesan
cheese.
This
is
as
close
to
a
"crowd-pleaser"
as
I
believe
Otium
is
interested
in
serving.
The
best
part
of
their
"Black
Cod"
is
the
well-seasoned,
savory
skin
-
it's
crackly
and
crispy
in
an
unexpected
and
likely
chemically-influenced
way.
The
rest
of
the
dish
pops
too,
including
the
marvelous
"sea
beans,"
which
taste
more
like
terrestrial
braised
greens
than
seaweed.
The
"Albacore"
plate
features
melt-in-your-mouth
sashimi
in
a
creamy,
sour
"tom
kha"-inspired
broth.
I
wish
I
received
a
larger
portion
for
the
$26
I
paid
for
this
small
plate,
but
Otium
is
not
exempt
from
the
twisted
guiding
principle
of
sushinomics:
the
more
you
pay,
the
less
you
get.
The
"Grand
Pear
Macaron"
is
the
most
substantially
sized
dish
I've
had
at
Otium
-
but
I
offer
this
as
a
relative
assessment,
mindful
that
most
of
Otium's
plates
are
minuscule.
The
dessert
was
interesting
to
look
at
but
odd
to
eat,
and
I
wish
it
wasn't
so:
I
want
sweet
and
straightforward
things
at
the
end
of
my
meal.
Here,
the
macaron
is
crowned
with
cream
that
is
sweetened
only
by
sliced
pears.
To
me,
this
didn't
feel
like
dessert
as
much
as
a
pastry
chef
trying
to
force
keto
on
me.
The
drinks?
I've
ordered
the
Salt's
Cure,
Guelaguetz,
Chengdu
Taste,
and
Copa
D'Oro.
If
you
haven't
caught
on
yet:
they're
all
named
after
L.A.
restaurants
that
Jonathan
Gold
wrote
noteworthy
reviews
about.
The
Chengdu
Taste
Cocktail
promises
pungent
mouth-numbing
Sichuan
flavors.
It
tasted
like
booze
in
a
cup.
The
Salt's
Cure
Cocktail
supposedly
is
made
with
toasted
oats
and
charred
maple.
It
tasted
like
booze
in
a
cup.
The
Copa
d'Oro
and
Guelaguetz
were
visually
dazzling,
but...
well,
you
get
the
point.
Incidentally,
in
Gold's
review
of
Otium,
he
astutely
noted
that
"sometimes
[Otium's]
pop
culture
touches
fall
a
little
flat."
Nowhere
is
this
more
evident
than
in
the
cocktail
program
developed
to
memorialize
him.
Many
of
you
likely
have
a
strong
opinion
of
Otium
despite
never
having
dined
there,
and
that's
okay.
I
doubt
my
review
will
do
much
to
change
your
mind
one
way
or
another.
You
know
this
kind
of
place:
celebrity
chef
with
French
Laundry
pedigree,
a
gorgeous
downtown
location,
a
gazillion
dollars
pumped
into
creating
an
"honest"
and
"rustic"
hand-crafted
design,
and
a
mantra
of
"stripping
away
the
formalities
of
fine
dining"
despite
boasting
one
of
the
priciest
menus
in
town.
On
the
spectrum
of
people
who
think
about
their
food,
those
on
one
end
believe
that
a
great
meal
comes
from
the
willful
mind
and
hands
of
man,
and
many
on
the
other
end
imagine
that
a
cook
is
not
much
more
than
a
vessel
of
his
culture,
tradition,
and
community.
Otium
will
please
one
group
and
infuriate
the
other.
For
everyone
in
the
middle,
there
are
plenty
of
swanky
cocktails
and
a
giant
macaron.
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