french comfort food at petrossian

after an epic meal of fat belly proportions, one must take a certain amount of time to digest all that was heifed down. once digested, the words and the pics of this belly adventure can then be regurgitated for your reading displeasure. ahh, so is the vicious cycle of eating and ruminating about food.

first off, thanks to kung food panda for the invite to an all out heif-fest at petrossian. danny (or mr. panda if you're nasty), convinced chef ben bailly to create an extensive tasting menu of french comfort food for a group of food bloggers to enjoy. was it comforting? oh yes, it was. it was as comforting as getting smushed into grandma's boobies after a lousy day at school. oh how i love grandmas....*cue in warm fuzzy feelings....*

we first started off with buttermilk fried frog legs. if i knew kermit's legs tasted this good, he would have been amputated a long time ago. crispy and froggy...what isn't there to love about this snack? (excuse my jaundice-like photos. i was gifted a new camera and um...don't know how to use it. me sucka? yes.).

a verrine of crazy beautiful smears came out next: salmon rillettes, chicken liver parfait, eggplant caviar, and brandade de morue.

holy crap! forget about everything else. once the chicken liver parfait graced my tongue, like an arrow locked to the center of a bull's eye, all i could nom was "chicken liver parfait." oh man, what a lusciouly smooth, creamy spread for the corner of my bread. and the slightly bitter twang from the red wine gelee provided the absolute perfect contrast to the creamy liver that i mounded on my slice of carbs. i was head over heels in love with this one. if you can have a harmless crush on food, then i certainly found what made my heart go pitter patter and thumpity thump.

of course, one must wash down the decadence with a caviar-tini. the small cube you see was a compressed block of caviar. that olive...also stuffed with caviar. to top that off, there was enough alcohol in that drink to give your dining companions a nice buzz after sniffing your caviar-tini burp. no really. you know i don't jest.

my belly got no rest as the truffle pomme croquettes were rolled out. just as quickly, i rolled them into my mouth and bit into the crispy spheres of fried batter. the lovely truffle aroma rose quickly to my nose when the soft creamy insides exploded in my mouth. YUM.

next up were the petite cups of chilled potato and leek soup. creamy. heavy. man, my belly won't be getting a break from the decadence now will it? when i felt the soup coat my insides, i also felt the first button that held my jeans together go *pop.*

the warm lentil salad with crispy egg was not jenny craig approved either. just.look.at.it. dang! if you think you spotted bacon...you did. jenny craig spotted the bacon too and wept a little.

the poutine which had peppercorn gravy, grafton cheddar, and sharp cheddar cheese with a sunny-side up egg ON FRIES was probably the weakest dish of the night. two words: salty lah.

our palates were cleansed with the calvados granite which in pedestrian terms was a heavily spiked applesauce amongst other things. if i had four thumbs, all four of them would be up. the wine-ho in me approves.

a duo of gratin de coquillette came out, one with ham and wild mushrooms and the other with dungeness crab and sweet corn. think of decadent mac & cheese in a giant's bowl. right about this time, i was ready to roll over and take a nap. truly, too much of a creamy thing will kill you. delicious? yes. over the top? yes, yes.

thinking that i couldn't stuff another thing in my mouth, the desserts came out. goddamn! the caramel pot de creme was delicious as are all things that are pots full of cream. flanked on the sides were the vanilla creme brulees.

and to stretch our bellies a little more, chef bailly also made PISTACHIO creme brulee. omg, i wished i had enough belly real estate to eat a whole one on my own. alas, a spoonful was enough to take me over the top.

the night ended with a lot of smiles, belly rubs, and discreet burps. thank you danny for your invite and oh how grand it was to see gastronomyblog, hong of ravenous couple, gourmet pigs, catty critic, the food ledger, two hungry pandas, and will from fooddigger amongst other lovely guests...all who made this gorge-fest a truly comforting night.

Petrossian
321 N. Robertson Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048
(310) 271-0576

www.petrossian.com

verdict: omg, i love it!