Review The Gadarene Swine - Los Angeles

My wife and I had a fantastic dinner experience here. Everything about our meal was fantastic. Not only were we stuffed by the time that we were done, but every dish was unique and interesting. Make sure you set aside enough time. We didn't allocate enough time and had to rush our last couple of courses.

All vegan based fine cuisine worthy of Michelin Star status. Tasting menu had such an interesting combination of tastes and presentation styles, I would equate it to the likes of Manresa and Coi. But, due to the smaller venue and even smaller parking lot, very hard to make a romantic scene from this restaurant. Much potential. Try their sister restaurant Scratch Bar next to Cedar Sinai for an equally good but different taste.

Visit on Sunday, 08.10.15 dinner. (3rd visit) We are not strictly vegetarian, we knew what to expect. Food great, we had a 9 course tasting menu, very different from other vegen/veggie restaurants. Service very good, friendly and explaining very well. Do not forget to bring your credit card. 3 minors: small light in the front kitchen has a wrong position, wooden 'plates', water glasses.

Some of our dishes were quite interesting, while others were a little bland or unvaried. The tasting menu was served family-style rather than on personal plates, which I think really did not work, especially since serving utensils weren't provided. We asked for, and then received, individual plates, but serving ourselves was often challenging. The situation was worst with the dessert, which was a delicious pudding with chunks of fruit and cookie, served in a glass jar. They had taken our plates away, and it was just weird and honestly kid of gross to be sharing a jar of pudding with several other people. Having small dishes in the middle of the table also made it hard to see the food, which reduced enjoyment, especially since the plating was often thoughtful. The challenge of seeing the food was compounded by the very dim lighting of the restaurant. It really wasn't a tasting men experience--it was more like ordering and then sharing a bunch of dishes.

Chef Phillip Lee is a phenomenon!! I've eaten at pretty much every vegan venue in LA, and never came across anything as wonderful, creative and delicious as this. You have to try the tomato shooter. Seriously. Oh! There is this crazy cake with grapefruit smoked olive oil drizzled over cotton candy as the "icing". I know! Sounds bizarre, but just wait until you put it in your mouth. You will never be the same.

Great great flavors! High end vegan food! Stuffed fried olives amazing! Coconut pudding is divine! All good.

The basil diced strawberries over coconut pudding is heavenly in the summer. Brown sugar streusel provides just the sweet crunch to play with the palate as it cools in the mint granita.

Superb vegan food! Great flavor combos. They're always trying to innovate. Nice people too.

We did the $40 chef's choice meal. Our server interviewed us about our allergies and preferences, so the chef could design a meal we could all enjoy. Their desire for patrons to enjoy the meal extended so far that the chef came to our table to ask me how cooked the tomatoes needed to be for me to eat them. I assured him that whatever they did would be fine, but he was very concerned that I get food I would like. The service continued throughout the meal to be caring and attentive.<br/><br/>The food was outstanding--an exploration of the amazing things vegetables can do. There was not even a hint of the common pitfall of vegan and vegetarian cuisine to try to imitate meat recipes. There was no attempt to create familiar dishes, not even for dessert, which was fantastic.<br/><br/>I cannot recommend The Gardarene Swine enough.

Prior to revisiting any city, I conduct a thorough search of vegan options with the purpose of identifying new restaurants that may have opened since I had last visited. This certainly was not my first visit to LA, but it is the first time I noticed an unusually named restaurant come up on the list of vegan restaurants -- The Gadarene Swine.

This Vegan hot spot offers small plates and Tasting menus that range from $50 for 7-courses, 9-courses for $65 and 12-courses for $85. Wine tastings can be paired at an additional fee ranging from $30 to $65 per person. <br/><br/>If one person at the table wants to enjoy the Tasting Menu, yet others want to order a la carte, forget it. Everyone at the table must participate in the tasting menu. That's $80 for 7-courses with wine per person or $150 per person for 12-courses with wine pairings. It's adds up quickly. <br/><br/>My table of four opted to shared 9 dishes with a glass of wine and a beer for around $155 for four. Speaking of wine, I ordered a Rose', yet had to drink a Chardonnay. Why? They ran out of Rose' wine. Who runs out of Rose' wine? Our server Sam said this summer was the season of Rose' and their supplier said they should have ordered more. Whatever!<br/><br/>The chef is Phillip Frankland Lee from Scratch Bar on La Cienega. It closed recently and Lee is building out another eatery in the San Fernando Valley. He won't disclose the location yet. He had been <br/><br/>He also has planted seeds in a garden behind Gadarene Swine. By this Fall he hopes to use the vegetables and fruit in 40% of his dishes. He also is hoping to hold exclusive dinners out in the garden. That sounds fun!<br/><br/>His wife Margarita was onsite the night we dined. She took the orders from the servers and gave the slips to the bartender and chefs in the kitchen. She also whipped up dished with a hand mixer, scooped roasted garlic and fresh Thyme popcorn with a hint of sugar into bowls to have the servers deliver to guests and she washed dishes. Every dish that came out of the kitchen was inspected by Margarita before servers were allowed to take it out to guests. <br/><br/>My 5 favorite dishes were-<br/><br/>1. The peanut butter & jelly starter. What? I know, crazy right. We ordered it for our 10 year old, yet I loved the creaminess of the house made peanut butter with dollops of prune jam and adorned with arugula, shaved carrots and enoki mushrooms. When the dish arrived, I feared my daughter wouldn't like the veggies on top.....she loved them as much as I did.<br/><br/>2 Veggies in a Box was very creative, yet too small to share four ways. Chef Lee takes a wooden block and wraps julienne Yukon potatoes around it and fries it to create a box. Then places the box on a bed of charred eggplant purée, and fills it with gorgeous asparagus, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, and onions. <br/><br/>3. Dirty rice with nori, sautéed vegetables was the largest dish and enough to share with others. It's base is brown rice with zucchini, avocado mousse, mushrooms, sugar-split tomatoes, red peppers and shaved carrots. <br/><br/>4. We are loved the flavor profile of the popcorn in a small bowl.<br/><br/>5. Crunchy and thinly sliced sourdough bread with a sun-split sweet tomato dip that has chopped basil, chives and sea salt. It's as comforting as a bowl of tomato soup.<br/><br/>4 Dishes My Table Didn't Care for - <br/><br/>1. Fried olives served with a Roma apple and lime syrup and fried, then frozen, then fried and served hot. The flavors didn't balance right. They were just Ok.<br/><br/>2. Lemon & Pistachio Kale Chips were just ok. <br/><br/>3. Roasted mushrooms with burnt sweet potatoes were an interesting main, but a little too sweet. <br/><br/>4. Deconstructed pear pie with coconut milk pecan ice cream. Too sweet. <br/><br/>There is a bar with wine, beer and cocktails. Bring your own bottle and they charge you a $25 corkage fee.

Tweet The Gadarene Swine Sourdough with Crushed Tomato Oil Lemon and Pistachio Kale Chips

Luckily The Gadarene Swine hooks me up on all fronts. The name might suggest a pork-laden menu, but in fact it's quite the opposite, though Chef Phillip Lee doesn't want labels. When you call something vegan or vegetarian, not only does it alienates some, but it also gives people a preconceived notion that what you're about to eat is somehow "diet" food or lacking in, well flavor. Lee sets out to prove that you don't need meat and dairy to have a fully satisfying meal. The Gadarene Swine has a short, but sweet vegetable focused menu with a who's who in the produce section...