The Stinking Rose, Beverly Hills
When my Facebook friend (and former South Dakota State Senator) Angie Buhl O’Donnell told me recommended a garlic themed restaurant in LA I knew we had to go. Believe it or not it’s been a culinary goal of mine to try garlic ice cream ever since I had encountered such a restaurant in Tallin, Estonia during my study abroad. My travel-mates were intrepid enough to explore Eastern Europe but apparently not enough to go to a garlic-only establishment for dinner and we wound up getting pizza instead.
First off, a word about the decor. Outside it looks like a TGIFriday’s with valet parking and inside it looks like a heavily themed Italian trattoria one might expect to find in Disneyland completed with tables sectioned off by black and white curtains and a 1950′s soundtrack. They also have garlic bulb hats to borrow or purchase, a fact that Mike is lucky I only discovered on the way out.
Now for the food. We started with the Bagna Calda which is spreadable garlic cloves in olive oil and butter served with the house made focaccia. While delicious, I was expecting a more complicated flavor and felt like it was something I could easily make at home. I was not in love with the bread although Mike liked it a lot.
THEN for the main course. I got the garlic noodles which are fresh made fettuccine (WITH GARLIC IN THE DOUGH) in a “parsley, paprika, butter sauce” to which I asked them to add chicken and mushrooms (the latter of which were not presented as an option but they happily complied without an up charge). OH MY GOD YOU GUYS IT WAS SO GOOD. I love a good plate of pasta, particularly fresh and with a lot of stuff in it and boy did this deliver. The pasta was cooked to the exact right firmness and flavored expertly (it doesn’t hurt that I love garlic.) It was the perfect plate of pasta. Mike had a steak with mashed potatoes that I found unremarkable.
Finally, of course I had to order the garlic ice cream even though I had eaten every scrap of my delicious pasta and was beyond full. Unfortunately I think they scooped the ice cream into martini glasses (with a caramel sauce they called a mole...OH what Aron Sanchez would do with that one) at the beginning of the evening and put them all back in the fridge so the texture was not ideal for ice cream. Even so the flavor was...eh? I guess there is a reason that it took me nearly a decade to find garlic ice cream again; it’s not that good. I mean it definitely tasted like garlic but I think I just flew too close to the sun in my hopes of tasting a combination of my two favorite foods.
Overall verdict: Honestly I would go back just for the delicious pasta and to see what other gems are on their menu. I’ll let you know how that goes.