tranquility base: fare that’s anything but tame
Soft, soothing, and peaceful: These are several of the relaxed qualities that Downtowners can expect from Dave Tardif’s new South Park venue, Tranquility Base Restaurant & Lounge.
That is, until you get to the food.
The new staff and back-of-house team received a thorough workout as Head Chef Robert Van Houten got his chance to bring the restaurant’s flavor-packed small plates menu to life for the friends & family preview last night.
Big-band and jazz music set the tone while well-wishers took in the sights of the slowly shifting lighting scheme and nature-inspired cinematics.
Staff began the inaugural run with wine, offering a carefully chosen Hogue Cellars’ Genesis line to prime the diners’ palates. El Jimador tequila, Beefeater gin, Finlandia vodka and Bacardi Rum are on hand with a lineup of the restaurant’s signature homemade mixers to craft some seriously tasty cocktails.
Small-plate food is the name of the game here, and there’s more than enough variety to please even the most finicky of eaters. Orders were placed, and once the aroma of mini beef burgers and seared divers scallops started to reach the tables, the plate surge seemed to know no end.
For Starters
We kicked off our meal with the sweet soy-marinated beef satay, which comes drizzled with a house-made Thai peanut sauce that was sweet and simple.
Though in most restaurants, satay has a tendency to be tough and chewy — a menu afterthought, at best — this experience was a pleasure in every tender, juicy morsel.
It may be a little far-fetched to state that I judge a restaurant by its calamari, but I do give a disproportionate importance to the cooked quality of the cephalopod.
Luckily, the crispy calamari menu item is true to its name. Neither rubbery nor tough, the dish comes with the perfect amount of give and crunch, served neatly in a paper-lined basket with a lemon wedge.
Accompanying the calamari is a jalapeño-ginger-lime dip that uses Hoisin sauce as its key ingredient. The side dip has only the slightest hint of its namesake ingredients, and it simply overpowers the crispy calamari. The flavors are there, but the ratio could use some fine tuning.
Cheeses Please Us
Tranquility Base’s cheese platter comes with a spicy mustard-Asian pear marmalade and a side of season-appropriate fruits and nuts. Patrons get a choice of a small plate (two cheese options) or a large plate (four cheese options).
We opted for the larger, and our server returned with a hefty sampling of Humboldt Fog California Goat Cheese, Saint-André French Soft Ripened, Doux de Montagne French Semi-Soft and the Manchego Spanish Semi-Hard Sheep’s Milk Cheese.
By far my favorite was Humboldt Fog, though it lacked the expected tanginess of typical goat cheese. The Doux de Montagne didn’t offer much, and I would readily substitute the St. Auger Bleu next time.
Talk of the Town
The chatter of the evening was the lobster bisque, delicate chunks of lobster (brought in daily from the morning catch) bathed in a creamy tomato base. The bowl was garnished with a sprinkling of paprika and cumin, rounding out a deliciously spicy, but compelling soup that I would highly recommend to friends and readers alike.
Set to Launch
Tardif and his team of family members doubling as investors, handymen, managers and partners, have spent countless hours making sure everything is spotless for the restaurant’s big debut on February 14.
Tranquility Base is aiming to be a neighborhood hangout, a casual place where locals can unwind with friends while grabbing a drink on the patio or sampling a mini dish.
Since the small-plates design requires ordering multiple dishes, the price of the dinner menu may ensure Downtowners will visit only in small doses. Pricing is sure to change as the restaurant finds its place in the neighborhood, however.
Even still, there’s no better Valentine’s Day gift for Downtown.
Tranquility Base Restaurant & Lounge
801 S. Grand Avenue (Ground floor of the Sky Lofts)
Los Angeles, California 90017
Hours: 11:30 am to 2:00 am, Mon-Fri; 1:00 pm to 2:00 am Sat & Sun
Opening February 14, 2008
tranquilityla.com
Food Menus:
-Tranquility Base Lunch Menu
-Tranquility Base Dinner Menu
-Tranquility Base Late Night Menu
-Complete Tranquility Base Photo Set
-first look: tranquility base restaurant & lounge
-second look: tranquility base restaurant & lounge
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10 comments
The menu looks great, especially that lobster bisque. cant wait.
Any place with truly crispy and tender calamari is sure to be a winner.
The whole concept sounds wonderful, it will be a treat when we come into the city!
What, there’s no normal food? The menu looks utterly ridiculous with absurd sauces and little in the way of normal sized servings of any substantially good food. I couldn’t find a thing on the menu I’d order regardless of the price. The atmosphere looks like an old cheap coffee shop trying to be a low-end nightclub. It has a cold and very unattractive look and the fabric shreds all over the ceiling are absurd. I say gut the whole thing and get a new menu. This turkey ain’t gonna make it…
Save me a seat when I get back from Europe, it sounds great! Good Luck!
My full review from dinner last night… Great food, great atmosphere, great service, great people… but unfortunately, too expensive for me.
First, the physical space and the atmosphere. It works surprisingly well. I’m a natural skeptic, and as someone said else where, the whole idea seemed a bit “overproduced” on paper, but in reality it’s very welcoming and you really do feel right at home when you’re there. It’s a stark contrast to what Mode was. Mode just felt like it was trying so hard whereas Tranquility Base, despite the name, feels natural. Honestly, it almost has as welcoming and “homey” a feel as Colori Kitchen, which is probably the most comfortable restaurant I’ve ever been in. Unlike so many other places, the video screens don’t obstruct or distract, but add to the ambiance. The changing lighting is also surprisingly cool and not annoying.
The service and people are what really make this place. Dave and his sister were so welcoming, remembering our names from our short meeting a few weeks earlier and asking about our comments on this very blog. The rest of the staff was great as well… attentive and informative. The people are the most important element of a restaurant to me, and Tranquility Base nailed it.
The food is delicious. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of tapas style small plates, but it was fun and the flavors were truly memorable. We ordered the Beef Satay ($12), Fries ($5), Crispy Calamari ($9), Shrimp Tempura ($11), and ended up ordering a Chicken Satay ($11) a little later because the food was so good (and we were still hungry). The Beef Satay was the best, the calamari was great, and the rest was above par as well. We also ended up sharing a desert, the cream brule , which was delicious as well.
And here comes my main issue, and what’s going to keep this place from becoming a spot I come to regularly. The bill for 3 people, with tip, came out to $100. Granted we ordered 3 beers and had a dessert, but also, we were no where near full. I know the goal of dining isn’t to get stuffed, but I was definitely hungry 30 minutes later. That’s the issue I have with tapas style dining, ordering a bunch of mini-appetizers for entree prices, no matter how delicious, is just not sustainable for me. I can’t become a regular at this place if it’s going to set me back $25 - $35 each time I eat there… I mean I literally can’t afford it! So it turns out to be a great date spot, and maybe a cool place to come order a few drinks and maybe a plate or two, but as a weekly place for a sit down dinner… it’s just not worth it to me, despite the great food, service, and atmosphere.
I compare everything in Downtown (and elsewhere) to Colori Kitchen, since it’s my favorite place. I go to Colori at least once a week, sometimes 2 or 3 times a week. The average cost per person at Colori is $10-$16. It can be higher if you order a special, but when you do that you’re truly getting a special, and it’s likely you’ll be taking home leftovers. And you’ll be completely stuffed. So typically, I can go to Colori two or three times a week for what one meal at Tranquilty Base would cost me. Simple math tells me I won’t be visiting Tranquility Base weekly, and certainly not multiple times in a week … something I think the proprietors desire.
So my one and only suggestion is for Tranquility Base to find a way to add a little more value to my dollar when it comes to the food. The flavors are great, the service is great, the atmopshere is great, but in the end I’m paying to eat, and if I can do it for cheaper elsewhere (where the other elements are just as good), I’m probably going to.
Wow, Fred! You pretty much nailed it. I would love nothing more than to be able to eat here once or more a week, but such is the life of a writer, eh?
To PVJim…sounds like you are just looking at the pictures. Your words are pretty harsh for not having seen it in person. Check it out…you may be pleasantly surprised.
I checked this place out on Saturday night and it has so much potential. Everything was great - food, atmosphere, but the service was WAY OVER THE TOP. I felt like the staff was going to even chew my food for me. What could have been a very intimate evening with friends turned into a constant hounding from the staff. My advice, tone it down a bit, let your restaurant sell itself a bit!!
went to Tranquility last night to watch the Laker game and one of the waiters mentioned that they’re going to start having dancing beginning the evening of June 19th…Live DJ sounds fab!!! can’t wait!!
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