Nearly 9 months of living in California and I’m still missing the food from NYC.  California has the weather but there’s no place on earth with better bagels and pizza than New York (my suitcase full of bagels from last week’s trip will vouch for that).  However, I think I might have found one place in Los Angeles (so far) that makes me not miss the culinary world of New York quite so much – ink.

ink. is the first signature restaurant of Michael Voltaggio, winner of Season 6 of Bravo’s Top Chef (above in the restaurant’s open kitchen – not my photo but he was in kitchen the night we dined).  I’ll be honest, I didn’t watch Season 6 of Top Chef so I didn’t know who Voltaggio was but after obsessively reading restaurant reviews for a place to bring Jay for his birthday, I knew ink. was the place.

We weren’t disappointed  – well, we were in a small way that had nothing to do with the food – in Los Angeles you can’t walk from restaurant to restaurant when you’re early for your reservation (because you can’t gauge traffic patterns) and you can’t drink a bottle or two of wine and hop on the subway or into a cab to go home.  I guess it’s the part of the price you have to pay for gorgeous weather 90% of the time.

There’s definitely a cool, modern vibe at ink and to me, it felt very New York and that was perfectly fine with me.  Meals listed on the menu went from light to heavy.  Portions are generous and made to share which couldn’t have made me happier.  Tapas/small plates meals are my favorite way to spend an evening in a restaurant (or two or three).

ink restaurant, Michael VoltaggioYou definitely have the chance to be daring at ink. but I was pretty middle of the road with my choices of hamachi with asparagus, buttermilk curds and tangerine (light, refreshing and delicious) and cottage toast with fava beans, quail eggs and fava leaf (see left).

My only complaint was that my red wine was served cold.  I’m not a ridiculous wine snob but in my opinion red wine is always room temperature.  I’ll admit that I don’t love my white wine so cold either.

Lamb's Neck, Michael Voltaggio's ink.

Next was a black cod dish (comparable to Nobu and it was very tasty) and Jay had the Lamb’s Neck with fried egg, yogurt curd, potato and wild herbs all by himself.  He said it was delicious but I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole.

I do love food but I’m limited in what I like.  I’m not a vegetarian (I like fish, chicken and dairy) but I am certain that my dislike of any sort of red meat is somewhat annoying (and mystifying) to my husband (and foodie friends).

While I found all of the food that I tasted delicious, the most interesting part of the meal for me was dessert.  The sweet gem of dessert called Hibiscus was unbelievably unique in taste and texture.  The components of nasturium, elderflower and chocolate mint moss might make some run for the hills but I love flower based foods so I was “all-in”.

Michael Voltaggio's HibiscusThe dish had elements of shaved ice and ice cream that made the textures and flavors so distinct and refreshing that it is difficult to describe.  Jay can easily be turned off by texture but even he liked the dish.   Our server said didn’t that this dessert did not always go over well with patrons until they changed the name to Hibiscus.  Exotic and lovely, this is the dish that sealed the deal for a return visit.

I know why that Michael Voltaggio was just voted one of the Best New Chefs of 2013 by Food & Wine Magazine, he’s innovative and makes you want to take a risk with your food.  It didn’t hurt that he made this New Yorker (and new-ish California resident) feel “at home” for once in a Los Angeles restaurant.