Technique Restaurant by Le Cordon Bleu, Los Angeles

What is Technique?
Le Cordon Bleu is a world renown cooking and culinary school. Among the notable graduates include Ming Tsai, Nancy Silverton, Giada De Laurentiis, Julia Child, and Mario Batali(who dropped out and did not graduate). Technique restaurant is where their students share some of their learnings and skills with the public. Their menu features Sauter (sauté), Pocher (poach), Griller (grill), Braiser (braise), Frire (fry) and Rôtir (roast) for their entrees. The restaurant resides in a renovated bank building with super high airy white ceilings. There’s a small bakery counter on one side of the space. The kitchen, with all the chef students are located in the back.

 What did I eat?
Tonight, we had a 3 course meal, with a starter, main, and dessert. On some nights, they offer a 4 course meal with 2 starters. We started off sharing the Shrimp Risotto and flat bread. Nothing spectacular but the flat bread, with melted cheese, portion was quite generous. Our mains, which were served a bit slow, consisted of the Lamb Loin and Pork Schnitzel. The lamb was, as expected, tender and savory. The pork schnitzel seemed unimpressive. The lamb wasn’t all that bad. Lately, I have been on a lamb kick and this was a pretty good one. I liked the heavy sauce that went with it. We finished off with the Salted Caramel Pot de Crème and Cookies and Ice Cream. Since I’m not a big dessert guy – I didn’t think they were all that memorable. Yet, I liked the idea of the Salted Caramel.

 The Last Word
The presentations for each of the dishes, including the desserts, were better than average. I think these students would do just fine in the real world.

Here’s their menu. It probably changed already.
THREE COURSES $10
Please select one starter, one entrée, and one dessert
or
FOUR COURSES $15
Please select two starters, one entrée, and one dessert

STARTER
-Soup – Chef’s Selection
-Nicoise Salad with Seared Ahi Tuna – with egg, haricot vert, olives, tomato concasse, fingerling potatoes
-Caesar Salad – with romaine, grated reggiano, brioche croutons, classic dressing, white anchovy, and a parmesan cookie
-Grilled Fruits & Arugula Salad – with crispy prosciutto, shaved parmesan cheese, served with a champagne vinaigrette dressing Watermelon,
- Mache and Arugula Salad – with goat cheese, kalamata olives, red onions, mint, red wine vinaigrette dressing
- Caprese Salad – served with fried mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, roasted red peppers, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar reduction
-Shrimp Risotto – using fine herb salad and preserved lemon
- Flatbread or Pizza Special of the Day

MAIN PLATE
Sauter
- Halibut – served with corn and fava bean succotash, tomatoes, peas
- Vegetarian Selection – with summer vegetable risotto and crispy zucchini

Pocher
- Lamb Loin – served with English pea puree, baby seasonal vegetables, asparagus, mint chimichurri sauce Griller
- Filet Mignon, Tomato Hollandaise – served with housemade fries, roasted zucchini and tomato salad Braiser
- Veal Shank with Risotto – served with English peas, mushrooms, gremolata

Frire
- Pork Schnitzel – served with braised red cabbage, spaetzle with sauce charcuterie

Rôtir
- Rotisserie Chicken Half au Jus – served with roasted baby artichokes, tomatoes, potato puree

DESSERT
- Seasonal Fruit Crumble – with vanilla bean ice cream
- Classic Creamy Cheesecake – with strawberry-rhubarb compote and cocoa sauce
- Salted Caramel Pot de Crème – with Chantilly cream and almond sable cookie
- Chocolate Mousse – classic chocolate mousse with Viennese sponge cake, raspberries and raspberry sauce
- Cookies and Ice – assorted cookies and choice of three ice cream or sorbets of the day

Rating
2 Pigs
Price Range 1 $/¥/NT

Links
Technique Restaurant, Yelp Listing, Gayot, Urban Spoon, Judy’s Book, Four Square, E-Wife’s Blogs Again, Meunism, Open Table Listing, Lab Chef, Chowhound