eats - church & state

valentine's day came february 12 this year, as i took the girl out for a surprise dinner at church & state. it's a bustling french bistro with a lively dining room (four-tops and communal seating are in the center, with the cozier tables of 2 lining the perimeter), located on the outskirts of downtown.



since i took the painstaking effort of making her gift, i hit up the restaurant prior to our reservation to inform the maitre d' of my nefarious plan and slipped her some incentive to have them deliver the gift to our table when dessert was to be served. everything seemed to be in place, so i picked up heidi from her tea class and arrived at our destination for our 8:15pm reservation. as we were waiting to be seated, she caught a glimpse of my gift (unbeknownst to her that it was actually hers) on the front desk and remarked how pretty the wrapping paper was and how lucky the maitre d' was to get a gift. aghast, i mumbled something incoherent like "yeah, anyways i'm starving, can't wait to eat!" haha.

since there were a plethora of tasty treats to choose from, we carefully pared down our selections to the following six including dessert:

* tarte flambée (think wafer-thin flatbread) w/caramelized onions, bacon lardons & cave aged gruyère
* belgian endive, watercress, fuji apples, blue cheese, walnuts & vinaigrette
* braised pork belly, frisée, butternut squash & cherry gastrique
* sautéed diver scallops, yukon gold potatoes, diced leeks & smoked potato-leek chowder
* short rib, celery root & au jus
* chocolate/coffee custard, crème chantilly, sablés cannelle cookie





and here's a peek at her gift on the shelf above our table. the wrapping paper is a gorgeous (if i say so myself) handmade silkscreen of yuzen strawberry plum blossoms on a striking black background...



church & state
1850 industrial st.
los angeles, CA 90021
http://www.churchandstatebistro.com/