Park Grill Restaurant

Park Hyatt 2151 Avenue of the Stars, Century City (310) 277-1234

 

Yes, it’s a restaurant hotel so you’re going to have to shake off your notions about what it’s like to dine where mostly residing guests are privy to the talent of chefs like Roberto Alicea.

 

Despite the Buddha Bar-esque music streaming in from the adjacent Park Lounge (featuring a jumping COSMO theme night on Thursdays), one can’t prevent the hotel ambiance in the dining room or feeling like the chic design of the bar should also somehow find a way to seep into a room that sees one too many visiting transients.  But the room is undeniably elegant and there is a more traditional charm to it.  Plus it’s spacious enough to keep the conversations from being eavesdropped on.  In an age of designer decors where a restaurant’s ability is mistakenly gauged by which renowned diva picked the colors and installations instead of the quality of the meal for which one should be there in the first place, we have learnt not to take offence when being expected to clear out to make room for the next party and the lack of finesse therein.  Here you are reminded, as Terri York perceptively notices and then replenishes your Lycheetini (Stolichnaya, Lychee nut juice and garnish) and Chef Alicea creates little nirvanas on warm plates that are delivered to your table with perfect timing, that there is indeed an art, a method, by which food must be savored and it can’t be done in a boutique restaurant that is selling tables by the hour.

Of the essentials on this menu, you can start with a fragrant black truffle risotto cooked with braised dark chicken meat, parmigianno-reggiano and chicken jus.  This is one of those dishes that you will remember long after the night has gone and find yourself craving for.  Don’t be fooled into thinking the roasted chicken is anything but extraordinary.  Described understatedly on the menu, the breast meat is actually pounded flat, stuffed with shitake mushrooms and cherry stuffing, balled back up, and then roasted and served with ravioli and parsnip foam.  Seared Seabass is cooked to perfection so that it’s crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and served with tomato olive chutney, fennel sauce and cilantro oil.  The flavors are intoxicating! 

Chef Alicea began his culinary journey under his Puerto Rican grandmother in inner city Chicago where, thankfully, his quest for education took precedence over the guns and gang activity prevalent in the neighborhood.  From there, Alicea began working under Robert Lane, Executive Chef at the Hyatt Regency Chicago and continued his career path through demanding Chicago kitchen including the acclaimed One Sixty Blue and Nomi Park Hyatt (named one of the best restaurants of 2001 by Esquire).

He’s come a long way, and we’re overjoyed he’s found his way to us.