Restaurant Los Angeles: the new 71 Above resto

To access 71 ABOVE resto on the 71st
floor of the US Bank Tower - what
was until recently L.A's tallest building -you must switch elevators on
the 54th floor. The last leg is a whir of
speed that deposits you in a space that's all polished
wood and well-stocked wine rooms beneath a crazy
honeycomb ceiling. It could be any sleek contempo-
rary restaurant but for the views: Gazing through
the electrochromatic glass (its tint can be modified)
at the glittering spread of L.A., you half expect to be
told to straighten your seat back instead of being
welcomed to sit down.
Calvin Trillin once suggested that the higher up
you dine, the less successful a meal will be, but he
was writing about the rotating building-crowning
redoubts where Continental Cuisine staged its last
stand in the mid-1970s. At 71 Above the Little Gems
are charred and the caramelized pork belly reclines
on a brothy sofrito as chef Vartan Abgaryan buffs
the on-point style he last showcased at Cliff's Edge in Silver Lake. The cooking is deeply seasonal: Summer's strawberry gazpacho teased with shiso gives
way to skin-on parsnips cooked in duck fat with
slivered Medjool dates.
Just as powerful are the personal notes that the
34-year-old (born in Armenia's capital, Yerevan, and
raised in North Hollywood) slips into his cooking.
The pleasingly bitter sumac dressing over an appe-
tizer of warm squash laid out as a pinwheel recalls
the seasoning of your go-to kabob joint. A scoop of
wild bay ice cream with batons of pickled rhubarb
demonstrates how pastry chef Gregory Baumgart-
ner brings a smart, foraged hominess to desserts.
Most impressive is the kitchen's subtle elegance.
Abgaryan once worked at Lutèce Las Vegas, and the
careful way a lustrous chicken jus is spooned over
a foie gras-filled chicken breast acknowledges that
there\u2019s something - special occasion -about a place
where you can pick out Anaheim, Glendale, and
Malibu from your seat 950 feet above L.A.

Address : 633 W. 5th St., Los Angeles downtown, CA 71above.com.

Restaurant Los Angeles