Sunday Supper at the Playground

Sunday, June 5, 2016

This was a first for me. Have done the special dinners in the 2.0 Room at the Playground in Santa Ana, www.playgrounddtsa.com, The Sunday Supper is by reservations only, which the majority of their dinners are, You have no choice of foods. They even state on the website if you have allergies or are a picky eater this might not be the restaurant for you.  They serve 10 courses along with 2 desserts. I  did find out that at all the Sunday Suppers 3 of the dishes are always served. The humongous pork chop, the fried chicken and the cornbread. The rest is always what they feel like cooking that day.

We started out with their Cornbread with a Chiplote Honey Butter. Excellent flavor. Everyone raved about it. 

Next was a dish that had Heirloom Carrots, Beets, Farro, Feta Cheese and spiced with Harissa, followed by a dish they called Eggs Benedict. Small slices of English Muffins with Carmelized Mushrooms, topped with Poached Quail Eggs. Needless to say both dishes had rave reviews.

We were then brought a small cast iron skillets with a Spinach, Fortina Cheese, Artichoke Dip along with Chips for dipping.  I am not sure how many of these small cast iron skillets the restaurant has but it has to be a lot. They seem to use them numerous times during dinners.

Some of the best Brussell Sprouts I have had showed up. They were carmelized, had very thinly sliced Heirloom Radishes and something else that I did not get written down. The dishes come out fast and I had to have the waitstaff repeat the descriptions to me several times..

The next dish I did not taste. It had raw edaname beans on it and I am allergic to them. It also had octopus and shishito peppers. Looked good.

A plate of  asparagus was next. It had Lemon flavors to it and set on a bed of Honey Yogurt. Excellent flavors. I could eat the whole plate of food  myself. 

A plate of their "famous" Fried Chicken was set down. Juicy, good light crust but it had a flavor I just wasn't in to. Tasted like a vinegar brine perhaps. I could eat one small piece but that was it.

A piece of Wagu Beef showed up. It was like a shortrib cut. Tender and good flavor. Set on a bed a greens

The best of the day was the next offering. A huge 4 rib cut Pork Chop. Best pork I have had in a long time. Full of flavor, juicy, moist and Marc had quite the time slicing it up for us. I just wish I could cook pork this good..

A palate cleanser of Yazu  sorbet like ?  tasted like a cross bewteen Meyer Lemon and Key Lime. Then the real dessert. Black Mission Fig Sticky Toffee Pudding with Whipped Cream. We were all very happy.

The food does come from the kitchen fast. We had to move our bottles of wine, 11 bottles brought by 7 people, to the table next to us to make room for the dishes. Dinner is served family style and they do have it set up so you take the leftovers home. We all enjoyed this concept so much we decided we would do it again in a few months. For $50 a person plus tax and tip it is a bargain. No corkage but it is expected that you offer the waitstaff sample of your wines. We had the wines set up on the table and the 6 of the staff came up and tried all  the wines.  We were generous with them and I am sure they will remember us next time.

Our wines were a real mixed lot. Dr. Bob grabbed the wrong bottle out of the frige so we had an Au Bon Climat Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc instead of the high end French wine he wanted. We still drank the wine. Snobs we are not.

I brought a 2011 Clos Pepe HTC Chardonnay and a 2008 Saxum James Berry GSM.  I was happy with both of them.

Other wines were 2006 Chloe Jeremy, Napa Cabernet,  2014 Aequorea, Arron Jackson, Viognier, 2012 Clos Pepe Estate Pinot Noir, 2006 Bollinger ,Les Grande Amee, Champagne, 2009 Kosta Browne, Keefer, Pinot Noir and A 2012 Aubert, Sonoma, Pinot Noir. a Dr. Hanison Riesling and another wine that did not make it to the list. This was a wild time

Looking forward to returning to the Playground in a few weeks to do the All Fish Dinner in the 2.0 Room. Fresh fish bought in the  morning at the downtown LA  fish market and a menu  thought of driving back to the restaurant.