When: Dinner only, Wednesday through Sunday.A very comfortable neighborhood destination! Cuisine: A mix of Modern Colombian and California cuisines, in the space that was last home to The Hideaway, largely unchanged - except for the food.Merrill Shindler is a Los Angeles-based freelance dining critic. Email Rating: 3 stars One of Selva’s definitions is “tropical rain forest.” The food, I guess, is consistent with that. The panna cotta is made with elderflowers and “embered” Harry’s berries. Because who doesn’t like their beans with flowers?įor dessert, there’s coconut panna cotta, sweet plantain pudin de pan, and caramelized condensed milk oblea. And for those who need their grains and legumes, that’s the name of one of the sides, consisting of rice pilaf, stewed smoky beans, avocado, house-made sour cream and…marigolds. There are sweet plantains to order on the side, along with braised greens flavored with a smoked pork bone broth that makes those green just sing. There’s a grilled market fish as well - and, yes, a visit to Selva can be full of surprises. Like I said - beer-friendly food, but not across the board. There’s plenty of crunch as well in the plantain chips, and the yucca fries. Thus, we have crispy, crunchy Niman Ranch pork belly chicharron among the small plates - along with the smoked, crispy chicken “wangs” the skewered, grilled anticuchos even the chef’s choice meats in the Peruvian style fried rice, the arroz chaufa (a dish marked as “MP,” market price, because you never know what those meats are going to be). Which is a fair description of many of the cuisines found in South America - think of the grilled meats of Argentina (at Fogo de Chao), and the cuy (guinea pig) roasted whole in Cuzco, Peru. Or at least, a selection of dishes that are grilled, crispy, smoked and charred. Rough-and-tumble sports demand a rough-and-tumble beverage.)Īnd in turn, those beverages demand a rough-and-tumble food. There’s also a cocktail made with the Brazilian sugarcane spirit cachaca. ![]() Or the Burro de Pina, of Colombian vodka, pineapple and ginger syrup. I could have gotten the Colombian punch, made with Colombian rum and passionfruit. If I really wanted a drink from Colombia, I could have ordered the Refajo Colombiano, which is beer mixed with Colombiana soda, a bit sweet for me. Which isn’t from Colombia, but it’s close. I was drinking a Xingu Black Lager from Brazil. (He did great! The rest of the team didn’t the Clippers won.) Sitting at the bar, I was able to watch the mixologists blending together a madcap world of ingredients in the cocktails. And since there are a bunch of TVs in the room, I wanted to see how LeBron was doing. One evening, I sat at the bar, though several of the small tables in the bar were available. And it’s the char you taste first and foremost. How does it taste with all that going on? Pretty good. The bottom line is a cabbagesque dish flavored with cheese, an onion equivalent, and the mysterious yeast. That small plate - either an appetizer or a side dish since it’s listed under “Small Plates” - is in a dish made with not just nooch, but also parmigiano Reggiano, shallots and “queso,” which like the parmigiano, is cheese. It’s found in the charred brassicas - with brassicas being a cruciferous vegetable akin to cabbage or mustard greens. I may do this for a living, but nooch is still…a mystery. Thank goodness for Google telling me what I’m eating. And also words that need looking up, including brassicas, nooch, aji panca and hogao sofrito. But there’s also pork belly chicharron and anticuchos. Gone are the steaks and chops, replaced with…grilled beef and pork chops. ![]() Far as I can tell, aside from a smattering of décor elements, the place hasn’t changed - not nearly as much as the food. Now, just a few months later, its a Colombian restaurant with California touches, matching a lively bar with a quiet room. When I was last there, less than a year ago, it was an American steakhouse called The Hideaway, matching a lively bar with a quiet dining room. Boy, did I have a sense of déjà vu driving up to Selva!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |