I absolutely love the last four months of the year. Why?

September: Henry’s birthday
October: My birthday
November: Our anniversary & Thanksgiving
December: Christmas

How do we celebrate our birthdays and anniversary? Eating, of course!

For Henry’s birthday, we revisited two restaurants: Animal and Providence. We had such a good experience the first time around, we were a little nervous that our second experience wouldn’t live up to the first. Fortunately, the food was just as good as we remembered. Animal and Providence have firmly secured their place on our favorite restaurants list.

At Animal, we had a party of 4, which allowed us to try a LOT of dishes – 12 to be exact!

Duff Goldman (Ace of Cakes) may have mentioned Animal’s Bacon Chocolate Crunch Bar on Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”, but if it were me, I would have raved about this: “Foie Gras Loco Moco”. Foie gras, hamburger, egg, spam, rice, sriracha… how can you not love all that on a plate?

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Three years ago, Henry took me to Providence for my birthday. Three years later, I returned the favor ♥

We decided to order the full tasting menu (+ wine pairing for Henry), just like we did last time. The meal started with an amuse bouche trio and the BEST BREADS EVER: bacon brioche & nori focaccia!!

I enjoyed every dish on the tasting menu, though in terms of creativity, the dishes didn’t compare to the extraordinary meal we had at Alinea (Chicago, Il); let’s face it, after eating at Alinea, nothing else compares. The first time we dined at Providence, we didn’t have a clue about cheeses so our server chose our cheeses based on what he perceived to be the best/best tasting. Well, surprise surprise, we didn’t like any of our cheeses. But what a difference three years make. We’ve now figured out what kind of cheeses we love/hate and we were able to guide our server in the right direction this time around. End result? We totally cleaned off our cheese platter.

While the food was excellent, the service at Providence was sub par (and not at all what we remembered it to be), considering it’s two star Michelin restaurant. The wait staff looked confused for most of the night, Henry was given the same wine twice and when the birthday dessert was brought out, it was placed in front of me instead of Henry. These are basic tasks that a server at any restaurant should be able to execute! My only consolation was that Chef Cimarusti came out of the kitchen to talk to us and sign my menu. 🙂

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Verdict: 4.5/5
Animal
435 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Verdict: 4.5/5
Providence
5955 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90038