I’ve always known Petrossian to be more retail experience that served a limited menu. When I heard they had expanded to a full restaurant, I was intrigued to see what greater offerings were to be had. We arrived and sat out on the patio, it was such a nice sunny day I decided to forgo the offer of champagne and enjoy a Duvel, one of my favorite beers.

I had to get to the caviar right off the bat. We shared a plate that sampled trout roe, Transmontanus, and salmon roe on blinis and crème fraiche. The real stand out was the Transmontanus. Born of White Sturgeon, Transmontanus audaciously brings an earthy flavor with a sense of purity and distinction. Thankfully the spirit of shared plates continued when the shrimp papillottes arrived. The crispy wonton wrapped shrimp was an ideal combination of sweet and spicy with ginger and red pepper to bring the heat and passion fruit to cool it down.

An order of steak tartare is hard to pass up. Petrossian’s approach to the dish was to layer Transmontanus caviar in the middle proving that you can make a good thing even better. A rich assortment of herbs was a nice accent to the hand sliced steak and tied it together so well with the caviar.

How could I possibly resist a foie gras salad? You don’t have an answer for me and that’s fine because this particular foie gras salad is set upon a brilliantly molded bed of haricot verts, with toasted walnuts and black truffle vinaigrette. The soft, rich foie gras combined with the firm, crisp haricot verts made me feel like a very lucky man. The bites when the toasted walnuts snuck in made it clear that my good fortune was no accident.

I wanted to see how the house that caviar built could deliver on comfort food, there could be no litmus test better than mac n’ cheese. When I ordered it the waitress’s eyes widened as she told me I was going to love it. She clearly spoke from experience, as the smell alone won me over when the plate was set before me. Generous on parmesan with finely chopped bacon, this mac n’ cheese is the kind that could make a rainy day a happy one. I thought the orrecheiette was a nice departure from the noodle norm.

I hope people realize there is a lot more going on here at Petrossian than caviar. The chef here is worthy of people’s attention and one visit made me feel inclined to plan on another.

321 North Robertson Boulevard West Hollywood, CA 90048-2415 (310) 271-6300