One of the things I most regret skipping on our recent trip to London was high tea with my daughter. Our time there was too short and the weather was too hot and muggy.
This is why the invitation to enjoy a Mommy and Me tea at Beverly Hills' luxurious SLS Hotel sounded so appealing. The temperatures in L.A. may be even higher than what we experienced in London, but at least we have air conditioning.
Scheduling issues resulted in a month's delay between the invitation and our actual reservation at the hotel. That has to be the reason why I failed to note that the restaurants at the SLS are under the supervision of chef José Andrés... the one profiled in this 60 Minutes piece with Anderson Cooper:
As you can imagine from that piece, this is NOT my mum-in-law's high tea! It is also not the typical fare for a Mommy and Me type of event. There isn't anything about it that might remind you of classes at Gymboree -- no special kids' menu.
The "Mommy" part is a glass of really good champagne, which works for me -- but the savory bites might be a tough sell if you're bringing a picky young eater - or a picky older eater, as is the case with my 14-year-old.
These include a combination of cucumber, goat cheese and "tomato caviar," little steamed buns topped with caviar and creme fraiche, and a beet macaron filled with goat cheese, little sandwiches of foie gras and quince and smoked salmon and coconut, and a couple of tiny cones like the one that delighted Anderson Cooper in the clip above.
The only choice on that part of the menu that looked remotely like something that would tempt a child was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Unfortunately, my daughter hates peanut butter AND jelly... and the item on the beautiful three-tiered tray did not resemble any PB&J sandwich I'd ever before seen. It was, however, delicious -- as was each of the little bites I got to have to myself (since my kid refused to try any of them).
I'm afraid Megan had to spend the next half hour listening to me gasp "Oh my God," each time I tried something different. It was almost a reflex. Andrés' food IS that astonishing -- and good.
And even though MY teen is picky, I have seen a lot of LA kids who happily lap up all the interesting and exotic foods a multi-cultural city has to offer. While we were there, another 14-year-old was celebrating her birthday with family and close friends. I think this is a great spot to bring a teen or tween ready for a more grown-up dining experience.
Fortunately, high teas traditionally include sweet dessert offerings to go with the savories. And my daughter did not have to just sit there watching me eat, because here she found some intriguing items of her own.
"I really want to try those chocolate covered pop rocks."
She was kind enough to offer me a few pop rock crumbs so I could report on how good they were. Other sweets were a saffron pate de fruit (kind of a fruit jelly covered in edible rice paper), hazelnut chocolate cookie, dark and white chocolates infused with fruit flavors, an almond orange tart, chocolate "after eights" (a very thin patty of dark chocolate embedded with fresh mint) and "financiers," which looked and tasted like madeleines.
We both agreed that the best dessert was the one that was both the simplest and the most creative: Skewered fresh raspberries with a little squeeze of raspberry juice at the end. We were instructed to place a berry in our mouths and squeeze the juice in with it. You kind of have to see it and try it yourself.
"I wish we could get more of these," my daughter said. I had to agree.
The wait staff could not have been more friendly and solicitous. Casey, our waiter, told me that Tres also serves a fabulous weekend brunch... and I'm already looking for a good excuse to visit Bazaar so I can sample José Andrés' famous traditional and modern tapas.
Tea at Trés is served daily from 3:00 - 5:00; the cost is a reasonable $26 per person ($14 additional for a glass of champagne). Although I could hear my husband complain about the portions ("No one is going to get fat on that"), it all tastes so fabulous, I think it's well worth the price.
Megan enjoyed it, too. We're already planning to bring my sister and her daughter back for tea.
DISCLOSURE: I received no monetary compensation for this post. Our tea was comped by the folks at the restaurant for the purpose of writing this review. I made no promises that the review would be a positive one. I am a little bit sorry I got to experience this place, because now that I have, I'm going to have a hard time paying for all the return trips I'm now desperate to make.
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