Raphael Restaurant - A Great Find in Studio City

When you think of exceptional fine dining restaurants in Los Angeles, you usually think of those with named chefs on the Westside or "in town", but rarely would one think of one in the San Fernando Valley, home of the Valley girls and the reincarnated Sherman Oaks Galleria.   However, I recently visited a wonderful restaurant in Studio City which is in the San Fernando Valley but not too far from the heart of Hollywood.

Raphael Restaurant is a gorgeous yet very hip casual bar and chic restaurant known for Executive Gavin Humes' take on the small plates menu with exotic cocktails.  The small plates are not that small of a serving and can be easily shared with others at your table.   We had multiple dishes and each dish we ordered was served with the freshest ingredients and tasted absolutely delicious.   The creativity and presentation of each of the dishes were spot on.

Crispy Cauliflower

We started with crispy cauliflower with barbeque sauce aioli, pickled celery, and radish.  Even though I am not a fan of cauliflower, these were prepared so well that you almost weren't aware that you were having cauliflower.   

Albacore Tartare

Next came probably one of my favorite dishes at Raphael: albacore tartare with avocado, jalapeno, shallots, and lime.   A generous portion of albacore tuna that was well seasoned and went extremely well with the avocado and slight heat from the jalapeno. 



  

Heirloom Tomatoes with Burrata Cheese

Their heirloom tomatoes with burrata cheese was another stunning dish.  The tomatoes were so sweet and fresh that you could almost taste the kiss of the earth where they once came.  Now that's fresh!



  
Some of the other items that were sampled and did not disappoint in either presentation or taste were:

Gnocchi with fennel, sweet corn and fine herbs

Pork Belly with tomato, peppadew, frisee, and agri-doux

Wild Boar Ragu, house-made pappardelle, parmesan

Wild Sockeye Salmon

And don't forget to save room for dessert.   Two of the winning desserts that Raphael serves are the banana bread pudding with pumpkin ice cream and a seasonal fruit tart which was peach cobbler crunch with buttermilk ice cream on our night's menu.   You will want one of each all for yourself!

The menu changes slightly daily based on the availability of ingredients and fish markets that makes the menu quite diverse and please everyone's taste.  The service staff was also top notch that did not rush you through dinner and was quite accommodating to complete the most amazing dining experience.

Be sure that you try Raphael Restaurant when in Los Angeles for a real treat. I cannot recommend this place enough.

Banana Bread Pudding

Peach Cobbler Crunch

   

















Raphael's Restaurant, 11616 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA  91604
(818) 505-3337