PATINA AND PAPARAZZI TOGETHER AT PARC  

By Albert Hayashi and Michael Hepworth

Just east of Highland on Hollywood Blvd., a restaurant catering to the young Hollywood crowd as well as diners looking for good food emerges.  As you enter Parc restaurant, a glass-enclosed wine cellar and gleaming bar greets you and suggests casual opulence.  If the food reminds you a little of the old Black Steel’s fine pacific-euro fusion style food, you would not be very far off.  During the transition to the new Parc ownership group, the restaurant was able to retain the services of the Brooklyn Chef J (aka Jason Harley), Pamela Anderson’s personal friend and chef. 

Chef J took this opportunity to develop some new delectable and very eclectic French/Asian entrees for Parc.  While offering tasty dishes, he focused on preparing mini-meals which are not only healthy, low in cholesterol and high in anti-oxidants ingredients, but innovative and accessible.  Leveraging his access and clout to the leading local organic growers of fruits and vegetables and being provided the highest quality meats and fish, he is able to use his BlackSteel^TM kitchen to prepare the selection of dishes.  Chef J’s is the one of the most thorough food preparation chefs I have ever met. 

A quick tour of the kitchen was indicative of how thorough and passionate he is about preparing food.  Separate burners and grills are used to prepare seafood and meats.  He is careful to only use heavy BlackSteel^TM pots and pans with a slight patina coating to insure the full taste of the ingredients manifests itself in the dish.  In addition, to insure the desserts are prepared at the proper temperature, separate “cooling” vents have been installed into the kitchen overhead area. 

While sipping on their signature passion fruit martinis and listening to a “live” DJ play a soft blend of contemporary jazz and 80’s music, we started the evening with four seafood appetizer dishes: deep-fried crab cakes, fresh sushi albacore, scallops and the Claypot Chilean Seabass.  The sweet teriyaki sauce flavored seabass, and the crabcakes served with a Jalapeno Ponzu Aioli were the highlight of the appetizer dishes. Our waiter Rafael made the dining experience memorable by visiting our table often and sharing his own personal experiences with our dishes we were trying. 

For the main courses, we tried the risotto, lamb, blacked swordfish and baby surf & turf (filet mignon & lobster). Being an afficiado of lamb, these grilled lamb chopettes had been marinated for some time and were served with Rosemary Port Ginger Sauce, a first time for me. Although we felt a little “too” full after the main course sequence, ordering a few of these dishes along with the appetizers would allow you to save room for dessert.  Chef J prepared a potpourri of desserts including a chocolate mousse, lemon tart and crème brule.  At the end of dinner, he personally served us a 78- year old orange Cognac from a private reserve in France .

Although Parc has found its share of paparazzi waiting outside the door to get a shot of some young Hollywood celebrity leaving Parc, and the press releases tout the “celebrity” angle maybe just a bit too much, it is really the food itself and top notch service which does and will attract diners.  The synchrony of the service staff and food preparer’s working together delivering tasty healthy French/Asian cuisine is a dining experience worth repeating. 

Fact Sheet

6683 Hollywood Blvd Hollywood, CA 90028
Phone: (323) 465-6200

Open for dinner only Tuesday-Sunday.

Prices: Dinner for two w/drinks $150

Reservations suggested

Valet Parking-$8