My favorite meal of 2012 came right at the very last minute.  We went to Ink. in LA

I was pretty excited about this restaurant.  I have the cookbook and after watching the Voltaggios on top chef I really wanted to try their cooking.

First dish was the duck rillettes.  Duck was really taste and had a nice medium duck flavor. 

  

Shishitou peppers.  We eat shishitos all the time at home but serve them with a super simple seasoning of salt pepper sesame seeds and bonito flakes.  I wanted to see how the chef would sparkle these up.  It was very nice with a bonito sand and tofu based seaweed sauce.  Gonna try making it this way at home.

 

Cuttlefish and papaya salad.  As far as I can tell these super thin ribbons were made by freezing some blanched cuttlefish and then slicing them on a super fine mandoline.  Im going to try this technique at home too.  Sooo freaking good.  This was our favorite dish of the night.

Berkshire ham, beets, and cheese.  Just really good ham that would have satisfied even if it was served alongside a sneaker.

Braised lamb.  Tender and delish.  They use a lot of sands and powders at ink along with puffed items.

Octopus was really good but not as bold as I thought it would have been.  Colors were nice.

Mussels were tender and nicely cooked.  The addition of runny egg was a bit much.  The sauce around the bowl wasnt that great a little too thick and dry.

Corn chowder with home made dorritos.  Too salty.  The only dish that wasnt up to snuff here.  Luckily the waiter noticed we didnt eat much of it and removed it from the tab.  Nice.

and for dessert more corn!  We decided to finish the night with a savory corn dish as well as a sweet corn dish.  This was pretty good.  I couldnt help but think some of the flavors were very korean.  We have a thing for sweet corn puff snacks and shit.  

all done!!!  After this meal I realized just how overpriced SF food is compared to the rest of the country.  Whats up with that?!  This meal cost about half what I thought it would.  

I had some tasty beers too.

Anyhow I am looking forward to returning to Ink.  Will definitely have to every time they change their menu.

LOVED IT!!!