Diary Of A Professional Eater - Cast & Plow Ritz Carlton

The great thing about living in Los Angeles is every neighborhood has a different personality. Tonight, I was in a coastal mood and decided to dine at the Ritz Carlton Marina del Rey’s new signature restaurant Cast & Plow. Cast & Plow offers community made, locally sustainable food. Since relocating to Los Angeles I’ve adopted the philosophy of supporting local farmers and their farm to table dinning intrigued me.

Photo credit: Ritz Carlton

I’m no stranger to the Ritz Carlton, Marina del Rey and upon walking into the lobby I was blow away by the renovations. The new contemporary design with hues of yellow, white and warm grey continues into the bar and restaurant.

Photo credit: Ritz Credit

The two-tier patio plays theater to the marina’s boat filled panoramic views. The patio wall is lined with seating booths accented with a glass enclosed tabletop fire pit creating a warm candle light glow. The artisan style cooking by the award winning Chef Umit Kaygusuz has created a robust menu.

At the start, the crab toast with spicy yogurt, country bread, sesame and lemon quickly got my attention, convincing me this would be a great night. Later dishes are more exciting, the Santa Barbara spot prawn accompanied with cilantro-chile vinaigrette is filled with subtle shading and sheer sensationalism.

Crab Toast – Spicy yogurt, country bread, sesame, lemon

Then came the exquisite combination of bacon mac & cheese, it has a wonderful softness, sensuality and homeyness of traditional southern cooking and adds to that vividness that comes from well sourced products allowed to express their superiority.

Local halibut – Crispy ricotta, butternut puree, walnut chutney, brown butter vinaigrette

The entrée halibut layered between butternut puree and brown butter vinaigrette, topped with walnut chutney and flanked by crispy ricotta.

Brown Sugar Cake – CA raisins, toffee sauce, macallen 12 year, salted caramel ice cream

The arrival of the remarkable brown sugar cake, the single scoop of salted caramel ice creams sits on top of the cake dressed with California raisins, toffee sauce and Macallen 12 years is a sweet and savory flavor. Hotel restaurants usual create a mass production taste and it isn’t that way here. Cast & Plow lived up to my presumptuous expectations and as son as I left all I could think about is when I would come back. Dinning here was visually stimulating and an appetizing experience that I didn’t want to end.