There are veal chops and then there are veal chops to turn into sonnets. You know the difference. The former is chewy, flavorless and so disappointing it is not worth the usual inflated price. The latter is tender, juicy and full of flavor—so transcendent you can’t help but pick it up to gnaw like a dingo on the bone. It is a carnivorous work of art that can’t be purchased in the open market and worth every penny of its inflated price. You can count the great ones on the fingers of one hand.
This is the thick, 14-ounce beauty we had at The Palm in West Hollywood the other night as part of their Dine L.A. Restaurant Week menu. It was charred on the outside, pink and soft on the inside and had the lingering tang of the good balsamic vinegar in which it had briefly marinated. It was a magnificent gnaw.
All the better, it was part of the $45 three-course menu when that price, or perhaps more, often buys only an ordinary veal chop and nothing else in a top-end restaurant. At The Palm, though, you get the choice of three starters (go for the Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad), a separately served vegetable dish (finger-thick asparagus) and dessert (cheesecake, naturally).
This is one of L.A.’s great bargains in grand gourmandizing, available nightly until dineLA Restaurant Week concludes Friday, Feb. 1. But even after that, there’s good news. For just a few bucks more (still under $50), you will have access to a prix fixe menu in force until the end of March in which the good people at The Palm will up the veal chop ante to a boggling 20 ounces. Gentlemen and ladies, let the gnawing begin.
The Palm is located at 9001 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, 310-550-8811.
Diva's discloser: this article was penned by noted writer, Richard J. Pietschmann, and the Diva approves his copy.
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