Ciudad

Ciudad (which means "city" in Spanish) is the restaurant of the "Two Hot Tamales",  Chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger.  Located in downtown LA at the corner of Fifth and Figueroa.  There is ample parking for $5 flat rate for dinner with validation.   The restaurant features an amalgam of Latin-inspired cuisine.  We went there during the DineLA week.

To start, I had some Palma Louca Beer, a Brazilian pilsener type of beer.  Light and crisp and highly carbonated, nice for spicy foods.

Shrimp Tamale Negro black corn masa tamales filled with sweet shrimp, peppers, scallion, and aji amarillo chile sauce.  This was really good, with just a bite of spiciness.  I would come back to Ciudad just for this.  

Spinach Empanada with pine nuts, raisins, and manchego cheese; served with salsa verde.  The empanada casing was light and flaky and the filling was delicious.  

Pan Seared Artic Char with five herb creamy pearled barley, wild mushrooms, pine nuts, smoked tomato sauce.  I didn't order this one and wasn't able to taste it either.  From the looks of it,  ay caramba!  Both my dining companions said it was delish.

Niman Ranch Pork Carnitas slow roasted niman ranch pork with spiced spaghetti squash, braised black kale, cranberry salsa, fried plantains,and creamy poblano sauce.  I had this for my main dish,  the pork was so tender you barely need any effort to break it apart.   The savory pork goes well with the sweet spaghetti squash, as well as the fried plantains.   The cranberry salsa added a tartness to the dish which I wasn't totally into.  The whole dish to me was like a Cuban Thanksgiving.

We then ordered each of the three desserts offered.   I love it when there are more people in your group, you get to sample a lot more.

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake spiced rum glaze, cranberry compote, maple whipped cream.  Imagine a pumkin pie but firmer with cream cheese.   Delicious, specially with the maple whipped cream.  I think I was the one who finished the cake.

Barcelona Chocolate Cake rich, dark chocolate cake  topped with sweet crema and chocolate sauce.  This was a really dense chocolate cake,  something a chocolate monster would go wild about.  I only had a couple of bites and that was it for me.

Torta Tres Leches with passion fruit and prickly pear sauces.    The cake was really light and sweet.  The sauces were somewhat tart.  I liked this dessert.

We had an excellent time at Ciudad,  I really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere,  somewhere between casual and fine dining.  The service was impeccable.  Since it was DineLA week,  it was a bargain at $34 per person for a three course meal, excluding drinks and tips.  The DineLA week was originally scheduled from Jan. 25 to Feb. 6,  they have since extended it for the whole month of February.  Muy excellente!

Ciudad

445 S. Figueroa Street

Los Angeles, CA 90071

(213) 486-5171