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La La Land (22 Wilmington Avenue, Rehoboth
Beach) has long been an oasis of creativity, from their food to the décor
to the bubbles leading you right to their front door.
On a recent visit, Leslie (assisted by
Kathryn) was our fabulous waitress and was, as always, a sparkling
delight, full of suggestions and details about the menu and specials. We
began with the Overnight Cooked Cuban Spring Rolls, slow-cooked and
seasoned pork wrapped in wonton skins, then flash fried to crispy,
served with a spicy island banana Habanera sauce and fresh mango salsa.
You can almost make a meal out of these, they’re so ample and soooo
delicious. Presentation is a key here with all the food. The spring
rolls arrived on a plate decorated with a large banana leaf, with a
colorful sprig of opal basil and scallions like little flags sticking up
out of a mound of the freshest and most divine mango salsa, with baby
marigolds decorating the plate and a little bowl of the Habanera sauce.
The meat was melt-in-your-mouth tender, slightly spicy, and the thick
banana sauce added an extra “kick” to it while the mango cooled it
down. This was a great blend of flavors, textures, and sensations.
We also had the Bob Russell Field Greens
and Grilled Radicchio salad, with white balsamic and strawberry
vinaigrette, tossed with pepper toasted almonds and a small wedge of
velvety Brillat-Savarin cheese (think Brie, but about 10 times creamier
and much, much better!) This is a perfect summer salad.
Other appetizers include
iron-skillet-seared sea scallops (with avocado pancake and tangerine
vinaigrette), soft shell crab bruschetta (with smoked bacon crisps),
mixed vegetarian grill (jumbo Portobello, fresh baby beets, and sweet
fennel lightly roasted with black truffle oil drizzle), chilled oyster
and lobster custard, and roulade of roast duck.
We were trying to save room for dessert,
so for entrees we passed on the oven-poached fresh Maine lobster, with
char-grilled summer sweet corn, a fava bean Naragansett Indian succotash
with lemon basil butter, and mashed yukons.
The crispy skin Atlantic Salmon with black beluga lentils and a
fresh grapefruit and cucumber salsa sounded great, as did the citrus
marinated mako shark with purple Thai rice. But we finally settled on
the pan-seared fresh halibut and king crab legs in a broth of curried
crab and Honduranian green banana, pearl pasta, fresh grilled sweet and
tart mango, and the roasted rack of lamb with tarragon red wine
reduction, braised ruby chard, and berrichonne potato. A huge piece of
fresh and tasty halibut sat atop the pasta, swimming in a mild curry
sauce with the crab legs (already split open for our convenience)
astride the bowl. All were sensational, and the grilled mango was a
terrific complement. The lamb was tender, juicy, and delicious in the
reduction sauce, cooked to perfection, surrounding the potato, which was
standing on end with flowering sage sticking out the top like little
antennas. It was a work of art to look at, as well as eat!
Among the desserts at La La Land are a
traditional crème brulee; a roasted Hawaiian pineapple with fresh
vanilla macadamia bomb over lavender sweet cream; and a summer fruit and
berry tart. We chose the chocolate-cherry torte, a light moist chocolate
cake with stuffed cherry truffles and white chocolate Grand Marnier crème
anglaise. My friend doesn’t even care for chocolate that much, but I
could hardly get this away from him, so if you love chocolate you’ll
be in heaven, as I was. We also succumbed to one of the daily specials,
the genoise (a classic French yellow sponge cake) topped with lemon curd
and fresh blueberries with whipped cream, with sides of little lemon
shells with lemon sorbet. This was light, fresh, tart, delicious, and
deserves to be on the menu every day! It’s a great way to end a meal
on a hot summer night, or any night for that matter.
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