Six Spots To Purchase Restaurant Gift Cards | Tasting Table LA
You've made your list and checked it twice–but haven't bought any actual gifts.
That's okay: Let your loved ones experience one of your favorite restaurants in L.A. by buying them a gift card to one of these six spots. Most are available online, so you can give the gift of good food with only a few clicks.
Maybe you'll even be invited along for dinner.
Providence, Mid-City
We can't think of a restaurant that says "best gift ever" better than an epic, splurge-worthy meal at the city's penultimate fine-dining restaurant. Michael Cimarusti's two-star Michelin ode to the sea offers several tasting menus. Sent as a letterpress gift card ($25 to $2,500) with a personalized, handwritten note, a gift certificate can go toward a signature menu ($220) of Providence's classics or a chef's menu ($210) of seafood served live off the shell, folded with caviar or with smoked crème fraîche panna cotta.
Mozza, Mid-City
Impress even the pickiest eaters with a gift card good at any of the Mozza empire's restaurants. Give the gift of small plates from the mozzarella bar at Osteria Mozza. And because you can't go wrong with pizza, Pizzeria Mozza has wood oven-fired pizzas topped with everything from squash blossoms and burrata to speck, pineapple and jalapeño. Let your favorite carnivore get meaty at chi SPACCA with house-cured salumi and charcuterie; stick-to-your-bones (in all the good ways) beef and bone marrow pie ($48); a Flinstonian Tomahawk pork chop ($85); or 50-ounce, dry-aged bistecca Fiorentina ($210).
Nozawa Bar, Beverly Hills
Nozawa, the man behind SUGARFISH, is offering a Triple Play gift package: It starts with a $50 credit at SUGARFISH, where buttery albacore topped with tangy ponzu sauce and addictive blue crab hand rolls are the norm. The next stop is KazuNori, where a five-roll set meal offers nori-wrapped rice stuffed with lobster, the special of the day and, yes, that blue crab. And for the finale: An intimate dinner awaits at Nozawa Bar, a reservations-only (seatings at 6 or 8:30 p.m.), 10-seat sushi bar. The omakase meal unfolds with 20 courses that may include chutoro, ankimo, and shiso and ume-stuffed tamago.
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Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica
Forget tasting menus for two. For the diner who's eaten at the best of them—yawn—Rustic Canyon ups the VIP experience with its restaurant membership. The restaurant rolls out the red carpet for up to 50 insiders for a don't-miss package: a $250 gift certificate to Rustic Canyon; two $100 gift certificates to Huckleberry, plus "jump the line" access to skip the crowds; $100 and a bread-of-the-month membership at Milo & Olive; a pint-of-the-month membership at Sweet Rose Creamery; a quarterly batch of single-origin coffee from Caffe Luxxe; an All Star Chefs dinner; and a swag bag of goodies. So how much for all this insiders' access? It's a hefty $1,500, but all proceeds go to Upward Bound House, aiding the homeless. The best part: It's good for you and your S.O.—that's two for one.
Farmshop, Brentwood
Elevated, seasonal cooking meets retail shop stocked with local edibles at this Westside food emporium. There are endless ways to eat and be merry: California-made jams, pastas, tableware, wine, meats and cheese stock the shelves. Croissants, cranberry citrus scones and classic coffee cake fill the pastry case. French toast ($14.50) with thick-cut bacon and house-made pastrami and eggs ($17.50) are the stuff of weekend brunch dreams.
RivaBella, West Hollywood
On the search for a romantic dinner à deux? Lovers can tuck into a booth on one of the city's prettiest alfresco patios, starlit and fireside. On the menu: modern Italian such as refined pastas and elegant antipasti. Go for dramatic tableside porcini risotto ($52) cooked inside a 24-month-old Parmesan wheel and gilded with white truffles. End with liquid nitrogen vanilla ice cream prepared à la minute topped with candied pistachios and caramel. Bonus: For every $100 purchased, get an extra $20 to supplement or use for yourself.