Hi all!
I visited the highest restaurant in LA, 71 Above yesterday because it was my 1 year anniversary with my wife. We wanted to visit some little bit special and fancy restaurant. We found out one restaurant is located in the 71 floor of the U.S. bank tower. The tower is the third-tallest building in California, the second-tallest building in Los Angeles, and the 24th-tallest building in the United States. The tallest builing is the Wilshire Grand Center with the Korean Air brand logo.
To get the 71 floor, I had to take three elevators. I had to take one elevator from a parking lot to lobby, another one from 1 to 54 floor, and from 54 to 71 floor with the last elevator. I have no idea why they made it separate, but it was a kind of hard to find the restaurant. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of it.
I could finally find the restaurant and receptionist get us to a table. They serve dinner only and open on Monday thru Thursday and Sunday from 5pm to 10pm and Friday, Saturday from 5pm to 11pm. The parking lot is located under the building, self-service, $15 for 3 hours with the restaurant’s validation. You have to ask the validation from the lobby. The parking lot was not big, but easy to park.
The cuisine of the restaurant is a fuision American style by Chef Vartan Abgaryan. 71 Above is named number 79 on Jonathan Gold’s list of 101 best restaurants in Los Angeles. They serve 3 course of dishes. They also have a vegetarian option. The cost is $89 per person with 18% of tip added automatically. You can tip them extra if you want. They have menus for wine, cocktail, and beer.
We ordered Hiramasa Crudo and Crispy Octopus for the first course, Murray Cod and Grilled Ribeye for the second, and Citrus Tapioca Pudding and Strawberries & Cream for dessert. I will introduce each dishes with pictures and comments. You can order extra dishes of each dishes, caviar, starting bread with extra charge, by the way. We had the table at the sky lounge. They also have a dress code, business dress style would be required. Would they reject us if we wear too comfy? I am not sure about this haha.
1. Hiramasa Crudo
Served with strawberry, avocado puree, serrano, sungold tomato, radish, cilantro, and Nori. It was literally sashimi with vegetables.
Taste was exactly fish sashimi with vegetables haha. However, it was too salty to us. They put salt on the fish, but they put too much. It was a nice looking with simple taste. The fish was fresh by the way.
I would rate this dish: ⭐⭐⭐ out of 5
2. Crispy Octopus
Served with cornbread, green tomato, seeds, Aji Amarillo, coriander, corn, lime. Aji Amarillo is yellow hot pepper paste.
It was the best dish of this day. The octopus was really soft and smoky. The sauce’s taste was like corn soup with spicy. It was sososo tasty! It was like eating octopus dipping with very creamy and deep corn soup. I highly recommend it. However, it was also salty so we requested putting less salt on the next dishes. I recommend you telling them put less salt if you prefer low sodium.
The rate of octopus was ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
3. Murray Cod
Served with English pea, Fava bean, pistachio, fennel, lemon, mint, Verjus foam. The Verjus foam was made by a sour juice.
They cooked the fish medium and it was very soft and juicy. I have never tried fish with mint, but it was very impressived. It was a good combination. The sauce was sour, good with the fish. However, it was not that special. I felt it is a better steamed fish than cooked at home. I couldn’t taste any fish smell, by the way.
Rate: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
4. Grilled Ribye
It was served with charred broccolini, crispy shallot, date puree, macadamia, and Jus. I am not sure what Jus is. They pour some sauce on the steak. I think the sauce was the Jus.
The steak was very juicy and tasty. the broccolini was little bit salty, but it crunchy. The vegetable was a good combination with the steak. However, it was just a simple steak that any restaurants can serve it. Nothing special. If they make a special sauce for the dish would be great. If you like eating beef, you would like it, but not love it so much!
Rate: ⭐⭐⭐
5. Citrus Tapioca Pudding
Served with banana, mandarin, Yuzu, coconut, cocoa nib, blood orange sorbet.
I could taste of its Yuzu’s sour, Blood orange’s sweet, and cacao nib’s bitter. Their combination was great and beutiful looking! They celebrated our anniversary with the candle:)
Rate: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
6. Strawberries & Cream
Served with buttermilk Panna Cotta, rhubarb, almond sable, strawberry meringue.
If you like stawberry, I recommend you trying it. You can taste their fresh stawberries with creamy panna cotta. The panna cotta was very rich and milky. Beutiful looking was extra:)
Okay, now I would like to talk about their view. We arrived there at 5pm, so sun was still up. We wanted to see a view of sunset, so we waited until 7pm, but it was still bright haha. The sunset was happening at about 8pm. I recommend you checking the sunset time if you want to see it. To be honest, a view of Los Angeles at bright was not that great. I would recommend you visiting here at night, like after 8pm. It would see much more beutiful view.
My favorite dish was the crispy octopus. I highly recommend you trying it!!! I paid little over $200 this day. Yeah, it was expensive. However, if you want to visit a fancy restaurant, then I would recommend you visiting. To be honest, I won’t visit here again because the dishes was not that special and view was not that good for me. The Castaway was better to me. I would just recommend visiting here just for experiencing once.
Thank you for reading:)