It’s Christmas Eve, your family of four have all traveled from afar so you can be together, and you want to select the most enjoyable venue for sharing this magical moment. The perfect location for the occasion; Brandywine. This most unassuming restaurant hidden in a strip of buildings on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills is a diamond in the rough. One might easily pass it by if you weren’t aware of the exquisite things that are going on inside. It is like stepping into someone’s private home hosted by a wonderful couple whose skills in both the dining room and the kitchen surpass many of the greatest restaurants in the world.
The restaurant holds about 9 tables suited for intimate dining. Your menu arrives handwritten on a blackboard balanced on an easel. Chris explains the rare items that are offered and highlights the most delectable specials so you are sure not to miss anything particularly wonderful that evening. It may be a moot point, however, as I have yet to see any dish that is not of the utmost quality and taste served in this restaurant.
As suggested, we started with the house made Burrata Mozzarella served with vine ripened heirloom tomatoes. This is a dish you may have had so many times – at so many restaurants, that you would wonder what could possibly make it worthy of this special dinner? I wondered the same thing until I took my first bite! It was the most luxurious tasting, creamy-melt in your mouth, sensational caprese style salad I have ever had!
Along with the salad, we tried their yellow split pea soup that was also quite delicious. A perfect blend of textures and flavor to create a simple yet elegant soup.
For our main entrees, we leaned heavily on a carnivorous menu, which is quite unusual for our group. It proved to be a brilliant idea since each dish was a study in perfection on how to select the highest quality product and prepare it perfectly! I would be hard pressed to decide which of the meat entrees was the best as they were all flawless. I might say that the veal chop with mushroom sauce was my favorite as it was so unbelievably incredible! (Sorry, not the best photo) However, I equally loved the elk chop, beef fillet and veal oscar. I will say that the sides on the plates were not that exciting as the attention was clearly focused on the main items. In our case, it wasn’t an issue since the main items were so superb and plentiful.
There was one hold-out at our table who opted for seafood. However, this wasn’t just an ordinary dish, it was a plate of rare and delectable Red Abalone. Quite an unusual delicacy to find in a restaurant and offered at a cost less than your second mortgage. It was so succulent and heavenly, I was almost sorry we didn’t order two plates of it. It was so amazing!
A great thing about our family is we’re not afraid to share. We are happy to shift our plates around the table and enjoy tasting all of the wonderful selections everyone has made, which makes for a fun and adventurous meal! Paired with some wonderful wine, some that we brought and some that Chris generously shared from his private collection, our meal was almost complete. Of course, no holiday meal is really complete without some dessert wine and sweets!
The desserts were beautifully plated and nice portions to share. I favored the bread pudding – of course it is on my short list of dessert fav’s! The gingerbread was a little bitter for my taste, but nicely paired with luxurious ice cream topped with a nice caramel drizzle.
Clearly a memorable experience and the perfect choice for an intimate, elegant holiday dinner with my three favorite men!