PreferDine: Dining and Drinks at Josie

Our next deal this week on PreferDine is at an all-time Santa Monica favorite: Josie. Chef Josie Le Balch has been making a name for herself there since she opened it in 2001 thanks to her constantly changing menu of Farmer's Market delights, including a one-off prix fixe menu every Wednesday night.

For PreferDine, we were able to secure a 50% off deal where you pay $30 for $60 worth of food and drinks at this inimitable Westside wonderland. You can read all about the myriad treats in store for you and buy the deal here, or read my text below to learn more about the restaurant.

THE DEAL

2424 Pico Boulevard
Santa Monica,CA 90405
Phone: 310-581-9888
www.josierestaurant.com

The prospect of dinner at Josie is sort of like venturing into a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Diners never know what new dishes they’ll find on Chef Josie Le Balch’s menu on a given evening—even Josie herself doesn’t know until she peruses the produce at the farmer’s market that morning. It’s that very adaptability, though, as well as an ability to cook in a variety of styles using an eclectic mix of ingredients that has made her eponymous restaurant a Santa Monica institution. Recent items on her ever-changing menu have included: Farmer’s Market nectarine and wild arugula salad with toasted Oregon hazelnuts and shaved Parmigiano Reggiano; grilled quail wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon, with sweet corn and bacon chowder; California white bass with zucchini ribbons, heirloom cherry tomatoes and basil sauce; and warm blackberry crumble pie with toasted almond crumble, rhubarb sauce and crème fraiche ice cream. With dishes like that, every meal is an adventure. The only hard part is choosing.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The restaurant has won the Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence every year since it has opened.


• Josie learned to cook as a child by helping in the kitchen at her father’s French restaurant Chef Gregoire.


• Le Balch and her pastry chef, Jonna Jensen, have worked together at Saddle Peak Lodge, Remi and The Beach House before opening Josie’s together in 2001.


• Josie has been a guest chef on Gordon Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen.”