Knife Pleat introduces Flora, a plant-based tasting menu

Chef Tony Esnault gets creative with his ode to vegan fare.

While plant-based dining has its omnivorous detractors, chefs have often found a satisfying challenge in vegan dishes — after all, from limitation comes great creativity.

Costa Mesa’s Knife Pleat, owned by Tony Esnault and Yassmin Sarmadi, the husband-wife duo known for their work at Church & State, is the latest, and most luxe, example. The Michelin-starred sparkler at South Coast Plaza introduced Flora or Fauna tasting menus earlier this year, with the former setting seasonal harvests smack dab at center stage.

Although the Flora menu will change depending on the day’s harvest (Esnault hand selects primo produce from myriad organic pit stops on a regular basis), during an early June visit the late-spring vegan menu kicked off with a fungi-forward, umami-packed tartelette of chanterelles, porcini and truffle; a star-shaped panisse topped with romesco and pickled fennel; and a champagne-infused plum chutney with soy milk cream and cashews. Finishing off the amuse-bouche portion of the program was a gold-gilded quenelle of seaweed caviar atop a dollop of avocado and pine nut crumble.

A chilled white asparagus soup, with pickled red onion and brioche cubes, proved that sometimes the most delicate dishes and subtle flavors are often the best. The ode to asparagus was followed by a pile of pearl barley with chanterelles and sunflower petals sitting atop an ochre-hued squash sunflower foam, attesting that foam, when combined with barley, makes for a hearty bite.

The highlight of the menu was the legumes de saison (“seasonal vegetables”), Esnault’s signature dish featuring a mosaic of 15 different vegetables all prepared separately. From sous vide and roasting to thinly sliced and braised, the medley of tastes and textures on one plate is a catcall to the glory of vegetables in both their purest and heightened forms.

Rounding out the Flora menu was a marinated and grilled tofu, corn relish and cornbread showered with freshly sliced black truffle.

For dessert, a handful of treats from pastry chef Elaine Lee included a strawberry confit sorbet with basil and tarragon granite that mimics a bed of greens; a peach and almond cake with nougatine; and end-of-meal macaron, pate de fruit (aka jelly candy) and white chocolate disks topped with almond and dried fruits brought the dinner to a close. Bravo.

While wine and cocktail pairings are the norm, Knife Pleat’s tasting menus also come with alternative zero-proof pairings, an ideal solution for those of us who stave off booze for health (or otherwise) reasons.

As a place of fine-dining repute, Knife Pleat’s third-floor venue is surprisingly casual. Walk-ins are welcome to pop in and inquire about an available table (or, better yet, one of the five seats at the bar, which offer front-row access to chefs in action). Families are also a regular sight: on a recent visit, a family of four, saddled with a toddler and a grade-schooler, happily and quietly dined in the midst of the all that gastronomic refinement.

Price per guest will run $195 for the four-course dinner menu and $295 for the six-course menu (does not include wine pairing).

Find it: 3333 S Bristol St, third floor at South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa

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