If you’re the type of person who loves movies and plays, but you hate buying the stale food at the concession stand, then I may have the perfect dining experience for you. You can skip smuggling a full meal in your purse because the shows playing at Prospect Theatre in Hollywood come with cocktails, dinner, and dessert.

Earlier I was invited to attend a showing of Romeo & Juliet: Love is a Battlefield, Volume 2 directed by Bradley Bredeweg (creator of ABC’s “The Foster’s”) staring Ashley Argota (“Juliet) and Alex Nee (“Romeo”). While I was excited to see Bredeweg’s take on the classic play that would incorporate some of the greatest rock music, I was on assignment to review the menu by Chef Kyle Schutte, winner of 2014 Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen“.

Arriving to the venue was a little bit of a hunt on its own. Although the address points to a location on the corner of Hollywood and Ivar, you’ll end up realizing it’s not there. Instead, you’ll have to ask a few people for directions only to find that the theatre is on the central part of Hollywood Blvd. Take it from me, don’t give up you’ll find it eventually. When you do, you’ll walk into the avant-garde space that feels like a bar designed to cater to the rock and roll crowds. After walking up the steps I was in the theatre. I took some time to photograph and exploring the space. In the bar and lounge area were photos of past concerts, leather couches, and brick walls.  Walking into the theater section was an open floor space that was set to hold the stage and dining tables. Once I was escorted to my seat with my friend TJ, we prepared for the show and food.

Before knowing what to order, we took a look over the menu and went with drinks. A few sips of a amaretto sour later and I was ready to start eating. The start of the food began with the aptly named, Prospect Fries ($7). The fries were paired with a sweet and sour pickled fresno mayo. The fries were nice; they were a good balance of both soft and crispy with a greater lean to the soft side. My favorite part about this side was the sauce. It’s a bit spicy with a super smooth texture that is good on top of the fries.

After we devoured the fries and mayo, we moved on to the Calamari Fritos ($12). A plate of calamari fried with Fritos were delivered lying in a dollop of guacamole. I had no real expectation of how they would taste, but was excited to try something familiar fried with a creative ingredient. From the first to the last bite, I found that these didn’t taste the way I liked. Turns out, the Fritos made the exterior of the calamari a lot tougher than necessary making it harder to enjoy them. As a result, I coated them in guacamole to help soften the texture but to no avail. While I initially appreciated the creativity in the ideation of the dish, I didn’t care for the taste.

Shortly after the starters were cleared from the table, our entrees arrived. I ordered the Wild-Caught Pacific Snapper ($24) accompanied by a selection of local root vegetables. I feel as if snapper gets a bad name as the “throw away” fish. If that’s your perception of snapper then get ready to toss that notion out the window because his plate done by Chef Kyle will bring it back to sea level. Sure that was corny, but it’s pretty true. This snapper comes with charred edges that is essential to the taste. While another restaurant could serve a dish this way and it would make the fish distasteful, somehow Chef Kyle makes it seem like a well-seasoned layer. Underneath the skin was the meat that was incredibly fresh and succulent. Add to that, the sauce that it sits in is thin, with a perfect “bitterness” to accent the fish.

In between bites of my fish, I stuck my fork into TJ’s plate of Niman Ranch Pork Loin ($28). It was nice to see pork from Niman Ranch on the menu because I’ve read about how they mother their animals and never give them hormones. Even better, the ranch marbles their pork in a way that is supposed to make them incredibly juicy. With that in mind, my bites of the pork was soft and tender. In spite of that, the pork didn’t hold the flavor that I thought it would. I was wishing that it would ooze out with a salty flavor in each fork but it doesn’t necessarily do that. In no way would I say the pork was bad, but it wasn’t as pronounced in flavor as I would hope. But then I take into consideration that the hogs are raised on a 100% vegetable diet and then that led me to wonder if it had any impact on the flavor. Maybe a side-by-side comparison of hogs raised on vegetables to those on a different diet should happen sometime soon?

Just as quickly as the last plates were taken away, the desserts arrived. TJ ordered the Buttermilk Panna Cotta ($9). The panna cotta was served with strawberry granita, peanuts, and Thai basil. This dish was light, semi-tart, and incredibly silky. It was a nice dessert and would most likely be a perfect dish for the panna cotta lover out there, but I knew that there was a dish on the menu that was just right for me.

That dish just happened to be one of my favorite desserts, but here there was a pleasant spin: the Tempura-Fried Bread Pudding ($9). This dessert of cinnamon and sugar was paired with a dulce de leche confection and Mexican chocolate whipped cream. To the taste, the bread pudding was very sugary but not to the point that it was overdone. Having it fried tempura style and then covered in cinnamon made it taste like a churro, without the flight to Mexico City or the drive to Olvera Street. Underneath the tempura is the soft and moist pudding that melts in your mouth almost immediately.

Although my attention wasn’t as focused on the music and acting as it could have been, I did find myself devoting a significant amount of my interest to the food. With Chef Kyle in the kitchen, guests of the show can get delicious plates to accompany each song and dance routine. Hopefully, the dishes won’t be as distracting to you as they were for me.

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Phone: (323) 469-0040
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