Wolfgang Puck intros WP24 at Downtown's Ritz-Carlton

WP24's impressive wine wall overlooks Downtown L.A.

High atop Downtown's new Ritz-Carlton, Wolfgang Puck officially introduced his latest restaurant WP24 last night, though it's already been open a few weeks. The concept is haute Asian fusion -- a Chinois for the 21st century -- and let's say the prices are commensurate with the height of the restaurant. After seeing the foggy view of the basketball playoffs at the Staple Center, we got a press tour of the vast kitchen, where Wolfgang proceeded to stuff several lucky writers with pork belly until we nearly burst. I'm looking forward to a full meal there, but all the tastes we had were spicy and fun. I loved seeing the vats of chile sauce and rows of Thai condiments in the kitchen -- it seems like the kitchen isn't afraid of a little heat.Carole Dixon from FeastLA spied the whole crispy pork belly and convinced Wolfgang to give us a taste or three.

Even better were the pork belly bao, with hoisin sauce and scallions folded into tender rice buns.

Sherry Yard, left, and WP24 pastry chef Sally Camacho were manning the pastry station, which emphasizes Asian flavors like calamansi Vacherin and desserts made with Thai ovaltine.

WP24 executive chef David McIntyre, left, formerly of Spago, and Lee Hefter whipped up some Chinese sausage fried rice in case we were still hungry. Delish.

The kitchen has a full sushi area with a giant tub of sushi rice, and an array of spices in the background.
It's an impressive set-up, though the room seems targeted towards flush Downtown businesspeople and Staples Center sports stars. I hope they appreciate the pork belly!