The DTLA Proper Hotel is beautifully designed by Kelly Wearstler, a former athletic faciliity…read more Although I've done several staycations here, tea at Dahlia remained on my bucket list of experiences, since it's only offered on weekends. I finally was able to check it off, thanks to a hotel offer with a dining credit.
Dahlia is the gorgeous petite space behind the larger ground floor restaurant space now called Cabrillo (formerly Caldo Verde). Dahlia opened as a bespoke cocktail lounge, then began to offer tea. Now it's just tea. There are five 2-tops and two 4-top tables. All food and beverage venues at the Proper used to be under the auspices of famed chef Suzanne Goin and her business partner/sommelier Caroline Styne. They are no longer affiliated with the Proper, but many of their dishes/contributions remain. The last named vestige of them is on the tea menu, "Suzanne's Deviled-Egg Sandwich".
The tea menu has several options: Classic, with a seasonal mocktail, or with different champagnes. I opted for the Classic experience, because the mocktail had mocha, not my fave. Server Lluvia was clearly a Dahlia veteran; she offered a tea-smelling of all the teas that interested me as well as crowd favourites. I ultimately chose one of these faves, Mad Hatter's Tea Party, which had passionfruit and vanilla.
I declined milk/cream, but did get lemon. There were rock sugar sticks on the table.
It seems the selection of tea sandwiches and sweet treats changes every so often, although the vanilla bean scone, dried currant scone, Devonshire cream and apricot orange jam seem like constants.
The sandwich selection at my visit were: cucumber, crab/creme fraiche, beet hummus on pita, smoked salmon and Suzanne's deviled egg. All were delish, the beet, crab and deviled egg especially.
The sweet treats were: orange fig butter cookie, spiced apple brown butter crumble, cranberry frangipane hand pie, chocolate mocha macaron, pumpkin madeleine, plus the 2 scones. All were excellent.
There were no leftovers. A bit pricey, but a relaxing and lovely experience. The room was not crowded when I visited, adding to the calmness of my visit.