L.A. Times restaurant reviews
November 11, 2009
The Review: Marche L.A. in Sherman Oaks
It's back to the Boulevard for Gary Menes, who first made a splash when he was cooking Moroccan-accented dishes at the then-newly opened Firefly on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. Last year he landed as chef de cuisine at Octavio Becerra's Palate Food + Wine in Glendale, where he did some of the best cooking in his career. And now he's joined up with André Guerrero as chef and partner at Marché L.A. on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.
November 4, 2009
The Review: Blue Plate Oysterette in Santa Monica
OK, so L.A. has its Issan Thai restaurants, Sichuan and Shanghai style places, Tuscan trattorie and Provencal bistros, Yucatan and Oaxacan joints. Why not an East Coast clam shack? Well, now we have one, fetchingly called Blue Plate Oysterette.
October 28, 2009
The Review: Bistro LQ
The broth comes, comforting and rich, larded with bone marrow dumplings, a few strands of vermicelli. The waiter tells us to leave a little broth in the bowl for the chabrot, a splash of red wine to finish up the soup. Next come the leeks cooked in the pot; khaki green, they're soft as pudding, served in a vinaigrette with a shower of chopped hard-boiled egg on top. That's followed by a platter of the boiled meats -- oxtail, capon, beef shank and shin, chuck roast, short ribs, brisket and a little partridge, with potatoes and carrots and other root vegetables all cooked in that concentrated broth.
October 21, 2009
Stefan's at L.A. Farm in Santa Monica
For a "Top Chef" finalist, 36-year-old Stefan Richter comes out like a lamb at his new restaurant, Stefan's at L.A. Farm. He's not out to shock or provoke. He's out to cook food that's squarely within most people's comfort zones.
October 14, 2009
The Review: Pinot Provence in Costa Mesa
When Pinot Provence opened in 1998, Joachim Splichal was one of the first big-name L.A. chefs, if not the first, to venture into Orange County.
October 7, 2009
The Review: The Tasting Kitchen in Venice
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That's why Hidden became Caché, Charcoal switched to BoHo, and Max morphed into Marché.
September 30, 2009
The Review: The Sunset Restaurant in Malibu
As we squeak past the last days of summer, it's never too late to make one more trip to the beach. Dinner at the Sunset on Zuma Beach could be just the right antidote to stave off the inevitable sadness as fall comes on with its shorter days and longer nights. Not to mention longer pants and sweaters.
September 23, 2009
Restaurant Review: Cache in Santa Monica
Josiah Citrin peers into the dining room, looking slightly rumpled and just a little anxious. Though he's been cooking in Santa Monica for almost two decades, first at JiRaffe (opened with longtime friend and collaborator Raphael Lunetta in 1996), and then at his own French-accented Mélisse since 1999, this just isn't his usual crowd. Or at least not tonight. It's party time as guests lounge on the red sofas in the two-level patio lounge of this sprawling indoor-outdoor space and a social butterfly in a sparkly dress darts from group to group, Champagne glass in hand.
September 16, 2009
The Review: Studio at Montage Laguna Beach
As friends and I approach Studio, the restaurant at Montage Laguna Beach set on the edge of a bluff, I can see chef Craig Strong silhouetted against a silvery mauve sky as he talks to a table of guests on the outdoor terrace. Palm trees in front are ablaze with the setting sun and in the grass behind him, a trio of bunny rabbits play and nibble. We're seated outside, too, the better to enjoy the sea air and the unobstructed view of the coastline. What a spot!
September 9, 2009
The Review: Boa in West Hollywood
What is up with Boa's new über-chic flagship restaurant in West Hollywood?
September 2, 2009
The Review: RH at the Andaz in West Hollywood
Hotel restaurants don't have much of a local audience, with good reason: Not that many are truly compelling. That's by way of explaining why I didn't rush right out to try the new restaurant in the revamped Hyatt (now called the Andaz West Hollywood) on the Sunset Strip. I did take a look at the menu, and passed.
August 26, 2009
The Review: Ado in Venice
When I pull up to Ado, the new Italian restaurant that's moved into the old Amuse space on Main Street in Venice, chef-owner Antonio Muré is standing in his whites in the doorway, his dark hair pulled into a ponytail, so chic he looks as if he's waiting for Vogue photographer Steven Meisel to show up any minute.
August 19, 2009
Restaurant review: Le Saint Amour in Culver City
The first time I went to Paris, a friend's old boyfriend, a poet who taught English to the employees of the French phone company, took me in hand and introduced me to his favorite restaurants. This American in Paris was mad about simple bistros and lively brasseries. He never spent more than the equivalent of $25 on a meal and I doubt very much he ever ate at a Michelin-starred restaurant, yet he loved everything about eating in France.
August 12, 2009
Restaurant Review: ParkAve in Stanton
Before it was Beach Boulevard, the Orange County road that leads straight to Huntington Beach was known as Highway 39.
August 5, 2009
Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill opens at L.A. Live
Puck really knows how to pick them. Locations, that is. Wolfgang Puck, who burst onto the scene in 1982 with a little place called Spago, has just opened a new restaurant downtown at L.A. Live. Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill sits center stage, right on the L.A. Live square next door to Nokia Theatre and directly across from the Los Angeles Convention Center. Not one to play it coy, he's emblazoned the name Wolfgang Puck across the front, with tall turquoise lacquer doors to mark the entrance.
July 29, 2009
Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne's Tavern in Brentwood
What if no one had introduced Caroline Styne, then manager of Jones, to Suzanne Goin, who was at the time chef de cuisine at Campanile? We wouldn't have Lucques or A.O.C., two of L.A.'s most beloved restaurants. And we certainly wouldn't have the partners' new Tavern in Brentwood.
July 22, 2009
Domenico Ristorante: innovative Italian dining in Silver Lake
Brentwood is rife with Italian restaurants opened by Italian waiters who used to work somewhere else. Kiss. Kiss. Ciao. Add in a copycat menu of L.A. Italian dishes, preferably Tuscan-inspired, a celebrity or two disguised in scruffy attire: success, even in this cockamamie economy. Everybody loves pasta.
July 15, 2009
The Review: Petrossian Paris Boutique and Cafe
Open a caviar store in this economy? Is that just a little bit crazy, or what? Quietly, seemingly with hardly anyone noticing, the famous caviar purveyor Petrossian of Paris has reopened its Robertson Boulevard shop after a four-month-long remodel and this time around, it includes a cafe open almost all day long.
July 1, 2009
The review: Bottega Louie in downtown L.A.
Passersby stand and stare at the spectacle inside the palatial Brockman Building at the corner of 7th and Grand. Floor-to-ceiling windows put the whole shebang that is Bottega Louie on full display: gray-veined marble floors, imposing pillars and a ceiling high enough that Cirque du Soleil trapeze artists could do their thing. Some of the more decorative touches look like a collaboration between Louis XV (Louie?)and Gianni Versace.
June 17, 2009
RESTAURANT REVIEWS
Minestraio, All' Angelo change courses
Times are hard, especially for fine dining. Rather than stay the course and wait out the downturn, hoping for the best, two Italian restaurateurs, both with once highly regarded restaurants, have taken a tough stance and revised their restaurants from high-end ristoranti to mid-level trattorias.
June 10, 2009
Restaurant Review: Susan Feniger's Street restaurant
At Street, Susan Feniger's new tribute to global street food, look for the slight woman with the high-wattage smile, in canvas shoes, khaki chef's jacket and baseball cap worn backward. That's Feniger, one-half of the Too Hot Tamales, co-founder of Border Grill and at 55, no longer the youngest chef on the block. Nor the most outrageous.
June 3, 2009
The Review: Westside Tavern at Westside Pavilion is an unexpected delight
I can tell you my friends weren't all that excited when I told them where we were headed for dinner: the Westside Pavilion. Granted, dining in a shopping mall doesn't quite have the allure of Providence or the Bazaar by José Andres. But then again, I told them, you never know where the next great restaurant will pop up in Southern California. It could be in the most banal of strip malls, tucked away in Glendale or hiding out in the O.C. That's one of the peculiarities -- and delights -- of this endlessly fascinating area.
May 27, 2009
The Review: Reservoir restaurant in Silver Lake
"Was everything terrific as always?" asked the host as my friends and I left Reservoir in Silver Lake. What kind of question is that? Talk about putting you on the spot. I wanted to put a bag over my head and sneak out without answering.
May 20, 2009
The Review: Chaya Downtown
Not that long ago, downtown L.A. seemed a no-man's land at night, the streets eerily empty while lights blazed in the office towers and hotels. Inside Water Grill or Pacific Dining Car, though, stranded hotel guests and convention goers hunkered down over fish or steaks, while a few blocks away, hard-core sushi fans took a seat at Little Tokyo sushi bars. When I first moved to L.A., I remember desperately searching for the downtown hotel where a friend was staying but not finding one person to ask on the street. And yet when a play or a concert or a sports event let out, suddenly a traffic jam on the 110.
May 13, 2009
Restaurant Review: Cecconi's in West Hollywood
At the latest London import, Cecconi's, an expat Brit orders a cocktail, leans back against the luxurious cushions strewn along the terrace banquette and opens the morning's Times -- that would be the Times of London. Hostesses have a tony British accent, some of the servers too. A gentleman in a bespoke suit with tie and matching hankie tucked into his breast pocket glides past our table at lunch.
May 6, 2009
The Review: Huckleberry in Santa Monica
Waiting for my order at Huckleberry in Santa Monica, I watch the line move, slowly, forward. Ballet flats, flip-flops, bicycle cleats, and Nikes, Manolos, and sturdy walking shoes and even a tiptoeing cane inch their way to the cash register. Sometimes at lunch the line is out the door, snaking past the tall wooden planters filled with herbs and greens and tomatoes, all the way into the parking lot in back.
April 22, 2009
The Review: Fig in Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica
Against all odds, not one, but two excellent hotel restaurants have opened in the last few months. First, we had the Bazaar by José Andrés, the dynamic tapas restaurant in the new SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills. And now we have Fig in the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica.
April 15, 2009
The Review: Pizzeria Ortica in Costa Mesa
Cutting-edge fine-dining restaurant with elaborate tasting menu, solemn servers and profound wine list? Done that. Elegant patisserie turning out pretty pastel macarons and gold leaf-adorned chocolates? Oui. Contemporary French bistro complete with cheese bar and handcrafted cocktails? Done that too.
April 8, 2009
Jitlada restaurant in Hollywood
After a few bites of curry, the tall, curly-haired guy reaches for his water glass frantically. He'd heard about Jitlada from chef friends and he can't believe he waited so long to come, I hear him say, as he takes another long swig of water. Minutes later, his posse of three jumps up and heads outside to cool down from all that searing chile heat. That's when I recognize him: the former fromager -- cheese guy -- at Comme Ça, standing in the glare of the shabby Hollywood strip mall. Suddenly, the woman with him starts turning cartwheels in the parking lot.
8:18 PM PDT, March 31, 2009
The Review: Rivera in downtown Los Angeles
John Rivera Sedlar, the chef who brought us Saint Estephe, Bikini and Abiquiu (may they all rest in peace) is back and back in a big way. At the new Rivera within shouting distance of L.A. Live, the 54-year-old chef is firing on all cylinders. Rivera is terrific, one of the most exciting restaurants to debut in L.A. in the last few years.
March 18, 2009
Church & State in downtown Los Angeles
Church & State has to go down as one of the more unusual restaurant pairings in Southern California: owner Steven Arroyo, best known for casual clubby places such as Cobras & Matadors, and chef Walter Manzke, renowned for his meticulous French- California cuisine at Bastide, Patina and L'Auberge Carmel.
March 11, 2009
Saluté Wine Bar in Santa Monica
Yet another small-plates restaurant without any particular hook seems like such a yawn, so you'll forgive me if I didn't rush out to try Saluté Wine Bar in Santa Monica the minute it opened. OK, so the small plates are called piattini ("small plates" in Italian), then what?
March 4, 2009
Review: Kiwami in Studio City
I hear a shush, shush, shush sound and look up to see sushi chef Katsuya Uechi grating a piece of fresh wasabi root, bearing down with all his might. I catch my Japanese friend's eye. Any sushi chef who grates his own wasabi is serious about his ingredients. It's a small touch, but one that's telling.
4:35 PM PST, February 17, 2009
A rare four-star restaurant review: The Bazaar by José Andrés
Olives that flood your mouth with flavor. A foie gras lollipop wrapped in cotton candy. The definitive shrimp with garlic. Innocent-looking bites that shoot smoke out of your nostrils.
February 11, 2009
Drago Centro in downtown L.A.
Seriously, what is wrong with this town? If Celestino Drago, one of the best-known Italian restaurateurs in Southern California, can't get a crowd for his most ambitious restaurant yet, and a very glamorous one at that, then what? The fact that Drago Centro's location -- downtown L.A. -- may be outside the comfort zone of his fan base shouldn't be a deterrent for more intrepid Italophiles.
February 4, 2009
AK Restaurant + Bar in Venice
It might seem that there is little as unlikely as a Scandinavian restaurant in Southern California, but for many years one of L.A.'s most celebrated spots was Scandia on Sunset Boulevard. It had closed by the time I came to town, but Gustaf Anders was still carrying the flame for the cuisine in Costa Mesa. That's gone now too, but I still remember the generous holiday buffet that went on for the entire month of December, the sumptuous platters of crayfish boiled with dill in summer and the pretty princess cake wrapped in green marzipan.
January 28, 2009
The Review: Luau in Beverly Hills
When I invited a friend who grew up in Beverly Hills to dinner at the new Luau on Bedford Drive, she messaged me back that she remembered going to the original with her parents years ago. "Pupu platter, crab Rangoon, ribs -- yum!"
January 21, 2009
Restaurant review: Riva in Santa Monica
In downtown Santa Monica, people walk. Stand in front of the new Riva on Wilshire between 3rd and 4th streets and it's quite the spectacle as buff new mothers jog behind strollers, friends giggle over their haul from sales on the Third Street Promenade, and the down-and-out troll passersby for spare change. Everybody passing by, though, stops to peer in the windows of the lively new restaurant that's sprouted where the Italian steakhouse Scarboni briefly languished.
January 14, 2009
Restaurant review: XIV in West Hollywood
After listening to the waiter try to explain the concept at the new XIV in West Hollywood, we're thoroughly confused. It's social dining, he tells us. But isn't all eating in restaurants inherently social? The menu is all small plates, but he doesn't call it a small-plates restaurant either. "So -- it's a tasting menu," someone prompts the waiter. "No, it's not," he answers. OK, then, could it be considered a do-it-yourself multi-course menu? Something like that.
January 7, 2009
Restaurant review: Talesai in West Hollywood
Several generations of a Thai family are seated around a long table at Talesai in West Hollywood. After they've finished eating, the beautifully dressed elderly man at the center of the table leans forward and begins to sing, his face etched with nostalgia and sadness. His voice is soft and quavery, and as he sings in Thai, he waves his hands to mark the beat. Some of his family joins in from time to time, following the words to this song when they can.
December 17, 2008
NineThirty at the W Los Angeles in Westwood
When I pulled up in front of the W hotel in Westwood recently, there was no long line of cars in front. Just us. And a voluble valet captain. Checking in? No, we're here for dinner.
December 10, 2008
Robata-Ya on Sawtelle in West L.A.
When we sit down at Robata-Ya, a casual new Japanese restaurant in West Los Angeles, our server hands us a long narrow paper listing the various items you can order. It's something like a sushi menu, except this one is for robata and everything is grilled on skewers.
November 26, 2008
Restaurant review: Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard
The restaurant at the fabled Chateau Marmont, the towering emblem of Old Hollywood that has sat perched above Sunset since 1929, has had its ups and downs through the years. It was up -- way up -- when Mohammad Islam was the chef. Now he's gone (back to Chicago), and Carolynn Spence, former chef de cuisine of the New York gastropub the Spotted Pig, is responsible for Chateau Marmont's kitchen as well as Bar Marmont's down the hill. She began the revamp at Bar Marmont, and since I enjoyed her food there so much, I wanted to see what was up with the new menu at the Chateau.
November 12, 2008
Restaurant review: Father's Office at Helms Bakery
A European friend has a teenage son who loves ketchup so much that Dad carts home giant bottles of the stuff in his checked suitcase every time he visits the U.S. I know one person I won't be taking to Father's Office the next time he visits, because they don't allow the tomato-based condiment. No how. No way.
November 5, 2008
Sushi-lover's find: BiMi in Los Angeles
In the current economic climate, all of us are feeling the pain and we're looking, hard-eyed, at the way we spend our money. Those $100 sushi meals at Mori Sushi or the breathtaking blowout at Urasawa may have to wait until the market gets its act together. But once you've acquired the taste for high-grade sushi, it's hard to go back to eating the mediocre stuff served up at countless sushi bars across the city.
October 29, 2008
Bastide restaurant in West Hollywood has a new chef
Joe Pytka has been tinkering with his West Hollywood restaurant -- again. Bastide not only has a new chef -- Paul Shoemaker, its fourth -- but also a different format. Giving up its tasting-menu-only dictate, the 6-year-old restaurant now offers an a la carte menu in addition to the chef's tasting menu. That means you can stop in at Bastide for dinner and a bottle of wine and choose exactly what and how much you want to eat. You no longer need sign up for a three- or four-hour tasting menu.
October 22, 2008
Max in Sherman Oaks gets retooled and soaks up good vibes
On a warm Indian summer night in Sherman Oaks, my friends and I occupy a corner table framed by fashionably rusty metal trellises on the sidewalk terrace in front of Max. Outside, couples stroll by, some walking the dog, others, friends out for dinner together, turn in to the door. If any street in the Valley is Main Street, it's Ventura Boulevard, and for six years Max has been a fixture of the neighborhood.
October 8, 2008
Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale's South Coast Plaza
Dear Mr. Palmer: I've recently dined at Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale's South Coast Plaza several times and I'd like to suggest that before planning further expansion of your empire, you might want to get your new Southern California restaurant onto a more secure footing.
October 1, 2008
Gjelina in Venice: a high-energy Mediterranean restaurant
The tall door of the rustic Mediterranean restaurant opens, closes, opens -- on a roar of sound inside, much of it generated by the folks at the two tall communal tables docked at the bar. Laughter wafts up to the funky chandelier, an old pot rack dangling bare filament lightbulbs. Silverware clatters. Hands hoist glasses of wine. The party at Gjelina, a few-months-old spot on Abbott Kinney Boulevard, is impromptu and ongoing.
September 24, 2008
Restaurant review: the Wine Cask in Santa Barbara
For more than 25 years, Wine Cask has been a fixture on the Santa Barbara -- and Central Coast -- wine scene. Founded in 1981 by Doug Margerum and family, the restaurant and a wine shop in recent years has been more notable for its fat, comprehensive wine list than its food. Chefs came and went, but whoever was at the stoves, the menu rolled on, seemingly oblivious to any change: old-style California cuisine with fancy flourishes and the occasional Latin touch.
September 17, 2008
Restaurant review: Alain Giraud's Anisette in Santa Monica
When I took a Francophile friend to dinner in Santa Monica last week, she stood on the tiny octagonal tiles spelling out the name Anisette and twirled on her glittery ballet flats, looking up at the high ceilings, taking in the age-spotted mirrors and red leatherette banquettes. "Oh, it's beautiful," she sighs. "It reminds me of Paris." Which is precisely what this new brasserie from L.A.'s top French toque is supposed to do.
September 10, 2008
Rustic Canyon a neighborhood favorite in Santa Monica
AT Rustic Canyon, September's menu brings golf ball-sized arancinearancine fried to a deep gold. The trio of rice balls sits in a coral red heirloom tomato sauce; each contains a heart of molten fresh mozzarella. Evan Funke, the new chef at this nearly 2-year-old Santa Monica restaurant, has got it exactly right.
August 27, 2008
Review: Gordon Ramsay restaurant at the London hotel, West Hollywood
Everything you've learned about British superstar chef Gordon Ramsay on television is a crock. On his hit television shows, "Hell's Kitchen" and especially "Kitchen Nightmares," the three-star Michelin chef hams it up, cajoling and bullying some of the most exasperating cooks and restaurateurs on the planet into doing better work. The histrionics make for riveting television, but give the wrong impression about Ramsay's own cooking.
August 20, 2008
Review: Animal restaurant in Los Angeles
TWO "food dudes" -- laid-back, long-haired cooks who grew up in Florida and are culinary graduates of the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale -- make their way to California and end up at the late Chadwick in Beverly Hills working with Ben Ford and Govind Armstrong. In 2004, the dudes, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, found Carmelized Productions, a catering company. Soon, they're starring in the Food Network docudrama series, "Two Dudes Catering," which purports to show "two young renegade chefs who play by their own rules" in "the big time world of Hollywood catering."
August 13, 2008
Restaurant review: Palate Food + Wine
YOU SNAG a parking spot on the street in the middle of Brand Boulevard's endless row of car dealerships and as you get out of the car, you can feel the salesmen go into high alert. A possible buyer for that gas-guzzling truck? No, just another food lover on the way to the most exciting and delicious new restaurant to open in a very long time -- Palate Food + Wine.
August 6, 2008
Restaurant review: The Park in Echo Park
THESE days it usually takes a minimum of half a million dollars to open even the smallest restaurant in Los Angeles. For a young chef dreaming of his or her own restaurant, doing it on the cheap means going for a small space in an under-serviced neighborhood, forgoing the edgy design and pricey PR firm, and doing most of the cooking -- and everything else -- yourself. As part of a growing movement of modest chef-owned neighborhood restaurants, the Park in Echo Park opened in March with a budget of $100,000. It may not be able to boast plush banquettes or water features, not to mention Christofle flatware or Riedel glasses -- but it makes up for it with pluck and a menu realistically priced for the times.
July 30, 2008
Review: Ammo in Los Angeles
As chefs have come and gone at Ammo, the relaxing ambience at times has been more of a draw than the food. But under new chef Julia Wolfson, the kitchen is turning out beautiful seasonal cooking. Wolfson, an Orange County native, has been working most recently in New York under Eric Ripert (Le Bernardin), Dan Barber (Blue Hill) and earlier with Rocco DiSpirito ( Union Pacific). For the last few months, she's been putting her own stamp on the menu originally laid down by owner Amy Sweeney.
July 23, 2008
Review: Blanca in Newport Beach
FROM OUR table along the water at Blanca, a new restaurant in Newport Beach, we watch as a gondolier in traditional striped jersey and broad-brimmed hat gives his gleaming black gondola a polish with a soft cloth, folding a blanket across the seat. His presence, barely visible in the dark as lights reflected in the water bob in and out of focus, is incongruous among the moored speedboats and party boats for hire. Yet here comes the romantic couple ready for their gondola ride. As they step into the boat, the gondolier hands them each a glass of wine and -- ever the professional -- takes a photo.
July 16, 2008
Review: Vincenti Ristorante
WHEN friends I don't see nearly often enough invited me out to dinner a few weeks ago, of course I said yes, and then rearranged my schedule to work around the date. "Let's go to Vincenti, just for fun," they told me. "It's really good these days." Since I'd heard the same comment more than once recently, and it had been awhile since I'd been to the queen of the Brentwood Italian restaurants (last reviewed nearly seven years ago), I was curious.
July 9, 2008
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Review: Taking the bait at Gladstone's Malibu
DRESSED IN shorts or pretty little sundresses, late breakfasters parade out of Gladstone's at noontime, carrying wonderful, whimsical, shiny gold packages -- a whale with an upswept tail, a bunny that could stop Jeff Koons in his tracks. Hungry diners stroll in for lunch, past the tables overlooking the beach, past the outdoor bar. In they go, and out they come, fantastical creatures held aloft -- hour after hour, as the sun sets over Point Dume in the distance, and late into the evening as the moon climbs high.
July 2, 2008
Review: Brix@1601 in Hermosa Beach gives contemporary American a well-executed twist
"DO YOU want that decanted?" the sommelier asks. Yes, please. Minutes later she's back, bearing a crystal decanter that, I swear, looks like a glass saxophone. It's that big. She sets it down in the middle of the table and when she later pours the wine, we watch, fascinated, as ruby Pinot speeds down the slender spout and lands with the grace of an Olympic diver in the precise middle of the glass. It's a charming bit of theater at Brix@1601, a new wine-centric restaurant in Hermosa Beach.
June 25, 2008
Review: Taverna Tony in Malibu, where Greek has a family feel
THE SERVER quickly unfolds a portable table, sets down a pan of saganaki -- fried cheese -- and sets it on fire. The blue flame soars upward and he calls out "Opa!" and disappears. From the main dining room, cheerful Greek music from a trio in the back corner wafts over the tables and out the door. By the time it reaches the bougainvillea-twined veranda outside, it's only a muted tinkle.
June 18, 2008
One Pico at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica: Relaxed and redone
TABLES lined up along the windows at One Pico offer not only an ocean view, but also a glimpse of Santa Monica's glitzy new Ferris wheel. Its complex computer system dials out the colors, changing light patterns the way a kaleidoscope does when the barrel is turned. In the foreground, palms nod their shaggy heads in the breeze, and the sand below is dimpled with hundreds of footsteps. Joggers streak down the beach as the waiter in a fitted vest pours glasses of Guigal Viognier from northern Rhône.
June 11, 2008
Gus's Barbecue in South Pasadena serves up classic dishes in revamped surroundings
IT'S ONLY natural that after 62 years, a restaurant might be in need of, if not an extreme makeover, something along the lines of a face lift. Gus's Barbecue in South Pasadena has been dishing out hearty comfort food to residents since 1946, the year Gus Tripodes, his brother Jack and a brother-in-law snapped up a little restaurant for sale on Fair Oaks Avenue and hung out the now familiar red and green sign.
June 4, 2008
Restaurant Review: Beso -- ready for its close-up?
Flash! Click! Flash, flash, flash! Digital cameras erupt all over the dining room like popcorn popping. In the next booth, a quartet of young Latinas with a mom in tow crowd closer together, the better to fit in the frame. Smile, says the obliging waiter as he snaps their pic, capturing this night out at "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria Parker's new Hollywood hot spot, Beso -- kiss.
May 28, 2008
Restaurant Review: BLT Steak
WITH THE surfeit of steakhouses in L.A. right now, I find myself wishing my grandfather, a Nebraska cattleman, were still alive. It would be great fun to take this die-hard meat 'n' potatoes guy around and get his reaction to L.A.'s new breed of steakhouse. I'm pretty sure he'd approve of the prime steaks at the latest entry, BLT Steak in West Hollywood, from New York's Laurent Tourondel.
May 21, 2008
Restaurant Review: Nobu
SEATED AT the sushi counter at the new Nobu Los Angeles, the three of us are oddly the only ones at the long counter made of blond-striped wood. We watch the hardworking sushi chefs turn out roll after roll after roll, neatly lining a sheet of nori with a layer of rice, piling on king crab legs or tempura shrimp or sections of soft-shelled crab, then rolling the seaweed up tightly before slicing and arranging the maki sushi on a series of platters. Big party on the patio, which (note to anybody who craves the center of the action) is otherwise Siberia.
May 7, 2008
Restaurant review: Michael's on Naples Ristorante in Long Beach
THE restaurant's name -- Michael's on Naples Ristorante --sounds dubious, like the kind of place you might see showing up on British chef Gordon Ramsay's hit television series "Kitchen Nightmares." In fact, Ramsay did take in hand an Italian restaurant called Peter's on Long Island in one episode I saw (and he spent much of the show trying to get the principles of running a restaurant -- no eating in front of the clients, no spending thousands on an Armani suit when the kitchen badly needs a stove -- through Peter's thick head).
April 23, 2008
Restaurant review: LA Mill Coffee Boutique in Silver Lake
The server asks the two of us about coffee. We look at each other knowing there's no question -- we're going with the siphon, a Japanese contraption for brewing coffee that looks straight out of a chemistry lab. I love the magic-show of it, the moment when the server turns on the butane burner and the water begins to bubble in the spherical glass globe at the bottom, and then slowly rises up the stem and floods the chamber above where the coffee, coarsely ground, awaits. She stirs the muddy mix with a spatula -- slowly, carefully.
April 16, 2008
THE REVIEW
Restaurant review: Bond Street in Beverly Hills
THE idea that an outpost of Bond Street, Jonathan Morr's fashionable lower Manhattan sushi bar, was slated to go into the new Thompson Beverly Hills hotel, seemed redundant, to say the least. Maybe a decade ago when the original Bond Street opened, sushi may have seemed less an everyday thing in New York. But why import a sushi restaurant that few Angelenos know? And one that's not tops in its class?
April 9, 2008
It's Citrus season again in Hollywood
Carpaccio of "surf, turf and earth" is laid out on a square platter -- a fabulous mosaic of raw beef, tuna, salmon, scallop and roasted pepper, each round decorated with a wisp of frisee or a pretty pink grapefruit segment, the whole pulled together with a drizzle of basil and kumquat oils. Each bite is different, making a melody of flavors that dances across the palate.
April 2, 2008
Away from the crowd at the Hall at Palihouse Holloway
IF you haven't driven past the section of West Hollywood's Holloway Drive where it joins Santa Monica Boulevard lately, you're in for a surprise. Seemingly overnight, an impressive building housing an extended-stay hotel with a condo wing has sprouted up. That's Palihouse Holloway. Inside is the new brasserie in town, the Hall restaurant. With no presence on the street and no sign, you'd never know it was there if you hadn't heard about it beforehand.
March 26, 2008
Little Dom's: Part of the family
I love the neighborhood feel of Little Dom's, the new Hillhurst Avenue spinoff of West Hollywood's Dominick's -- the way, as you wait for your table, the door stenciled with the name swings open, and in comes another knot of interesting-looking people: actors, writers, oldsters, tattoo artists, lounge lizards.
March 19, 2008
Wilshire: Taking it all in, out on the patio
Since its opening about 2 1/2 years ago, Wilshire has seemed a restaurant in need of a therapist. The vision and reality didn't really track. Christopher Blobaum, the chef, had ambitions for a sophisticated contemporary American restaurant that was also as committed to serving sustainably produced foods as anything in L.A. at the time. But the bar scene soon hijacked the restaurant, and the fun-loving crowd got in the way of more serious diners, who were left feeling like second-rate citizens. And those who did brave the noisy, frenetic scene often came away with mixed reviews of the dining experience, despite the kitchen's best intentions.
March 12, 2008
Rustlin' up steaks at the Range
The tip came from a "Rhone Ranger," one of the original pioneers of Rhone-style winemaking in California. A gruff fellow, not one to wax poetic, he called to carry on about a little place he'd just discovered, a cowboy steakhouse with a nostalgic vibe and fine country cooking deep in the hills of the Central Coast.
March 5, 2008
Bar Pintxo: Near the beach, a bit of Spain
Tell me, what food-loving traveler can visit San Sebastian in the Spanish Basque country and not fall head over heels for pintxos (pronounced "peenchos"), the local version of tapas? It happened to me. It's happened to countless other foodies discovering Basque cuisine for the first time. And it happened to Joe Miller, chef-owner of Joe's Restaurant in Venice and now of Bar Pintxo in Santa Monica too.
February 27, 2008
Paperfish: By the water in Beverly Hills
Everybody enjoys a nice piece of fish. But the best seafood restaurants -- Water Grill downtown and Providence in Hollywood, along with the top Cantonese seafood places in the San Gabriel Valley -- are on the east side of L.A.
February 20, 2008
Melograno is a delicious step up
COMING from Piedmont, where handmade tagliarini made with lavish amounts of egg yolks take pride of place in home and restaurant kitchens, Alberto Lazzarino, chef-owner of Hollywood's new Italian restaurant Melograno, is no slouch in the pasta department. Consider his tagliarini with braised lepre, or hare, in a pomegranate reduction. His rich egg noodles are fine as angel hair, yet perfectly sauced in a subtle sweet-tart ragù laced with the unique flavor of the hare.
February 13, 2008
RESTAURANT REVIEW:
Little bites of sophistication at Izakaya Zero
MAN does not live by sushi alone. You'd never know it, though, from the way sushi bars pack them in all over the Southland. There is, however, much more to Japanese cuisine than spicy tuna rolls and yellowtail sashimi washed down with chilled sake or Diet Coke.
February 6, 2008
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Restaurant Omakase: A citrus twist in Riverside
It takes just a sip of water to tell you that Restaurant Omakase in Riverside is something different.
January 30, 2008
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Every night is a big night at Terroni
IT'S the hot new Italian in town. Restaurant, that is. And in L.A., that usually means a formal attitude and northern Italian cuisine. But Terroni is a raucous, high-spirited place, and the kitchen is turning out southern Italian food heavy on the garlic, anchovies and hot peppers.
January 23, 2008
THE REVIEW
Axe in Venice is a fresh old-timer
"Have you had the nine-grain pancake?" my extravagantly fit friend asks me. "It's fantastic. About this big," she says, stretching her arms wide. "But the secret is, you can get a half order."
January 16, 2008
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Comme Ça: Just 'like that,' it's a hit
Comme Ca, the sparkling new brasserie from David Myers of Sona, is a runaway success, a crossover that's both a seriously good restaurant and a trendy one. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, the excitement lights up the restaurant scene, which has generally been in the doldrums since the economic downturn and now the writers strike. This is the place everyone wants to be, and that pretty much guarantees a crazy mix of people angling for a table and some grand cru people-watching.
January 9, 2008
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Your mission: Find Mesa's front door
I heard about it from an O.C. friend: a new restaurant and lounge just opened in Costa Mesa. It's one of those clandestine deals, he told me. No listed phone number, no sign, no address out front. A friend of a friend who knows the sommelier told him about it, and despite appearances (or lack of them), this was no hipster martini lounge, but a real restaurant headed by the former chef de cuisine at AOC.
January 2, 2008
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Sky's the limit at high-flying Kumo
IN the mood to swan through a chic, new sushi restaurant and unburden yourself of a good chunk of change? But, here's the hitch, you're not very hungry. Have I got the restaurant for you.
December 19, 2007
Count on Lucques to get it right
AFTER the din of the restaurant last night, Lucques is heaven. No raucous birthday parties or pounding heavy-metal soundtrack. No standing around waiting for our table, whacked by passing monolithic handbags. I don't have to fight my way in or worry that the reservation desk has lost our reservation. I don't have to wonder whether the chef is in or not, because either way the food is consistently delightful and original.
December 12, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Bread and beauty at Tanzore
LIVING in a city with such an original sense of fashion, Angelenos are style-savvy to the bone. So why is restaurant design in such a funk? It's as if every new restaurant is showing up at the party wearing the same dress -- yards of votive candles, black leather booths, bare tables and vinyl place mats.
November 28, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Hidden: three kitchens too many?
THOUGH the wall beside the parking garage elevator still wears a caricature of the gov in his muscle-bound movie star days, Schatzi, his Main Street Santa Monica restaurant, is no more. Yep, terminated. In its place is a new restaurant and lounge called Hidden from the owners of Via Veneto up the street.
December 5, 2007
Bastide, in a class of its own
THE blue door, shuttered for more than a year and a half, is open once again, and the stage is set for Act 3. Step in, and you're welcomed with the offer of an aperitif in the enchanting garden where a pair of gnarly olive trees cast lacy shadows on the wall, water falls into a basin, and the air is scented with lavender.
November 21, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
A little pasta, a lot of whirl
WHEN a new ristorante opens in Pacific Palisades, it's big news for restaurant-starved locals. And when the chef is Antonio Mure, former partner chef of Piccolo in Venice and La Botte in Santa Monica, is it any wonder the place has been thronged from Day One? His cooking at those two spots put them on the culinary map.
November 14, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
At Melrose Bar & Grill, a savvy new approach
I'M flipping through the hefty reserve wine list at the new Melrose Bar & Grill in West Hollywood and can't believe my eyes: 23 wines from Alsace and more than 20 Champagnes and sparkling wines at a restaurant where the pub steak is just $17. The more than 600 selections run through a who's who of top winemakers around the world, everyone from Marcel Guigal and Angelo Gaja to Lalou Bize-Leroy, Álvaro Palacios and Ken Wright. When I ask the wine steward about a Riesling from F.X. Pichler from the Wachau region in Austria or the Pinot Grigio from Movia in Slovenia, he can tell us all about it. Not only that, he recommends a Verdejo from Spain that's not even on the list yet.
November 7, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Three Forks Chop House: It's prime territory
WATCH as prime, aged meats -- steaks from the Midwest, Wagyu beef from Australia, true Kobe from Japan, Colorado lamb chops -- sizzle over an olivewood and charcoal fire. A waiter trots by with someone's "tomahawk," a 23-ounce dry-aged Nebraska rib-eye with a foot-long bone sticking out like a handle, and all heads swivel to follow its progress across the room -- a restored 1920s citrus packing plant, with high timbered rafters. The glassed-in grill is at the back.
October 31, 2007
Osteria Mozza: Be very hungry
THE white marble counter top veined in gray is cool to the touch. I take a sip of Vermentino, enjoying its delicate minerality, and look over the menu at Osteria Mozza, which might be the hardest reservation in town right now. But for me, the best seat in the house has to be one in the middle of the room at the L-shaped "mozzarella bar, " where you can't even make a reservation -- it's first come, first served.
October 24, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Hotel Bel-Air Restaurant: Date with a grande dame
ONE warm October evening, you're sitting outside with friends under trellises trained with bougainvillea, about to begin dinner on the terrace of one of the most glamorous hotels in the world. The wine's magnificent, the china's gorgeous. A plate of risotto is set before you, preceded by an amazing aroma -- the first Piedmont white truffles of the season. The waiter ceremoniously displays the prized specimen -- the truffle -- then shaves it in a gorgeous flurry over your dish. Oh, a little more, why not, let's live a little. Soon it's time for the main course, line-caught Dover sole meunière. The waiter presents it to you in all its aromatic glory, then deftly fillets it table-side before placing it before you, tender and delicate and just right.
October 17, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Terra: a perfect fit in Malibu
SPECTACULAR beaches, dramatic cliffs, amazing surf -- it's hard to feel sorry for Malibu. But if you love to eat out, life has dealt you the kind of hand that's landed you a spread on Broad Beach (or even a Thanksgiving week condo rental on the other side of the highway) and you've had enough of Nobu Malibu, you'll have to jump in the Ferrari and zoom out of the ZIP Code to find much of interest.
October 10, 2007
Craft is a scene, but the food is the star
Craft, the first L.A. restaurant from New York's Tom Colicchio, swaggered into town in July -- on Friday the 13th to be precise -- and as it happens, on the same day that Osteria Mozza from local legend Nancy Silverton and New York heavyweight Mario Batali flung open its doors. The New York invasion, which will continue this winter when Laurent Tourondel opens his new restaurant in the old Le Dome space on Sunset, has officially begun.
October 3, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
At Angelini Osteria, an ongoing festa
The stark, contemporary Beverly Boulevard storefront of Angelini Osteria is noisy, crowded and full of energy. All around us, the beautiful and the ravenous are diving into plates of bombolotti all' amatriciana or spaghetti with eggplant and ricotta, bickering over who gets the last slice of pizza with cherry tomatoes and burrata, or that last order of oxtail alla vaccinara.
September 26, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Tracht's translates Jar in Long Beach
Suzanne Tracht, one of L.A.'s top chefs, known for her delightful take on the classic pot roast and other chophouse fare, has opened her second restaurant six years after she founded Jar. And surprise, it's not in West Hollywood or Santa Monica: It's in Long Beach, a stone's throw from the Convention Center and the Queen Mary.
September 19, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Looking for love at Abode
"Desperately seeking a romantic restaurant" was the subject line on a recent e-mail. Good one. It's not so easy, especially when the seeker adds, "some place dark, quiet, by the beach." Abode, a new restaurant tucked behind Tengu on Ocean Boulevard in Santa Monica within shouting distance of Palisades Park, would seem to fit the criteria.
September 12, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Ca' Brea reopens, tries to revive its allure
Ca' Brea is back, after being closed nearly a year for renovations. And, for the first time in a long while, chef-owner Antonio Tommasi, who founded the place in 1991 with Jean-Louis de Mori, is playing a much more active role in what's coming out of the kitchen.
September 5, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Hungry Cat: Downtown, with fishnets flying
A huge, purple-black sea urchin with glossy, lethal-looking spines lands on the table, looking like some improbable fur hat set on its side. It must be 6 inches around. The waiter passes out spoons and sets down a plate of crisp handmade crackers. "Spoon out the roe," he says, "put it on a cracker, squeeze some lemon over and add a sprinkling of sea salt." My friends have never eaten raw sea urchin straight from the shell before, but we follow orders. The taste is fantastic, briny and complex, with a mineral salt tang, lit up by that squeeze of lemon and the salt. This is a little bit of heaven on a plate: Small wonder the Japanese pay big money for these Channel Island sea urchins.
August 8, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Artisan offers sharp urban style in homey Paso Robles
WITH several hotels in the works, plus a new luxe lodging where guests are offered a horse and carriage to take them to their dinner restaurant, Paso Robles seems slated to become the Healdsburg of the Central Coast wine country, a picturesque and convenient center for touring.
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Traxx: It's got a cosmopolitan outlook
ON a summer night, regulars at Traxx in Union Station know to ask for a table in the beautiful garden patio out back where tables are set under towering old jacarandas. With lanterns hanging from the trees in the broad grassy courtyard, and the landmark train station's grand architecture all around, Traxx's patio is one of the great secret dining spaces in L.A.
August 29, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
At Catch, an endless summer
SUMMER is unraveling, the daylight hours shaved ever shorter. I'd just as soon kiss the long leisurely days goodbye over dinner at the beach, watching the rose-gold fade to dark from the windows of Catch, the new restaurant at Casa del Mar in Santa Monica. It's one of only a few hotel restaurants with any ocean view along this part of the coast, and the view is straight on, just steps from the sand, with palm trees crowding against the windows.
August 22, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Bar Marmont, back in the game
WHEN you slide into the head of the line to park your car at Bar Marmont on a Friday or Saturday night, the valet will ask for $18 -- up front. Ouch. Welcome to the Sunset Strip. But don't let this high-handed tactic put you off going inside the once and forever hipster haunt. Bar Marmont is much more than another trendy clip joint. Now that the fabled hotel Chateau Marmont on the hill above has regained control, its namesake bar-restaurant is back in the game.
August 15, 2007
RESTAURANT REVIEW
Tower Bar: Glamour under the stars
ON a balmy summer night, where do you take out-of-town friends more intent on seeing something of the Hollywood scene than trying the latest, greatest restaurant? To the most adult place on the Strip: Tower Bar at the Sunset Tower hotel. We commandeer my friend John's rented convertible, lower the top, the four of us pile in. We cruise along Sunset Boulevard, taking in the glitzy boutiques, the packed sidewalk cafes, the stretch limos idling at the curbs, giggling at the goofy getups of teenagers swarming toward the Strip.
August 1, 2007
There's a clever kitchen and a casual scene at the new Foundry on Melrose
IF you live in Los Angeles for any length of time, you begin to collect -- and to love -- the oddball juxtapositions. When it comes to restaurants, everyone's got their favorites -- the high-end Italian restaurant next to a HoneyBaked Ham store, the lauded American restaurant below a tattoo parlor or the fabulously expensive sushi restaurant in a tacky strip mall. My current favorite is the Foundry on Melrose Avenue, located right next to a hookah parlor that advertises belly dancing under the stars.
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