Dining Details: Ammo in Los Angeles

Ammo

Rating: ** 1/2

Location: 1155 N. Highland Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 871-2666; www.ammocafe.com

Ambience: Relaxed and understated restaurant with seasonal California cooking, an interesting crowd and an eclectic music track.

Service: Comfortable and relaxed, yet professional.

Price: Dinner first courses, $9 to $16; pasta and pizza, $15 to $19; main courses, $18 to $29; desserts, $8 to $12.

Best dishes: Sweet corn soup with pancetta; grilled baby octopus with summer bean salad; braised pork belly with pickled cherries; salt-roasted baby beets with fromage blanc; prosciutto and arugula pizza; braised pork shoulder; pan-roasted duck breast with peaches; wood-oven roasted halibut with summer succotash; rustic peach tart; warm, bitter chocolate torte with fleur de sel caramel.

Wine list: Wide ranging and beguiling with many labels from small producers. Corkage fee, $15.

Best table: One of the booths toward the back.

Details: Open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, for brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and for dinner from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Full bar. Valet parking, $6.

To see a photo gallery, go to latimes.com/food.

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.