Dining details: Patina

Patina

Rating: ***

Location: 141 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles; (213) 972-3331.

Ambience: Elegant and urban, a stunning contemporary dining room with sculpted walnut walls and comfortably spaced tables. Because it’s adjacent to Walt Disney Concert Hall, it fills up early and late, with some guests arriving for a tasting menu after 10 p.m.

Service: Very formal and correct, definitely not relaxed. Excellent wine and cheese service.

Price: Dinner appetizers, $15 to $20; main courses, $31 to $39; desserts, $10 to $12. Ocean menu, $85 per person; chef’s menu, $100; chef’s table menu, $120.

Best dishes: Caviar service, pickled beet and orange salad, sauteed foie gras, Maine lobster and artichoke fricasse, wild salmon with melted leeks, braised veal cheeks with parsnip puree, cote de boeuf for two, caramelized apples with Linzer dough, chocolate creme brulee with peppermint sorbet.

Wine list: Wide-ranging and deep with grand estates and old vintages at staggering prices, but also interesting and more affordable wines from odd corners of the wine world. Corkage $25.

Best table: One of the plush and leather booths.

Special features: Private chef’s table that looks onto the kitchen and accommodates nine to 10 for a six-course chef’s table menu, available only by prior arrangement at $120 per person.

Details: Open Monday through Friday for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.; daily for dinner from 5 to 10:45 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking $8 with validation.

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.