Dinner Ideas In Santa Monica

[SauceSupreme]

As my schedule shakes out, it seems I get to spend the whole day in Santa Monica. I'm meeting a friend at Rustic Canyon for lunch, and then I'm having drinks around 9pm at Warszawa for a birthday party. Aside from that, it's pretty much 8 hours of blank time.

Any suggestions? No budgetary or dietary requirements -- I want to duck into a coffee house for an afternoon snackie around 4pm (my default will be Groundwork) and later have dinner around 7pm or so (my default will be Musha).

[SauceSupreme]

The desserts at Rustic Canyon were so fantastic that I didn't have room for that afternoon snackie. Instead, I loitered and finished reading and then headed off to Hidden and then later discovered that the back patio of Warszawa was filled with people from a meetup.com event.

Here's my report on Hidden.
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/441493

[hrhboo]

I urge you to try out Hidden, for selfish reasons of course. I know we share similar tastes, so having you check it out is almost as good as checking it out myself!

Also, it hasn't been reviewed on the board yet and we all need the scoop.

[Dyspepsia]

For your coffee and snackie, consider Le Pain Quotidien -it's one of my favorites.

[ipsedixit]

How about Punch Grill? Or maybe Abode or Wilshire?

Maybe you can do advanced scounting for us on Hidden.

[mollyomormon]

Oh, Abode's a good idea!

Look at this item from eaterla this week re: Abode:

SANTA MONICA: Encouraging people to seek out the semi-hidden spot, Adobe now offers cocktails, wine and appetizers for $7 from 5pm to 7pm nightly. We actually like the lounge menu better than the dinner menu, so this tickles our fancy. [EaterWire Inbox]

[malibu1]

I always like Ivy at the Shore

[LisaStitch]

At any spare hour, have a drink at the Hotel Casa Del Mar, sit by the windows for a great relaxing view of the beach & pier.

I just had a wonderful dinner at La Vecchia Cucina on Main Street. Great Italian food and great service, nice ambience, and packed on a Wednesday night. Great time.

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La Vecchia Cucina Restaurante
2654 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405

Casa Del Mar
1910 Ocean Way, Santa Monica, CA 90405

[mollyomormon]

So, my plan tonight was to have dinner at Musha and I made reservations for the back room about a month ago. They called me last night at 10 to say they have to close for the weekend due to problems with the health and fire departments! :( So Musha is definitely off the table tonight. No one nearby can take reservations for 10 so I think we're going to try to order food at the back patio at 8 at Warszawa instead. Feel free to join! If you're craving a snack earlier, go grab the softshell crab at Father's Office right when it opens. I had it last weekend -- it was great and the fresh corn salad underneath it was fantastic!

[J.L.]

High-end sushi in SM: The Hump.

The SM Airport at sunset can be a great experience. The fish, some flown in from Tsukiji Market in Tokyo, has been known to cause delight in certain diners in the past. Finish up by 8:45PM-ish and you can still make it to Warszawa by 9PM.