Best entree at Lucues?

[llyons56]

Finally talked someone into taking me here for my birthday on Monday night. Any suggestions on what to order? Menu looks heavily Mediterranean (fava beans, artichokes, rapini, etc.) and I usually order fish or chicken. Plus, do they have desserts? Or should we head over to AOC for that?

[Zippy]

Ate at Lucques last night for the first time.

Eh.

For starters, I went with the special - white asparagus in a hollandaise sauce with pancetta. It was very good - the asparagus perfectly cooked, the sauce wasn't too rich, with just the right amount of pancetta to give a hint of flavor, but not overpower the asparagus.

The wife had their "artichoke and green garlic tart," which was really more like an artichoke pizza (literally... it was a slice of what would have been a huge pizza-style pie made of pastry crust). She was less impressed, as the tart was more cheese than artichoke, and tasted more like cantal than anything else.

For entrees, I went with the beef shortribs, which I've heard a lot about. I actually found them to be quite good, though not perfect. The meat was suprisingly fatty - mind you, I realize that shortribs aren't the leanest cut, but I've certainly had a lower fat/meat ratio than this... especially at $25/plate. I also found the sacue it was served in (a reduction accompanied by a horseradish cream sauce that quickly became entertwined) to be a bit rich, almost overpowering the flavor of the ribs.

The wife had the rabbit, and was totally underwhelmed. The chorizo that it was stuffed with was so strong that it completely masked any taste of rabbit. It could have been chicken... or kobe beef... or cat... stuffed with this chorizo, and you'd have never been able to taste the difference. She actually ate very little of it.

As deserts go, they have a pretty nice selection, and from watching other diners, they all seemed pretty good. We went with the churos with chocolate sauce, as it seemed to be quite popular. Pretty good, actually... a plate of nice fluffy churros (much thicker than those you get from street vendors, for example) with a cup of melted chocolate, for dipping in.

Service was fine, though nothing exceptional. The guy who's job it was to keep the water glasses filled certainly kicked butt.

Anyhow... I'm glad we went, but doubt we'll go back again anytime soon. I can think of countless other restaurants in the same price range that we've enjoyed far better than our meal last night...

Zippy

[carter]

Went to Alto Palato for last Wednesday's regional dinner, which featured Piedmonte, and the entree was rabbit, which all three of us ordered and all three of us loved. Call them to see if it will ever be a special on some other night.

[kitchenboy]

One of the best places in L.A. My favorite main course at this restaurant is the suckling pig and the braised short ribs.

Yes, they do desserts, however, they have gone down hill recently. When I was at A.O.C dinner was excellent but the desserts sounded so unappealing nobody in our group even tried one.

[DanaB]

That's interesting--we had the reverse reaction last time at AOC. I had a delicious desert featuring semmifreddo, almonds and honey. It reminded me of eating greek yogurt/honey, but frozen of course. Really wonderful :-)

[kitchenboy]

I'm releaved to hear it maybe I should have more faith that they know what there doing.