Mussels & Fries, where o where?

[NumeroUnoEat]

HELP! searching for a place to enjoy BIG meaty mussels,
not looking for a bowl of half-opened mussels that contain miniscule rubbery bites,
Love to see all of 'em OPEN and swimmin' in broth of high-flavour.
The joint must also have decent FRIES, 'natch.
All price points in play/Wine friendly.

[sumo3175]

Mirabelle on Sunset. They were so good my friend was drinking the juice straight from the big bowl.

[Chili]

OMG!!! I saw this post and immediately thought of when I used to live in Belgium. I had this dish at least every other week. I will check some of these places out. I wonder if any serve them in a black pot with the shell fish, veggies and white wine broth?

[JAB]

That's just how Brussel's Bistro serves them.

[attran99]

Thomas Keller is opening up Bouchon in Beverly Hills later this year. I've heard great things about his Moule Frite.

[wilafur]

i am waiting with bated breath for bouchon to open. woohoo!

[a213b]

Just a note that you might need to temper your enthusiasm; at his locations in both Napa (Yountville) and Vegas (Venetian), I've been hugely underwhelmed with Bouchon.

Of course, I'm also one of the few who is either brave enough or stupid enough to admit that my meal at TFL was FAR from one of the best I've ever had, so there you go.

With respect to this discussion, I'd recommend Comme Ca.

[peppermonkey]

agree with you about bouchon...though haven't been to TFL...I will be going to Per se in a week. I'm not really expecting too much, though I hope it will blow me away. I would be more excited about any joel roboucon joint

[tablefor1]

Church & State! Church & State! Church & State!

or,

Comme Ca, where they french fries are pretty much the best in town.

[Ciao Bob]

Concur.

[revets2]

pretty sure it's moule and frites a la carte at CHURCH & STATE. just in case anyone goes and is disappointed that's it's not an all inclusive dish. the fries are fried in duck fat, however. yummay!

[wilafur]

frites fried in duck fat? ooooooooooooooooooooooooh!!

[grubtrotters]

There's nothing better than duck fat!

[daftpunkxl]

yes, the fries are cooked in fat. Duck or not, I'm not sure.

HOWEVER, having been on Friday, I can attest that the "moules marnier" DO come with fries.

As an aside, my girlfriend got the steak tartare, and it was awesome. I really like that place.

[revets2]

regarding to the avec pomme frites or sans pomme frites, according to the restaurant, it depends. the lunch and between lunch and dinner moules dish sometimes only comes with grilled bread (which is very good), but they are happy to make any substitutions.

[sbritchky]

Better hurry. The summer months "R" just around the corner.

[ipsedixit]

The Bowery.

http://www.theboweryhollywood.com/htm...

[wilafur]

the mussels are quite good at the bowery. however, be care, as there were 2 skunk mussels in my order last time i had it there. they are also good about giving you extra bread to sop up the bowl afterwards.

[grubtrotters]

Gjelina has some yummy mussels. Very garlicky. I haven't tried the fries, but I have read some rave reviews about them. The PEI mussels are not huge, but they are nice and plump. The broth has chorizo, tomato and white wine, and it's served with grilled bread. The may not be huge enough for your taste, but my whole family gave the dish a thumbs up.

http://grubtrotters.com/2008/12/05/th...

[nosh]

I'm not a mussel lover. But last night at Gjelina. the bowl of mussels was piled very high, the broth was abundant and included big chunks of sausage, and the grilled bread was very garlicky and crunchy and rustic. Two orders more than satisfied a couple of our party that were making them a main dish and the others who had tastes.

[MarlaPR]

Chez Mimi does a great job! And just charming to boot.

[Will Owen]

Two places my ma-in-law has had them (it's her favorite dish) and pronounced them good have been the ancient Restaurant Taix, on Sunset, and the rather new Café Massilia in Monrovia, on Lemon just east of Myrtle. I have not tried them in either place, so we're depending on the judgment of an 80-some year old French woman here.

[JBC]

I don't eat Mussels anymore so this is just an FYI ~ But if I did, I would give the following serious consideration:

http://www.soleilwestwood.com/events....

[GenevieveCa]

this place is awesome, on Wednesdays it is all you can eat, but you have to make a reservation. The prices have changed so i'm not sure how much it is.

[New Trial]

Mimosa offers three different preparations for $18.

-----
Mimosa Restaurant
8009 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048

[A5 KOBE]

Marche Moderne.....frites are great as well

Only thing I hate about the place is for the price you pay, you are practically sitting next to the person next to you.

[OCAnn]

I agree about their fries...they're particularly good with their excellent aioli.

[tangy tart]

I love the moule frites at Church & State in Downtown LA!
I got moule frites at Anissette once - and haven't been back since - they were tiny and sandy!

[daftpunkxl]

Had Church & State's moules this past Friday and was impressed. Also a fan of Anisette's, Nook's, and Lilly's, in probably in that order.

[OCAnn]

In the past week or so, we've been craving moules frites in OC. And so in OC we would rate Brussels Bistro slighty ahead of Marche Moderne for variety of cooking broth and plumpness of the mussels.

[OCAnn]

Had the moules frites again this weekend at MM and will not have them again. They're just okay..the mussels and fries at Brussels Bistro are FAR superior in flavour and quality.

[aventinus]

pretty good at stella silver lake

[Hegenbarth]

Great fries, however the mussels were mediocre and the sauce was ok. Coulda been less globby and more flavour.

[Jwsel]

I've always loved the moules frites at La Frite in Sherman Oaks. Nice mussels in a large bowl of garlicky broth with great shoestring fries.

[ozhead]

Second La Frite -- though I'm referring to the one in Woodland Hills.

[nosh]

I am not a mussel lover, so my info is second hand. But several neighboring tables and dining partners have loved the mussels at Nook, and they do a good job with thin, parsley-accented fries (even better onion strings).

[PandanExpress]

I love the Nook mussels. Even though it's listed as a small plate, one plate of that, a shared order of fries, and the bread to soak up the sauce is enough to fill me up.

[nosh]

Had back-to-back dinners with family from out of town this past week at Gjelina then Nook -- the mussels were ordered at both places. This week the ones from Gjelina were deemed the favorite. The ones from Nook were much bigger than usual, not apparently the PEI type, and served in a big bowl rather than sizzling on a castiron pan the way they were in Nook's earlier days. The thick, rustic, grilled garlicky bread served with them at Gjelina was a big hit, too. I could be wrong, but I think the bowls were fairly similar in size and a couple of bucks more expensive at Gjelina.

[Kishari]

My fave for Moules Frites is Lilly's Cafe in Venice. However, they have been inconsistent of late, maybe different chef nights? Some nights AMAZING, some night, just good.

[joshekg]

Anisette, Comme Ca?

[peppermonkey]

diito...can't go wrong. anisette first