NY Hounds Need More Recs

[uwsister]

Had a GREAT time Chow-ing our way through some of the excellent recommendations a few months back, hubby and I will be back in L.A. for another two weeks and would love more recommendations!

Places we loved: A.O.C (probably one of our favorite restaurants EVER) brunch at BLD, Yatai on Sunset, Rukasu in Studio City, Jitlada, Meals by Genet, Soot Bull Jeep.

NO Mexican, Italian, or Chinese. Love almost all other cuisines... New American, French, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, almost all Asian cuisine other than Chinese... love tapas-style dining, no dietary restriction other than crabs. Both of us have a HUGE sweet tooth, so dessert places are great too.

Currently we have some Korean and sushi places on our radar (Sushi Sushi or Sushi Zo for sushi, must compare to Sushi Yasuda) but other than that we're pretty open. Prefer Hollywood/West Hollywood/Mid-Wilshire area but will travel if must, i.e. Koreatown, Little Tokyo, Beverly Hills, Westwood, etc.

Thank you so much!

[peppermonkey]

Korean:
Parks - best korean bbq in LA
So kong Dong - best soon dubu
A-won - best hwae do bap (mixed sashimi salady rice thing)
Kobawoo -best bossam (pork belly wrap)
Sushi:
Sushi Zo (everything is melt in or mouth, variety but less than yasuda)
Mori sushi (best rice, no farmed fish ergo limited variety)
Urasawa - unbelievable
Best french bistro - Anisette better than comme ca though haven't tried church and state yet
Orris - casual japanese french fusion tapas (unique and one of my favorities)
Hungry cat and providence are awesome as well

[uwsister]

So Kong Dong & Sushi Zo are already on our list -- hubby is a huge fan of hwae dup bap so he will appreciate your A-won recommendation!

Don't think we can afford Urasawa yet -- maybe next trip!

Thanks everyone once again!

[Jack Flash]

One of the best places in town these days is Church & State, a French bistro in a real grubby part of downtown. I'm sure there are plenty of places like it in NYC, but it's the best of its type in these parts.

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Church & State
1850 Industrial Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021

[uwsister]

How would you compare this place to Comme Ca or Le Petit Bistro? We do have quite a few excellent French bistros here so it's not on our priority list, but we like bistros in general.

[Jack Flash]

I've never done Comme Ca, but Church & State blows LPB away. I believe (but I'm not sure) that C&S is overall less expensive than Comme Ca, and possibly less attitude as well (based on comments of others).

[noshie]

For special occasions, I drive out to Santa Ana for Favori's (Vietnames and french) whole fried catfish, served with rice paper wrappers, green banana, Vietnamese herbs, dipping sauce. If I'm splurging I get an avocado shake.

Why don't you go out to Artesia for South Indian? I know there's that one place in New York that is an Indian neighborhood, but we have some fine South Indian food out here, Udupi Palace, Jay Bahrat.

Jitlada is southern Thai, you could try some nothern Thai, Isaan food, Thaitown area has places. There are better but Palms Thai has a Thai Elvis impersonator, and you can order bamboo shoot salad, papapya salad with raw blue crabs or those small salty crab pieces, wild boar stew, spicy chicken feet salad, etc.

I liked Tavern's turkey burger and green goddess salad, some of the other food looked heavy and there have been salt warnings recently

[JPomer]

we LOVED Church and State...Found the food a bit better than Comme Ca, though we like that too. Great atmosphere at Church and State too. You'll feel like you're in the meatpacking dist. before it got all annoyingly trendy...

[uwsister]

LOL, when I read "meatpacking district" I was like "Um, nope" then I read "before it got all annoyingly trendy" -- ha! Church & State sounds like worth a visit :)

[David Kahn]

Other places you might like that spring immediately to mind are Jar, which has great steaks, a divine pot roast, and one of the best Sunday brunches in town, Grace, which is new American and very good, like Lucques kind of. At a slightly higher price point, you might also consider giving Providence a try -- many (including me) feel that Michael Cimarusti serves up some of the best seafood in town. More moderately priced, maybe Lucky Devil's in Hollywood or The Apple Pan in Westwood for burgers, or Baby Blues for bbq in West Hollywood.

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Grace Restaurant
7360 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036

Apple Pan
10801 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90064

Providence
5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

Jar Restaurant
8225 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048

Lucky Devils
6613 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028

Lucques
8474 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90069

Baby Blues BBQ
7953 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046

[uwsister]

Jar's on our list, hubby doesn't do non-organic meat but he's a big fan of apple pie so I may be able to convince him to Apple Pan. I've been wanting to go for YEARS.

[bulavinaka]

Hope you like banana cream pie as well - theirs is reputed to be one of the best.

[Bjartmarr]

And their apple is...well, I wouldn't drive from Santa Monica for it, let alone New York.

[JPomer]

For sushi in hollywood/Weho, try Hirozen. It's a little hole-in-the-wall in a mini-mall (sweetzer? and Beverly I think) but the food is amazing. Call ahead and ask for a reservation.
Also - AOC's S. Goin has a new restaurant in Brentwood called Tavern. Supposed to be pretty good. Haven't checked it out yet, but might be worth a try.

[uwsister]

Read the reviews about Tavern, sound pretty good! It's a little out of the way for us but it still might be worth a try. What do you think about Lucques and the Hungry Cat? Since we love A.O.C so much, we're thinking about trying them too.

[JPomer]

we love both Lucques and the Hungry Cat. Both are most definitely worth a try, Hungry Cat for a more casual and fun experience and Lucques for a more serious dinner.

[uwsister]

We'll probably try both -- thank you!

[Servorg]

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/535786

[uwsister]

We have Bon Chon in NYC & Kyochon is also opening soon, so I don't think Korean-style fried chicken will be on our agenda. Thanks for the suggestion though!

[Servorg]

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/558725

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/567623

[Servorg]

Links to above recommendations

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Park's BBQ
955 S. Vermont Ave, Suite G, Los Angeles, CA 90006

Soot Bull Jeep
3136 W 8th St, Los Angeles, CA 90005

Izayoi
132 S Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012

[Servorg]

One other thought. You mention having a sweet tooth. You might just check with Providence about their dessert tasting menu. It's still on their website and they could fill you in on only coming in for this vs coming in for dinner and dessert (or whatever you might want to do).

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Providence
5955 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038

[uwsister]

Checked out Providence's dessert tasting menu, looks awesome! Love the Asian-fusion desserts. Have you done it? Any more comments/reviews?

Izayoi is actually on our list -- thank you!

[Servorg]

We have not, but there have been some very good comments about it. When you posted about looking for dessert type suggestions figured I would let you know about the option.

add: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/309106