76671 Tue Dec 20 15:15:22 -0800 2005 12 2 Los Angeles Area 0 422523 I've never *really* been to AOC. (Although I went to a "Sideways" publicity party at AOC last year and had some wine and cheese.) As a non-oenophile, I would be going to AOC specifically for the food. As with any meal, I could give or take the wine... certainly when I hear about $14 per glass, I'd MUCH rather put that $14 towards another food plate, no question about it. So my question to you hounds out there-- is AOC worth it if you go just for the food? (Why do I have the feeling that the responses to this will be split squarely down oenophile/non-oenophile lines?) Mr. Taster Tue Dec 20 15:15:22 -0800 2005 0 Mr. Taster 1 422527 I am a foodie, far more than I am a wine geek, and the food at AOC just didn't do it for me. I would reccommend Orris for a small plates meal where the food is in the foreground. While some plates were good, the general feeling when I left AOC was that nothing made me want to come back and order it again...and with Tapas, you should be craving one dish after another, IMHO. Tue Dec 20 15:27:15 -0800 2005 422523 0 Big Brian 1 422528 hmm, this seems to be AOC day. i would say yes, it's worth it. i personally love wine, but i've been there twice with nondrinkers who really enjoyed it as well. Tue Dec 20 15:30:04 -0800 2005 422523 0 SH 1 422529 Most certainly worth it for food only. Though I enjoy drinking wine---or anything else, for that matter---I am an oeno-ignoramus, and it's never been my raison d'etre for eating somewhere. My first meal at AOC was two weeks ago, and I still think about it frequently. The oft-heralded bacon wrapped dates deserve to be heralded often. Incredible cheese plate (three cheers for the triple-cream bleu!), charcuterie, trout, quail, duck leg in pomegranate sauce, cauliflower curried up to within an inch of its life, clams and chorizo----oy, it was all phenomenal. Our party of twelve was a loudly singing Greek chorus of highest praise. All this, plus decent value and terrific service to boot. So go for the food. Have some wine, or skip it. Either way. Tue Dec 20 15:31:34 -0800 2005 422523 0 rabo encendido 1 422530 The food at Orris is a pale imitation of what you will eat at AOC, wine or not. And the only other place that does this concept as well as AOC is probably Mako, but with an Asian spin to it... Tue Dec 20 15:33:22 -0800 2005 422523 0 WLA 1 422532 Taster, trust this cat - it's worth it. Totally, completely, 100% worth it. I've chowed here a time or two sans wine and the food stands on it's own. One of my absolute fav spots in LA - and consistently fantastic. Go! Feast! Review! :) pk Tue Dec 20 15:42:41 -0800 2005 422523 0 PoetKitty 2 422542 I agree - I'm not a oenophile, either. When I went, they offered a very reasonable wine flight (something like $15, iirc) to accompany our little plates. It was well worth it for the selection of three wines. Not big, full glasses, but just enough to complement the meal. You'll have a great time, Mr. T! Tue Dec 20 16:51:39 -0800 2005 422532 0 LBQT 1 422534 We went last night and I've been a few times before. Last night I was really unimpressed by most things. It all tasted kind of buttery and oily to me. Not sure if I recently just stopped liking the taste of butter, but everything tasted a little too buttery to me. We had about ~18 dishes for 7 ppl? (we each chose 2-3) and really got a broad taste of the menu. Let's see what I can recall. ~dates with bacon and parmesan - like this one, but think i can make it better at home ~chicken liver crostini - very strong liver taste, most of the party did not eat this one, it was even a little strong for me and i really like liver ~fried cheese dish - good but just drenched in grease ~proscuitto - this was the best thing i ate - the proscuitto melted in your mouth ~potatoes with duck fat - this dish, i was a little disappointed about because i'd read rave reviews. i felt like i could make these at home and they were rather dry ~sweet potatoes - good, but tasted like a stick of butter in each bite ~broccoli - chinese broccoli - nothing special ~wild mushrooms - this was quite good, but still very buttery ~clams - good but very buttery ~black cod - melts in your mouth buttery, but still a little too greasy i thought ~thai fish - with red peppers, it was ok ~lamb - very gamey, and lotsa beans, don't really like beans ~squid with black ink rice - this one was pretty good - little pieces of calamri on a bed of flavored black ink rice ~skirt steak - another favorite but also very very greasy, the pieces melted in your mouth ~quail with foie gras - i'm not a big chicken or fowl fan, so this was ok to me. didn't really taste any foie gras ~duck - this was very flavorful, maybe a bit too flavorful can't remember what else . . . anyway, overall it was a nice meal. the food was good, nothing was too salty. but i didn't crave more than a bite of anything. but the portions (granted they are tapas) are really pretty small - and kind of pricey. it was fun to eat and try all the different things on the menu, but i don't think i'll be returning. i remember liking it more the first few times i went. there are too many other restaurants around to try =) just my humble opinion . . . Tue Dec 20 16:04:58 -0800 2005 422523 0 Alice 2 422572 I agree -- the food at A.O.C. is extremely greasy. e.g. wonderful but oily black cod. Generally delicious, but overkill on the fat content. Choose your plates wisely. Tue Dec 20 19:06:52 -0800 2005 422534 0 Max Million 1 422548 Hi Mr. Taster... Definitely worth it, in my opinion. I could conceivably re-create their cuisine in my own kitchen, if I regularly kept fresh, high end ingredients in endless supply in my larder and pantry. Short of that, their food stands on its own; yet if one allows for the possibility of pleasures of context (why you are there) as much as of content (what everything tastes like), one can enjoy a *depth* to one's indulgence (not dissimilar to falling in love). I believe AOC is an *integrative* experience, a gestalt if you will, where one's enjoyment (or lack thereof) will hinge upon the totality of many subtle factors. Ever go to a restaurant or concert where you're treated like the runny-nosed kid with toilet paper stuck to the bottom of your shoe? Well, at AOC one is more likely to be considered 'special' for all the right reasons. First timers and regulars are given the benefit of the doubt: choosing AOC as your destination implicitly marks you as a man or woman of discernment and you will be treated accordinglyif you allow it. Knowing little about food or wine does not brand one with a 666 there; knowing much about food and wine does not condemn you to elitist fawning. I think their assumption rests upon trusting the clientele's ability to figure out what they like, when presented with many many choices... And my apologies in advance, to those for whom the experience of AOC was more akin to falling *out* of love. All depends on who's doing the dumping, I suppose... Tue Dec 20 17:18:02 -0800 2005 422523 0 silence9 2 422574 What a polite way to say that anyone who likes AOC is akin to a bitter lover being dumped! Had AOC been half as good to us as Orris, Table 8, Sterling, Spago, or Patina, I would be shouting their praises from the mountaintops. As it was, we left disappointed. I guess that means that AOC jilted me. That's ok, though...There are plenty of great restaurants who will treat me better than AOC did. Tue Dec 20 19:07:03 -0800 2005 422548 0 Big Brian 1 422587 I always have a good time a AOC (only been thrice), but its not because of the food or the wine. Its that AOC is one of the few restaurants that creates a cosmopolitan, sophisticated lively buzz like places in NYC. It actually seems that they spent money on the place. As for the wine, I BYO everywhere I go so its irrelevant. The list is fairly pricey, and IMO, you're better off paying the $25 corkage. I find $15 glasses of wine ($20 w/tax and tip) offensive. The cheese plate is good, but really expensive. $24 for five tiny bites! BH Cheese stores seems reasonable in comparison. The cooked food is very oily and greasy, IMO, and I like butter and oil! Not crazy about the flavors. Despite all its shortcomings, I'd still have no problem returning. Coachboy Tue Dec 20 20:03:22 -0800 2005 422523 0 Coachboy 1 422598 My wife and I moved to LA from NYC about 18 months ago and think that AOC is better than any restaurant we ever visited there, at any price. Our last visit to AOC was disappointing, however; our waiter insisted that we order everything at the same time and promised that the kitchen would space things out, but it didn't, so we had 3 dishes on the table at the same time at one point. We ordered wines by the glass (I know, not an issue in this post but I have to get this off my chest...) and saw them sitting waiting to be picked up for 10-15 minutes before I finally went to get them myself, thus incurring the anger of the waiter. We will go back, but will have to be firm with the waiter this time around. Tue Dec 20 20:58:09 -0800 2005 422523 0 Tim