Oh so bored...anything to excite my taste buds?
Need suggestions for a nice midweek business/social dinner preferably on the Westside, but will travel East too. Nothing stuffy, nothing to "sceney", don't want to have to sign to have a conversation and won't pay $38 for a plate of spaghetti so Scarpetta and Providence are unfortunately out, but will pay for great food and good service. Have done Ivy, Josie, Fig, Joe's, Hump, Little Door, Drago Centro with my guest previously.
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Drago Centro
525 S. Flower St., Suite 120, Los Angeles, CA 90071
The Little Door
8164 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90048
Scarpetta
225 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
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Fresser
Oct 27, 2011 08:31 PM
We all must have ordered wrong at Fig as no one was happy with their meal. Tavern has been my go to of late so Lukshon is a definite maybe...also considering Son of A Gun. Emme have any feedback on Villetta since you know the Brentwood Little Italy?
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Lukshon
3239 Helms Ave, Culver City, CA 90034›2 Replies -
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johnnyshungry
Oct 21, 2011 02:07 PM
Chaya Brasserie or the Chaya Downtown....
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Chaya Brasserie
8741 Alden Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90048Chaya Downtown
525 S. Flower Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071›1 Reply-
re: johnnyshungry
westsidegal
Oct 22, 2011 12:10 AM
i enjoy Chaya Venice with one caveat:
if there is any LA restaurant at which you should be especially sure to avoid the sushi they offer on sundays, this is the one.-----
Chaya Venice
110 Navy Street, Venice, CA 90291
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Emme
Oct 21, 2011 10:31 AM
i don't know if these are exciting or not, but...
Palmeri in Brentwood
Pecorino in Brentwood
Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills
Cafe del Rey in the Marina
Tavern in Brentwood... too loud or not high end enough?
Rivera too loud?-----
Il Pastaio Restaurant
400 N Canon Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90210Pecorino Restaurant
11604 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049›2 Replies-
re: Emme
westsidegal
Oct 21, 2011 01:29 PM
i used to love Cafe del Rey the way that i now love Fig.
when Carlos, their pastry chef left to move to Vegas, and, practically at the same time they changed their executive chef, the food there lost it's edge.
the regular food is still close,
but the baked goods and pastry no longer cut it.it also didn't help that sometime in the past few months they decided to redecorate the place and the designer that they used gave a "cost plus world market" touch to a building that has excellent bones as a clean, modern, design; like taking a silk purse and changing it into a sow's ear.
i'm still in mourning over losing the essence of what, for decades, used to be one of my favorite restaurants.
it is still the best fine dining restaurant in the area, but, imho, no longer good enough to play in the league of the Santa Monica restaurants. -
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emglow101
Oct 20, 2011 10:16 PM
+2 for Westsidegal. She has helped me tremendously when I travel to L.A. Always a # 1 go to. Fig it is. Thank's. Emglow101
›2 Replies-
re: emglow101
westsidegal
Oct 20, 2011 11:18 PM
Be sure to consult with their charcuterie guy, Eric.
His station is set up at one end of the bar, so he is completely accessible.He is a soft-spoken, polite, guy with very deep knowledge of the food with which he works.
Most of the time, when i go there, I just put myself in his hands and let him serve me whatever he feels is best that day.
If you are willing to sit at the bar, you can get the seats right in front of his station and watch him as he works.
(you can watch him hand knead the warm mozzaralla curds which he serves with a hand-made pesto)
even when sitting at the bar, you can order off the regular menu.this restaurant is on my regular rotation (thank you TonyC. for the original recommendation)
in all this time, i've only had one dish of theirs that i thought was misguided (the pastaless lasagna), all the rest have made the grade.
i admit, though, that at the moment , I'm stuck on their cheeses. Eric leads the way on the cheese path. i've not seen another restaurant in town with the breadth of selection and the level of the quality they offer.
The fact that they serve freshly baked/warm mini loaves of very crusty bread throughout the evening that perfectly complement the cheese makes for a sublime combination, imho.
Admittedly I'm a sucker for a hot loaf of good bread. So many restaurants completely fail in the bread department: NOT Fig.-
re: westsidegal
TonyC
Oct 21, 2011 09:32 AM
awww, feel the love for FIG in this room. ^5 westsidegal.
Btw, absolutely skip the house "fig newtons" for dessert, and go for the cheese plate WSG mentions above. This is also the only place where I'd pay $13 for a bowl of onion soup... And they really do a nice number on the vinegary brussel sprouts.
Clearly Fresser is a man of higher standards so... sorry FIG is a bore?
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re: westsidegal
Servorg
Oct 21, 2011 06:46 AM
If you read the post above Fresser included Fig as one of the places he/she recently ate at so it fails the test for this particular exercise.
Perhaps taking part of the Fig idea and marrying it to Olive and Fresser can hit up Fig & Olive and see if that gets his/her taste buds worked up?-----
Fig & Olive
8490 Melrose Pl, West Hollywood, CA 90069
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