Sunday Dining in Los Angeles

[ErinB]

I'm visiting LA from the East Coast. Staying in Marina Del Rey. Looking for a really good Sunday brunch that's not too formal. Price isn't an issue. Ideally, it would be great if we could find something within 15 minutes from us, but we'll drive anywhere for really good food.

[Chris Cognac]

You should not have any problem finding a place as there are tons right there at the marina..Since you are from out of town I might suggest driving to Venice which is just up Lincoln and walking around a bit on the strand, you will surely find a nice place to eat there....also if you like cheesesteaks, you must eat at the Great Western Steak and Hoagie with is at Lincoln and Superba in Venice...its a shack but great cheap cheesesteaks!

[hollywood]

Maybe Casa Del Sol in Santa Monica.

[SWoodyWhite]

I'm assuming you're not interested in cheesesteaks for Sunday Brunch, Erin.

Running a comparison between lists in the new Zagat's, I've come up with the following for you, close to where you're staying. (Mind, I'm not a brunch person, so I can't say for sure on any of these re quality).

IN MARINA DEL REY:

Aunt Kizzy's Back Porch, 4325 Glencoe Ave (X Mindanao Way), 310-578-1005 www.auntkizzys.com

Cafe Del Rey, 4451 Admiralty Way (bet. Lincoln & Via Marina), 310-823-6395, www.cafedelrey.com

IN VENICE:

Hal's Bar & Grill, 1349 Abbot Kinney Blvd. (bet. Main & Venice), 310-396-3105, www.halsbarandgrill.com

Joe's, 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd. (bet. Main & Westminster), 310-399-5811. www.joesrestaurant.com

I'd suggest checking the websites, to get a better idea of what's offered, price ranges, etc. I've heard good things about Aunt Kizzy's, however, and some simple math from the Zagat ratings make it look like the best bang for the buck, as well.

[Beachfan]

What are you looking for in a brunch?

The Ritz Carlton in marina del rey might have a nice buffet.

[ErinB]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think we're going to do Joe's. They have a nice outdoor area, and we made a reservation. I'll let you know what we have and how it is.

[Bond Girl]

I will be in LA for a weekend, staying in West Hollywood, and will be looking for places to eat on sunday night. My preference is to keep it low key, anyone have any receommendations?

[rjwong]

Bond Girl, could you define "low key"? I presume you mean no trendy "scene" or "buzz", right? Popular, but quiet, where you can have a conversation?

What kind of food? High end? Retro? New American? Ethnic? Small "mom & pop" operations in mini-malls? Pink's hot dogs?

If you're staying in Weho, there are PLENTY of restaurants in the area along Santa Monica Blvd., as well as Beverly Hills and all along 3rd St. or Beverly Blvd. or Melrose or La Brea.

A couple of places I like are:

La Terza on 3rd St. & Orlando (SE corner). Gino Angelini is arguably the best Italian chef in Los Angeles.

Grace on Beverly Blvd., east of Farmer's Market/The Grove, near El Coyote (Don't go there). If you go to Grace on a Sunday night, there's an eGulleteer working BOH ... (no, not me) ...

Enjoy your time in LA!

[JFLinLA]

Ah, RJ, my mind was a blank when I looked at this last night but now the juices are flowing. Two of my favorites:

Angeli Cafe -- This is Evan Kleiman's place on Melrose and has always had great food since before there was a slow food movement for Evan to head up in LA or before pizza became hip.

Monsieur Marcel -- In the original Farmer's Market (not the Grove) which is worth going to anyway. Great cheese plates and other French stuff. My favorite however are the mussels. A small green salad, bowl of mussels, bread to dip in the broth and some wine and I'm a happy girl. It's outside so if it's chilly . . .

[SiseFromm]

Lucques' Sunday Supper is not to be missed!

[Bond Girl]

hey thanks guys. Yes, low key means no scene no buzz and no designer garbs requireed. Just easy laid back joint where one can have good food and decent convo....The suggestions are great. I heard good things about those places too. ps. any egullters who would like to join me on Sunday night please PM me.

[Carolyn Tillie]

hey thanks guys. Yes, low key means no scene no buzz and no designer garbs requireed.

←

Its LA -- you only wear designer duds when you want to be *seen* -- otherwise whatever you where, you'll be fine....

Edited October 2, 2005 by Carolyn Tillie (log)

[eatrustic]

A couple of weeks back I flew to L. A. on a Sunday for an early Monday meeting.

As the meeting came up at the last minute I didn't get a chance to do my usual intense research on where to dine that evening.

As my hotel was in the neighbourhood and I had heard good things about the kitchen at Spago Beverly Hills I thought I would go for a late bite to eat at the bar. (Obviously this falls into the trendy category but my point will be made.)

To my shock and great dissapointment I arrived just after 10:00 pm to find that the kitchen had closed 45 minutes earlier! ...and that just about everything else in the area was closed as well. It never dawned on me that things closed so early in L.A. Even bar menus.

Granted I should have checked but I figured that this was a given that the hotter spots would be open later.

I ended up at the Beverly Wilshire's restaurant The Blvd where I sat at the bar with two or three other patrons and had a reasonable but not outstanding dinner with a couple of nice glasses of wine.

The main course arrived long before I had finished my starter. (Definitely not expected in that caliber of establishment no matter how late it might be.)

Oh well, next time plan ahead as I know that there must be all kinds of places that have interesting food later.

[savvysearch]

Try A.O.C wine bar.

[SiseFromm]

So did you end up coming out to LA yet? I'm curious about your experience.

[Bond Girl]

Okay, this is the 3 days LA Extreme Food Weekend. To qualify my weekend, I should first clarify that I was traveling with (1) a running injury, making all form of exercise virtually impossible, (2) the pastry chef Pichet ong, who knows everyone in the food world, and (3) my friend Gary who works for the James Beard House, and knows everyone else in the food world that Pichet didn't know.

After the guys picked me up at the airport, our first stop was a cute little pastry place in Venice called Jin. Owner Christy Choo is a lovely person, but unfortunately the pastries tasted stale and the cream inside our macaroons were greasy, having separated for some reason. We got into a debate on whether we liked the little outdoor space with sand on the grounds. I didn't mind it so much but Pichet didn't like it at all.

That evening we all congregated at Sona, where we were seated right next to two of LA's most popular professionals: a divorce lawyer and a plastic surgeon, who chated pleasntly with us. We all had the 6 course tasting menu, which in reality was around 8 courses, with David Myers comping a few dishes. While many people would find the food at Sona more than acceptable, my overall impression with Sona is that it tries to accomplishing too much at the same time. There are enough flavors and ingredients in each of my dishes to confuse the palate and as much as I can appreciate that the flavor combinations weren't personally appealing, I can appreciate perfect execution in technique. Well, that didn't happen either as most of my fish dishes were overcooked with the exception of the tuna and the raw shellfish that was served in the beginning. The desserts were underwhelming as well with a highlight being a wasabi ice cream that just tasted weird.

The next day, we are back on the pastry whirlwind visiting 3 pastry shops in succession in between catching the Fred Segal 75% reduction sale. We visited Boule-the pastry shop of David Myer's wife, Michelle Myers. A pretty little place that is best described as the LA version of Fuchons. The croissants at Boules were wonderfully flakey on the outside with buttery dough on the inside. Although the chocolate croissant needs more chocolate, the almond crossants and the plain croissants were absolutely delightful. Chocolates at Boules looks as pretty as the place itself and wons praises at the office when I got back.

Lunch was at La Terza-a collaborative project between Angellini and Nancy Silverton. La Terza had Sona beat by a mile. The tatooed chef Jason sent out a decadent soft poached egg on toast with shaved white truffles. Then we had a wonderful angolotti (sp?) dish-the guys had then stuffed with some sort of meat while my was stuffed with cheese in a white mushroon sauce. This was by far the best dish I had in my entire trip. Simple and lovely. My arugula salad was a refreshing finish with some of the best baby arugula that I've tasted, and the guys ordered the carbonara and papadelle both excellent in their own ways. Dessert was a bit of a let down with a overly stiff pannacotta and a rather uninspiring ice cream in coffee.

We then drove through the molasses like traffic to Sprinkles-a West Coast equivalent of the Magnolia bakery. Sprinkles had as unnatural looking cupcakes as Magnolia, except they are bigger and more expensive. I bought a one to share with the guys. With the exception of Pichet, who I believe is only being a contrarian, despite all denial on his part, we all thought the cupcakes were overly sweet and characterless. For those who do not live in LA, you can see Sprinkles a mile away from the long lines that snaked out the door.

After that we stopped at Bread Bar, Eric Keyser's very sleek establishment. Here we know that we entered the temple of Bread-dom with dark matted metals and dark wood. After Boules, La Terza and Sprinkles, no one has any room left to eat anything else, so we looked at the breads and oogled at how delicious they looked.

Saturday night dinner was at Spago, where the food was...well, it's Spago and you don't really go there for the food. We ran into the same plastic surgeon and divorce lawyer as the night before. The tasting consisted of Tuna drowned in sweet spicy gooey sauce in a grilled pastry that begs the question of : if you are going to have tuna, why drown it in a sweet gooey sauce? But, like I said, you don't go to Spago for the food. Then there were some meat in a pastry, and something else in the same pastry, but since they all tasted pretty much the same, I forgot what it was. More Angolotti, but with shaved white truffles, although not as good as La Terza. Then a sweet corn soup, which was rather nice but not extraordinary. After that came the halibut, which was encased in some sickeningly sweet saffron sauce and more corn. The dish was just a bizarre combination of sweet, sweet and more sweet. Moreover, the fish tasted old and fishy. Perhaps, the only redeeming quality of Spago was Sherry Yard's awesome dessert. There was a souffle with a citrusy sauce, a sinful multilayer chocolate granache cake, a beautiful apple tart, a cream doughnut with raspberry sauce, and a homey plate of cookies with rainbow cookies that literally melts in your mouth. Sherry hung out with us afterward and tossed ideas about her upcoming photo sheet with Art Culinaire.

Sunday morning breakfast was at Amadine, a sort of Asian french mix style place. Except for its charming exterior and pleasant proprietress, Amadine was unremarkable in everyway, with tarts that tasted of stale buttter, croissants that were dry and weak lattes that seemed more like milk water.

Lunch was at Thai town where we had a satifying pad thai and fish cakes. The seafood pan noodles were excellent with a lovely sweet chili. There were also a fragrant thai chicken with rice and some sort of meat dish. Afterwards, we stopped at a thai bakery for little taro pancakes and crepes with shredded coconuts on top. If I were to go to LA again, this would be a place that makes all the slow moving traffic worth its while.

Sunday dinner was at Grace restaurant, which was rather nice. We all had different things, and it would be tedious to go through what each of us had, but overall, no one complained about anything. I though my squash blosson were a savory treat, and Greg's bean salad had good contrast in flavor. The restaurant comped us a steamed monkfish liver that had the version at Nobu beat hands down. I had a john dory that came with roasted salsify, gnocchi and greens. Gary thought his burger was very good although his fries were a bit on the soggy side. Pichet ordered the Elk with huckleberry pie and roasted chestnuts. He thought the elk was well executed but the chestnuts were hard and rubbery and the huckberry pie lacked distinction. The food was the first dinner we had that resembled a home meal rather than a frou frou tasting, and sometimes it's all we need. Sherry dropped by towards the end of dinner and hung out with us and Grace's Chef Neal Fraser until closing time.

Afterward, we all went back to Thai town to stock up for the plane ride home.

I'm afraid to step on the scale to see how much weight I gained, and this week the resolution is to cook home for a week.

[Ore]

Wow...sounds like a cool trip. I live in LA, work in restaurants, and haven't been to any of the places you visited, except La Terza and Boule.

Sunday and Monday as my days off, options for dining out WELL in LA are cut by more then half!

When is the next time you are in LA!?!

Ore

Edited October 12, 2005 by Ore (log)

[Bond Girl]

Probably next year when I go for the Bond conference in Santa Monica.