Any good dining in L.A.

[DanaT]

Hi all.

This is my first thread in egullet. Two of us will fly to San Francisco, stay a few days, and then drive the coast to L.A. SF is well represented in this forum and we chose a couple of suggestions that we can't wait to try but what are the L.A. restaurants most recommended here?

To give you an idea of our taste: the French Laundry is our splurge. In San Francisco, we'll try out Aziza and Far Leaves Tea but we've yet to find a L.A. restaurant to put on the list.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Any special cuisine that you are looking for? One thing that absolutely cannot be beat is Japanese Food. For high-end, consider Matsuhisa and for downright authentic, almost any restaurant in the city of Gardena (my favorites include Shin-Sen-Gumi and Nari Sushi).

It is interesting that LA restaurants have different ethnic restaurants than will be found in San Francisco -- there are more differing Middle Eastern cuisines and the Fairfax distric has somewhere in the neighborhood of eight Ethiopian restaurants. The smaller Asian countries are well represented and I'm sure Jschyun will pipe in with her favorite Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai restaurants.

For classic California Cuisine, the recommendation will be endless. Some standout restaurants in LA include Water Grill in downtown for outstanding seafood, Joe's in Venice for great CalCuisine, and Josie for probably the best meal in town, hands-down.

A good burger? Fat Burger. Period ("Fat on the Char" is how it must be ordered.) To-die-for onion rings.

Does this help?

[SiseFromm]

This seems to be my constant go-to recommendation, but I really can't say enough good things about Lucques on Melrose near La Ciennega. Maybe it's my love affair with the whole Alice Waters way of doing things. Suzanne Goin definitely takes on a "use fresh, perfect ingredients" philosphy. You can also try her sister restaurant, A.O.C. Wine Bar.

[Chris Cognac]

I second the Gardena recomendation....come to the South Bay for some good casual beach eateries....as well as some good mexican and other stuff....its ethnic and low budget thats the best...

[DanaT]

Thanks everybody. Just going to check out these restaurants. Will be back! :)

[DanaT]

Carolyn,

I sincerely wish we could sample the food at Matsuhisa but with a splurge at the French Laundry, we'd better not tempt ourselves. The last time we sat at an upscale Japanese restaurant and ordered omakase our intended $60 meal doubled in price.

Gardena is definitely on our travel plans. And the A.O.C. winery looks fun.

Has anyone heard of Violet's? I saw a couple of posts recommending it but nothing too specific.

[Chris Cognac]

Check out the Gardena Bowling Alley for some off the best Hawaiian food around. Its on Vermont, just south of the Hustler casino. The best Portugese sausage, bacon fried rice, loco moco...and great saimin and ramen as well as tempura...

[rjwong]

If you want some restaurants in downtown LA, there's a number of historic places to try:

Original Pantry Cafe (owned by former LA mayor Richard Riordon & the decor is right out of a Raymond Chandler novel)

Original Tommy's (since 1946, Tommy Koulax's chili cheese hamburger at Beverly & Rampart)

Philippe (since 1908, "Home of the French Dipped Sandwich")

Traxx (Mind you, the restaurant is not historic, but the location is, namely inside Union Station)

Cicada (Wonderful Italian located in the Oviatt Building, the first Art Deco building in LA with the largest collection of Rene Lalique glass in North America)

The Patina Group (This is Joachim Splichal's array of restaurants, including his flagship Patina located next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall)

I'll stop the list here for now.

FYI, DanaT, if you're driving down the coast to LA, you should stop in Santa Barbara & eat at this Mexican shack called La Super-Rica on Milpas St. & Alphonse St. Julia once recommended this place.

Pardon me for being a bit curious, DanaT (OK, nosy):

How did you get reservations for the French Laundry this far in advance, or did you??

[DanaT]

We didn't yet. We heard its a bear trying to get reservations but with three of us going for it we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Cool, thanks for the suggestions.

Edited January 13, 2005 by DanaT (log)

[jschyun]

What kind of food are you interested in, exactly?

[DanaT]

That's tough to answer. Generally we like any type of food so long as attention to quality is there. Coming from New York, we'd like to try some California speciality that New York doesn't have but beyond that we're game for most anything good.

[JFLinLA]

I think what you will get here over NYC and many other parts of the country is cuisine from Central American countries, Mexican food that's not what most Americans think of, and if you're able/willing to travel east to the San Gabriel Valley, more varieties of amazing Chinese food than you every knew existed. Lot's of folks here can give you their personal favorites.

[DanaT]

Thanks JFLinLA. I look forward to hearing more. You're right we don't have a lot of Central American cuisine.