Tag Archives: Downtown LA

My Top dineLA Restaurant Week Picks for Winter, 2013: January 21 – February 1

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Braised Beef Cheek, Taleggio Pureed Potatoes, Chanterelles

Happy Martin Luther King Day! Also, what a joyous second inauguration day. In this case, it also means the very first day of dineLA Restaurant Week. If you haven’t, already, you best be making your reservations right now – or better yet, take advantage of your day off and find your prix fixe destination for lunch today.

I’ve done a bit of perusing the incredibly extensive list of restaurants and their offered menus around the city and came up with a few categories that struck me. With 3-course prix fixe as the standard, here are some standout menu offerings the week starting today, Monday, January 21 – Friday, February 1:

Best Opportunity to Try New Chef at Venue

Not new chefs by any definition (in fact, the tenure of this group is impressive especially by L.A. standards) – just new venues.

I associate my first experiences with potted rillettes, headcheese and pates in L.A. with Remi Lauvand, and he’s now at Le Ka, having just opened last September. Downtown workers can get their feet wet on the $25 lunch menu, but interesting dinner menu items include escargot cavatelli, lamb’s tongue and scallops with lentils and chicken skin – some things that may be too good to pass up.

With Vartan Abgaryan now serving at a venue in possession of one of the most enviable patios in Silver Lake, I can’t help but simply displace the delicious plates he was just serving at Public Kitchen & Bar and imagine them enjoyed in outdoor dim lighting surrounded by foliage. Sure, he’s changed up a few things, but I’ve always been a fan of his octopus.

Just a week ago, IDG’s RivaBella just started serving dinner in its brand-new, 8,000 square foot space, basically the antithesis of Angelini Osteria. You’ll have to settle for lunch if you want to do Restaurant Week here, but if Gino Angelini’s pasta (such as a green pappardelle in ragu) is part of the 3-course offering, that will always do.

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Favorite Dish: Bestia’s Cavatelli alla Norcina

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Cavatelli alla Norcina

(What qualifies as) The Los Angeles chill and corresponding grey skies have gotten me into a pasta mood. You may call them carbs with requisite detachment, but I have nothing but reverence for such sustenance. Fresh, handmade pasta is the stuff of comfort: It’s the thick, wool scarf on a windy day. It’s the down fill in your duvet.

So as I sat down at the bar at Bestia for a taste of the menu – a one-top during one of my reclusive holiday moods – I realized immediately that I’d have to come back. There were just too many things on the menu that sounded too good to pass up. But thanks to bartender Karen Grill, who was working that night, I had the inside on the menu highlights…of which there were many. So of course, the hard part was picking just one.

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The New Winter Cocktail Menu Delights at Drago Centro

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Coquettish Angel – Pierde Almas Mezcal, Boudier Parfait Amour, Meletti Amaro, lemon, egg white, Miracle Mile Chocolate Chili Bitters

It’s no secret that Drago Centro is one of my favorite places to drink and eat. And then drink, again. But it just wouldn’t be the same without Jaymee Mandeville at the helm of each seasonal cocktail menu. And the latest is a doozy. It’s inspirational with each cocktail proving their point of view and collectively, it’s her strongest menu yet. Though there’s diversity, each drink is well-balanced, with many even evolving through the end of each sip.

I’ve made some notes, with a pictorial at the bottom to aid you. So get thee to Drago Centro.

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Five Upcoming Food & Drink Events You Won’t Want to Miss

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LudoBites 4.0 Greatest Hits: White Asparagus Veloute, Mozzarella Mousse, Candied Olives, Fennel, Salmon Roe

Now would be a great time to finally and formally introduce you to my “Upcoming Events” column over on the right (–>). It’s but a few months old, but a great way to short-handedly let you know about the best things that are coming up as far as goings on in Los Angeles. It also means less pre-event write-ups, since you can get the skinny right in that column. (You’re welcome.)

For now, though, I’ve anticipated a slew of food events in our beloved city – especially while everyone’s trying to get everything wrapped up before the holidays. I believe the following, however, warrant special attention. Be sure to make your reservations & buy your tickets. Here they are, in order of date:

1. Now: LudoBites 10.0 Reservation Window Now Open (until 10:59 AM Thursday, November 29, 2012)

Right now we’re in the middle of a 24-hour window that first opened at 11 AM PST. So until 10:59 AM tomorrow (Thursday, November 29), you’ll get to enter the lottery for a reservation on one of 14 days (weekdays, December 4-21) of LudoBites 10.0 at Gram & Papa’s in Downtown LA. No guarantees that any of you will actually GET a reservation, but all we can do is try, try, try, right? (No seriously – don’t submit that form twice. It will make Krissy very mad. Just once, guys.) Protip: To increase your chances of getting a reservation, be sure to be as available as possible, since you have to fill out your available days and time slots. Or maybe that was obvious.

And if you don’t know what LudoBites is, by now, I’m afraid I can’t help you…or can I?

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Pitfire Pizza Celebrates its 15th Anniversary and New Fall Menu

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Roasted Pumpkin Pizza, Kale, Pumpkin Seeds

It’s been a few years since Pitfire Pizza had found a special place in my heart. Though I first became surprisingly enamored with the well built-out chain starting with the unveiling of their Culver City location, I was surprised to learn that they’re actually celebrating the 15th anniversary of the first, their North Hollywood location, this year.

Their quality is ensured by a well sized, manageable menu that joins the locations together. If you only order pizza, you’re actually missing a big part of their appeal. They always have excellent vegetable sides and well executed pastas to cover all their bases. And now, you’ll have fall flavors to look forward to on your next visit, starting with their Roasted Pumpkin Pizza with kale and pumpkin seeds.

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Get Out the Vote: Election Day Food & Drink Specials Around Los Angeles

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Tavern Red State Burger – Pork, pork, pork, Manchego, Romesco

As November 6th rolls up, we’re reminded, again and again, that the best reason to vote is to realize our civic duty. We, as a society, have been preparing for next Tuesday for a long time (Californians, with all our propositions, you know what I’m talking about). Decisions will be made as a collective whether or not we decide to personally participate, so why not embrace it?

Whether you take-away a savory dinner to enjoy at home or await the returns in camaraderie at one of the viewing parties, your “I Voted” sticker will score some points with your taste buds and your wallet anywhere around town. If you voted absentee, perhaps you’ll want to carry your stub or some other proof with you so you can make your case. Check below for a deal near you:

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Test Kitchen to Re-Open at Bestia Featuring Walter Manzke and Neal Fraser on October 16, 2012

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Test Kitchen at Bestia

The story of Test Kitchen is something of a legend. Legends, though, are usually long gone – relegated to a time past. And yes, that was the year-long story of the Westside Test Kitchen (which now houses Sotto), but it’s about to be revived come next Tuesday.

The series, brought to you again by Bill Chait, heads downtown to Ori Menashe’s (formerly Angelini Osteria) new digs at Bestia and it runs from October 16 through November 11. Notable chefs hailing from Los Angeles and around the country will rotate, just like the 2010 incarnation. Future menus and projects as well as collaborative exhibition nights will be the focus, much like before.

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Things Learned From Two Years of Going Metro and Bicycling in Los Angeles

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Bicycling Los Angeles

People do walk in L.A., but – let’s be honest – they mostly still don’t. People drive alone, and they carpool. They vanpool and they shuttle. They ride their bikes. They Über or Taxi Magic all over town. And yes, we Metro railway. Do you ever get the feeling that just because we’re not New York, that’s the only thing they’re rubbing our noses in?

Which is not to say that I’m not envious of their subway access – and many other things. Yet having passed the 2-year mark living near a Hollywood Metro Red Line stop, I’ve learned a lot in the process about our own public transportation options. The Expo Line has opened during that time. And we’re looking forward to more.  Just experiencing the drastic transformation in how people choose to get around – myself included, and not only on the rail – have provided so many eye-opening revelations. So when Slate says that L.A. is being turned into “America’s next great mass-transit city,” we’ll take that little bit of validation. 

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Checking Out The Parish With Glenrothes Single Malt Scotch Whisky

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Fried Chicken, Grilled Peaches, Tomatoes & Currant Vinaigrette

My 2-day crash course in all restaurants Casey Lane was a bit of an accident. I scheduled a business brunch at Tasting Kitchen on Venice’s Abbott Kinney while not realizing that a media lunch at his new, cross-town joint, The Parish, was to take place the next day. But I found no coincidence in the fact that both places serve stellar food – Downtown Los Angeles should be so lucky to receive such an addition by Casey, who brought the concept of farm-to-table to fruition before the term got hackneyed. (Soon, Melrose will get their own dosage in Itri, a pasta shop.)

Scotch Lace with Glenrothes Select Reserve

While I missed the one-month-ago opening since it was during Tales of the Cocktail, I was lucky to have gotten my first taste at a Glenrothes Scotch Whisky lunch. (As this was a special event, The Parish isn’t open for lunch – but it seems as though they are aiming for breakfast service in the near future.) What a treat it was to have tasted The Parish’s stellar food alongside one of the top three Single Speyside Malts in different vintages: 1998, 1988 and, ultimately, the 1978.

We started out with a Scotch Lace, John Coltharp’s variation on a whisky sour, but utilizing Glenrothes Select Reserve with a splash of Rose. It was super refreshing (especially since I had Metro’ed and biked there) without much tartness at all.

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Get Your Tickets For Los Angeles Food & Wine: August 9-12, 2012

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Kin Medai Snapper w/Geoduck, Papaya, Peanuts & Coconut foam – Morimoto Lunch at WP24, LAFW 2011

Los Angeles Food & Wine: It’s basically the hottest ticket of the year, in that there’s a hodgepodge of over forty events all packed into four days. There are out-of-town culinary stars that join with local forces to grace us with their presentations of different food and wine themes.

Caviar & Champagne at The Montage? Check. Asian Night Market with Andrew Zimmern? Check. Chocolate & Chocolate with Jacques & Hasty Torres? Check. There are also plenty of cooking demonstrations by a few chef extraordinaires.

For those with Fridays off or non-business hour workdays, don’t forget to check out one of the lunches available – for instance at CUT, which is usually not even available for lunch service.

Of course, for those of you who just can’t decide, it’ll be easy to pick a Lexus Grand Tasting on one of the two afternoons or evenings, wherein you’ll get to walk around L.A. LIVE while sampling plenty of eats & wines from kitchens and vineyards that hail from all over.

And get your tickets fast, because the event starts in a matter of 3 days. Some events are already sold out. This is your final warning.

 

Los Angeles Food & Wine

August 9 – 12, 2012

Various events at L.A. LIVE (and elsewhere)
800 W. Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90015