Foodie Universe's Restaurant Reviews

Restaurant Review #221: Greek House Cafe, Simi Valley

2009-09-01T23:37:00.000-07:00

Chicken kebab plate

Simi Valley's Greek House Cafe, located in a small strip mall on the busy corner of Sycamore and Cochran, has a nice sign out front, but that's pretty much the restaurant's only decor. This little hole in the wall is kind of dingy--not the kind of place where you want to linger and eat your food--but you shouldn't pass it up. It's affordable, many dishes will tickle your tastebuds, and you can avoid the dreary atmosphere by ordering takeout.

Greek salad

The Greek salad is one of the menu's few disappointments. The iceberg lettuce and flavorless tomatoes kill it, and the dressing is unnoticeable. Sadly, it seems like the only restaurants where you can get good lettuce and tomatoes are those that make it a point to get their produce from farmers markets (and those restaurants are in the minority, even here in SoCal where there's no excuse for subpar produce).

Avgolemono

Skip the salad and order the avgolemono ($1.75 cup, $3.25 bowl) instead. This traditional Greek chicken soup with orzo, egg, and lemon may sound unusual and even off-putting, but it's even easier to eat and even more comforting than what most Americans think of as traditional chicken noodle soup. It's thick, creamy, and the "noodles" are like plump grains of rice, so there's no slurping and no mess. I guess the egg is just used as a thickener, because there is no flavor or consistency of egg in the soup. The lemon isn't overwhelming, but adds an interesting and surprisingly addictive tang to every bite.

Moussaka plate

Moussaka, a uniquely spiced eggplant/ground beef/bechamel casserole, is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods when it's done right. I think the moussaka at the Great Greek in Studio City is more moist and flavorful. Greek House Cafe's version is perhaps not as creamy or as luxuriously spiced, and I don't think I'd order it again. (Moussaka plate: $10.50 lunch, $11.50 dinner)

The pita bread, however, is perfectly soft and fresh. It's imported, and has a consistency unlike that dried-out "pita" they sell at the grocery store. For extra flavor and texture, it's brushed with either olive oil or butter (I can't tell) then grilled. I dare say it's not very good for you, but it's so delicious you won't care.

I haven't tried everything on the menu (yet), but I think the best dishes at Greek House Cafe are the appetizers--hummus, tzatziki, melitzanosalata, tabouli, feta, and kalamata olives. The feta and hummus are some of the most flavorful I've ever had. You can try all six of these appetizers at once by ordering the cold appetizer plate for 2 ($11.95). The gyros ($7.95 lunch, $8.95 dinner) are also outstanding, if impossible to actually pick up and eat as a sandwich because they are so huge.

Baklava

The only dessert at Greek House Cafe is homemade baklava ($2.25). The portion size is enormous--a single serving is enough for two to four people. This is not my favorite baklava--it could be crispier and have more depth of flavor--but it will do.

The prices are very reasonable--two people could have a feast for $30--but be warned that it's cash-only establishment. If you show up with only plastic in your wallet, though, there is an ATM in the convenience store next door.

Greek House Cafe would be good anywhere, but it's especially welcome out in the suburbs, where there are more chains and fewer independent and/or ethnic eateries.

Greek House Cafe
2375 Sycamore Dr Ste 5
Simi Valley, CA 93065
(805) 955-9899
http://www.greekhousecafe.com/

Restaurant Review #220: Cafe Firenze, Moorpark - Restaurant of Top Chef's Fabio Viviani

2009-07-01T23:16:00.000-07:00

Osso bucco

I wanted to go to Cafe Firenze even before I knew what it was--the restaurant of Chef Fabio Viviani, the #4 contestant from season five of the television show Top Chef. The glitz of Los Angeles proper doesn't generally make its way out to places like Moorpark, which is several miles over the Ventura County line, a few miles north of Thousand Oaks. I was curious--could a place out in the boonies measure up? An 80% off coupon code for Restaurant.com made it easy to find out. I got a $25 gift certificate for $2 and off we went.

Strawberry balsamic martini

I couldn't believe how packed the restaurant was on a Tuesday night at 8:00--we had to wait a good 15 minutes for a table. We camped out on some broken-in leather couches in the boisterous bar area, where the low lighting was on par with a night club but the flat screen television tuned to a sports channel brought back the bar vibe. I don't know what the singles scene is like in Moorpark, but the bar at Cafe Firenze would seem to be a good place for it. They don't just have the same old boring drinks, either--they have a very extensive list of innovative martinis (complete with $10 price tag--is that considered cheap these days?). I tried the strawberry balsamic martini, made with fresh strawberries, lime juice, vanilla vodka, and perhaps another ingredient or two. If they weren't so expensive, I definitely would have ordered a second one (or two, or three)--this drink was fantastic.

Caesar salad

My mom ordered the caesar salad as an appetizer and thought it was the best caesar salad she'd ever had. To me, it tasted the same as every other caesar I've ever had--it was tasty, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Proscuitto and melon appetizer

I was very excited to try the proscuitto and melon appetizer, which is something I've never had before. I gather that it's supposed to be a very simple dish based on two ingredients that, when high quality, are delicious enough to stand on their own but are even better together. So to me, it seemed like this appetizer really had too many ingredients, with balsamic vinegar, burrata cheese (like fresh mozarella, but softer and more moist), arugula, and fried balls of dough that were like donut holes, without the glaze, if they had been sitting out for 24 hours. The canteloupe was grilled, and the way the natural sugars had carmelized along the grill marks was heavenly.

However, with only two slices of canteloupe and a whole heap of proscuitto, the ratio of the dish's most important ingredients was off. The arugula (my favorite leaf lettuce) really didn't add anything to the dish--some might think that it's peppery crunch was a nice contrast to the more subtle flavors of the cheese, melon, and ham, but to me it just seemed out of place. The fried dough balls definitely seemed like an afterthought--even if they hadn't been stale, they wouldn't have added anything to the dish. I would have gladly eaten a pound of the cheese in one sitting, though, and the portion was quite generous for an appetizer and for the price. I was almost full afterward. Curiously, the appetizer pictured here looks nothing like the photo of the same dish on the restaurant's website.

Lobster ravioli

The meal portions were kind of hit or miss, however. The lobster ravioli was about the same size as my appetizer, while the lamb shank was enough for two meals. The flavor of this dish was pleasant, but it just didn't seem as rich as lobster ravioli usually seems. Maybe that's a good thing if you don't like heavy food, though, and in my opinion, the richness of lobster is perpetually overrated. The shrimp provided a nice touch--they aren't usually part of a dish like this. It might be worth ordering again, but perhaps something else on the menu would be better.

Lamb shank

The lamb shank was a disappointment because it was overcooked, dry and hard in some places and not nearly as tender as it could have been in others. It certainly didn't fall off the bone or melt in my mouth. The wine reduction sauce was flavorful, but couldn't compensate for the dry meat. I took home the leftover meat, shredded it, and put it in a stew. The gnocchi with mushrooms and gorgonzola cream sauce was another story--if eating so much fat in one sitting wasn't just asking for it, I'd gladly consume this dish a few times a week. Nothing could be smoother or richer than the combination of savory mushrooms, gnocchi so soft they don't even need to be chewed, and cheese fused with cream. I'll take this dish over fettucini alfredo any day.

Dining room

The dining room is divided into several sections. Part of it is adjacent to the bar, so if you don't like noisy dining, ask for a table in the back room. Regardless of where you sit, the restaurant has a very impressive feel because of its high ceilings and weighty decor--heavy beams, oversized chandeliers, high-backed leather chairs. It's definitely nice enough for a date or impressive enough for a business dinner. The service was friendly and competent, if a little slow at times.

I guess the most surprising/disappointing thing about the restaurant is that while it was fairly good, I expected it to be amazing. I thought that someone who a) made it on to Top Chef in the first place and b) got as far in the competition as he did would serve better food. Eating at Cafe Firenze actually made me doubt the legitimacy of Top Chef as a competition. This certainly wasn't the food of one of the top chefs in the nation--it's not creative enough or perfect enough. Of course, a lot of the best chefs in the country have no desire to be on a reality cooking show, so that limits the applicant pool.

That being said, if you put aside your expectations about what a Top Chef's restaurant is supposed to be like, you'll probably be pretty pleased with your meal. At most Italian restaurants in the United States, you already know what to expect before you even set foot in the door--that's why I don't really like going out to eat for Italian. The menu at Cafe Firenze breaks that mold by serving more than just lasagna, fettucini and pizza, and there aren't a lot of restaurants like it in the area, which is dominated by low-key places and chains. Even though I didn't love everything I tried and the prices are a little high for the 'burbs (though not for the amount of food you get in most dishes), I would go back, especially since it looks like new items have already appeared on the menu since my last visit (I want to try the octopus).

Cafe Firenze
Italian Restaurant and Martini Lounge
563 W. Los Angeles Ave.
Moorpark, CA 93021
805.532.0048
Cafe Firenze Website
Hours:
Tue., Wed., Sun. 11am-10pm
Thur., Fri., Sat. 11am-2am
Closed Mondays

Restaurant Review #219: Eggs N Things, Simi Valley

2009-06-01T23:30:00.000-07:00

Scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes O'Brien

There are a variety of reasons why I don't really like to go out for breakfast. I am not a morning person. Breakfast is cheap and easy to make at home. I don't like to eat right after I wake up. I hate the smell of bacon.

Perhaps worst of all is that it's impossible to get through a meal without those near-invisible traces of syrup that are on the menus and the edges of the table finding their way onto your fingers, elbows, and shirt. You can never see the stuff until it's too late. I don't understand why the servers and busboys at most breakfast joints can't do a better job of cleaning up. It takes a little more attention to detail and a little extra elbow grease to track down and clean up all the sticky spots and shifts are often fast-paced--I get it. But shouldn't a sit-down restaurant have higher standards of cleanliness than your average fast-food restaurant?

Crepe appetizer

So one of the things that I liked so much about my experience at Eggs N Things is that there were no traces of leftover syrup on the menu or the table. The dining room is sparsely decorated except for the country-kitsch yellow wallpaper. Sunlight pours in through the large windows lining the front of the restaurant, and though the view of nearby Target's parking lot leaves something to be desired, at least there is plentiful free parking. While the staff seemed fairly brusque, they were generally prompt. What they lack in charm is perhaps made up for by the free crepe that starts your meal--hot off the griddle, bathed in melted butter, topped with berry jam and dusted in powdered sugar. If I go back, I'll probably order the crepes for my meal.

Blueberry pancakes

Being a newcomer, however, I ordered the blueberry pancakes. While fluffy and perfectly cooked, they could have had more blueberries and more moisture. I prefer IHOP's pancakes, which seem to border on greasy but don't need to be drenched in syrup to be swallowable.

Omelet with hash browns

I didn't try the food that the other people in my party ordered, but I can say that everything looked properly cooked, the portion sizes were generous, and everything is reasonably priced. On a weekday at 11:00 a.m., there was no wait for a table. The restaurant is quite large, so I imagine they can even accommodate the weekend rush fairly well (though I can't say for sure, having only been there once). In the same week, I also went to Coco's, which just drove home what a superior breakfast joint Eggs N Things is--it's celebrating its 20th anniversary in Simi for a reason.

Eggs N Things
2955 Cochran St
Simi Valley, CA 93065
(805) 527-0055

Restaurant Review #218: Two Guys From Italy, Moorpark

2009-05-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

Jägerschnitzel

Our party of five showed up at Two Guys From Italy on a Thursday night around 7:30. We were a little taken aback at first because we were asked to wait for a table and the restaurant looked nearly empty. But then a friendly woman told us that she had two large parties coming in and she wanted to give us a quiet table in the back where another group was finishing up. Once we found out that the wait was to try to give us a better experience, we didn't mind. I used the time to peruse the menu, and started falling in love with the restaurant as soon as I hit the beer list. Just to have a beer list that consists of something more interesting than Corona and Heineken is exciting; to have a full-page list of interesting German brews, complete with descriptions, is a godsend for beer lovers. (They also have a wine list for you oenophiles.)

Contrary to its name, Two Guys From Italy is actually run by "a chick from Bavaria," as owner Valeria refers to herself. She purchased the restaurant in 1998 and has allowed her native southern German cuisine to influence a small part of the menu (ten entrees). The rest of the menu is Italian--awfully good Italian that you'd never guess came from a German. The lengthy menu would take weeks to eat through--there are eleven types of pasta and twenty-six sauces that you can combine any way you want, along with several meat and seafood entrees and pizza. If you want to try to get through the menu a little faster, you can try the restaurant's lunch buffet.

Tortellini con nocini

The tortellini con nocini is one of the create-your-own pasta options. The nocini is a creamy gorgonzola sauce with walnuts and one of the best pasta sauces we've ever tried. The chicken Marco Polo, two thin, juicy chicken breasts with mushrooms and artichokes in a slightly tangy, deliciously heart-attack-inducing cream sauce, was also a winner. If you're sharing plates though, don't order these two dishes--the flavors of the different sauces clash with each other.

Rouladen

A recent trip to Germany and a couple of years of German lessons had me in full-on trip nostalgia mode, so I ordered a German beer (Wiesen Edel-Weisse) and a German entree, the rouladen, which is a three-quarter-inch thick piece of beef rolled around pickled vegetables, onions, and bacon and drenched in gravy. I can't say I've ever had this dish before, so I didn't have anything to compare it to. The beef was moist and tender, and while I was somewhat concerned about the pickles being overpowering, I didn't even notice them. The onions were similarly mild. The dish paired wonderfully with the beer, which was served in the correct glass and expertly poured by the waiter. The dish came with a side of spaetzle, a sort of fried, homemade noodle-dumpling perfect for sopping up excess gravy, and sweet-tart braised red cabbage (not pictured).

All of the entrees come with your choice of soup or salad (the lentil soup tastes wonderfully homemade) and a basket of warm bread and olive tapenade (that doesn't taste like a tin can).

Cannoli

Of the items on the dessert list, the tiramisu and cannoli are made in house and the rest come from outside vendors. The cannoli's thick, crunchy, bubbly shell oozes with dense, super-sweet cream that has a hint of vanilla.

I'm not a cannoli expert, but I really loved this one. Like a Sprinkles cupcake, however, it's perhaps too much of a sugar high for one person.

Tiramisu

As for the tiramisu, I think that once you've had one tiramisu, you've had them all. This one didn't change my mind--not that it wasn't good, it just didn't wow me. We also tried the blackout cake, which was similarly good but generic.

Blackout cake

The service at this restaurant is superb. Of the many servers we interacted with, all were friendly, pleasant, and seemed happy to be there. All of our dishes arrived promptly. Valeria, the owner, visited our table several times during the meal. The decor is, shall we say, very red and green, with lots of hanging plants, a wall of mirrors and some neon (yes, it's a bit dated). There's nothing trendy or showy about Two Guys, and it's not the kind of place you take someone who is hard to impress. It's just a casual, comfortable, reasonably priced restaurant with excellent food and excellent service. And that's why I like it.

Two Guys From Italy
484 E. Los Angeles Ave
Moorpark, CA 93021
Hours:
Mon - Fri: 11am - 9pm
Saturday: 4pm - 10pm
Sunday: 4pm - 9pm

Restaurant Review #217: Indian Haweli, Simi Valley

2009-03-31T00:25:00.000-07:00

Aloo gobi

Simi Valley isn’t known for its restaurants. Food snobs on Chow.com, a message board website for culinary enthusiasts, refer to the distant suburb as “a culinary wasteland” and “a real down and dirty low class locale.” Another commenter moans, “My co-workers and I are stuck in Simi Valley for a few months on our latest project. There seems to be nothing but fast food, chain restaurants and disappointments out here.”

Those in the know who come to the boards seeking advice attempt to avoid incurring the wrath of those who wouldn’t be caught dead at a TGI Friday’s by timidly labeling their threads, “decent sushi in Simi?” and “Simi Valley chow?” After all, who knows what kind of ostracism could result from associating your screen name with an opinion that there is good food to be had in Simi?

There’s no question that it’s easy to get spoiled dining in Los Angeles, and that it’s best to practice culinary relativism when grubbing in Simi if you’re not a native. Pretend like you’re in the Midwest, for example, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

Chicken tikka masala

Take Indian Haweli. Its first strike might be that a fair number of Simi residents probably shut down as soon as they get to the second, unfamiliar word in the restaurant’s title—at best, they might call it “Indian Hawaii.”

Its second strike might be that it’s located in a strip mall next to a bait and tackle shop and a sewing machine and vacuum store. Of course, anyone who has been dining in and around Los Angeles for more than a year knows better than to rule out a place based on this characteristic. Just think of all the celebs who dine at Zagat-acclaimed Hamasaku in the corner of a two-story strip mall in West LA (and what is West LA if not a series of strip malls?).

Dining room

Those who can overlook the restaurant’s ragged edges, though, like the institutional acoustic ceiling, the bumped and bruised chairs, the dorm-style plastic tube lights and the buttercup yellow walls that look like they were painted by a mildly industrious yet slightly lazy teenager will not find much else to complain about at this restaurant.

For starters, there is no leathery-skinned, bleached-blond woman with the body of a 12-year-old talking too loudly about her last audition at the table six inches away from yours, because the restaurant’s 12 tables are not arranged to maximize profit per square foot so much as to create a serene dining experience (and besides, that woman is a safe 30 miles away at Urth Caffe in West Hollywood). Cheery yellow and orange panels further separate each table from the ones behind and in front of it.

Lamb vindaloo

Among the restaurant’s best dishes are the aloo gobi, a vegetarian dish of tender, spiced cauliflower and potato—at least, it’s supposed to have potato—and the lamb vindaloo, succulent meat and potatoes sauced in an earthy brown medley of spices. All dishes can be ordered mild, medium or spicy, and when it comes to heat, the cooks mean business (even if you don’t appear to be Indian).

The lunch buffet, offered seven days a week, is a steal at $6.99. Included are six entrees, plain and saffron-infused basmati rice, and a salad of lettuce, tomato and onion, plus raita, mint and tamarind chutneys, two kinds of dessert and fresh naan. While the naan is delivered straight from kitchen to table, the rest of the spread can suffer from the common buffet problem of sitting out too long and not being hot enough. Those who arrive at 11:30 when the buffet starts won’t have experience problem, though.

Mattar paneer

There’s nothing new on Indian Haweli’s menu (or the TV in the front corner, which shows Bollywood movies), but then, when is an Indian restaurant’s menu ever unpredictable? All the staples are there, from samosas and vindaloos to kormas and masalas. To their detriment, many of the dishes belong to the creamy school of Indian cooking—that means it’s possible to get full just by looking at the matar paneer, a vegetarian dish of squishy, lightly fried cubes of theoretically homemade cheese accompanied by bright green peas that blink from beneath a lush orange sauce flecked with spices.

Adjacent to the restaurant is a small Indian grocery store. It's only three aisles across with a few convenience-store variety refrigerator and freezer cases, but the selection is almost comparable to an India's Sweets and Spices (an LA chain offering satisfying meals, cavity-inducing confections, and groceries)—or even, with its bounty of crispy Indian snack foods and ready-to-make dessert mixes, a store in Artesia’s Little India. Such a store would be a gem just about anywhere, but it's an especially welcome surprise in Simi.

Along with a plethora of spices and canisters of ghee (clarified butter) for patrons who want to make Indian food from scratch, there are Pillsbury samosas and frozen paneer for the faux home cook.

The quality and meager selection of the store’s sweets leaves something to be desired, though—their subdued flavor and a nearby box suggest that they may not be homemade. It doesn't help that they're kept in a display case—those always seems to leave food tasting stale and slightly off.

The sweets on the restaurant’s dessert menu, however, are so moist they seem like they were made to order, though that’s impossible given the time-consuming preparation of most Indian desserts. Try the ras malai, a delicate ricotta cake bathed in a sweet, cardamom- and pistachio-laced milk.

Despite its imperfections, Indian Haweli is an oasis in the supposed culinary desert, a restaurant where one can enjoy mostly solid food in a tranquil, crowd-free atmosphere at reasonable prices, where there’s no risk that the man at the table next to yours will be sitting close enough to accidentally sample your dish and where the waiters aren’t running on Red Bull or wearing 35 pieces of flair.

Indian Haweli
1750 E. Los Angeles Ave.
Simi Valley, CA 93065
(805) 520-1236
Indian Haweli website

Restaurant Review #216: Soot Bull Jeep

2009-02-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

Soot Bull Jeep has a widespread reputation as one of the best restaurants in Koreatown. It’s also notorious for being one of the smokiest, due to its charcoal (not gas) grills at every table in a dining room that is entirely indoors (and has all the ambiance of a truck stop).

Indeed, I wanted to change clothes when I got home, but while I was actually at the restaurant, I barely noticed the smoke at all. There certainly wasn't a heavy gray cloud smothering the entire room like I was expecting from all the reviews I read. The real problem was the thick coating of black sludge on the underside of the grill—the part that's under the table, the part that I ruined a pair of jeans on.

The massive range hoods at every table actually do a rather good job of getting the smoke out of the place, but at a cost—they're noisy, and combined with the extra-wide tables (to acommodate grills), it's hard to have a conversation in this joint.

The waitress lit our grill right away, and that was when I started to wish I had worn a long-sleeved shirt--the flying embers were nipping at my forearms all night. She also plunked down a plethora of panchan, coaster-sized dishes of sides and condiments— pungent and slightly too spicy for comfort, in a good way—for eating with and between mouthfuls of meat. Our waitress didn't seem to speak English, so we were a little worried when she seemed confused about our order, but she did know enough to tell us which type of beef was the best (we were relatively clueless, having only eaten Korean barbecue one other time).

Her recommendation was right on, but despite this gesture of kindness and her extensive help grilling our food and snipping our meat into edible-sized pieces with scissors (this is a chopstick-only establishment), she was really all business and not terribly pleasant. Somehow ordering a second Sprite made her crack a wide smile, but that was the only indication all night that she might not have hated being there. Drinks come in cans and bottles from the convenience-store cooler at the far end of the dining room--in other words, no free refills. The water cups are small and the food is spicy, so ordering a large beer might be your best bet.

The menu is one sheet of laminated white paper listing various meat options: chicken, squid, beef tongue, pork, spencer steak (also known as boneless ribeye, known for its tenderness and marbling), short ribs, and a few other options. This is not a restaurant for vegetarians—even the tofu soup has meat in it.

The chicken was unexciting, but then, chicken usually is. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I tried the squid on the recommendation of some Yelpers, who raved about the crispiness of the grilled tentacles, but I found it to be flavorless and rubbery. The beef, however, is some of the most flavorful meat you'll ever eat, thanks to the marinade—stick to the beef, and you won’t be disappointed. The portions are a little small and seem a little expensive for the amount of meat you get—but then maybe not, for the amount of sides you get. We had at least 12 on each end of the table—plenty to go around.

The restaurant’s atmosphere may leave much to be desired, but when you have a juicy, charcoal-infused, grill-crisped, searing hot slice of beef in your mouth, you won’t care about any of the other stuff. You can eat it straight or plop it in a ruffly, palm-sized lettuce leaf and add a smear of bean paste. The multitude of sides mean that every other bite can have a different flavor, a different degree of crunch, funk, and heat. Dense, sticky rice will help you get full and provide a respite from all the spiciness of the kim chee.

Though this appears to be a cook-it-yourself restaurant, our waitress actually cooked everything for us (which I much welcomed). The only thing we had to do was to make sure not to leave the meat on the grill too long, which was easy to do since they never brought us any actual plates. I turned my rice bowl into a makeshift plate, but with its small size, eating my meal was a bit awkward. The only other drawback of the cooking method is that I felt like I spent most of the night eating three pieces of meat, then waiting five minutes for the next serving. Also, if you're a slow eater, this is the kind of restaurant where you can quickly get out-eaten by your table mates and find yourself a few bites short of a meal. Otherwise, it's very filling (though not as filling as the all-you-can-eat places).

The parking lot is tight, but there is a parking lot—a guarded, free one, at that, and one where we were able to find a spot at 7:30 on a Saturday night. If you're not so lucky, parking on the street might be a pain, and bring your quarters for the meters. When you’re trying to find the restaurant, don't worry if you can't read Korean—the black and white sign is in English, and relatively easy to spot despite the general barrage of signage that is Koreatown.

Soot Bull Jeep
3136 W 8th St
Los Angeles, CA 90005
(213) 387-3865

Restaurant Review #215: O2 Sushi, Simi Valley

2009-01-31T23:03:00.000-08:00

Hawaiian ceviche

I found O2 Sushi on Yelp! while looking for a nice, independent restaurant in Simi Valley, land of many casual restaurants and chains. Simi Valley actually has a surprising number of independent restaurants - you just have to work a little harder to find them since they aren't in freestanding, multi-thousand-square-foot buildings with giant red signs. Perhaps even more surprising are the number of sushi restaurants in Simi - at least ten by my count.

Albacore roll (front) and scallop roll (back)

I will admit that I am skeptical of eating sushi in a place that doesn't have the culinary reputation of Beverly Hills or West LA or West Hollywood because for me, sushi doesn't have a middleground--sushi that's just okay is not okay. But after examining O2's online menu and prices, I felt confident that the odds would be good with this place.

We went early, around 6:30, thinking we would beat the rush, but when we got there and found the place full, we thought perhaps people in Simi like to eat earlier than people in LA. Like all sushi restaurants, you can choose between a table or bar. The sushi bar is the focal point of the restaurant, brightly lit with a backdrop of blue-grey fabric mimicking water and a school of silver fish swimming energetically toward the ceiling. Almost all of the tables run around the perimeter of the restaurant, so there is a considerable amount of privacy. I could even push my chair back without hitting the person behind me.

The teriyaki filet mignon ($20) cooked medium rare is a nice change of pace from the usual teriyaki chicken (which they also serve). Since teriyaki sauce can be very sweet, I wasn't sure it would be a good match for such a fine cut of meat, but this sauce was very subtle and the steak was beautifully presented on an oblong plate with vibrant green asparagus, an orange pepper, a single curled shrimp and a rectangle of cantelope. The entree came with standard-issue miso soup and a fresh green salad with a tasty soy vinaigrette--not quite Maggie's Farm quality (my favorite salad purveyor at the Santa Monica Farmers Market), but not bad for the middle of winter.

Teriyaki filet mignon

The Hawaiian ceviche (lead photo) was a ring of wafer-thin half slices of lime heaped with voloptuous wedges of whitefish, tuna, salmon and yellowtail, interspersed with cilantro and almost unnoticeable slivers of red onion and marinated in a succulent citrus-soy vinaigrette. I didn't care for the whitefish, which was a bit crunchy, but the tuna was especially supple. And for $11, it was plenty of fish, too.

The albacore roll and scallop roll were sloppily presented compared to the other two dishes, but that didn't affect their flavor. The portions were generous, the rice was loose and moist, and the fish was top notch. The albacore roll had the perfect amount of wasabi packed in, and the mayo in the scallop roll, despite looking a tad menacing, didn't actually have any flavor (and that was fine with me).

The service was slightly erratic, but friendly. The waitress seemed to expect us to know what we wanted to order almost instantly, and the arrival of the food wasn't well-timed. But honestly, I'd rather have the minor shortcomings of this restaurant than a technically perfect meal where I can't hear the person sitting across from me, I'm bumping elbows with my neighbor and I'm being rushed through my 7:00 reservation to accommodate the next reservation at 8:30. And, like every place in Simi, parking is plentiful and free, and there's no need to contend with a valet.

Overall, I was very pleased with the high-quality fish, the relaxed ambiance, and the reasonable prices.

O2 Sushi
2902 E. Tapo Canyon Rd. Unit A
Simi Valley, CA 93063
805.527.0202
O2 Sushi website

Restaurant Review #214: Mijares Mexican Restaurant

2008-10-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Albondigas

It may not always seem like it from my reviews, but I genuinely want to like every restaurant I try. I think there's a common misconception that food critics like to, well, criticize. Maybe some life-hating critics go out in pursuit of a bad meal so they can rip a chef to shreds, but I think most of us are foodies trying to have as many fantastic culinary experiences as possible and share them with others.

So I really wanted to like Mijares. I went on a Sunday night and there was live mariachi music. The guitars and trumpets brought me back to the restaurant I always had Mexican food at with my family as a child. Back then, I was terrified of all strangers (actually, that hasn't changed a whole lot) and would hide under the table if the mariachi men got anywhere near us. This despite one of the main things I remember about them being what warm smiles they had. But as an adult, I think there are few better surprises than good, live music when I go out to eat.

In addition to live music some nights, Mijares has the chaotic, plate-clanking, tequila-fueled hustle and bustle and din generally found in American Mexican restaurants (or Chili's) along with plenty of screaming children. At least the music and the Cuervo drown them out somewhat.

The albondigas, a simple soup of meatballs in a yellowy-clear broth, was quite good. If I went back to Mijares, I would order this again. I love the richly flavored soup and the loose texture of the meatballs--they look sort of like the Vietnamese meatballs you'd find in a bowl of pho, but instead of being packed so tightly I think they would bounce off if I threw them against a wall, the Mexican equivalent crumbles gently in your mouth as you chew it. I think I might have liked the albondigas at Tia Juana's better, but that restaurant is gone now.

Burrito

The beef in the burrito had a slimy, wet texture and little flavor. The other ingredients didn't make up for the savory shortfall.

Beef fajitas

The beef fajitas tasted mysteriously like Chinese food. Maybe I just like more lime juice in my fajita marinade than Mijares uses, but if I wanted Chinese food, that's what I would have gone out for. Not Mexican. Apparently lots of people like the restaurant's totally ordinary, overly sweet margaritas, too, enough to vote them "best margarita in Pasadena." They do serve the thick tortilla chips I like, but the salsa has barely a hint of spice and the guacamole is nothing special. The refried beans, to appease the ever-health-conscious southern Californian, are made without lard, which in this case makes them exceptionally bland.

The thing that makes me sad is that this restaurant, according to its website, is apparently somewhat of a Pasadena institution. It has been family owned for three generations. I guess Pasadena isn't known for its Mexican population, and of course, fajitas are downright Tex-Mex (I should know better than to order Tex-Mex in the wrong state). I want to tell you that this restaurant that has been around for 85 years is terribly charming and that the food tastes like it came straight out of the kitchen of the Mexican grandmother everyone wishes they had. Did I order poorly? Did I visit on an off-night? It's possible. I want to tell you to try this restaurant, but you could get better Mexican food in my kitchen. I'm not Mexican, but I do know how to cook.

Mijares Mexican Restaurant
145 Palmetto Dr., Pasadena

(626) 792-2763

Hours:

Monday - Thursday: 11am to 9pm

Friday, Saturday: 11am to 10pm

Sunday: 9:30 to 10pm

Sunday Brunch: 9:30 to 2pm

Restaurant Review #213: Cha Chaa Thai

2008-10-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Cha Chaa Thai is proof that just because a Thai restaurant is located on Sherman Way in North Hollywood doesn't mean it will be good. Though this strip of street is home to gems like Bua Siam and Krua Thai, it's apparently not infallible. Cha Chaa serves what is probably the worst Thai food I've ever had.

I had a bad feeling the moment I walked into the place, and experience has shown me that this feeling is almost always dead on. But with the place so empty and the lone server so friendly and so aware of my presence, it felt wrong to leave, so I decided to order anyway and hope for the best.

The food tasted about as good as I expected given the looks of the place: very few customers (it was a little past lunchtime, though), very outdated decor, and a steam table of impossibly cheap lunch specials ($4.95 for rice, one eggroll, soup, and a small portion of an entree).

One of the problems is probably that Cha Chaa is a Thai-Chinese restaurant, not a Thai restaurant. Swan Thai has a few Chinese dishes on its menu, but is primarily a Thai restaurant (a tasty one, at that), so I was expecting the same from Cha Chaa. In reality, it is a Chinese-Thai restaurant, with very few Thai dishes. For example, none of the nine lunch special entree options are Thai. I probably should have ordered a Chinese dish to get a more accurate picture of the kitchen's capabilities, but I was really craving Thai and my funds are limited. Plus, I wanted to order something that would be cooked fresh, not something that had been sitting out under heat lamps for hours.

Pad Thai

The pad Thai was sort of a cross between the ketchupy version and the peanuty version, but it didn't taste like much. I normally don't squeeze fresh lime on my pad Thai, but I used an entire lime to make this dish actually have some flavor (good thing I had a bag of limes in my fridge, since it only came with one wedge). The dish was edible, but I can name about 15 places off the top of my head that do better. Also, there was no option for tofu (with this or any other dish on the menu), which is how I like my pad Thai. This one came with chicken (and shrimp, which I went without). The chicken was somewhat dry and didn't have any flavor beyond its inherent birdiness. The noodles were properly cooked, though not quite as pleasantly chewy as Krua Thai's or Bua Siam's.

Pad see ew

I also tried the pad see ew with beef. Unfortunately, this dish was overcooked, giving it a slightly burnt smell and taste. The beef was no better than the chicken, and the dish, like the pad Thai, was fairly flavorless overall.

One thing the restaurant does have going for it is that the portion sizes are generous and the food is cheap. Unfortunately, it is not unique in that regard. One thing it does do differently, though, is try to cater to a Spanish-speaking clientele. The entire menu is translated into Spanish, and they even serve aguas frescas. Also, the service is friendly and the food was prepared quickly (but not too quickly--it was obviously made to order).

Cha Chaa Thai
12936 Sherman Way
North Hollywood, CA 91605
(818) 503-8884

Restaurant Review #212: Bua Siam, North Hollywood

2008-09-15T01:44:00.000-07:00

Pad kee mao

It's almost impossible to go wrong with a Thai restaurant in North Hollywood. True, no one on Sherman Way knows how to drive, there's almost no parking, the lots are full of potholes and puddles and trash, and there are scary-looking men hanging around sometimes. But hit any strip mall in the vicinity of Coldwater Canyon and what should really be called Sherman Boulevard and you're likely to find a Thai restaurant serving some of the best Thai food you've ever eaten (if not some of the best food you've ever eaten, period).

On top of that, it's cheap as hell. If you want to treat yourself to a luxurious meal but can't really afford it, don't go to Melisse and order an appetizer; go to Bua Thai and order five entrees. The cost will be similar, but only one will leave you with a full belly and leftovers for days.

Pad Thai

I'll make no bones about it: Thai is one of my favorite cuisines, yet I eat it so infrequently that I find myself always ordering my old favorites instead of branching out and trying something new. On the plus side, I can compare Thai restaurants pretty well since I always order the same staples: pad Thai, pad kee mao, tom kha, and sometimes (but not this time) fish cakes.

Let's start with the dish that always makes me feel like a cliche when I order it, but I can't help it because I love it so much and haven't yet figured out how to cook it at home without ending up with a glob of tasteless/burnt/excessively tamarindy rice sticks. While pad Thai is a dish of infinite permutations, there are basically two schools of pad Thai in Los Angeles: the ketchup school, found primarily in whitish locales like Santa Monica, and the peanuty school, found primarily in North Hollywood. I'm making broad generalizations here, yes, but the ketchup kind has an orangeish-red (or in a worst-case scenario, pinkish) color and a slightly tangy flavor, while the peanuty kind has a translucent brown color and is super sweet. I will confess to not really liking the latter, which Bua Thai serves, because of my distaste for particularly sweet things (I probably should have squeezed that lime over the top), but the chewiness of the noodles is divine.

Tom yum

Tom yum is essentially just sweet and sour soup (which, by the way, should not be confused with Chinese hot and sour soup, a totally different concoction). It consists of a light chicken broth infused with galanga and kaffir lime leaves (the sour), however much spice you specify (the hot), mushrooms, cilantro, and your choice of protein. I always get the chicken, and it always tastes like nothing more than bland, boiled chicken, but Bua Siam's broth is particularly rich and particularly (but pleasantly) sour, having the sort of umami one normally associates with pho. Minus the ever-present chicken issue, this is one of the best bowls of tom yum I've ever had. I was also glad that they had both small and large bowls, so I didn't have to order the soup for my entree like I did the last time I went out for Thai (in San Francisco).

Rivaling tom yum for my favorite Thai dish is pad kee mao, which I discovered during a visit to Krua Thai when I decided to branch out slightly from my old standbys. This dish consists of fat rice noodles, a bit of palm sugar, red bell pepper slices, Chinese broccoli, mint, and the usual protein of your choice (I got beef). The beef seemed like it had been cooked separately from the rest of the dish; its flavor was more reminiscent of hamburger than anything Thai. Krua Thai's beef is more flavorful and better integrated into the dish, but their version is also very greasy. The noodles, while not as chewy as the pad Thai, were still one of the best forms of comfort food I know. The palm sugar makes them slightly sweet, but not too sweet. The Chinese broccoli had a fresh crunch and a pleasant hint of bitterness and the red bell peppers balanced that with their slight sweetness. This is also a spicy dish, which is another reason why it is my favorite noodle dish, beating out other possible contenders like pad see ew.

The restaurant is casual but not dingy (unlike Swan Thai). A mix-and-match assortment of no more than ten finished pine tables (all of which appear to be from Ikea) take up most of this narrow restaurant, but the flaming tangerine and lime green walls give the place character and make it seem bigger than it is. Our server was friendly, our food arrived promptly, and my water seemd to magically refill itself. The dishes are elegantly presented on square white plates, though Bua Siam's serving sizes appear to be a little smaller than its competitors.

The restaurant is particularly hard to spot from the chaotic street; the best way to find it is to look for the large and colorful Cha Chaa Thai, pull into the same parking lot, then peruse the storefronts until you find the right address number.

Bua Siam makes it to the top of many foodies' lists for good reason. Within hours of finishing my meal, I was already dying to go back!

Bua Siam
12924 Sherman Way
North Hollywood, CA 91605
(818) 765-8395
Bua Siam website

Restaurant Review #211: Porto's, Glendale

2008-06-30T01:09:00.000-07:00

Assorted pastries. From back left to front right: guava strudel, almond danish, croissant, coconut glazed, coconut strudel, apple empanada

Though Porto's is a Los Angeles legend, it's possible to not know about it, especially if you live on the Westside. In an attempt to avoid the crowds, we visited late on a Saturday afternoon, but despite primarily being a bakery, the place was a madhouse. As we waited in line, we crained our necks around the throngs ordering at the counter trying to pick out which goodies we wanted. Few items are labeled, so unless you're a regular, you'll just have to point. Printed and posted menus curiously don't list all the items.

Assorted savory pastries. From back left to front right: pastel de carne (meat pie), chorizo pie, chicken empanada, ham croquettes, potato balls

Porto's serves both sweet and savory pastries with a Cuban influence. With so many delicious options, you can feel the pounds piling on before you even start eating. While there are really no bad dishes, in the savory category, you won't want to miss the pastel de carne (puff pastry filled with seasoned ground beef), chicken empanada (filled with moist, shredded chicken and peppers), or potato balls (mashed potato wrapped around seasoned ground beef, breaded and deep fried). In the sweet category, be sure to try the mango empanadas, cheese danish, and coconut strudel.

Medianoche sandwich

In addition to its pastries, Porto's offers a selection of sandwiches. The medianoche (midnight) sandwich, a concoction of ham, roasted pork, swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, and mayonnaise on a toasted sweet roll, is tastier than its simple appearance implies. The grilled chicken sandwich is basic but juicy and tender.

Grilled chicken sandwich

Porto's prices are stunningly low--and they create and delivery large orders for parties. Imagine how many people you could feed on the cheap when a dense, filling empanada costs just 95 cents? Most savory pastries are under $1.00 to start with and are even cheaper when you buy them 50 pieces at a time. The sweet pastries are equally inexpensive. If you're looking for something more sophisticated, Porto's also has a large selection of French-style cakes and mousses and they also do elaborate wedding cakes.

Porto's
315 N. Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
818.956.5996
Porto's website (very informative)

Restaurant Review #210: Absolutely Phobulous, Encino

2008-06-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Chicken sticks

Absolutely Phobulous is a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in Encino on Ventura Boulevard (where else?). As you might guess by the absence of lucky numbers in the name and their trademarked slogan, "Vietnamese with a modern sensibility," it's fairly different from the other Vietnamese joints in town. The menu is as much shorter as the clientele is whiter.

Papaya salad

Crunchy-chewy strips of green papaya garnished with crushed peanuts and fresh mint leaves drizzled with a light, fish-sauce based house dressing tasted exactly like this salad should taste with no surprises good or bad. This dish normally comes with shrimp.

The generous chicken stick appetizer (lead photo) is almost enough food for a whole meal. The moist meat is cooked in a coconut- and peanut-based sauce and a dusted with a slightly crispy coating. The chicken comes with a bowl of finger-licking good peanut dipping sauce. This is the most flavorful of the dishes we tried.

Vietnamese crepe

The Vietnamese crepes are moist, gooey, translucent rice cakes filled with spiced ground pork, black mushrooms, and supposedly, onions. Buried beneath slices of dry, Spam-like Vietnamese ham and crispy, deep-fried onions and served with a heaping side of fresh bean sprouts and mint, the crepes almost seem like an afterthought. Their dough is fairly flavorless and the filling is scant. This dish should probably be moved off of the "house specials" section of the menu.

Pho beef combo

The pho, while adequate, does not live up to the restaurant's name. The broth is not as richly flavored or as lovingly spiced as a top-notch bowl of this Vietnamese classic should be. At least the noodles aren't soggy or clumped together. Unlike most Vietnamese restaurants, there is only one pho option here: pho with a combination of rare beef, beef meatballs, and beef brisket. The brisket is the most flavorful of the meats, and the meatballs have that common, slightly tough chewiness.

Banana sensation

The smooth tapioca and savory coconut cream in this dish are perfect, but the bananas are strangely dessicated. While the crushed peanuts complement the other flavors in the dish nicely, after the peanuts on the chicken and the salad, they were excessive.

Three Seasons

Three seasons is a dessert consisting of sweet and salty red beans, yellow bean paste, triangles of green gelatin, rich coconut cream, and shaved ice. The red beans are hard and dry, but as the bottom layer, they are easily avoided. The yellow bean paste is earthy, smooth, and sweet and the gelatin has that distinct bite common to Asian gelatins but crunchier than American Jello.

Dining room

As good as the food is, the service is atrocious. Our appetizers and entrees all arrived at the same time, crowding the table and making it difficult to eat the dishes at their proper temperatures. Also, all the food arrived in an alarmingly short amount of time after ordering (surprisingly, it still tasted fresh). Once we finished eating, it was nearly impossible to flag down a server to bring us dessert, containers for leftovers, or the bill. Absolutely Phobulous is not the only restaurant in LA to commit this sin, of course--it's dreadfully common--but that doesn't make it excusable and it really soured an otherwise tasty meal. I plan to return, given the limited Vietnamese options in a ten-mile radius, but I will definitely get takeout so I can enjoy my food without the incompetent and borderline hostile waitstaff.

Absolutely Phobulous
15928 Ventura Blvd. #101
Encino, CA 91346
818-788-3560
Absolutely Phobulous website/menu
Also located in West Hollywood

Restaurant Review #209: Passage to India, Van Nuys

2008-05-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

For the most part, the only way to get Indian food in Van Nuys is to have it delivered through a special restaurant delivery service that charges an arm and a leg in extra fees and minimum orders. Thankfully, there is an alternative: Passage to India on Burbank at Hazeltine. With decor that hasn't been updated since the '70s and a location in a tacky strip mall containing a falafel joint and a key duplication shop, the restaurant isn't much to look at. Nor is the food particularly outstanding despite the menu's claims that its chefs were top chefs in Bangladesh, England, and Saudia Arabia. But in a neighborhood with no other Indian options and with Chinese and pizza as the only other affordable delivery places, even merely passable Indian food is a much-welcomed option.

Chicken vindaloo

Juicy, tender chicken and buttery potatoes bathe in a tame sauce with long strips of fresh ginger. This dish would be good if it came from a crock pot in Iowa, but it's too tame to call itself Indian.

Mattar Paneer

At the opposite end of the spectrum lies the mattar paneer. The most flavorful dish by far, the sauce has a hint of smokiness and a touch of sweetness the envelopes the tender, perfectly-cooked peas.

Aloo gobi

Another of Passage to India's better dishes is the aloo gobi, fork-tender cauliflower with potatoes and sauce. Although no Indian restaurant does this, cutting the potatoes into smaller chunks would make them more flavorful.

Chicken Tikka Masala

The chicken tikka masala is creamy and flavorful, but it's hard to get past the alarmingly artificial-looking color. If you're particularly coordinated, perhaps you can eat it with your eyes closed.

Curry chicken

The curry chicken doesn't live up to its name--it's surprisingly bland. Don't bother with this dish.

Lemon pickle

The lemon pickles have a pungent, sour smell and an intense heat that sneaks up on you. As good as they are, there's a decent chance you could pick up an identical product in a jar in Artesia (for the same price as this tiny $3 cup--but a little goes a long way).

Gulab jamun

The gulab jamun are not very flavorful, not very soft, and have a few hard, unpleasant bits of cardamom seeds.

This review isn't exactly a rave, but when you don't feel like getting in your car and that jar of simmer sauce from Trader Joe's just isn't going to cut it, Passage to India still makes for a pretty satisfying meal if you order well. The menu has a pleasing number of options, including beef dishes and lots of shrimp dishes. Rice is not included, so make sure to order some. The naan is good if you like yours soft and chewy (but you'll have to pay extra for chutney). Prices are typical Indian restaurant prices: $6.95 to $7.95 for vegetarian dishes, and $9.95 to $12.95 for chicken, lamb, and beef dishes. All dishes can be ordered mild, medium, hot, or "phall hot". Medium spice seems to be pretty mild, but hot may be a little too hot.

For takeout, calling in your order is a better idea than just stopping by. The food seems to be at least partly made to order given the time it takes to prepare and the aromas that emanate from the kitchen only after you place your order, so you'll wait a while if you just walk in. Delivery arrives in a blessedly reasonable amount of time even on a Saturday night (also unlike the multiple restaurant delivery service, which takes at least an hour).

Passage to India
14062 Burbank Blvd.
Van Nuys, CA 91401
818.787.8488
Lunch buffet 11:30-2:30 daily
Dinner 5:00-10:00
Free delivery within two miles

Restaurant Review #208: La Frite, Sherman Oaks

2008-05-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

Onion soup gratinee

On Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, La Frite occupies a blessedly quiet and relatively large space, but the dining room is poorly decorated and has too much incandescent yellow lighting. On a Monday night, finding free street parking was a snap and we didn't need a reservation, as there were plenty of empty tables - perhaps too many, in retrospect. Most of the other patrons were from the Sherman Oaks retiree set and/or primarily there for a drink at the bar. We had no problems with the service, but restaurant review sites like Citysearch and Menupages websites report some troubling rudeness.

The menu is long and varied, but tries too hard to please. What self-respecting French restaurant serves Chinese chicken salad with mandarin oranges, rice noodles, and fried wontons, or "Pizza South Western" with chicken, red onion, avocado, and cilantro? With items like those being offered alongside basic French cuisine, I was awfully wary of trying the restaurant's more traditional dishes, like escargot or duck pate.

The prices are scary, too, for food of a Marie Callender's caliber. Chicken Cordon Bleu comes in at a whopping $17.75, while the aforementioned gourmet snails are only $16 for a dozen. Snails, like sushi, are no place to cut costs.

Quiche Lorraine

The quiche Lorraine with ham, bacon, and swiss cheese was unmemorable, but the dressing with lettuce (err, side salad) was a rare sight to Angeleno eyes. I thought I'd simultaneously been transported to another decade and another part of the country - another part of the U.S., unfortunately, not France.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Named after the famous French culinary school, chicken Cordon Bleu is a classic dish of chicken rolled around ham and swiss cheese. The chicken was moist and flavorful, but not spectacular. The green beans tasted fine, but looked a little sickly, like someone forgot to blanch them.

Ham, cheese, and mushroom crepe

The best dish was probably the ham, cheese, and mushroom crepe, which was warm, tasty and filling. The menu offers several varieties of crepes, such as spinach, tomato, sausage, and cheese or ratatouille. I'm not sure how I feel about putting ratatouille in a crepe, but it makes for a decent vegetarian option. The menu is somewhat meaty, but there are an above-average number of vegetarian choices, including several varieties of pasta, a vegetarian quiche, several salads, a homemade veggie burger, and a mushroom burger.

Grand Marnier souffle

Dessert options include most of the usual suspects: cheesecake, ice cream, bread pudding, and creme brulee; a few particularly dull additions: ice cream sundae, banana split, carrot cake; and several more unique options: taratuffo cake, chocolate pecan honey tart, crepes, and the liquor souffle of your choice. Trying to opt for something more interesting while also going with an old standby, we ordered two souffles--chocolate and liquor. The liquor souffle of your choice can be made with Grand Marnier, Kahlua, amaretto, Bailey's, or whatever you want.

Chocolate souffle

The souffles arrived steaming hot and had a very airy texture, making this dessert a good choice if you're already quite full from dinner. However, both were surprisingly lacking in flavor except for tasting too strongly of egg. Even the accompanying sauces couldn't redeem them.

Dining room

La Frite is an acceptable but fairly outdated and uninteresting restaurant. Even in parts of the country with less inspired dining options, La Frite would be a disappointment to most. A regular clientele may sustain this restaurant for a while longer, but all signs indicate that it's on its way out (and doesn't seem to care).

La Frite
15013 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 9143
818.990.1791
La Frite Menu

Restaurant Review #207: Maru, Valencia

2008-04-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

A request to try Maru on the house was an invitation I couldn't refuse, and thank goodness I made the trek to the northernmost edge of Los Angeles's suburbs. Even if the meal hadn't had eight indulgent, generously sized courses (per person!) and even if it hadn't been free, my meal at Maru still would have been one of the best I've ever eaten.

Maru resides in Valencia Town Square, an enormous outdoor shopping center that can be intimidating to navigate (think Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade or Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard, folded in on itself). Fortunately, Maru is on the main drag and clearly labeled in blocky silver letters (albeit as "Maru Sushi"). On a Saturday at 5:00, the square was bustling and there were no street parking spaces nearby, but a free garage just around the corner offered plenty of parking in ample, SUV-sized spaces. Maru was nearly empty, but the night was young.

The long, narrow dining room accommodates quite a few tables yet isn't cramped at all. Every table has plenty of room between itself and its neighbors, making Maru a good choice for a quiet meal or a date. The decor is minimalist but classic, with small spotlights above each table and white linens. Unlike most Japanese restaurants, the sushi bar does not dominate the dining room, but is tucked away in the back offering a completely different dining experience to sushi aficionados. One potential drawback, though, it its proximity to the kitchen, where the aromas of homemade Yukon Gold french fries and short ribs might interfere somewhat with the delicate flavors of the raw bar experience.

Maru bills itself as French-Japanese and offers a menu so varied that it should be troublesome. After all, most restaurants that try to serve more than one type of cuisine don't do any of them well. This is not the case with chef Jason Park, the inspired young chef-owner who has run Maru for the last seven years and whose passion for his work shines in every delicious bite.

Park explained that what differentiates him from other chefs is that unlike the older generation of Japanese chefs who he believes had to go into the restaurant business to make a living, he chose his career solely for the love of food. Before opening Maru, he worked at several other restaurants in Los Angeles and one in Japan.

Freshness is extremely important to Park. Every week, he makes the trek to the Wednesday Santa Monica Farmers Market (in traffic, no less), saying that for chefs, there is no comparable farmers market in the area. In fact, he knows some chefs who trek all the way to San Diego for their produce. For the most part, though, chefs with his level of dedication are rare in Valencia, he says, explaining that it's common in the area for restaurants to take shortcuts like using frozen produce.

Our seasonal market meal's opening act was soup and salad. The heirloom tomato salad with red pepper vinaigrette was a refreshing break from the day's unseasonable heat. The dish fulfilled a craving for fresh produce that I didn't even know I had until I took my first bite. The light, bright flavors of juicy tomatoes, crisp greens, cool cucumbers, and silky avocado drizzled lightly with a tangy dressing heralded the beginning of summer.

An espresso cup of broccoli soup provided a warm contrast to the chilled salad. Despite the absence of cream, the velvety soup was rich in taste and didn't have an overpowering broccoli flavor. The homemade pea ravioli (lead photo) was almost as stunning as award-winning Melisse's sweet corn ravioli. Fresh pasta done right is thin and delicate, allowing the dish's other ingredients to shine. The accompanying diver scallop was seared to a perfect crisp on the outside while retaining its moist, slippery inside. An out-of-this-world, savory-sweet vanilla sauce complemented the delicate sweetness of the ravioli and scallop.

What the hamachi usuzukuri, or yellowtail with a yuzu vinaigrette, lacked in innovation, it made up for in freshness. Maru's fish is flown in overnight from Japan. This dish was reminiscent of the ubiquitous albacore salad, but the hamachi was melt-in-your-mouth tender and beautifully presented. All of Park's dishes are as pleasing to the eyes as they are to the palate. Maru offers a great advantage to sushi lovers with spouses and friends who aren't fond of raw fish: everyone can go to the same restaurant and dine happily. Sushi eaters can have their pick of top-notch fish, and those who prefer their food cooked have more choices than just teriyaki chicken and tempura.

Pan-seared monkfish with a winter truffle vinaigrette served over sauteed spinach was a meaty, buttery fish (sometimes called the "poor man's lobster") with a crisp exterior. The spinach was rich and tender, but surprisingly, the accompanying truffles didn't seem to add a noticeable flavor. On the other hand, they didn't overwhelm the dish.

Weiser Family Farm's purple and gold fingerling potatoes don't need a lot of help to bring out their rich, creamy flavor which is a far cry from any supermarket potato. Park clearly understands this, roasting the potatoes to bring out their flavor, enhancing their richness with creme fraiche, and adding maple smoked bacon and a hint of onion for contrast.

The crispy duck risotto was the biggest winner of the night, which is saying a lot considering its competition. The risotto cake's crunchy exterior contrasted with its creamy interior and gave way to a center of tender duck meat. Medallions of melty-warm fresh mozzarella cozied up to their soul mate: a truffle oil-infused roasted tomato sauce. Sometimes truffles are overrated
(the monkfish dish perhaps being a case in point), but they really pushed the duck risotto over the top.

Less creative restaurants commonly serve steak with mashed potatoes and sauteed vegetables, and maybe some A-1 sauce. Park seems to acknowledge this popular combination while turning it into something more exciting. The perfectly grilled skirt steak tasted like Korean barbecue, reflecting one of Park's original cooking influences: his mother. The paper-thin hand-made pasta it sat atop was bathed in a creamy sauce that merely hinted at the flavor of horseradish. Grilled wild arugula added a crunchy, bitter-sweet contrast.

The beef ravioli with hon shiimeji mushrooms in creamy ten-year balsamic sauce again showcased Park's agility with homemade pasta and savory sauces. The delicate pasta was nearly bursting with filling. The grilled greens on top are ramps, also known as wild leeks. They have an oniony, garlicky, slightly bitter flavor.

At this point in the meal, we had gorged ourselves silly and didn't think we could possibly eat any more. We suggested to the waitress that maybe Chef Park should send us smaller dishes or skip us ahead to dessert so we wouldn't waste any of his delicious food. His response to her was, "they'll eat well tomorrow," so he kept sending us dishes which we mostly took home as leftovers. At most upscale restaurants, it seems uncouth to ask for a doggie bag, but Maru is not so pretentious as to waste food for the sake of appearances.

The next dish was all about the french fries. Normally a cheap side, Park elevated the french fry to an art form. Every fry was perfectly cut and perfectly cooked, but what really pushed them over the top was their tantalizing smell. The fries came with a side of fork-tender short ribs (blessedly bone-free) with a sake-soy reduction.

Topped with marinated onion and cilantro, the pan-roasted lamb loin over crispy shiitake rice with Japanese curry sauce was like a deconstructed Indian dish but with unique flavors and textures. The lamb was perfectly cooked and I was thrilled to have a second serving of crispy rice.

At its worst, bread pudding is a soggy, eggy mess attempting to resurrect leftover bread. Bread pudding at its best is crisp and buttery, a marriage of contrasting textures with cold ice cream dripping down the sides and perhaps a judiciously used extra ingredient, Valrhona chocolate in this case.

Park's dessert menu consists of slight variations on the classic crowd-pleasing desserts. The yuzu-mascarpone cheesecake with fresh raspberries was rich but not too heavy, with a bright flavor imparted by the hint of citrus.

According to the server, the fresh berry cobbler topped with homemade vanilla ice cream is many patrons' main motivation for visiting Maru. The rustic, doughy cobbler was the ultimate comfort food, and despite the indulgences of the evening, we were able to finish the whole thing.

The incredible number of dishes described here represents only a third of Maru's menu (and that's not even including the raw offerings). With such a wide selection of fantastic dishes, it's easy to understand why Maru has many regulars. Surprisingly, Park's outstanding food comes with a very affordable price tag. The dishes shown here are actually smaller than the usual portions. Most appetizers are $12, most seconds are just over $20, topping out at a reasonable $38 for the New York steak. Most desserts are $8. There is an extensive list of California and French wines along with Japanese sake. Wine pairings are available.

Maru's service is phenomenal. Our server, Trisha, was friendly, attentive, down-to-earth, and personable, and at the start of the meal, she didn't even know we were reviewers. Fresh silverware appeared before every well-timed course. Busboys promptly cleared dishes and refilled drinks.

Maru could easily hold its own in any of LA's best restaurant neighborhoods, but Park's regular patrons, including a couple who eats both dinner and lunch at the restaurant every single day, are grateful for his chosen location. Besides , Park says of operating in Valencia, "I have a captive audience." Park explains that many Valencians used to live in LA and grew accustomed to a high level of cuisine, but moved north where the houses were more affordable when they wanted to settle down. Thus, there is more of a market for haute cuisine in the area than one might think. Though Maru has been open since 2001, it still seems to be an undiscovered gem. Get in while you can.

Maru
24250 Town Center Drive, Suite 180
Valencia, CA
661.290.2595
Maru Website
Closed Mondays
Lunch Tue. - Fri., 11:30-2:30
Lunch Sat., 12:00-2:30
Dinner Tue. - Fri., 5:30-10:00
Dinner Sat., 5:00-10:00
Dinner Sun., 5:00-9:00

Restaurant Review #206: Boneyard Bistro, Sherman Oaks

2008-04-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Ribs

I decided to pay a visit to Boneyard Bistro for two reasons: their extensive beer list and the promise of sweet potato fries. Located on busy Ventura Boulevard amidst dozens of other restaurants, Boneyard Bistro is a bit hard to spot. We had no trouble parking on the street, but we may have benefited from the cold weather keeping people home. Still, the hostess acted like we should have made a reservation (which I always find annoying), but we somehow got what I considered to be the best table in the house--a corner booth next to the window.

The food is rather pricey for what it is (largely barbecue) and where it's located (things are supposed to be cheaper in the Valley, right?), so I ordered two appetizers for my meal instead of an entree. But first, they brought us mini cornbread muffins and crusty, flavorful bread accompanied by butter served at just the right temperature for spreading. I also ordered a hefeweizen beer. The beer list, divided by style, was quite extensive, but they didn't have the first two beers I asked for, which made me wonder how much of their overall list they actually had on hand. I ended up with the Avery White Rascal for $10 (a six pack of this beer is only $9.49 at BevMo!). With most bottles of respectable beer priced at $8 and up, I didn't really feel like ordering more than one. That's a lot of money for a twelve-ounce bottle of beer. On Mondays, however, beer is half-price. Monday is also fried chicken night, and several other nights have special themes as well. They serve brunch on Sundays.

Pulled pork dumplings

The first appetizer I tried, pulled pork dumplings in a barbecue beurre blanc sauce, was fairly disappointing. The sauce was a lot more strongly flavored than I anticipated based on the description--I guess I was focused on the beurre blanc part of the description, not the barbecue. There was so much sauce that it overwhelmed the filling, and the dumplings, which were more like ravioli, were difficult to cut into bite-sized pieces. The coleslaw, however, was excellent--not too mayonaissey and nice and crunchy.

Sweet potato fries

Fortunately, the sweet potato fries lived up to my expectations. Not only were they wonderfully crispy, which is difficult to do at home, the portion was huge, allowing me to enjoy some as leftovers. I combined my sweet potato fries with some aioli that came with a friend's dish, and it really complemented the fries perfectly. I think that aioli should be served with every plate of fries.

The Classic

Boneyard Bistro serves a selection of burgers with a range of toppings such as applewood bacon, sauteed onions, and sauteed chantrelle mushrooms. All of their burgers are made of Snake River Farms American Kobe-style Wagyu beef, which is leaps and bounds above other hamburger meat. This stuff practically melts in your mouth and is totally worth the seemingly ridiculous $20 price tag. In my experience, other places that charge $20 for a burger don't even come close. Also, I've looked into ordering this beef directly from Snake River Farms, and it really ain't cheap. I think that gorging myself on a $32 double burger would probably be a better idea than ordering the stuff raw--then I don't have to risk screwing it up with my lack of meat-cooking skills. Meditrina Cafe in Venice serves a similar burger, but Boneyard's is significantly better.

Dining room

While we were dining, Chef Aaron Robins visited every table. He didn't strike me as terribly personable, but he has a behind-the-scenes kind of job after all, and I still appreciated the effort he went to to make sure all his customers were enjoying their meals. The dining room is small, with a few private booths, generously sized dark wood tables, exposed brick walls, and framed mirrors. A large flat-screen TV near the kitchen detracts a bit from the otherwise warm atmosphere. Overall, the restaurant and staff had a very friendly, down-to-earth vibe, but I felt a little jilted when our server dropped the check on our table without ever asking if we wanted dessert. I thought that perhaps they didn't offer dessert, but the website says that I missed out on chocolate whiskey flourless cake, dulce de leche bon bons, and tawny ports.

Overall, I really liked this restaurant and I plan to return for more sweet potato fries, my very own burger, and with any luck, some dessert. I think I'll pass on the beer, though, and stop at BevMo on the way home instead.

Boneyard Bistro

13539 Ventura Blvd
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
818.906.7427
Boneyard Bistro Website

Restaurant Review #205: Desserts at Patina

2008-03-21T16:18:00.000-07:00

Champagne Mousse, citrus salad, puff pastry, tangerine sorbet, mint pearls

When I was invited to Patina by a PR firm representing Ian Gresik, Patina's pastry chef, I couldn't have been happier. We scheduled our dessert tasting for 8:00 on a Saturday. Unlike most restaurants in Los Angeles, Patina was relatively empty at that hour, which is probably because much of their business comes from pre- and post-concert patrons at the adjacent Walt Disney Concert Hall. In fact, the restaurant started filling up as we were leaving around 9:30 or 10:00. The ability to enjoy dining at an upscale restaurant at a prime dinner time without the noise and the crowds is a real treat in Los Angeles.

Patina's dining room is sort of an odd space that looks almost like it was wedged into the building as an afterthought. The restaurant is L-shaped, with a glowing orange bar when you first walk in and the dining room coming into view after making a right turn. In this case, the setup certainly works to make the restaurant inviting for both dinner patrons and those who just want to stop in for a drink. The dining room ceiling is vaulted in some areas and almost uncomfortably low in others--I'm not sure if the idea was to create a space that felt both homey and airy, or if the space simply dictated that the ceilings had to be this way. The lighting is very yellow, which has the unfortunate effect of making the room look a bit dated. The light creates interesting patterns on the wavy wood-paneled walls that line the room, though. Booths along the wall face outward towards the other patrons and so do not provide the intimacy that many seek in such a seating arrangement, though they are a welcome relief from the setup of a banquette lined with uncomfortably-spaced, tiny tables that is common in so many of the city's top restaurants. All of Patina's tables are adorned with small vases of fresh, carefully arranged orchids, and details like the short, bubbly orange water glasses seem carefully considered to match the restaurant's decor.

Dining room

Our four-course dessert tasting menu consisted of miniature portions of a few of the treats that will be on Patina's spring menu. The first course, champagne mousse with citrus salad, puff pastry, tangerine sorbet, and mint pearls, was dazzling in its presentation. The mint pearls, a basic feat of molecular gastronomy, looked like caviar but had a consistency more like gelatin. They proved too elusive to hop onto a spoon for a solo taste-test, but combined with the dish's other elements, their subtle flavor added pizazz. Champagne probably described the mousse's color better than its flavor, but its taste was unique, with a subtle sweetness tinged with something slightly tart. The mousse's satiny texture can only be described as flawless. The puff pastry seemed over-baked and detracted from the dish's perfection, but given the amount of attention paid to the rest of the dish, its extreme crispness must have been intentional. The tangerine sorbet zinged with an intense citrus flavor.

Strawberry, lemon creme, mascarpone pearls, croquant ginger-strawberry sherbet

Strawberries aren't really a spring fruit, but Gresik says he would rather give his patrons what they like than adhere rigidly to a seasonal theme, and besides, the strawberries were surprisingly ripe. Gresik buys his ingredients at a local farmers market, which is key to achieving the intense and fresh flavors in his fruit-based desserts.

The combination of ginger and strawberry in a frozen treat was so perfect that I couldn't believe I'd never tasted it before (the brown sugar and ginger ice cream at Kiriko is another favorite of mine). The piquancy of the ginger enhanced the tartness of the strawberries. The lemon creme had a lovely texture, but seemed out of place amongst the more delicate flavors of the strawberries and the sherbet. The presentation was again carefully conceived, with the shape of the sorbet and the creme mimicking the organic shape of the strawberries, whose free-form presentation was tied together by the rigid geometry of the mascarpone pearls and the gradient red dot design (created with a tool, not done by hand).

Warm mojito souffle with lime sherbet

The warm mojito souffle sounded too trendy, and how could a souffle possibly taste like a mojito? I don't know, but it really did. The dish played on temperature, with the souffle arriving at the table piping hot and the sherbet served on an ice-cold spoon. The idea behind the setup was to poke a hole in the top of the souffle and pour in the sherbet, but purists will enjoy tasting these elements separately. While most sherbet seems a far cry from the fruit it's labeled after, by including a bit of lime rind, Gresik's lime sherbet actually alluded to fresh limes. I enjoyed this dessert, but more as a novelty than as something I'd want to eat over and over again, and I found the souffle a little too sweet.

Chocolate palet with affogato

The chocolate palet, a short disk of warm, rich, chocolate heaven, like a flourless chocolate cake but denser, came topped with a chocolate cigar that looked solid but was too delicate to touch without breaking it open and flooding the plate with a sweet, coffee-flavored substance. "Affogato " means "drowned" in Italian, and the term is also often used to refer to a dessert of ice cream drowned in espresso, which this dessert did, but in an unusual way.

Petit fours

Just when we thought we were at the end of the dessert tasting and I was commenting that I would gladly eat four more desserts, the pastry chef himself brought us a plate of petit fours, a variety of small desserts that may include cookies, pastries, and confections. In this case, the petit fours definitely leaned towards the confection side. We sampled a vanilla marshmallow, a sweet plum macaroon, a cinnamon truffle, an apricot gelee, peanut butter agnolotti, and a pistachio almond nougat. The agnolotti, a dessert take on a traditional Italian pasta, was the winner of the bunch, with its ethereal filling that captured all the flavor of sweet peanut butter with none of the heaviness.

Exterior

When asked about the inspiration for his unique desserts, which are a welcome change from the tired selections that tend to grace even the most otherwise innovative menus, Gresik explained that he dines out a lot and thinks about what he would like to eat at the end of a filling meal. Rather than traditional heavy desserts like cheesecake or flourless chocolate cake, he prefers concoctions that are light enough to still be enjoyable even when you've already had plenty to eat. His desserts are very successful in that regard, and given their ingenuity, are even reasonably priced at around $12 each.

Next door - Disney Concert Hall

Parking at Patina is a snap, but the convenience comes with a price. You can either valet your car at the door for $8, or park in the concert hall lot, also for $8, then walk about two blocks to the restaurant. For those who hate entrusting their most expensive possession to strangers, it's nice that Patina has a non-valet option.

My experience at Patina was one of the best restaurant experiences I've ever had. The service was nearly flawless and Ian Gresik's desserts were innovative and delectable. Patina recently earned a coveted Michelin star, and I'm certain that Gresik's creations contributed to the restaurant receiving such an honor. I'm already planning to go back--I only hope the main courses are as delicious as I know the last course will be.

Patina
141 S. Grand
Los Angeles, CA 90071
Patina website

Lunch: Tuesday-Friday,11:30am-1:30pm
Sunday, 11:30am-1:30pm on performance day only

Dinner, nightly:
Performance Evenings, 5:00 - 11:00 p.m.
Non-Performance Evenings, 5:00 - 9:30 p.m.

Restaurant Review #204: Sprinkles Cupcakes

2008-03-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of the cupcake craze. I can't believe it's not over yet. I just think it's all rather ridiculous. I can make an entire batch of twelve cupcakes for about $5, no special skills required except the ability to follow a Duncan Hines recipe, so why would I go to a place that charges me $3 or more for a single cupcake, even if it is dense, moist, and abundantly frosted? In the time it would take me to drive to a cupcake store, park, wait in line, and drive back, I could bake and generously frost twelve cupcakes myself and save $31. Sprinkles' cupcakes are $3.25 each, or $36 a dozen.

Were I to actually make it to Sprinkles myself instead of having a cupcake randomly bestowed upon me by an office party, I'd probably try cinnamon sugar and chai latte. Most of the other eighteen flavors I could easily make at home. Actually, I could probably make the cinnamon and the chai, too, with a little trial and error. As it was, I had a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting. For the record, I think red velvet is a really strange concept. Who wants to eat that much food coloring in one sitting?

If you're wondering about the mysterious dot on the top, it indicates the cupcake's flavor. I think I would hate working there. "Is red velvet the light blue on red dot, or red on light blue dot?" Not every flavor is available every day, but you can check their website for a day/flavor grid. In addition to Sprinkles' regular flavors, there are also seasonal flavors, like vanilla peppermint, chocolate peppermint, and eggnog spice.

Sprinkles Cupcakes
9635 Santa Monica Blvd.
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
310.274,8765
Sprinkles Website
(All ranting aside, their website is a wonderful example of what all web design should be: easy to navigate, gorgeous, and highly informative.)

Restaurant Review #203: Eric's, Thousand Oaks

2008-03-03T01:48:00.000-08:00

Chocolate bread pudding with bourbon caramel sauce

I will freely admit that I don't have very high expectations of restaurants once I leave a major city. Despite the way that some food critics portray the Los Angeles dining scene as a joke compared to those of New York City or San Francisco, I'd say Los Angeles has enough great restaurants to thoroughly spoil anyone, including me. So when I was taken to Eric's by a friend of the chef to enjoy the restaurant's special eighth anniversary menu, I had my suburban restaurant radar on. The warning signals in my mind started flashing even more when I saw that the restaurant was attached to the Palm Garden Hotel, since I haven't really had any good hotel food experiences in my lifetime, even at $500 a night places. Thankfully, the food far exceeded my expectations, and at prices that would make any Westsider thoroughly jealous.

Bruschetta and olives

Most of our group took advantage of the $30, four-course anniversary menu. At many restaurants, including Eric's, an entree alone can cost $30, so this pricing was quite a steal. I wondered if the portions would be miniscule or if they would only be offering inexpensive dishes like pasta, but they weren't. Corkage was free, and plenty of fresh-baked kalamata olive bread was included, too.

The first course was twin bruschetta crostini with an Italian olive tapenade and a balsamic tomato pomodoro and a small wine glass of green and reddish-brown olives. The tangy bite of fresh garlic and the juiciness of tomatoes that hadn't been ruined by refrigeration paired nicely with the lightly grilled triangles of chewy bread, and the olive tapenade was surprisingly flavorful--bad olive tapenade often tastes like the can its olives came from.

Enclosed patio

We sat on the enclosed patio next to the gas fireplace, which we definitely needed on the chilly January night. The view outside the windows was nothing but lush greenery, but the atmosphere was cheapened a bit by the plastic chairs. Perhaps this part of the restaurant is often used for more casual purposes.

Eggplant and portabello tower

After the bruschetta, there were several choices for each course. I had been craving breaded eggplant, but couldn't find any on my last visit to Trader Joe's, so I knew I had to try the eggplant and portabello tower. Also, the other choices were soup and salad, so I wanted to choose the most unique option. Despite sitting in a red bell pepper sauce, the breaded eggplant retained its crispiness. The eggplant was perfectly cooked, neither too spongy nor too runny, and the dish was beautifully presented. The asparagus retained its smooth skin, crispness, and bright green color, like properly cooked asparagus should. When Chef Robin Nishizaki came out to talk to us about the meal, he said that he created the dish as a twist on the classic eggplant parmesan.

Filet Mignon

For my entree, I chose the filet mignon over the grilled salmon, seared scallops, prime rib fettucini, oso bucco, and seared ahi. It was a tough choice--I could have eaten almost any of them, but I opted for the filet because it was such a great deal. I ordered the filet medium rare, which I realized after taking the first bite was more pink than I could handle (believe it or not, this was the first steak I had ever personally ordered at a restaurant). Though not as tender as some (admittedly more expensive) steaks I've sampled, the table agreed that the meat was excellent. The garlic mashed potatoes had a wonderfully smooth consistency, but they were too buttery for my taste. The sauteed broccoli, baby carrots, and asparagus were all very good, though it would have been nice to have a different vegetable after the asparagus that came with my eggplant. Normally I might not have noticed this minor flaw in the meal, but I had recently finished reading a book by a waitress who used to work at Thomas Keller's Per Se, so my perfectionistic side was probably in overdrive.

Cheesecake churros

Since we knew the chef, we got a bonus dessert of his own creation: cheesecake churros. I can't imagine a more sinful dessert than deep-fried cheesecake topped with caramel, chocolate, and whipped cream, and it was delicious. My only complaint was that I couldn't eat as many of them as I might have liked because I was already incredibly full from the rest of my meal!

Creme Brulee

For dessert, I chose the creme brulee. The generous portion had a delicious carmelized crust. The addition of fresh strawberries and blueberries, both in the custard and on top of it, were an interesting twist, but I think I'm a traditionalist when it comes to this dish.

This extra-fantastic anniversary deal was only temporary, but the regular menu prices are quite reasonable: small plates are $6-$13, and large plates are $20-$34. $34 will get you a generous portion of lobster. While Eric's is not a destination restaurant, I think that anyone living in the area or staying at the hotel would be pleased by the food, the service, and the prices.

Eric's Restaurant and Bar
495 N Ventu Park Rd
Newbury Park, CA 91320
805.716.4100
Eric's Website
Eric's Map

Restaurant Review #202: Sushi Roku, Santa Monica

2008-02-22T20:38:00.000-08:00

I've been to Sushi Roku, a small chain with locations in Santa Monica, Pasadena, West Hollywood, and Las Vegas, more times than I can count. I suppose I always choose it in an attempt to fulfill a sushi craving when I'm in downtown Santa Monica and don't feel like fighting rush hour traffic to Brentwood or West LA or the Santa Monica Airport, where there are considerably better options (but it can take a terrible hour to make the four-mile drive).

I've always found it perplexing that a place as close to the ocean as Santa Monica doesn't have better fish. There are those who will argue that I should go to Sushi King (too much wasabi, no atmosphere, I say), and I used to be a big proponent of Noma until they gave me some dried-out hamachi, but for the most part, all the sushi options in the area seem more focused on being trendy than on serving top-notch fish. I'm surprised that there are still restaurants serving sushi rolls that contain mayonnaise, but I guess there are still people who enjoy that.

Sushi Roku is, in fact, another one of these not-so-good sushi options, and on top of that, it's overpriced. I like the decor, the low lighting, and perhaps the familiarity, even though the fish is sloppily cut and I never leave feeling satisfied. Once, three years ago, I had the tasting menu and was quite impressed, but that was in my considerably more naive days and pre-Foodie Universe. My tastes have changed considerably since then. How could they not have, now that I've eaten pad kee mao at Krua Thai, mole coloradito at Monte Alban, fresh tofu with sea salt at Musha, and sweet corn ravioli at Melisse?

Even though Santa Monica is a beach town, you'll probably feel under-dressed here unless you're wearing business attire or trendy LA clothes. Sushi Roku's service is often a bit snobby, which seems to be a requirement to work at a wannabe trendy restaurant. Some of their tables are awkwardly positioned in the middle of the room, and you're likely to get stuck at one of these as punishment for not having a reservation, even if it's a Monday and none of the better tables are occupied at any point during your meal. Also awkward is the bathroom situation--Sushi Roku is located in a large office building, and their bathroom is not actually in the restaurant--it's in the office building, and it has a bathroom attendant. Not only do I have having to pay money to have someone hand me a paper towel, I find the whole bathroom attendant thing to be incredibly backward.

Sushi Roku's specials are generally more interesting and more flavorful than simply ordering from the sushi menu, but I didn't order any on my last visit. Instead, I tried the crunchy tuna avocado roll, the albacore scallion roll, the spicy scallop roll, and a few pieces of nigiri. My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach--even with a friend's help, I couldn't eat it all.

Our food took an unbelievably long time to arrive, particularly considering that the restaurant was only half-full and almost everything we ordered did not require any cooking. The crunchy tuna avocado roll arrived first, but it seemed like it had been sitting out for a while before it made it to our table. It was soggy, not crunchy, especially because someone had the brilliant idea to put something that was supposed to be crispy in a pool of orange mayonnaise. The sauce was good and the roll was flavorful overall, but it might as well have contained chicken since the delicate flavors of the avocado and the tuna were totally overwhelmed by the fried flavor and the sauce. A million years later, the rest of our food arrived. The albacore scallion roll tasted bitter--something had to have been wrong with it, though I wasn't sure what. I'm not sure why I didn't send it back--maybe I just figured that Sushi Roku couldn't do any better.

The toro jalapeno roll was also disappointing. Toro, the fatty belly of the tuna, is supposed to be the king of sushi, but here it just tasted watery, and I should have known better than to expect heat from the jalapeno--without its ribs and seeds, jalapeno doesn't rank very high on the Scoville scale.

The spicy scallop roll was probably my favorite, even though it was one of those blasphemous mayo-fish rolls and it was dotted with a Sriracha-like sauce--two things that can't help but overwhelm the delicate flavor of scallop. Instead, I focused on enjoying the flawlessly smooth texture of raw scallop.

After my latest experience, I think the spell has finally been broken. Whatever used to draw me to Sushi Roku despite my better judgment will draw me there no more. If I'm going to spend $40 or more on dinner, I might as well brave the traffic and go to my old standby Kiriko, where I can get more food that tastes better for the same price.

Sushi Roku
1401 Ocean Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310.458.4771
Sushi Roku Website and Menu

Restaurant Review #201: Valley's Pizza Land

2008-02-12T14:38:00.000-08:00

Meatball sandwich

I know, I know. You can't believe I would actually eat at a restaurant called Valley's Pizza Land. The name says it all, doesn't it? This is just further evidence for why you only dine on the Westside.

Well, you're partially right. I didn't eat at Pizza Land, I had it delivered. The only reason I considered this place at all is because delivery options in some parts of the Valley are pretty scant, so when a restaurant menu shows up on your doorstep that isn't for pizza or Chinese food, it's a pretty exciting day.

But Pizza Land is a pizza place, you say. Well, that's only sort of true. You see, Pizza Land is also a Middle Eastern restaurant in disguise.

Beef kebab plate

We ordered a variety of dishes out of morbid curiosity. Was there any chance that a pizza place could actually make decent kebabs and grape leaves? The answer seems to be no.

I started with the beef kebab plate, which comes with lavash (the interracial love child of a tortilla and some pita bread), hummus, rice or french fries, roasted vegetables, and a little cucumber/tomato salad. The charred green pepper gave this dish a wonderful aroma--that is, until I actually got the beef pieces close to my nose. They had the aroma of something I might feed my cats if I were seeking revenge for the latest overturning of the bathroom trash can. I just couldn't bring myself to eat more than two bites of this mysterious meat that had the texture of beef, but smelled more like rotting chicken. I feared food poisoning, but it never surfaced. The french fries were hopelessly soggy, so I saved them as leftovers for future revival in my toaster oven. I decided to make a meal out of wrapping lavash around pieces of red onion, cucumber, and tomato and dipping them into the somewhat watery but otherwise hummus. At least the bread was warm and soft. The entire dish was only $8, so I can't really say that I feel ripped off. It's more that, had the meat actually been good, I would have found a killer deal. Oh, and if you're wondering why I ordered french fries when I could have had rice, which travels much better, it was the morbid curiosity getting to me again.

Eggplant parmesan with spinach linguine

In contrast to the beef kebabs, the eggplant parmesan was delicious. Eggplant is easy to screw up--I've done it many times myself. I've also eaten many frozen eggplant dishes from Whole Foods where the eggplant is hopelessly undercooked. Pizza Land's eggplant was cooked to melt-in-your-mouth perfection. I would definitely order this dish again. It's also only $8 and, for me, enough food for two to three meals.

Dolmas

I really like dolmas when they're done well, but most of my experiences with these rice and meat-stuffed grape leaves have been ill-fated. Pizza Land makes the worst grape leaves I've ever encountered. By the time they arrived at my door, they were both soggy and hard at the same time, the rice undercooked, the leaves overcooked to a putrid green-yellow, and the beef the same rank-smelling concoction that was used for my kebabs. This dish made me feel like I'd really like my $6 back. Maybe if I steam them and pour tomato sauce on top, I can make them palatable. I hate wasting food.

Deep fried ravioli

We ordered the deep fried ravioli expecting toasted ravioli--a fantastic dish rarely seen outside of St. Louis, but given the oddities of the rest of the menu, it seemed plausible that this dish had made it to a Valley pizzeria/kebab hut. But no, they actually took pieces of ravioli and deep-fried them, resulting in a dish with a bizarrely leathery appearance and a pasta shell that gave a new meaning to "al dente."

The "homemade meatball" sandwich was a riot. It actually tasted quite good, but the "meatballs" were not ball-shaped at all and looked a little like spam and it could have used more filling to balance out all the bread. The sandwich was also $8 and came with fries.

In addition to the bizarre assortment of dishes you've read about in this review, Pizza Land also serves fish and chips, "deep fried creamy jalapeno," baby back ribs, and "sea fairer delight" (fish and shrimp). Oh, and pizza.

Despite the oddities and horribly inconsistent food, I actually plan to order from Pizza Land again. Next time I'm going to be a little more adventurous and try a khachapure, a dish made of bread filled with egg, cheese, and sometimes other fillings. It has about a 50% chance of being good, but I've never had this dish before, so at least it will be an adventure. I'll also re-order the eggplant and venture into some other dishes. Maybe I'll even try the pizza.

Because how can you not love a place this weird?

Valley's Pizza Land
4837 Laurel Canyon Blvd.
Valley Village, CA 91607
M-Th, 11-11
Fri. and Sat., 11-midnight
Sun. 11-10
Free delivery ($8 minimum)
Also located in Burbank, Sherman Oaks, and North Hollywood

Giveaway! Hungry? and Thirsty? Coupon Decks

2008-02-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

The friendly folks over at Hungry? LA recently contacted me about their new product, two decks of coupon cards offering discounts on food and drinks at establishments throughout Los Angeles. If you're familiar with the Cozmo deck, this is a similar concept. The decks cost $24.95 each and have 52 cards per deck. Much like Foodie Universe, Hungry? and Thirsty?'s focus is on providing "the lowdown on where the real people eat and drink."

I have three Hungry? decks and one Thirsty? deck to give away to my lucky readers. To enter the drawing, just leave a comment telling me one thing you like about Foodie Universe and one thing you think I could do to improve my site (I already know that the search box doesn't work. . .still working on figuring that out). Leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win. I won't publish the comments, so your email address is safe from the spamlords. I'll draw the winners at random on Wednesday, February 20. Four winners will each receive one deck.

For those of you who might be interested in buying this product, are my thoughts on the decks.

Hungry? Deck: First, the rules. Each coupon is for $10 off with a minimum purchase of $20. Each card is only redeemable once and can only be applied towards the food portion of the bill. Only one coupon can be used per table. You must dine in to use the coupon, and it expires December 31, 2008. Fair enough. Coupons always have stipulations like this to prevent people from abusing the system. Still, $10 off a $20 meal (if you can eat at a particular restaurant for that little) is 50% off--a great deal.

Each card has a paragraph of description about the restaurant, as well as its address, phone number, hours, and web address. The cards are attractively designed, easy to read, and made of sturdy, slick cardstock.

My complaint about the deck is that it contains restaurants from all over the city. I know that this won't bother everyone--some people regularly find themselves all over the city or like to drive out of their way to try new places. I would prefer that Hungry? offer several different decks tailored to the different geographic regions of LA: one for the Westside, one for the San Fernando Valley, one for the Eastside, and so on. I think most people will probably only find that a few of the coupons in the deck are useful to them, since someone living in Santa Monica is not terrible likely to drive to Glendale to try Mario's Italian Deli and Market, and someone living in Studio City is probably not going to trek to Manhattan Beach to try Ebizo's Skewer. If every restaurant in the deck were a destination restaurant, like Melisse or Lucques, driving across town to try the place might make sense, but of course, $10 doesn't go far at most destination restaurants. The deck advertises on the outside that the coupons inside are "a $500 value," but I think the average person will probably only get about $50 worth of savings out of this deck, which isn't too hot considering the $25 retail price (note that you can save $5 by purchasing directly through their website). If you live in Hollywood and work Downtown, or vice versa, you might manage to save around $120, since a lot of the restaurants in the deck are in one of these areas. To see the full list of restaurants included in the coupon deck, visit Hungry?'s website.

Thirsty? Deck: The rules for the Thirsty? cards are similar, except that the amount of discount varies depending on the establishment. For example, there are cards for 10% off a purchase at a wine store, cards fo buy two drinks, get one free at coffee and smoothie shops, and cards for $10 off at restaurants. The buy two, get one free coupons I find annoying because they aren't likely to be useful if you're dining alone or even as a duo. Another issue is that it isn't clear from either the cards or the website whether the drink cards can also be used on food, which I imagine could lead to some confusion and frustration when it comes time to pay the restaurant bill.

There is a bit of overlap between the two decks--a few of the cards in the restaurant stack are also in the drink stack. I also found two cards for the same restaurant in my Thirsty? deck, but perhaps that was just an accident. See the complete list of Thirsty? establishments here.

Overall, I think the decks are a good idea, but I think they could be improved by being targeted to a more localized part of Los Angeles and, in the case of the Thirsty? deck, having clearer rules and switching the buy two, get one free cards to something more useful.

The nice thing about the decks is that they generally have fewer stipulations than Restaurant.com coupons (for example, you don't have to spend as much money to use them, and there is no requirement to have a certain number of people in your party). Also, since they look nice and more closely resemble gift cards than coupons, they are likely to have an appeal that extends beyond the usual coupon-clipping crowd and reaches out to those who might otherwise be embarrassed to use a coupon.

Restaurant Review #200: Jaipur Cuisine of India

2008-02-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Mattar Paneer

Though I have eaten at Jaipur many times, I have only had their food delivered (a much simpler option, given their chaotic location--not that this is a unique problem in LA). However, thanks to a $25 Restaurant.com
certificate, I decided to dine in for a change. Unlike many of these certificates, which have restrictions on when you can eat, you can use a certificate to Jaipur seven days a week. The only conditions are that you need to dine in, spend $45 (before the certificate), and pay in cash. At most Indian restaurants, $45 will buy you plenty of food, and Jaipur is no exception. In addition to its reasonably priced menu for everyday patrons, the restaurant also offers budget-sensitive catering services for small and large events and can serve your needs whether you need a full buffet or just appetizers. Thanks to the certificate, for a mere $25, we enjoyed a small feast.

Chicken vindaloo

One of the benefits of dining in at Jaipur is that you get mint and tamarind chutneys, carrot and lemon pickles, and salty, delicately crunchy papadums to scoop them up with as soon as you sit down. Their mango pickles, which you can order for $3, are also an unforgettable treat. Everyone should try mango pickles at some point--even if you don't like them, you'll appreciate how intensely tangy and salty they are.

Jaipur is named after the owner's favorite Indian city, "the pink city," located in the Indian state of Rajastan. The restaurant opened in 1999 by an owner whose prior experience included being a chef and restaurant manager in Germany and Los Angeles for 15 years. The restaurant is on Pico Boulevard near Westwood, adjacent to the Westside Pavilion parking garage and Torafuku. Getting there after work during rush hour can be a nightmare, and parking can be too if you don't know that Jaipur has a valet option (for $4.50) or that you can park in the Westside Pavilion garage for free.

To get the most bang for our gift certificate buck, we skipped the appetizers and dove straight into the entrees. As a general rule, I don't like any of Jaipur's creamy dishes, like the chicken korma, chicken tikka masala, or navrattan korma--I find the sauce too heavy. By contrast, the chicken vindaloo, which has a spicy, tomato-based sauce, is one of Jaipur's best dishes, though it would be even better if the meat were free of gristly, fatty bits and cooked in smaller pieces that could absorb more of the sauce. I can never get enough of the sauce, especially since I like to scoop it up and eat it straight with some freshly-baked naan.

Aloo gobi

Smaller chunks of potato would also be effective in making a more flavorful aloo gobi, though this is the dish's only flaw. The cauliflower is cooked to melt-in-your-mouth perfection. The mattar paneer (lead photo) is also flavorful without being heavy, with squishy homemade cheese and tender bright green peas. I only wish this dish were spicy. With most of Jaipur's dishes, you'll have to request extra heat if you want to enjoy that tingling sensation on your lips. According to the owner, some of the dishes have been modified to better serve the tastes of Angelenos. Such a statement might make you think that the flavors were watered down or that Jaipur served bland, "healthy" Indian food like Pradeep's or Dhaba in Santa Monica, but, lack of spiciness aside, I think Jaipur serves some of the most flavorful Indian food on the Westside.

Gulab jamun

Jaipur's desserts are homemade and taste like it. My favorites are the rashmalai, a sweet dessert cheese in a milky sauce, and warm, syrupy gulab jamun, which you're almost certainly had if you've ever been to an Indian buffet.

The dining room is almost uncomfortably small and quiet--you can clearly hear other people's conversations across the room, no matter how quietly they're speaking. White tablecloths and linen napkins go a long way towards creating an elegant space despite the lack of room and standard issue restaurant chairs. Cheery yellow paint, an open ceiling, and a wall of windowed doors looking out to Pico help create an illusion of airiness. The partially open kitchen sends the wonderful aroma of curries and lamb kebabs to whet your appetite. The service was just okay--I like unobtrusive service, but when I can't order when I'm ready, it's a little too unobtrusive.

It may not be perfect, but Jaipur is still one of my favorite restaurants. The only thing that really irks me about Jaipur is that they charge $3 extra for rice. Shouldn't rice be included, like it is at Chinese restaurants? I blame the low-carb trend for turning rice into a nonstandard item, but I guess when the entrees are only $8-$12 each, I can't really complain.

Though I love getting a bargain and the restaurant smells incredible, after my experience dining in at Jaipur, I think I'd still prefer to enjoy their food in the comfort of my living room, free from the hassles of parking and traffic. Even full-price and with a delivery fee tacked on, the food is still very much worth it.

Jaipur Cuisine of India
10916 West Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(just west of Westside Pavilion)
310 470-4994
Lunch buffet daily
11AM - 2:30PM weekdays
11:30AM - 3PM weekends
Dinner daily
5PM - 10:30PM
Jaipur website

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Restaurant Review #199: Darya Fine Persian Cuisine

2008-01-09T22:33:00.000-08:00

From the outside, you'd never think Darya was anything special. It sits on a slightly seedy-looking stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard in West LA, just west of Bundy. Its storefront, along with those of most of its neighbors, is a bit dingy looking, and the drab yellowish light near the entrance doesn't help. Inside, however, you'll find high ornamental ceilings, crystal chandeliers, live Persian music, and some of the friendliest service in the city. In Los Angeles, you never can judge a book by its cover.

Dining room

Darya's menu offers a selection of hot and cold appetizers, soups, salads, stews, grilled meats, and vegetarian dishes. Entrees range from $12 to $23. To whet our appetites, we were served fresh complementary flatbread with butter and slivers of raw white onion. The bread is quite enjoyable plain or simply with butter, but if you like onions, the cool bite and tang they provide in contrast to the warm bread and rich, creamy butter makes the dish even better.

Imported Pickles (khiar-shor)

We also ordered the imported pickles, which didn't taste different enough from American pickles to get me excited about eating them. I wished I had chosen a different appetizer, like the kashkek bademjan, a dish of sauteed eggplant with yogurt, garlic, mint, onion, and whey.

Naderi Kabob

The entrees were much more satisfying. All of the grilled meat dishes, which make up the majority of the entrees, come with saffron-topped basmati rice, or for $1 extra, half rice and half Persian salad (romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, onion, olive oil, and lime juice). Pictured above, the lamb shish kabob is described as "our finest filet of lamb marinated & skewered & charbroiled with onions, tomatoes, & green peppers."

The menu describes the naderi kabob entree (lead photo) as "the most delicious and juicy chunks of center cut of filet mignon marinated in Darya special sauce served with charbroiled tomato." The price seemed a little high to me since I had to rely on the rice to get full, but when you consider that a single uncooked kabob skewer at Whole Foods costs $9, $21 for a whole plate of food that I don't have to cook myself really isn't bad, and the meat in both entrees was very flavorful and properly cooked. If you're on a budget, visit Darya at lunchtime to save a few bucks.

Homemade cheesecake

For dessert, there are tried-and-true favorites like baklava and cheesecake, and more exotic (to some of us) items like Persian ice cream (flavored with rosewater, saffron, and pistachios), faloodeh, and makhloot. One of my favorite things about Persian restaurants is their ricotta cheesecake. Unlike New York-style cheesecake, which uses much more cream cheese and is therefore a lot heavier, a cheesecake made with ricotta is almost light and spongy.

Bamieh

For something new (to me), I tried the bamieh, made of flour, sugar, honey, and rosewater. This dessert both looked and tasted like a cross between donut holes and gulab jamun (a popular Indian dessert).

The restaurant was a little loud, even on a weeknight, because of both the live music and the number of patrons, but it wasn't too loud to carry on a conversation. The place was pretty full, but we were able to get a table right away with no reservation and no snooty attitude from the host. The service was prompt, courteous, and helpful, and our water glasses were never empty. Though the dining room has quite a few tables, they are all well-spaced to give diners privacy.

Perhaps the only drawback to eating at this restaurant is the parking. There are plenty of meters on the street, but they can be hard to come by at busy times of day.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. Everything met or exceeded my expectations.

Darya Fine Persian Cuisine
12130 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-442-9000
Darya Menu
Darya Website

FYI: Darya has a sister restaurant in Tustin, but is not affiliated with any other restaurants that share its name.

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Restaurant Review #198: Pecorino

2007-12-17T21:49:00.000-08:00

Tortelloni di Melanzane

Pecorino, a hard-to-spot restaurant in Brentwood’s Little Italy, serves traditional rustic Italian fare plus a few innovative creations in a cozy setting. Unlike the Italian restaurants of the suburbs, Brentwood’s eateries are small and cozy and serve smaller portions of less-Americanized dishes, and Pecorino is no exception. The clientele also reflect the expensive neighborhood: businessmen still in their suits, ladies who lunch, and retired couples. Exposed red brick walls, dark wooden ceiling beams, and traditional white linen tablecloths create a setting that is part modern industrial loft, part your wealthy grandparents' dining room. Moderately low lighting from the wrought-iron chandeliers overhead and flickering candles on every table bathes the entire room in a warm glow, and tantalizing scents occasionally waft from the partially exposed kitchen. Chef Raffaele Sabatini and his twin brother Mario, are natives of Abruzzo, a region in central Italy that lies 70 miles east of Rome.

The staff made an excellent first impression by insisting on opening the front door and giving us a generous table for four when we were only two. They also honored our request for a quiet table in the back, though noise may not have been an issue no matter where we were seated. Unlike many of LA’s upscale eateries, Pecorino does not ignore the comfort of its diners to make an extra buck by cramming as many tables into their space as possible; instead, they have preserved the privacy that is part of any enjoyable dining experience by spacing the tables at least an arm's length apart. Acoustics are also well-designed here: even when full, the dining room is reasonably quiet, making it a great place for closing a real estate deal, catching up with old friends, or holding hands across the table with your significant other.

Filetto di bue in salsa

Despite Pecorino’s warm interior, the restaurant can feel a bit pretentious to those who aren’t part of the scene—your first choice after being seated will be whether to pay $7 a bottle for mineral water or endure the supposed indignity of requesting tap. I can't help but wonder if thus signaling to the staff that you have no intention of dropping a week’s pay on your dinner will result in an evening of mediocre service. Despite the ridiculous markup on water, refills on fountain drinks are free and frequent, and many of Pecorino’s dishes are reasonably priced enough that you can easily control the cost of your meal. Appetizers, soups, and salads range from $8-19. Primi range from $11-22 and secondi range from $25-44. Desserts are $7-8. If you're on a budget, you could order only a primi (pasta dish) and your bill would be pretty reasonable. Though the primi are small and perhaps not enough food to fill up on, to order both a primi and a secondi would be major overkill, despite what their category names imply. Of course, if you're out for an evening of excess, you could easily spend $75 or more per person on insalata di avocado, burrata cheese with roasted bell peppers, filet mignon, a bottle or two of cabernet, a sampling of cheeses, tiramisu, and espresso. (It’s worth noting here that diners can take a bite out of any bill of $50 or more by purchasing a $25 certificate on Restaurant.com for $10 before leaving home—just make sure to use the certificate Monday through Thursday and present it before you start ordering.) The meal reviewed here, including one glass of wine, one soft drink, tax, and tip, cost about $100. Don’t expect to leave with leftovers.

Though the menu’s dishes are listed in Italian, descriptions beneath each item prevent the selection from being intimidating. The filetto di bue in salsa is a ten-ounce filet mignon in shallot and red wine sauce, served alongside olive oil mashed potatoes with green onion. Though the hunk of meat with lumpy sauce next to a sloppy scoop of lumpy mashed potatoes did not make for an attractive presentation, the generous portions, lightly tangy sauce, and properly cooked meat made up for it. While some restaurants will not cook a steak medium rare out of fear of the health department, Pecorino had no qualms about complying with our request. The mashed potatoes, while an interesting idea for a variation on a traditional dish, would have tasted better with salted butter instead of olive oil and far fewer green onions, if the onions even added anything at all.

Dining room

The tortelloni di melanzane consisted of fresh pasta filled with pureed eggplant and ricotta in a light cherry tomato stew. The pasta was definitely al-dente: not how I like it, but admittedly the proper way to cook pasta. The filling did not have a great deal of flavor on its own, a disappointment given the rich, smoky flavor of properly cooked eggplant, so the pasta was left to rely entirely on the sauce and a generous sprinkling of freshly-grated parmesan cheese for flavor. Fortunately, the sauce was mellow but bright, with tomatoes, garlic, and herbs providing a welcome explosion of summer flavor on a cool winter evening. More sauce, or perhaps more flavor in the filling, would have made for a tastier dish. The glass of pinot grigio I ordered to accompany my dish was uninspiring—perhaps I should have asked the waiter for wine suggestions.

Pear and white chocolate mousse

Like most dessert menus, Pecorino’s is pretty predictable: tiramisu, crème brulee, ice cream, sorbet. For a restaurant that strives to remain true to its European roots, the dessert menu was noticeably absent of any fruit-based dishes, unless you count the sorbets. We ordered two of the more creative-sounding items, pear and white chocolate mousse and chocolate mint mousse.

The pear and white chocolate mousse was confusingly named for two reasons: one, it was not a poached pear accompanied by fluffy white chocolate mousse, as I had imagined, and two, there was no hint of pear flavor whatsoever in either the mousse or the sauce that surrounded it. A few errant chunks of elemental white chocolate in the mousse marred an otherwise smooth, tongue-coating texture that captured the essence of the main ingredient. Raspberries, a traditional accompaniment for both chocolate and its albino cousin, along with a rarely seen ground cherry (a sweeter relative of the tangy tomatillo), garnished the attractively presented dish.

Chocolate mint mousse

The chocolate mint mousse, which was also quite gorgeously plated, would have benefited from a stronger chocolate flavor and a mint filling that didn’t taste fake, like a Rocky Road candy bar—not the flavor you want to experience at an upscale restaurant. If I wanted to be generous, I would say that the accompanying mint sauce was vibrant; if I didn't, I would say that it reminded me of a certain 80's movie whose theme song is wildly overplayed every October 31st. The dessert portions were generous enough to share.

At the end of an otherwise nice meal, the service committed a cardinal sin of American dining: making us wait thirty minutes to pay. Perhaps the staff was trying to add to the authentic Italian dining experience by following the European custom of requiring diners to request their bill, but given the attentive service we had received earlier in the evening when the staff seemed to be everywhere all at once, it seemed incomprehensible that no one so much as stopped by to ask how we were doing once our desserts had been served. Even declining coffee and asking for a doggie bag wasn’t enough to prompt our waiter to deliver the bill.

As far as getting there, maneuvering San Vicente at dinner time on weekdays (also known as rush hour) will have you fantasizing about buying a motorcycle--or a helicopter--so unless you live within walking distance, it’s a good idea to make the latest reservation you can—say, 8:30 or 9:00. Parking at this restaurant, or any other in the neighborhood, is almost nonexistent, though if you get lucky you can snag a meter on San Vicente (free after 6:00pm) or a spot in a nearby neighborhood (though these neighborhoods seem to have more red zones and oversized driveways than parking spaces). Otherwise, expect to hand your keys over to the valet—just make sure they don’t give you the wrong Mercedes when you leave.

If you’re looking for Italian food in Brentwood, you have plenty of choices: Osteria Latini, Vicenti, Sor Tino, La Scala, and Toscana—just to name a few. At Pecorino, while the food was generally good and the service was mostly fine, neither impressed me enough that I would care to return when there are so many other options. In particular, I’d rather drive a mile to West LA and eat at Il Moro, where the prices are the same but the food and the service are considerably more inspiring.

Pecorino
11604 San Vicente Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
310.571.3800
Pecorino Website
Pecorino Menu