Restaurant Review #138: Nook, West LA

The bar

When you're used to dining at low-end restaurants where almost all of the focus is on the food, it's a real treat to spend a few extra bucks and actually get service. Service at LA restaurants is often snooty or indifferent, but at Nook, the service is so good from the very moment you walk in that you know you're in for a great meal.

At 7:00 on a Tuesday, we had already failed to beat the crowds to Nook. Fortuantely, we were the only ones waiting, there were chairs to sit in, and we were given menus to look at in the meantime. We also could have sat down at the small bar for a drink, had we been so inclined.


The communal table

Given a choice between immediate seating at the communal table and waiting for an individual table, I'll choose to wait every time. With the way tables are crammed together at almost every restaurant in the city (Nook being no exception), you might think it wouldn't really matter, but the word communal implies that maybe I should be talking to the other people at the table, and I really don't want to.

That being said, I think the idea of creating an environment that is conducive to chatting up strangers is really great for people who are more extroverted than I am. After all, one of the reasons LA can seem so hostile at times is because we don't know each other. It's easy to anonymously be rude and assume the worst about people from behind the wheels of our cars. A communal table allows us the possibility to get to know each other better and like each other more. The communal table would also be a great place to seat a birthday party or other group of around 12 people.


Nook dinner salad

Nook's menu is divided into small plates and large plates, rather than appetizers and entrees. With a simple label change, you can order an appetizer as a meal and not feel like a cheapskate. Even the lightest eater will need to order more than a salad to get full, though. I tried the Nook dinner salad: mixed greens with rosemary beet vinaigrette, dried cranberries, brandy pecans and goat cheese.

The dressing really makes this salad noteworthy. Tangy and sweet, it's a great way to convince people that they might actually like beets. How did beets become a high-end vegetable, anyway? They're just root vegetables, like carrots or turnips, and they aren't too expensive. Aside from the dressing, there was nothing innovative about the salad--the ingredients are a tried and true combination. I would have liked more goat cheese, but then, I really can't ever get enough cheese. The cut greens were crisp and high-quality.


Crispy Fried Calamari

The calamari, tossed with citrus-soy vinaigrette and wasabi dipping sauce, had a very flavorful batter, but it was much too salty. I couldn't taste the citrus-soy sauce at all, and I had to be careful with the wasabi dipping sauce, which was heavily concentrated and an invitation to nose burn. The calamari were very tender, the batter was well-seasoned, and the flavor of the wasabi mayo was a nice match. Take the salt factor down a notch, and this dish would be perfect.


Nook Burger

The large plate section of the dinner menu is very meaty, with only two vegetarian options. While a vegetarian could get by here, she wouldn't have a lot of options. I ordered the burger, a sterling silver beef burger with gruyere cheese, red wine-braised onion and baby arugula on grilled rustic bread, served with fries and a homemade pickle. I finally took the plunge and ordered my burger cooked medium (I could do better, I know, but meat kind of scares me). The burger was good, especially the surprisingly flavorful bun, though with so much bread, I had to eat my burger with a fork and knife. This is not one of the top burgers in the city, and I think it would have been more flavorful with carmelized onions and a stronger cheese, but not everyone likes their food as intense as I do.


Banana bread pudding in a chocolate brandy sauce

Dessert sounded very promising, but was a disappointment for me. Of course, desserts have to overcome the full factor--by the time I get there, my marginal propensity to consume more food has declined so far that something has to be really special to wow me. Also, I have decided that I'm really not a fan of the banana/chocolate combination, and I was disappointed that I couldn't taste the brandy. The vanilla bean gelato sounded tempting, so we got a cup on the side. The texture was dense and smooth, but the flavor was nothing to get excited about.


What to look for

Nook can be hard to find. The strip mall has an orange sign announcing Nook, but the restaurant itself is really tucked away and has only a neon blue sign with a white arrow to point the way. Parking is free and easy enough in the lot or on the surrounding streets.

The service was very good throughout the meal. It got slow at times, but we never felt forgotten. Our server was professional and full of smiles.

In West LA, there is virtually no such thing as an upscale restaurant. In this category, Nook only has to complete with places like Il Grano, La Bottega, and Il Moro. By filling a niche, Nook is really able to shine. It provides a warm atmosphere, real service, very reasonable prices, and consistently good food. While it might not be able to complete in more upscale neighborhoods, I'm thrilled to see it in West LA, and I'll definitely be back. I'd love to go for lunch, as the lunch menu is quite different from the dinner menu, and I'm intrigued by the catfish burrito.

If you've been to Nook, how was your experience? Leave a comment!

Salads and appetizers, $7-12
Lunch entrees, $9-12
Dinner entrees, $10-22
Desserts, $6

Nook
11628 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310-207-5160
Mon-Fri 11:30 AM to 3 PM;
5 PM to 10 PM
Sat 5 PM to 10 PM
Closed Sundays
Map
Nook website with menu

Restaurant Review #126: Ketchy's II, Sawtelle, West LA

Cheeseburger with all the trimmings

Ketchy'’s II is part of the Sawtelle strip, but have you ever seen it? Did you even know that there is another restaurant behind Mizu 212?

I didn'’t, until I went exploring on foot one day. But every time I walked by Ketchy'’s II, it was closed. I was starting to wonder if it was actually in business. As far as I can tell, the hours aren't posted in the window anywhere.

I was in the right place, but at the wrong time. Ketchy's II has been open for five months, but it's only open until 6:00 pm, which explains my confusion. The owner mentioned the possibility of keeping it open longer in the summer, which would be nice. A big red sign on the sidewalk informs pedestrians of the restaurant'’s existence, and the accompanying phone number points out the restaurant'’s aspirations to do a steady takeout business.

Though it is relatively new, Ketchy's II has quite a history. It replaces a beloved neighborhood hamburger and taco stand named Ketchy'’s that operated for 40 years but was completely destroyed when a pickup truck drove through it over 20 years ago, according to the newspaper article taped to the wall. The owner informed me that the original stand had actually been hit by a vehicle not once, but twice!

A true hole-in-the-wall, Ketchy'’s II has no indoor dining--there simply isn'’t space. There'’s barely space for two people to come in at the same time to order. What'’s interesting about this lack of space is that it nearly forces you to interact with the owner and the cook, both of whom were very friendly. There are a few metal tables where you can eat outside, if you don'’t want your food to go.

Ketchy's II serves hamburgers, hotdogs, chili burgers, chili dogs, tamales, fries, onion rings, and a few other things. Multiple flavors of soda in cans are easily grabbable if you'’re thirsty.

My quarter pound cheeseburger was made-to-order in plain view and came with plenty of toppings--lettuce, pickles, mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard. If you'’re looking for a less messy burger, I'’d skip the lettuce--it's cut into square inch-sized pieces, a small detail which most people won'’t realize makes the burger easier to eat and prevents you from eating chunks of lettuce vein (yuck). The pieces get condiment-covered and are prone to falling out, but a paper wrapper inside the burger'’s foil wrapper will help you eat more neatly. The meat was cooked thoroughly (okay with me, but you may want to specify if you like your burger pink) and wasn't greasy at all. A quarter pound isn'’t much bigger than an In-n-Out patty, and there was only about half as much cheese as I would have liked, but with all the condiments and the bun, the burger had plenty of flavor and filled me up. A cheeseburger is $3.70, and a tip jar awaits your change. I don't think anything on the menu is over $5.00.

Ketchy's II may not have the excitement factor of some of the other restaurants on Sawtelle, but it is a most welcome addition to the neighborhood. Where else in the area would I go to get a hamburger or a quick lunch for so little?

If you've been to Ketchy's II, how was your experience? Leave a comment!

Ketchy's II
La Grange (at Sawtelle, behind Mizu 212)
Los Angeles, CA 90025

Restaurant Review #112: Literati II, West LA

Crispbreads and tulips

First of all, check out the new site search box in the sidebar (to your left). It actually works now! (I have no idea why it wasn't before.)

Ah, Valentine's Day. That special time of year when you feel advertising agency-induced mushiness for your honey, scathing bitterness towards your ex, or feigned indifference. That special night when it takes 45 minutes to drive a mere 4 miles home from work because everyone is trying to get home in time to change for dinner. Luckily, I have a Portuguese tape in the car to quell my road rage.

"Si, eu sou americana. Sou de Los Angeles."
"Eu nao falo o portugues."

I purposely tried to arrange the evening to be as stress-free as possible. We cancelled our original reservations at another restaurant, fearing that the place would be too popular a destination and therefore too crowded and too noisy. We picked Literati II instead, under the assumptions that 1. the food would be good, because the food at Literati is good; 2. it would not be exorbitantly expensive; and 3. it would be quieter than most places while still being romantic. We were right about the first two, and partially right about the second.

At our prime 7:30 reservation time, the restaurant was packed, and we could barely hear each other while waiting in front of the hostess stand. Fortunately, we got seated outside, where the noise of Wilshire was nothing compared to the noise inside. In fact, the fence and clear plastic wall surrounding the patio area kept the noise out fairly well. The chairs were made comfortable with small chenile pillows, and plenty of heaters kept me warm. We even got our choice of tables. I picked the big round one, knowing that if we picked a table for two, we would probably eventually have other diners sitting 12 inches away from us. I really don't understand the popularity of this phenomenon. I know that restaurants want to have the opportunity to turn as many tables as possible, but christ. If I wanted to eat dinner with strangers, I'd hold an open house at my apartment.


The patio

Aside from the close tables, the patio was lovely -- much better than the Los Angeles average. "Hi, I'd like to make a reservation for two, and can we please get a table in that lovely plastic tent of yours?" Usually, outdoor dining in this city seems designed not to create a European cafe style experience, like it pretends to do, but simply to add more tables, so poorly is the design executed.

The hostess was warm and friendly, and not in a fake way. I liked that. The waiter was professional and competent, though not extra impressive. He did an okay job of picking a wine to go with our food, but he might have done better asking someone else for input. Busboys, some of whom I recognized from Literati, came by regularly to refill water and take away plates.

The wine menu contained mostly bottles, but they did offer about ten wines by the glass at prices in the $9-14 range. They also had a menu of frou frou cocktail drinks, many of which sounded enticing. I had to go with the caipirinha, since I don't often have the opportunity to order one. It was quite strong, and pretty good, though it didn't taste like the ones I enjoyed so much in Spain. I realize that Spain is not Brazil, but it is right next to Portugal, so I like to think that they had some idea what they were doing, convoluted though my logic may be.

I was quite enamored of the crispbread that came as a starter. Regular bread can be too filling, but the cracker-like bread didn't create that problem. Make sure to try the parmesan crisps. The red pepper dip that accompanied the breads was tasty as well.

The menu was just one page long, possibly because of Valentine's Day. By the time I eliminated all the shellfish and hunk of meat entrees, I was left with just two choices, which my friend and I ordered.


Bucatini

Bucatini is sort of like spaghetti, but wider and with a small hole in the middle. The lemon zest-infused butter sauce was excellent, and the leaves you see tasted like sugar snap peas. Do sugar snap peas have leaves? (I'm planning to grow some soon, so maybe I'll find out.) The peas themselves were cooked, which meant they had that mushy pea consistency that I'm not so fond of (I like to eat them raw). The wild mushrooms were tasty, but a little too buttery for me. Literati II apparently prides itself on using fresh farmer's market produce and changing the menu by as much as 30% daily to reflect what was fresh and available that day.


Ocean trout

Ocean trout is pink like salmon, but doesn't have as strong a flavor. This dish impressed me from the moment it hit my tongue. In this case, it was really the herb and salt rub on the skin that did the trick. Here again lemon zest and peas were part of the dish, but there were also artichoke hearts and rapini. Rapini is essentially a weed, but it can be used in cooking as a dark green vegetable that seems like a kale/seaweed hybrid. It tastes better than it sounds.


Pavlova

For dessert I ordered the Pavlova, which was tangelo sorbet, raspberry sorbet (I think), meringue and a rectangle of almond candy. The tangelo sorbet failed to impress me. Its flavor was too mild and didn't proclaim, "I am tangelo!" I have every right to criticize it because I've spent hours scraping the zest from tangelos to make my own sorbet. Literati II's sorbet seemed to rely on tangelo juice, but no zest, for flavor. I didn't love my dessert. I was much more fond of the 10 year old port that I ordered alongside it (I know, I know, it doesn't go). It wasn't as good as Warre's Otima, though.

Overall, I enjoyed my visit. I'd like to go back on a regular night and take in the normal menu and the indoor seating.

Total for 2, including 3 alcoholic beverages, tax, and tip: about $100

Literati II
12081 Wilshire Blvd (at Bundy)
Los Angeles, CA
310-479-3400
Website (not really put together yet)

Restaurant Review #104: Barney's Beanery, Santa Monica

Barbecued cheeseburger with bacon

I went to Barney's with some fellow burger-lovers because of the restaurant's extensive burger menu. The burger menu actually isn't that extensive when you look at it more closely, however. It reads something like this:

Hamburger
Cheeseburger
Cheeseburger with bacon
Barbecued hamburger
Barbecued cheeseburger
Barbecued cheeseburger with bacon

and later on:

Chili burger
Chili cheeseburger
Chili bacon burger
Chili bacon cheeseburger
Chili, guacamole and cheese burger

You get the idea.

A disproportionate number of their burgers involve either chili or guacamole, which I think sounds completely repulsive. Granted, I hate chili, but I do love guac, so I feel somewhat unbiased in my assessment, even though I didn't try either (yeah, yeah).

I ordered a barbecued bacon cheeseburger. See, I passionately, passionately hate bacon, but I really like it on burgers and potato skins. Weird, I know. I ordered my burger medium well, which I know is blasphemous, but I didn't eat red meat for so many years that I just can't get over the pink meat thing--if it's still pink, it can't be ready to eat, can it? What if it starts bleeding, or worse, mooing, on my plate?

So yes, my burger was dry, but based on my extensive experience cooking burgers at home, I attribute the dryness to either the cooking method or to using meat with a low fat content. There's no excuse for a dry burger, no matter how you like it cooked. My homemade, pan-fried burgers with blue cheese, cumin, and kosher salt are plenty juicy (or perhaps just greasy, but that works for me). My friend had to send back her burger, it was so overdone.


Parmesan Burger--but that's not parmesan, that's provolone!

My other friend's parmesan burger had not a trace, not a hint of parmesan. Huh? The thick cut cajun fries were tasty and also made good leftovers when reheated in the toaster oven, but I thought that charging 35 cents extra for the cajun seasoning was pretty lame. Barney's also charges 35 cents extra for grilled onions on your burger, and 50 cents extra if you want a kind of cheese that isn't American. I hate the "build your own burger, but it will cost you" philosophy espoused by Barney's and the Library.

A major redeeming factor at Barney's (and the Library, hmm) is their massive beer list. I had a delicious Fat Tire (my long-time lover) and a raspberry cider from Canada, which was like a less sugary, more intersting alternative to Smirnoff Ice. There are no prices on the beer list, which is divided by region, but our beers ended up being $6 each, which is reasonable in Los Angeles (but just plain mean in St. Louis).

If you're not a burger fan, Barney's also makes, well, everything. Their menu is actually a small newspaper about the size of the Santa Monica Daily Press. Anyone could find something to eat here, including vegetarians.

The atmosphere is a lot like Chili's--noisy with tons of crap on the walls. There are also tons of TV's. If you sit at one of the booths lining the walls, you'll have four TV's to look at, so no matter what game you were hoping to catch, it will probably be on. Needless to say, I wouldn't take a date here, unless I wanted to get dumped for being a jackass.

Overall, Barney's isn't my kind of place--I could barely hear my friends across the table, which caused me to resign myself to watching the Nuggets fight through OT2 and checking out my old pal Sam Cassell swishing some free throws. Fortunately, I love basketball.


Barney's Beanery
1351 Third Street Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Website (with complete menu)

Restaurant Review #89: Real Food Daily, Santa Monica

Club sandwich with Asian slaw

Real Food Daily is very popular and almost always full, though I don't think the food itself is exactly the cause for its popularity so much as the concept behind the food. The food can be a bit hit-or-miss, especially if soy milk and tempeh aren't for you, but the stuff that hits is awfully good, and healthy, too.

A lot of people in LA, and especially in the yuppie-friendly north side of Santa Monica where RFD is located, are very health conscious, and RFD really caters to these people with their menu full of fresh, balanced, organic offerings. And I get it, because I really do like seaweed, tofu, and tofu cheesecake. Really. And I definitely like not putting weird chemicals into my body, be they food chemicals or pretty much anything else except wine and the occasional martini. And I used to be plenty concerned about staying thin. If you're trying to eat healthy, RFD isn't a place where you'll have to ask for a million substitutions to keep the tablespoons of butter away.

RFD is also a completely animal-product-free restaurant, which I think is wonderful. At so many restaurants, vegetarians get stuck ordering whatever the one meatless dish is and vegans often have a hard time going out to eat at all. Here, the entire menu is available to these groups.

RFD's food is also grown locally and organically, which I have become a very staunch advocate of after reading a book called Eat Here. Have you ever noticed how many of the avocados in the grocery store come from Chile? Have you ever wondered why, when we produce plenty of avocados right here in southern California? This book will tell you. It reveals about produce what Fast Food Nation reveals about meat.

The atmosphere at RFD in Santa Monica (there is another location in West Hollywood, which I haven't been to) is cozy, particularly upstairs. Some of the tables are a bit close together, but I still feel like I could sit upstairs by a window and write or read for hours. The restaurant's popularity makes it noisy, but it's the kind of din that makes it easy to block everything out and work. The service has always been very friendly and. . . peaceful. How often do you come across a restaurant employee who is neither weary nor unnaturally perky? The management must be doing something right here.

Here's a rundown of the dishes I've tried:

Nori Maki
Sweet brown rice with tempeh, avocado, carrot, collard greens, scallions and umeboshi rolled in nori served w/ ginger tamari dipping sauce, daikon, wasabi & pickled ginger

Disappointingly dry and refrigerator-cold, a dead giveaway that it wasn't made fresh, which seems contrary to the restaurant's philosophy. Also, does anyone else think that calling it nori maki is really odd?

The Club
Lightly breaded seitan served club-style on toasted sourdough bread with tempeh bacon, lettuce, tomato and vegenaise $10.25

This sandwich could convince anyone that being vegetarian or vegan doesn't mean you're missing out--it's incredibly flavorful. In fact, I fantasize about this sandwich (now you know).

I'd much rather eat breaded seitan than the usual slimy coldcuts and dry turkey breast. By the way, seitan is a meat substitute made from wheat gluten. It tastes better than it sounds--it has a richer, more complex flavor than than tofu and doesn't have the bitterness of tempeh. I think it's the most accessible and effective meat substitute (did you hear that, Boca?).

Basics
Create your own dish from a selection of vegetables, grains, and proteins. I've ordered the sea vegetable of the day with tofu and house dressing (purée of tahini, tamari, lemon and watercress). The seaweed goes very well with the house dressing, but the tofu is lackluster. I think you'll get a better feel of what the restaurant has to offer if you order a real menu item, though I do like this option because it makes life easy for people with dietary restrictions or very limited budgets.

Asian Pear Ginger Kombucha Wonder Drink $4.00
A slightly tart, slightly sweet effervescent wellness drink.

This is a bottled drink that you used to be able to get at Wild Oats (I guess I didn't buy enough to keep it on the inventory list, sigh. Home Grocer carries it though). It's fizzy, but not explosively fizzy like ordinary soda (soda gives me the hiccups instantly!). I'm predisposed to like this drink because it has ginger, but damn, it's good, though $4.00 is pretty expensive for a small bottled drink (to be fair, it is $2 even at the grocery store).

Teeccino Latte
A caffeine-free coffee-like beverage blended from herbs, grains, fruits and nuts capped with steamed soy milk $3.95

Since caffeine makes me batty, I tried this drink. I really didn't like it, which probably is at least partly, if not completely, because I really don't like soy milk--I think it tastes like glue. By the way, don't ask for sugar with your coffee--RFD only has maple crystals. I would like to give this drink another shot without the soy milk.

Dessert
I've had both the coconut cream pie and the tofu cheesecake. No instant toothache here--I really liked both of these, particularly because RFD only uses natural sweeteners. In fact, if you've never tried an RFD dessert, you might not even realize just how incredibly sweet most desserts are! I love sugar, and have no issues with my waistline, but for some reason I find a little less sugar in my dessert incredibly refreshing. And if you're skeptical of tofu in a dessert, let me just say that you really can't taste the tofu. The best cake I've ever had was actually a homemade tofu chocolate cake--wow, was it moist.

I really respect Real Food Daily's mission and the niche they've both filled and created. As long as you go with an open mind and a recommendation for a good dish, you'll really enjoy your meal, even if you aren't a vegetarian or a health nut.


Wednesday's Soup of the Day: Squash and Apple Bisque

Real Food Daily
514 Santa Monica Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 451-7544
Website

Restaurant Review #86: Swingers, Santa Monica

Swingers is a popular late-night dining spot, and by late, I mean post-club late. It's open 24 hours, but it's hipper than Denny's, and probably has better food as well (having thankfully managed to avoid Denny's for the past seven or so years, I couldn't really say).

You've probably been to Swingers, so I'm not entirely sure why I'm writing this review, except to steer you away from the ahi tuna salad. It's not that Swingers is abnormally deficient in this area--it's just that half-raw fish has no place in a diner, even in LA. It bugs me that so many places, in an attempt to incorporate some hipness into their menu, feel the need to serve ahi tuna steaks and ahi tuna salads. You get the worst of several worlds, all at the same time--tastelessness, awful texture, and the knowledge that whoever created the menu thinks it's okay to serve something they don't know how to purchase or prepare.

Other than this, I have no problems with Swingers. I also think the atmosphere strikes an interesting balance between not being an authentic fifties diner (it's not that old, is it?) but also not being one of those shiny, new, contrived "diners." It's not trendy, it's not quite hip, but it's not uncool, either. A place that doesn't try too hard or too little is kind of refreshing in LA, don't you think?

Swingers
310-393-9793
802 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Restaurant Review #85: Sunset Bar and Grill, Santa Monica

Sunset Grill is yet another mediocre stop on the Promenade, serving rather blah traditional American food, including sandwiches, burgers, and salads. The Chinese chicken salad I had was passable. My favorite thing about the restaurant was that from our second floor table, I had a great bird's eye view of the open kitchen. They have a happy hour from 4-7 on weekdays, and are open until 1 am Sunday through Thursday and until 2 am on Friday and Saturday, but keep in mind that the Promenade is owned by the often schizophrenic homeless after midnight.

Sunset Bar and Grill
1240 Third St Promenade
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-7012

Restaurant Review #75: Restaurant 2117, Sawtelle, West LA

I had read on Chowhound that 2117 was a wonderful but largely undiscovered restaurant, so I went with high hopes. Unfortunately, for me, 2117 falls under the same category as Osteria Latini: it is mighty tasty food--for people with boring palettes.

The small menu (one page of appetizers and one page of entrees, plus a few specials) is not very vegetarian friendly, especially if you are a true vegetarian who does not eat fish. Almost all, if not all, of the entrees are centered around some type of meat. My friend ordered the roasted chicken, which came scattered with cauliflower, brocolli, diced potatoes, and string beans, all in a thin, mustardy sauce. The chicken was nicely cooked and somewhat juicy, but like most roasted chickens, it had a residual dryness. Though the chicken appeared to be coated in a spice rub, it was really just salt and pepper. The sauce was necessary for the chicken to be at all interesting in flavor, but I like bold flavors, and this sauce had a timid, home kitchen flavor.

The potatoes were pretty good, but the other veggies were too saucy and buttery to showcase their own flavors. The menu says that organic or unsprayed produce is used whenever available. I appreciate the gesture, but it is, to some extent, still just a gesture. Organic produce is abundant in Los Angeles, both in grocery stores and at farmer's markets, and anyone who wants to can commit themselves to only buying organic.

I ordered two appetizers for my meal--the red snapper carpaccio and the wild mushroom risotto, which was the risotto of the day. I've only had risotto once before, and wasn't too excited about it, but it seems to be an often praised dish, so I thought I should investigate what I might be missing. The risotto was good as a comfort food dish, but the flavor of the mushrooms failed to stand out. At one point, I became alarmed by what I thought was lobster in my dish (shellfish and I do not get along) but it turned out to be...not lobster. I thought it must have been a lobster mushroom, but the texture was too crunchy and fibrous for that to have been the case. Or was it? I've never eaten a lobster mushroom before, so if they don't have the usual mushroom texture, maybe that was what it was.

Some bites of the risotto were too buttery, and overall, I thought it was missing a flavor, a spice or herb that would have completed it. Then it dawned on me--2117 seemed to rely primarily on butter, salt, and pepper for seasoning. But what about herbs? And spices?



Well, my carpaccio was topped with a small mound of cilantro, so I guess my analysis isn't completely right. This dish was definitely the best of the three. Thin, perfectly bite-sized slices of red snapper were marinated in a ginger citrus soy sauce and topped with crunchy white fried noodles, raw shredded zuchinni, and cilantro. The dish seemed like a variation of a marinated albacore salad served with a mound of shredded daikon (one of my all-time favorite disihes). But here's where my objections come in. Red snapper has a very subtle flavor, and the sauce was a good match for it--not overwhelming. But eaten in conjunction with the toppings, the fish was largely lost. The noodles didn't taste like much, and I got the idea of the contrast in textures, but I didn't think it worked well--I thought it was distracting, and that the noodles became unpleasantly mushy when mingled with the sauce. Raw zuchinni doesn't taste like anything, and also seemed added just for texture--and interesting idea, since it's crunchy, like the noodles, but soft and moist, like the fish. Lots of cilantro was not really a good idea, since cilantro can be overpowering. I could tell that the dish was thought-out: white fish, white noodles, green zuchinni, green cilantro, orangey sauce. It was presented very well, too. Flavor-wise though, it didn't quite work.

If I hadn't been on a tight schedule, I might have taken advantage of the $35 prix-fixe dinner, which I believe consisted of two appetizers, and entree, and...dessert? I also would have liked to sample their wines, as they seemed to have a solid wine list. This comes from someone who knows very little about wine, but knows enough to know when the offerings are not good (white zinfandel, anyone?).

I liked the atmosphere-elegant but unpretentious. You have a choice of sitting indoors or outdoors. I chose indoors, because, well, where in LA can you actually eat outdoors without it being noisy and/or smelling or car exhaust? I think that 2117 may have done a decent job of creating a nice outdoor dining area, but I was still concerned that the pedestrian traffic to nearby businesses and the nearby parking lot would be unwelcome intruders to my meal. All of the tables have table cloths, and the lighting is on the lower side. With the tablecloths and candles, I found the bare cement floor to be a bit jarring. The restaurant was small enough that I felt like using my flash would have been to obtrusive. The tables are small--three plates barely fit on our table for 2--and might have been uncomfortably close together had there been more customers. I've found that when I eat at 6:00 on a Wednesday, though, even the best restaurants tend to be empty, so I can't use this as a measuring stick. 2117 does take reservations, but we didn't need one to get in.

The food took a bit longer to arrive than I expected, but it may have just seemed slow because I was in a hurry. It did arrive all at the same time and all at the right temperature, though. The service was attentive but subtle, refilling water regularly, taking away empty plates promptly, and asking if everything was okay.

For a simple, elegant, and reasonably priced meal, 2117 is not a bad bet at all. But if you like intense, bold flavors and lots of innovation, 2117 will disappoint you.

By the way, I have photos, but the site has been giving me trouble uploading them for the last week. Hopefully I'll be able to get them up soon.



Restaurant 2117
2117 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025-6200 View Map
(310) 477-1617
Interesting article on Sawtelle restaurants

Restaurant Review #74: Broadway Deli, Santa Monica

Broadway Deli is very popular, with waits easily 30 minutes for weekend breakfast. They offer something for everyone--a deli, a cheese counter, an extensive wine list, a full bar, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. You can come in for a meal, or treat the place like an upscale grocery store. You can also come for happy hour and get wine and cheese pairings, which I hear are a great deal. And they even have one vegan dish--their buckwheat pancakes.

I've been three times, and here are my observations:

The service ranges from okay to eh. It can be hard to get a server's attention when you need something. The atmosphere casual, and the booth tables are big--good for loud talkers and groups of 4-6. It's also noisy, due to the size, the open kitchen, and the general hustle and bustle of a busy restaurant. Everything is overpriced, meaning that the price exceeds the quality.

The cornflake encrusted French toast is great and addictive. The vegetarian omelette is very bland--little to no seasoning, and no tomatoes! Who puts carrots in an omelette and omits tomatoes? The coffee is watery and lacks any real flavor. The fruit cup doesn't have particularly high quality fruit.

They have valet parking in the alley behind the restaurant for $7, or you can park wherever you're lucky enough to find a spot--perhaps the public garage on Broadway. They're open until midnight Sunday through Thursday, and until 1am on weekends.

Broadway Deli
1457 3rd Street Promenade
Santa Monica, 90401
(310) 451-0616

Restaurant Review #68: Stroh's Gourmet, Venice

How did I discover Stroh's Gourmet? Well, it's funny you should ask. I was waiting at the bus stop on Abbot Kinney to catch the bus home from my first day of work in LA when a homeless schizophrenic man decided to come up and chat with me. I've dealt with my share of crazies, having lived in major cities my entire life, so I wasn't too worried. My bus would be along any minute. But it wasn't, and his escalating anger about not being able to get a haircut because he was black was starting to worry me, so I decided to take refuge at the nearest place I could.

I walked into Stroh's and went up to the first person I saw, assuming that he was an employee. When the crazy schizophrenic guy (I know, because he showed me the pills he wasn't taking, or, I should say, shook the pill bottle at me) followed me in, this guy dealt with him incredibly calmly, unlike the usual irrationally angry and confrontational way people tend to handle conflicts in LA.

Well, it turned out that the guy didn't work for Stroh's, he worked for their lettuce supplier. He was an organic farmer. So because of this crazy schizophrenic guy, not only did I discover Stroh's, I also discovered how utterly amazing organic lettuce is--Maggie's Farm has such good lettuce that I actually munch on it plain, one leaf at a time. You can find them at the Santa Monica farmer's market.

Anyway, back to Stroh's. They sell a variety of thick, thoughtful sandwiches made with real bread--roast beef, caprese (tomato, basil, and mozzarella), turkey avocado and brie, and a couple of others. I've tried most of their sandwiches, and haven't been disappointed by any. My favorite, vegetarian tendencies be damned, is the roast beef. They also have a selection of fine cheeses, amazing cookies and other simple desserts, chocolate bars, gourmet sodas, and other goodies you expect to find at a small gourmet sandwich shop.

In spite of being gourmet, Stroh's mostly does not feel pretentious. Some of the staff are native French speakers, and a bit curt, but otherwise, hey, it's casual Venice. There are a couple of tables outside on Abbot Kinney, but this is really a to-go kind of place. Sandwiches cost about $6-7 each, and cookies are $1.50 or so. Go early, or your favorite sandwich might be sold out.

Stroh's Gourmet
1239 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
(310) 450-5119

Restaurant Review #67: Jack Sprat's Grille, Westwood/West LA

Portabella burger and air fries

At the suggestion of a friend, I decided to try Jack Sprat's Grille, a place I normally would not go to because, well, it's not Indian, Vietnamese, or sushi.

When I think of a grill, I think casual. But this is not a grill, folks--it's a grille. When you add that "e" to the end, you get tablecloths and nice utensils.

Our server was very professional--he was either a career waiter, or just very good at his job. He came to take our order promptly, came back in a reasonable amount of time when we weren't ready yet, and came back to check on us several times during the meal. This should be standard, I realize, but I guess the places I frequent don't realize this. Maybe it's a cultural thing. In Spain, for example, it would be pushy to be too attentive, because it's assumed that you want to take your sweet time to consume your meal and converse with your friends. Spaniards in an American restaurant would probably feel like they were being hustled out. They might be right!

For once, I didn't turn ordering into a science. Usually, I have to read the entire menu at least twice, ruling out items until I finally am left with just one thing to order. This time, I made life easy. I saw portabella burger, and I ordered it. And of course, I got the air fries, because what kind of reviewer would I be if I didn't order the restaurant's signature side dish?

Our food arrived swiftly. It only took a moment to confirm that my giant marinated mushroom cap was quite tasty. Though it tasted a bit too strongly of balsamic vinegar, like every other porto burger I've ever eaten, it was otherwise very good. Spread on the inside of the pumpernickel bun was a bit of tasty guacamole. Then, the burger was topped with thin carmelized onions, and sat on a bed of shredded lettuce, 2 slices of tomato, and a very zippy mustard-like sauce.

A common problem with burgers and sandwiches is that they aren't made to actually be picked up and eaten by anyone with an average sized mouth (or perhaps a female mouth--I could go into my rant here about how things are so often designed for men's mouths, hands, bodies, etc.). I ate my burger with a fork and knife, which feels pretentious to me, but I don't like getting food all over my face. Eating it with utensils was awkward too, but probably not as bad as trying to pick it up and squish it into my mouth. Shredding the lettuce was a good idea, as it meant there was no lettuce stem to chomp through and it kept the sandwich ingredients in place more easily. Maybe they should slice the tomatoes into thin strips, too. As far as the bun, I wasn't paying much attention to it. I generally don't like pumpernickel. I gouged out the top part to eat the guacamole, but that was about it. It was nice that it was a quality bun and not the flimsy white bread variety, though.

The air fries were really good when they first came out, but as they cooled off, they quickly became stale and lost their flavor. There were a ton of them--so many that had I taken home my leftovers, I could have made a meal out of the French fries alone. They were served with ketchup, which I thought masked the flavor of the actual fries. I've never been a fan of ketchup. There were some mustards on the table which probably would have been a better match, had I tried them. Now that I think about it, the mustards are clearly meant for the soft pretzels served as an appetizer. I took one bite of the pretzel, decided it was too dry, and didn't eat it. I prefer the mushy soft pretzels from Wetzel's to the more traditional crusty ones. I've never cared for crust. The pretzel might have been better had I not been late to dinner--maybe, like the air fries, they're better when they're first served. My friend, however, thought they were fantastic, and a welcome creative change from more traditional bread courses.

My friend ordered the green corn tamales. He thought the tamales were well-cooked and well-textured, but the sweet corn taste was a little bland, and would have been improved by adding a bit of cheese to the middle of the tamale. The side of guacamole was excellent and its tang complemented the tamale's sweetness nicely. The side of rice was generally good and had a sweet tomato sauce, but was a little dry in spite of the sauce, and the side of black beans added a salty flavor to the meal and did not disappoint. He recommends going to El Cholo for the best green corn tamales in town (which are seasonal, by the way), but thinks that Jack Sprat's version is not bad, for a healthy version.


Sweet corn tamales

Jack Sprat's Grille

(310) 837-6662 10668 W Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90064

There is parking in the alley behind the restaurant.

Restaurant Review #66: Panera Bread

Asiago bagel

First, a confession: I used to work here. That means you get both my former employee bias and my former employee inside scoop.

Working at Panera was one of the best jobs I ever had, and one of the most fun. At the end of the day, the employees get to take home whatever baked goodies are left over, as well as any panini. There are no preservatives in the baked goods, so they don't last long--but the bread and bagels freeze very well. Whatever the employees don't take home gets donated--and I assure you, there is still plenty of stuff left to donate--more than gets used, oftentimes. After you've worked there a few weeks, you usually don't take home a whole lot of food.

I still enjoy their bagels, and buy them now, even though I ate oodles of them for free while I worked there. That's saying a lot. Bagel purists may not like these bagels. They are all sourdough-based and don't have a very hard exterior--and these traits are precisely why I prefer them over more traditional bagels. Panera's bagels also big enough to make for a filling meal.

Panera also sells an assortment of cookies and pastries, almost all of which I don't like very much. Why? I think they taste funny, probably because unlike the bread, everything else Panera makes is chemical-laden. The ingredient list on the special sauces that go on the sandwiches is about 50 items long. This is common nowadays, but not how I like to eat. I've strayed far enough into the land of organic foods that I can really taste the difference between something with just a few ingredients and something with way too many. The meats and cheeses are the usual mass-pressed variety, and everything comes from Sysco or the equivalent, so it's not the greatest quality, but it's definitely not McDonalds. Given what they have to work with, almost everything is quite tasty, and suitable for most people, even me. Panera is considered to be a fast-casual restaurant: not quite fast food, not quite a real restaurant. It's definitely a few notches above Subway and Quiznos.

I also have an issue with the soups, because I've gotten sick from them on multiple occasions. If you've ever gotten sick at Panera and you had the soup, the soup was probably the culprit. Don't eat the soup, and you should be fine. If you don't get sick from the soup, consider yourself lucky, because the french onion soup is damn tasty. And if, like me, you like to soak wads of bread in your soup, you're in luck, because you get a wad of French bread with every bowl of soup. Another thing I'm a fan of is the You Pick Two combination, where you can have a soup and a salad, a soup and a half sandwich, or a salad and a half sandwich.

What do I recommend? Well, as someone who has eaten every menu item created before January 2004, let me tell you. The frontega chicken panini and the portabella mushroom panini are great. However, the new Wilshire and 5th location in Santa Monica seems to be lacking the requisite panini grill that makes the bread nice and crunchy, so I've stopped ordering them. The bacon turkey bravo is also a very tasty sandwich--it's served on tomato basil bread, which has a bit of cinnamon steusel topping sprinkled over the crust. It also has Panera's yummy signature sauce (yes, that stuff I was complaining about being all chemically). I also like the lemonade and the cheesily named IC Honeydew drink. My favorite bagels are the popular cinnamon crunch, asiago, and the nine grain. My favorite breads are the French baguette and the tomato basil loaf. If you were wondering, "Why asiago?" it's because asiago was the only cheese that adhered to the bagel rather than sliding off when it was cooked.

On the other hand, there are also some things I do not recommend (in addition to my warnings about the soup, above). The tuna salads and chicken salads are pretty disgusting. The Ciabatta bread is pretty tasteless. I thought that the brownies were the most chemical-tasting of all the bakery items, though I knew some people who loved them. The turkey artichoke panini doesn't taste like artichoke at all, unless the person who prepared your panini put extra artichoke spinach dip sauce on your sandwich, and they probably didn't, because you're only supposed to use a certain amount of each ingredient. The panini are pre-made each morning because it takes a while to heat them up, so don't try to special order a panini. It ain't happenin. The other sandwiches are made to order, though.

Panera is a pretty decent company. They originated in St. Louis as St. Louis Bread Company. They have a 6 hour paid employee training session before you start work where you learn about the company, learn what you'll be doing on your first day, and get to sample lots of their food. They pay pretty well, but negotiating your start rate up is key, since the amount of raise you are eligible for is dependent on how well your store does. Raises are offered every six months, which sounds good, but in an industry where the average employee only stays at his or her job for four months, that's not so good. At my store, which was a second tier store in terms of performance, I would have only been eligible for a 10-cent-per-hour raise after six months. That sucks. However, almost everyone at my restaurant had been there for longer than six months--some had been there for years, at least, until we got a jerk of a manager in who seemed intent on getting rid of all the old employees, either by firing them outright or by cutting their hours. This manager got fired in less than a year on discrimination charges--it seems that Panera takes their non-discrimination clause seriously (I don't think that whoever hired him could have known he would make inappropriate comments to my lesbian friends). Panera employees, in my experience, are somewhat slow and prone to messing up your order, but are very friendly and apologetic.

I had some really great managers though, minus the one I just mentioned. Many of the employees were from low-income backgrounds and lived check to check (when you've got a kid and you make $7.50 and the dad is gone, no matter how responsible you are, it's hard to make ends meet). If it was the end of the month and you were broke, a manager would buy your meal for you, no problem. As it was, we got a 65% discount on meals. Apparently most similar restaurants only give a 50% discount, though I don't know if that's true. I always thought restaurant employees got to eat for free. If you have to have a low wage job though, working at a restaurant is really the way to go. They pay more, it's more interesting and busy than most retail, you save a ton on groceries, and you'll never starve.

So why did I quit? Well, when you have a college degree, it's extra-hard to deal with customers who think you are unintelligent and to stomach the barage of well-meaning comments from friends and family about what you ought to be doing for a living instead. I don't think I'm above cleaning bathrooms and making sandwiches. I really liked making sandwiches.

But I am glad I don't have to wear that khaki Panera cap anymore.

Tips:

The bagels are all baked very early in the morning before the store opens, so get there early to get the freshest bagels and get them before they run out. This applies to everything else as well--if it's out, it's out. They can't make more. Every afternoon the dough for the next day's breads, bagels, and cookies is delivered. There is no extra stuff on hand, nor is there anyone there during the day who knows how to bake it properly, except possibly the managers, who are usually overwhelmed with things to do.

All or most locations have free WiFi.

The company policy is to let all guests stay as long as they want as long as you buy something. We had patrons who spent hours and hours in our store with only a cup of coffee and a bagel, and that was okay. No one will harrass you. There are no clocks. They want you to lose track of time and relax.

Coffee refills are free, but the coffee isn't that great. It is, however, brewed fresh every two hours (in theory) from freshly ground coffee beans.

The blended coffee drinks are made with lots and lots of half and half, so if you're cutting calories, don't drink them. The IC honeydew does not contain half and half, however, and is much better for you.

Please don't try to pronounce "croissant" with a French accent. You are not French, and I know it. You sound like a pompous ass. And if you are going to insist on this ridiculous affection, I will definitely expect you to start pronouncing "Los Angeles" in Spanish.

The pre-recorded jazzy elevator music they play sucks and at my store was the most frequent customer complaint (aside from, "you screwed up my order!").

You can get your bread sliced thick or thin. You can also get your bagel "bread-sliced," which will give you lots of fun bagel strips to dip in cream cheese.

Two small cream cheeses cost the same as an entire tub, which is the equivalent of four small cream cheeses.

The orange juice is not fresh-squeezed.

The sign in the window that says "Now Accepting Applications" is always up and does not indicate that the company actually needs to hire anyone. There is some law that says that companies have to take job applications at all times even if they aren't hiring. Incredibly silly. This doesn't explain Panera's prominent signage to me, though.


French Toast Bagel (similar to cinnamon crunch, but not as sweet)


Panera Bread

501 Wilshire Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90403
Tel: (310) 566-3080

8647 South Sepulveda Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Tel: (310) 641-9200

12131 Ventura Boulevard
Studio City, CA 91604
Tel: (818) 762-2226

2733 Pacific Coast Highway
Torrance, CA 90505
Tel: (310) 517-0324

Restaurant Review #58: Marmalade Cafe, Santa Monica

The Larkin

Marmalade is a small Los Angeles area chain serving breakfast, coffee, baked goods, and a multitude of sandwiches and salads. The menu has so many options that it's friendly to both vegetarians and their carnivorous friends. Or vice-versa. It's a very casual place where you place your order at the counter and seat yourself.

My favorite dishes are the beet salad, the albacore salad, and the Athens salad. The two-salad and three-salad plates are good deals and allow you to try multiple dishes. The menu is quite extensive and the food seems to be prepared by humans--veggies are cut imperfectly, for example. All of the salads are prepared in bulk and sit in a display case, but they always taste fresh--I imagine they are prepared each morning. The names of the sandwiches change at each location to reflect the neighborhood-a nice touch that makes this mini-chain feel more personal. The Larkin, pictured above, has bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado.

My least favorite dishes are anything purpoting to be Asian. Sigh. The coffee isn't great, either.

The staff is efficient and courteous--usually an indication of good company management and decent pay. Usually, at lunchtime they get swamped with business. It can be difficult to get a table, and you'll have to wait in line a bit for your food. I recommend calling or faxing your order in ahead of time.

Pros: Fantastic cake. Fantastic cookies. Fantastic dessert selection overall. Quality to price ratio is reasonable. Seems to have a loyal base of regulars. Consistent quality in service and food.

Cons: When you eat at the same restaurant too often, you start to notice a common underlying flavor in many of the dishes. This has happened to me with Marmalade, so I have to limit myself to the dishes that don't have this flavor.



Marmalade Cafe
710 Montana Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90403
(310) 395-9196

Also located in Malibu, Sherman Oaks, Westlake Village, Calabasas, Rolling Hills Estates, and at the LA Farmer's Market (because where else would people pay almost $20 for a salad and a slice of cake at a seat-yourself cafe?)

Restaurant Review #27: Good To Eat, Santa Monica (now closed)

Goat cheese and candied walnut salad with dried cranberries

Note: As of October 2005, Good to Eat has closed. Damon and Pythias has opened in its place. The original review of Good to Eat follows.

Just off the Promenade on Wilshire between 3rd and 4th lies Good to Eat, an inviting sandwich shop of sorts that specializes in cheese. I have walked by here at least 200 times (scary thought), often admiring their sleepy nighttime chalkboard sign that says "Good To Eat Is Closed" and is adorned with chalk moons and stars. I feel bad for the place because it doesn't seem to get a lot of business. I worry about it going out of business because it is a small, independent place, and a very popular Panera with longer hours recently opened a block and a half away. So today for lunch I decided to finally see what was behind the chalkboard sign. I can't tell you how many places I eat at our of sheer curiosity. I have this awful compulsion to try every restaurant. Impossible in LA, I realize, but that's part of the beauty of living here.

I go in around 3:15 and receive a friendly but not obnoxious greeting from the guy taking orders. I search the menu in vain for the panini listings. I ask about the panini. I am pointed to a display case. I am now turned off. You mean my food has been sitting in a display case for hours? This can't be good. In addition to that meaning that my order will not be made fresh, it also means that it's likely to have that display case taste to it. I have an extremely delicate sense of taste--I can't put food in plastic bags because I can taste the plastic, I can't eat food out of display cases because I can taste the recycled display case air. Needless to say, I'm a big fan of Tupperware and foil. He tells me that they can make me whatever kind of panini I want. Great, a place that will do custom orders. I'm pleased.

So I decide to get a half sandwich and a half salad. But wait! They don't do that! They won't do that! It's either a soup and half salad or a soup and half sandwich. Huh? Panera will give me a half salad and half sandwich. They will make anything I want. Good To Eat is not doing a great job of winning any loyalty from me. So I go for the goat cheese and candied walnut salad, sans sandwich.

The salad is nothing to get excited about, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, except that I hate those funky weeds that always come in spring mix. The dried cranberries don't have that slightly rancid taste that too many dried cranberries do. The vinagrette dressing is maybe a tad heavy on the oil, but it's tasty, in an unoriginal sort of way. The lettuce is fresh. The candied walnuts, eh, they aren't too candied. The goat cheese is, dare I say, fluffy. It's got that nice chevre tang, and the fluffy texture is a lot more pleasant than the dense blocks of goat cheese I buy at Trader Joe's.

The menu consists of soups, sandwiches, and salads. Whatever basic lunch item you want, you can get it here. They also have a carrot cake and a somewhat sickeningly yellow lemon cake, about 20 cheeses, and several hot dishes, beef lasagna or grilled chicken. Almost everything here contains meat, which is another reason I wasn't too thrilled with the menu. Their bread comes from La Brea Bakery (good call) and they have a nice selection of Hansen's and Izzy (?) (you know, the people who make the pear soda) beverages, as well as the usuals.

I was hoping Good To Eat would be like Stroh's Gourmet on Abbot Kinney, but unfortunately, it is not. Stroh's is a lovely gourmet foodstuff and sandwich shop that I used to frequent after meeting an attractive farmer there one evening while I was being chased by a homeless schizophrenic man who couldn't get anyone to give him a haircut (could I have made that up?). Stroh's, while they also keep their food in a display case (I can't taste it though), has more interesting menu items, more enticing sandwich bread, and their restaurant space isn't half empty. Good To Eat is so minimalist that you almost think someone has come in and eaten half of their stock...until you realize that nothing was there in the first place. It's an odd feeling, like they're having a going out of business sale.

There is one long table inside with a red and white checkerboard tablecloth, and a few tables for two outside on a pretty busy stretch of sidewalk. The floor inside is bare concrete, and the walls are painted a muted red. There were approximately four people working, one at the register and three in the kitchen. The space is fairly narrow, but the ceilings are incredibly high. I got my food to go. It was quiet, minus the hum of the display cases and beverage fridges.

My salad was about $10 including tax and I could have had a fantastic Indian buffet for that price or less. Good To Eat is probably more of a place for the corporate Santa Monica luncher who is satisfied with ham and swiss cheese in a quiet environment. Yet, I have a feeling Good to Eat aspires, or once aspired, to be something more interesting than that. Though my food was not bad, I won't go back because it just wasn't interesting enough. I could have made the salad myself, easily, for a lot less. Minus the cheese selection, perhaps, this is not a foodie's paradise.

Good To Eat
313 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
310 - 656-0012

Restaurant Review #21: Library Alehouse, Santa Monica

Eating at the bar was my first challenge in my first food blog community activity. And a challenge it was, given that I don't like to sit at the sushi bar and I don't like to eat at regular bars. Privacy freak that I am, I just don't feel comfortable having a conversation for my neighbors and the bartender to listen to as they please. Sitting at the bar also feels chaotic, like I'm not really eating and things are just happening to me. I'm always up for a challenge though, and I found some creative solutions. I started thinking of so many solutions that I wasn't sure what to pick!

I finally choose the Library Alehouse on Main Street in Santa Monica. I had been once before and been pretty thrilled with the low-key atmosphere (a bar where you can hear your friends), nice lighting (dim overhead with candles on the tables), tall, cozy tables, and an actual beer selection (about 25, I think), including many things I'd never tried and a menu that actually described them. (For those of you who don't know, good beer is not on tap at most places in Santa Monica that I have been to.) I never know what to order at a bar, so I love the rare alcohol menu. I was less excited that they didn't have Fat Tire or Abita Purple Haze or Killian's or any of my other old standbys that I never realized were tied to the midwest or the south somehow (until I moved here and found myself deprived).

So on my return visit to the Library, I figured that good beer selection meant they must have good taste, and therefore, the food would be good. I spent the better part of my day beating back my hamburger craving, promising to feed it that evening. I also reminded myself that I could get a discount with my KCRW card, but of course I forgot to bring it with me.
At 8:30 on a Wednesday, we waited about 20 minutes for a table since it was too chilly to sit outside. I hear the outdoor seating is nice though. I wasn't expecting such a crowd, given that I had previously walked in at 10 or 11 on a Saturday night and had my choice of tables.

Unfortunately, my good food hunch was wrong. I ordered a burger,which in my book is standard bar food that I can expect to be made with aplomb. However, my burger was overcooked (and this is coming from an ex keep-that-cow-away-from-me gal). They didn't ask how I wanted my meat done, and they charge extra for standard toppings like cheese, sauteed onions, mushrooms, and bacon--75 cents per topping! When my burger already costs $8.50, this makes me feel like I'm being taken advantage of. The burger was pretty big and the bacon was thick, but do these things really matter when taste is suffering? Burgers come with fries, curly fries, or mashed potatoes. I appreciated and chose the curly fry option. They weren't really seasoned enough for my liking, though. In fact, I wasn't sure they were seasoned in the low lighting. I couldn't really tell until I ate my leftovers at home. Surprisingly, lettuce, tomato, and raw red onions are included in the price of the burger :) The bun was nothing to get excited about either, as hamburger buns rarely are.

Verdict? Don't eat at the bar. Go for the beer, not the food.


Library Alehouse
2911 Main Street
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 314-4855
http://www.libraryalehouse.com