Restaurant Review #202: Sushi Roku, Santa Monica

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 #200: Jaipur Cuisine of India, Westwood/West LA

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

Restaurant Review #199: Darya Fine Persian Cuisine, West LA

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.

Restaurant Review #198: Pecorino, Brentwood

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

Restaurant Review #197: Gladstone's of Malibu

Indoor dining room

I only went to Gladstone's because I dragged my family out to Malibu to visit Cholada Thai and it was closed (they're closed on Mondays--I forgot). There aren't a ton of dining options in the area, so we forced my mom to deal with her bird phobia so we could all deal with our raging hunger. I can't accurately say that I regret the choice, since we didn't really have any other options on our very tight schedule, but I will say that the experience was far from ideal.


You can't argue with the view

If you're afraid of seagulls or want to eat all of your meal yourself, definitely don't sit outside. These birds have no qualms about coming right up to your table and stealing your food, as we observed. You won't lose much of the beachside experience by sitting inside if you can get a table by the window. The windows open and have screens, allowing you to enjoy the view and the breeze without the annoyance of the birds. It's also pretty chilly, even on a sunny, late summer afternoon, so bring a jacket.



Valet parking is required and costs $3. If you're going to the beach anyway, paying half the beach parking rate at a beach lot is a nice perk, but if you're just going to the (already overpriced) restaurant, the parking charge (with the accompanying expectation that you tip the valet) is just annoying.


Down Home Lobster Roll

My mom ordered the Down Home Lobster Roll. Even if I could eat shellfish, I wouldn't touch this mayonnaise sandwich with a ten foot pole. I don't think the delicate (and expensive) flavor of lobster was meant to be smothered with cheap glop like this. The potato chips were soggy.


Shrimp sandwich

I couldn't try this one either, but my father was not impressed. It's worth mentioning that our server didn't give a hoot about my shellfish allergy when I was trying to order. The menu is laden with shellfish, so if you're really allergic (I'm only slightly allergic), please don't eat here.


Grilled cajun fish tacos

Cajun? You have to be kidding me. The fish in these tacos was overcooked and tasted like it hadn't been seasoned with so much as a pinch of salt. The tacos came with beans and rice--both cold, both flavorless. I wasn't hungry enough to bother sending them back, though, and they weren't good enough to take home as leftovers.


Seagull-friendly beachside dining

I like to give a restaurant the benefit of the doubt, but in this case I just don't have any reason to. Based on my lousy experience, I'd say that Gladstone's relies entirely on their beachside location and ocean views to draw diners and tourists. Such mediocrity makes it all the more annoying that the website and menu are so full of hype. There's nothing like eating with an ocean breeze caressing your face, but the food and service at Gladstone's really aren't worth the high prices. For the same money, you could get some gourmet cheese and snacks at Whole Foods and have a picnic on the beach in a location that isn't an obnoxious bird magnet. For even less money and if it isn't Monday, you can enjoy some of the best Thai food in the city just up the street. If you get taken to Gladstone's against your will, save your hard-earned money and get by on a beer and a baked potato--it's hard to screw those up.

Gladstone's of Malibu (also known as Gladstone's 4 Fish)
17300 Pacific Coast Highway
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
Gladstone's Website
Gladstone's Menu

Restaurant Review #195: Il Moro's Fall Harvest Menu, West LA

Salsiccia Casareccia in Umido con Polenta Fresca

Being invited to try Il Moro's Fall Harvest menu was a unique opportunity for me in that I have never previously had a comped meal at a restaurant which I am already familiar with. I was looking forward to seeing how my previous two experiences at Il Moro as an average diner would compare to my experience as someone who needed to be impressed. Since I already thought that Il Moro's service and food were nearly impeccable, I wasn't really expecting anything to be different on this visit except for the price.

Il Moro did not let me down. Truly the only difference between this visit and my previous visits was that the manager visited our table three times to share his thoughts on the food and the restaurant. He told us that Il Moro's menu is based on the cuisine of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, a region well-known for its food, and that his chef insists on spending eight hours to make their ragu. He pointed out that the restaurant is popular despite being tucked away, not having much signage and not being in an area that receives any pedestrian traffic. You can come to Il Moro just to have a drink at the bar, you can come for their wine tastings on Tuesdays, you can come for a business meeting (they have a private room), or you can enjoy their outdoor patio. Clearly he has tried to create a restaurant that fulfills multiple needs, and I think he has succeeded.


Carpaccio di Manzo e Insalatina, Carciofi Croccanti in Odore di Aceto Balsamico

I always let my servers pick my wines at Il Moro because they always do an excellent job. This time I had a sauvignon blanc from Luretta to go with the first few courses. The wine was pleasantly fruity, but not too sweet.

Our first treat was a house-made, Italian style pork sausage stew with braised onions and tomato sauce served atop soft, buttery polenta (lead photo). I'd never had anything like it, and the flavors melded together flawlessly. The rosemary garnish was interesting because it added an aroma to the dish which was not part of the flavor--a good choice, I thought, since rosemary can be overwhelming. This dish would fit right in at Cube.

I've only had carpaccio a couple of times, at Orris and Lucques, and I have to say, Il Moro's version is the best I've tasted. Their paper-thin slices of raw beef fillet are topped with organic baby lettuce, sultry oven-roasted tomatoes, lemon dressing, shaved Parmesan cheese, and drops of 10-year-old balsamic vinegar from Modena. Naturally, I licked the plate clean.


Cappelletti in Brodo di Cappone con Fegatini

"Aaack, I ate chicken liver?" was what I thought when I got home and looked at the menu. I paid no attention to the menu at the restaurant because I just wanted to eat whatever the chef sentout. These fresh, handmade quadretti, or tiny squares of pasta, were filled with chicken liver and served in a tasty capon broth. To me, the pasta mainly just tasted salty, but the broth had a richness and complexity that definitely wasn't Campbell's.


Tortelloni di zucca al ragu

This attractive pumpkin bowl (can you imagine having to carve and embowl all of those pumpkins? Yikes!) held homemade tortelloni filled with pumpkin, amaretto cookies, fruit mustard, and parmesan cheese, sauteed with Bolognese sauce and a touch of cinnamon.

Since Giada di Laurentis is always tossing ameretto cookies into her dishes, I was excited to try this dish, which is extremely popular at Il Moro and only available for about three months every year. The cookies were thoroughly blended with the filling and did not provide any sort of crunch (which wouldn't have worked in this dish) but I thought the amaretto flavor was overwhelming and made the pasta filling overly sweet. It really needed a lot of the Bolognese sauce to balance out the sweetness. The sauce was delicious, but I think I'm more of a butternut-squash-filling-without-amaretto-cookies kind of gal. I'm a supertaster, though, so I think a lot of things are too sweet that other people enjoy.


Ravioli di Manzo Brasato e Spinaci al Burro Fuso, Risotto alla Vecchia Modena, and Maccheroni al Pettine al Ragu di Coniglio

At this point in the meal, the server brought me a red wine: Le Pietre, from Aldeghieri. I really don't know if I was drinking expensive wines or moderately priced wines, but I was quite impressed with both of them and with how well they paired with the food. (If you ever question whether your wine is a good match for your entree, just save a few sips for the dessert course and notice how terrible your formerly delicious wine tastes with your dessert.)

For this course, I ate a few things that I normally would not have touched. The risotto consisted of carnaroli rice with porcini mushrooms, slowly cooked chicken gizzards and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Chicken gizzards, you ask with disdain? Truthfully, I didn't notice them at all because the mushrooms were the dominant flavor in the dish, yet somehow the overall flavor reminded me of movie theater popcorn.

The maccheroni consisted of homemade, rolled-tube ridged egg pasta sauteed in a lean rabbit ragu with fresh vegetables, white wine, and a light tomato sauce. The maccheroni looked like penne from a distance, but upon closer inspection, you could see that the tiny lines in the pasta ran horizontally instead of vertically and that each piece of pasta looked like it had been rolled individually.

The ravioli filled with fresh spinach and braised beef in Barolo wine in a golden butter sauce was one of the best dishes of the evening. I couldn't take apart the spices I tasted in the filling, but they almost reminded me of Indian food. I'm not sure how large a regular serving is, but I doubt I could have eaten more than a few pieces of this incredibly rich pasta. As it was, I was already too full to finish even three pieces, delicious though they were. Still, I would definitely order this ravioli if I went back.


Costiccine d'Agnello alla Senape

By the time we received the grilled baby rack of New Zealand lamb brushed with herbs in a mustard sauce, I was probably too full to really enjoy any more food. The lamb had a texture more like beef (normally I think lamb has a slightly crumbly texture) and I wasn't that keen on the sauce, which I thought was too salty (but my guest loved it). The dish was served with perfectly cooked asparagus sauteed in butter and garlic. While all of the dishes were attractively presented, this presentation was the most show-stopping one of the evening.


Chocolate tarte brule with fresh strawberry sauce

Coming from someone who doesn't get that excited about chocolate, this dessert was spectacular. Carmelizing the top of this chocolate mousse-like cake with a flourless chocolate crust was truly an epiphany. The sensation of the fork breaking through the delicately crunchy top followed by the flawless smoothness of the other two layers was great foreplay for the sumptuous flavors to follow.

On my previous visits to Il Moro I sat on the patio, but this time I sat indoors to have a different experience, take advantage of the better lighting for my photos, and because it was rather chilly outside (their patio is heated, though). Even though the restaurant was fairly full, it was never too noisy and there was plenty of space between our table and the neighboring tables. The kitchen is open, so occasionally an errant food aroma that doesn't quite go with what you're eating will waft over. The chairs were exceptionally comfortable.

While Il Moro's menu is not your typical "safe" Italian menu of lasagne, pizza, and spaghetti that most of middle America is used to, it does have enough "normal" dishes for the average person. However, it also has many upscale or unusual dishes that you aren't likely to find at most Italian restaurants, even in a city as culinarily diverse as Los Angeles. The menu is not always easy to understand, but the servers are friendly and will be happy to explain any dish to you. Il Moro was and still is one of my favorite restaurants, and I highly recommend it.

Il Moro
11400 Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
310.575.3530
Il Moro Website (with menu)

Foodie Universe's previous Il Moro review

Restaurant Review #185: Meditrina Cafe, Venice

Meditrina sandwich

Recently, I was invited by the owners to try Meditrina, a new, family-owned cafe at the somewhat neglected end of trendy Abbot Kinney near Main Street in Venice. Unlike the furniture stores that line both sides of the street, Meditrina is very affordable. They serve breakfast and lunch and offer take out and local delivery.

Meditrina offers such a wide variety of dishes that anyone in your party is likely to find an appealing option on the menu. Most of the breakfast choices are egg-based (omelets and scrambles), but they also serve Belgian waffles, granola, oatmeal, fruit, and a hearty Cuban breakfast of sausage, eggs, plantains, rice, beans, and peppers. For lunch, choose from eight salads, a variety of sandwiches and wraps (all but one meat-based), or a succulent Kobe-style beef burger.


Outdoor patio

On a Saturday at lunchtime, the indoor part of the cafe is bustling and noisy with kitchen sounds. The sunny, well-decorated outdoor patio with a view of the adjacent nursery is a much more tranquil choice.


Kobe-style burger

You might find yourself groaning inwardly when you reach the Kobe-style burger section of the menu: "Not another restaurant pretending to serve the world's most famous beef!" but the Kobe-style burger with carmelized onions and Fontina cheese is one of the most rich, flavorful, and juicy burgers I have ever had the delight of eating.

The restaurant's signature spicy club sandwich with pan roasted chicken, applewood smoked bacon, roasted red peppers, avocado, jack cheese, and spicy aioli was tasty but messy. The chicken was far more moist and flavorful than any I have eaten in recent memory, but all the ingredients made the sandwich so slippery that I resigned myself to eating it with my fork before I wished I had a bib. Chopping the roasted peppers would have helped, as would leaving the toothpick in while eating the sandwich.

The side salad that accompanied both the burger and the sandwich was less appetizing. The greens were slightly soggy and the overall flavor was unpleasantly bitter. Based on that experience, I wouldn't want to order a salad as a main course.


Stracciatella gelato

Gelato almost as good as what you'd consume in Italy is the most interesting dessert option and comes in about fifteen different flavors, including the less commonly seen cinnamon and bacio tartufo (milk chocolate and hazelnut). Gelato is so much heavier and richer than regular ice cream that the generously portioned medium cup for $3.25 will more than fulfill your sweet tooth. It's also made from real ingredients--no green food coloring in the pistachio gelato, but plenty of tiny bits of nuts.



Service-wise, Meditrina still has a few kinks to work out (they can be slow), but they are still pretty new so there's plenty of room for things (like the salad) to improve. In the meantime, the Kobe style burgers and gelato won't let you down.

Meditrina
1029 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice, CA 90291
310.396.5000
Meditrina Website
Meditrina Map

Tip: When viewing the online menu at Meditrina's website, choose the "print cafe menu" option to more easily view the menu in PDF form.


Tags: Venice Abbot Kinney

Restaurant Review #181: El Super Taco, West LA

Al pastor tacos

El Super Taco occupies the former Mama Voula's space on Santa Monica Blvd. at Brockton. Unfortunately, the peaceful pastel color scheme of the former restaurant doesn't really go with tacos, so the walls have been redone in red, orange, and purple. The restaurant is still small and quiet, with diners focused on the flatscreen TV showing futbol games in Spanish. The restaurant is notably clean and the salsa bar offers four salsas ranging from a mild, creamy green to a hotter than hot orange. Unfortunately, the basic red leaves something to be desired in terms of both smokiness and spiciness.

So does the food: the al pastor tacos were both the smallest and greasiest tacos I've ever eaten. If you want the standard raw white onion and cilantro topping for your tacos, make sure to pick it up at the salsa bar, because El Super Taco garnishes their tacos with a heap of sauteed onions. The meat was of average to below average quality.


Super burrito

The super burrito was fairly flavorless despite a plethora of ingredients: rice, beans, onions, cilantro, lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, and meat. I ordered asada (marinated, roasted beef), and was pretty disappointed--the meat was scant, and most pieces were fatty or gristly. Yet for some reason, this place is Zagat rated.

The horchata was some of the best I've had, and the service was friendly and took care to get the order right. The food was ready fast, and how many Mexican places do you know of that deliver? Even though the food was subpar, I might eat here again if I had a Mexican craving and didn't want to leave the house. Maybe I'll have better luck with the chicken torta.

The menu is short: tacos, burritos, and tortas, with a chicken tamale and a quesadilla thrown in for good measure. Tacos are $1, tortas are $4-5, and burritos are $5-6. All offer a wide variety of meat options.

El Super Taco
11923 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Map
310-312-6260 & 310-268-0610
Hours: 10:00am to Midnight daily
Delivery 10:00am to 9:00pm with $10 min.

Related Posts:
El Taco Llama (Van Nuys)
Tacos Por Favor (Santa Monica)
Taqueria Emanuel (Van Nuys)

Tags: Tacos Los Angeles Mexican Restaurant

Restaurant Review #177: Indo Cafe, Palms

Dendeng balado

Have you ever tried Indonesian food? Indonesian restaurants can be hard to come by, especially on the Westside, but if you like Thai food, there's a good chance you'll enjoy this cuisine as well. For a great introduction to the cuisine via a sampling of many dishes, try Indo Cafe's rijsttafel on Wednesday nights (call ahead for reservations).

I am not very familiar with Indonesian food, but it wasn't a problem because the menu had plenty of photos, our waitress was happy to make recommendations, and she even let us try a couple of things we weren't familiar with. As much as I wanted to like durian so I could be hardcore, ten tiny bites of an ice cream with the pungency of raw garlic, the odor of sweaty socks, and undertones of ripe cheese and papaya couldn't convince me. At least I didn't waste $4.25 on the shake.

Indo Cafe's beverage menu is pretty unusual for the average American palette. In addition to stinky durian shakes (es durian), you'll also find es alpukat (avocado shakes) and my favorite, es teler, an iced drink made with sweetened condensed milk and bits of avocado, toddy palm, and jack fruit. It's so rich that, like boba tea, it's more a dessert than a drink. Plus, you need a spoon to consume the fruit.


Gado gado

I started off with the gado gado, a traditional Indonesian salad consisting of, in this case, bean sprouts, green beans, lettuce, tofu, hardboiled eggs, and shrimp chips, all served at room temperature and doused in a warm, hearty peanut sauce. The portion size is large enough to be a meal, and I'd recommend ordering it as such or sharing it with the table because it doesn't keep well.

Hard boiled eggs crop up in many Indonesian dishes. So does peanut sauce--order wisely, or you'll get sick of it fast.


Kwetiau Goreng

These pan-fried rice noodles could have easily been a Thai dish--there wasn't anything distinctively Indonesian about them, at least not to me. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that--Indonesian food can taste a lot like Thai.

The cuisines do have their differences, though. According to my favorite authority on the subject, Elmomonster, one of the primary differences between the two cuisines is that "Indonesian food focuses more on stews and food that actually steeps and develops a more rounded flavor." I also learned that many Indonesian stews have to be reheated several times before they can be eaten so that the spices have a chance to permeate all of the ingredients in the stew.


Sate babi

The pork sate tasted uncannily like hot dogs doused in peanut sauce. You can either messily munch them off the skewer or try not to propel them across the table while sliding each piece of meat off with your fork. I think I would have liked this dish a lot if I'd had the chicken or beef instead of the pork.



Ayam goreng

The chicken marinated with turmeric and Indonesian seasoning wasn't a show-stopper. When I think of marinated chicken, I think of juicy, tender meat. I couldn't tell that this bird had been bathing, but a dunk in the dipping sauce made up for that.

My favorite dish at Indo Cafe is the dendeng balado -- beef sauteed with chili sauce (lead photo). I couldn't get enough of this dish's sauce, which reminded me of the Spanish roasted red pepper condiment called pisto.


Empek empek

My previous encounter with empek empek (pieces of fish cake served with egg noodles in a spicy vinaigrette sauce) led me to believe that the dish was a soup, but that's not really the case, as you can see here. While the dipping sauce was so delicious that I saved the leftovers to pour over cucumber slices, the fish cakes were too tough to chew in places.



Nasi goreng

Another Indonesian dish that you may have heard of is nasi goreng. For some reason I was expecting something grand, but it was just fried rice with chicken. You can make it more interesting though: other meat options include beef, corned beef, seafood, shrimp, squid, or salted fish. Even still, I wouldn't order this again.


Pasteles

You can add Indonesia to your list of countries that have a version of the empanada (don't ask me who did it first). Indo Cafe's fried flour pockets are filled with chicken, potatoes, carrots, and the ubiquitous hardboiled egg.

Give yourself an extra 15 minutes to find a parking space when you go to Indo Cafe. I read on other websites that they have a parking lot, but if that's true I couldn't find it. Street parking in the area is difficult almost to the point of seeming impossible, even when you drive a tiny car that can park practically anywhere.

You should also give yourself some extra time to find the restaurant. Indo Cafe itself is fairly large, well lit, and has a very visible decorative sign that you'll spot easily. The problem you might have is in navigating this section of National Blvd. If you aren't familiar with the neighborhood, and I mean really familiar, make sure you map it before you start driving.

When you arrive, don't be put off by Indo Cafe's imposing security guard (was that really a gun I saw in his belt?). The only thing scary about Indo Cafe is. . .well, nothing, unless you're allergic to peanuts. Almost every dish is under $10 and the portions will certainly fill you up, if not provide leftovers as well.



For groceries and more Indonesian food, check out Simpang Asia in the strip mall across the street. For more Westside Indonesian, check out Ramayani in Westwood. For a crib sheet to help you decipher Indonesian menus, go here (definitions are at the end of the review).

Thanks to Moonchilde for the recommendation and Elmomonster for the help and inspiration.

Indo Cafe
10428 1/2 National Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
310.815.1290
Indo Cafe Menu
Map to Indo Cafe
Look at the map if you aren't familiar with National Blvd.'s convoluted meanderings!

Other LA Indonesian Restaurants
Toko Rame, Bellflower
Indo Kitchen, Alhambra
Asian Deli, Diamond Bar
Ramayani, Westwood