been there more than a dozen times though usually for lunch and it is not #2 in LA in my book. Great fish tacos.
The most likely explanation is just that he really likes it and you don’t. Not some sort of slight-of-hand by the restaurant. The truth is that the majority of published critics think Providence is excellent. I know some people that don’t like it, but a lot that love it. When I go, we usually get special treatment. But that really comes in the form of just some extra tastes, but those that are on the menu, not some special concoctions. I am sure that Gold does get an extensive tasting menu, but those are available to everyone. I think one thing about Providence is that the experience is much better is one does get a tasting menu and not just order a la carte. The style of Cimrusti’s food lends itself to multiple smaller tastes rather than ordering app, entrée, dessert. It is also more expensive as a tasting menu, but actually a better value as the experience is that much better.
To answer Bruce’s question about potential snubs, I would personally put Urasawa (though never been), Patina, Tar and Roses, and Matsuhisa on my list of top 101. Perhaps Tar and Roses was left off because it is still closed due to the fire. Patina seems to have changed chefs a few times over the past few years, and has gone to an expensive all-tasting menu format. Perhaps like Urasawa, Gold deducts for expense. We get thespecial treatment at Patina too as my wife has sold them wine for years, but every meal I have there is excellent in both food and service. their cheese cart is still phenomenal. Matsuhisa has lost its edge, largely because of the explosion of so many great Asian restaurants, but the food there is still excellent. I susoect it gets the same ding related to cost, which is the reason I seldom go. But
In general I would rather get a combo of cochinita pibil and mole negro tacos at Flor de Yucatan than any of the places I mentioned. I’d probably also rather go to Ricky’s for fish tacos or In N Out. But there’s obviously a potential flaw in considering value extensively in a list of the city’s best. Gold obviously makes a good effort at balance, but perhaps that’s why a few of the place I mentioned missed the cut.
I’ve never met someone who didn’t like Urasawa, but I’ve also never met someone who thought it was worth every penny. When I went early this year, it ended up being $1,100 a head!
Cause you’re straight ballin!
Our total was about 1050 for two last year
Holy Shizzle! $1100 per? Bill must have had the omakase with happy ending.
The place just keeps getting more expensive. I remember going to the original Ginza-Ko back when it was on Wilshire in K-town and being shocked at the $100 per. I was on a date a felt wounded when the check came. That was back around 1994. Then they moved to Bev.Hills and it really jumped up to $250 minimum. When Masa sold and Urasawa took over (03ish) it was about $200. It seems like it went up steadily over the next decade until it hit the $500 minimum per. Too rich for my blood.
As someone who’s never been to LA, the list is very well written and interesting - I will be relying on it heavily in an upcoming trip.
Any recommendations for a Persian restaurant? I’d love a place that bakes up some fresh and large barbari to serve their kabobs on.
Doug–Lots of Persian places in my neighborhood of Westwood, aka Little Persia. But I really like my local Lebanese place, Sunnin.
Bruce
Sunnin, which as Bruce says, is Lebanese.
Then Flame (either on Westwood Blvd or west of the 405 on Santa Monica Blvd), which is Persian.
If Armenian is an acceptable substitute, Adana in Glendale is pretty awesome. Not sure where you are going to be, so thought I’d throw that out there. Not so ironically, Jonathan Gold turned me on to it.
thanks for the recs, guys. Saw Adana on the list…# 42!
Had a nice first trip to LA. Ate almost exclusively at restaurants on this list and only had 1 meal that was a bit of a dud.
Gjelina - good for very fresh veg handled minimally. Please turn up the lights.
Coni’s Seafood - never had this sort of Mexican food before - revelatory! Aguachile, langoustines in red sauce, and smoked marlin tacos in amazing chewy, thick, crunchy griddled tortillas. One of 3 favorite meals in LA.
Rustic Canyon - one excellent dish of wok-fried japanese white sweet potato. Other dishes (poached sturgeon, malfatti, corned beef tongue) were fine but not memorable for flavor or execution, with the exception of a sautéed greens dish that was returned for being a salt lick.
Pok Pok - They do a good job invoking a northern Thailand grub house with the decor. Grilled boar collar with mustard greens, an herb salad, and a grilled eggplant and pork salad were all brightly flavored and benefited from very fresh ingredients.
Alimento - Lusty cooking. The pig in blanket and braised lettuce bruschetta were awesome. The grilled yellowtail collar topped these, and was better than any I recall having in Japanese restaurants. The tortellini brodo were good but not at the level of the starters. For dessert, gorged on ice cream sandwiches from the Milk ice cream shop across the street.
Kinjiro - Really great, one of three best meals along with Coni’s. Started high with marinated mackerel and a composition of sea urchin, scallop, and blue crab with a ponzu jelly and didn’t let down through tempura sardines, a tofu dish, australian skirt steak on rice to green tea soba and the plate-licking good sea urchin udon. Really amazing value, too.
Lucques - the only dud. Not bad, but the food was boring, bland, and suffered from having too many ingredients that did not add anything to the dishes but rather muddied everything up. But the only meal (besides Adana) with a bread serving!
Park’s BBQ - good quality meat for sure (the Park’s short rib and the plain pork belly). The grill, gas fired with a little charcoal on top, was too small and without enough direct fire exposure for the meat to char up as nicely as it should have. Banchans were pretty good.
Adana - pretty amazing what this guy does with basic dishes. Igra and tabbouleh were the best I’ve ever had, a great fried eggplant dish, and an excellent lamb kebab. Only thing that would have made this meal better was good bread.
Manhattan Beach Post - two desserts were so sickly sweet I was glad we didn’t eat dinner.
Sushi Go 55 - Not bad, definitely would be a lunch spot if I worked around there. A little too hectic for a relaxed vacation lunch.
Soban - outstanding quality cooking. Grilled mackerel was great and the gajang gejang were of obviously high quality.
Shunji - lunch omakase had high quality sushi but definitely at a premium price point. The service struck me that the restaurant is full of themselves.
Sapp Coffee shop - enjoyed their super funky bamboo salad and a fried rice noodle dish with crab.
All in, a great eating trip, and definitely agree the best food is in the restaurants that aren’t typical “american food” places! I was hoping for a little bit more from the Thai and Korean food but that probably speaks to the relatively high level of those cuisines where I live in DC. I wish we had Mexican food even approaching LA’s.
I like park’s bbq but I think their time has passed them. More places have a wider variety and higher quality of meat for cheaper. They were the gold standard for a long time.
My impression is that it’s more of a “scene” for a certain demographic, and less of a place with incredible, top-notch food. I’ve had very nice meals there, but nothing that’s amazed me.
Bruce
I totally agree. Although I love the “casual vibe” of most LA restaurants , I lament the lack of grown up, quiet (not silent), slightly formal, style of restaurant. I wish there was a bit more NY or San Francisco in the LA scene.
For example, I think Taco Maria is wonderful…but #2 ![[scratch.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/4/42a16863a8714da3c1604419e3eb9206bb87aa50.gif "scratch"){kind=small}
Cheers!
Marshall ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
More places have a wider variety > and higher quality of meat > for cheaper.
And you took a friendly jab at me about my inability to use paragraphs?
Also glad you liked Kinjiro. I think everyone on this board, that hasn’t gone, needs to check it out. BYOB friendly ($10 corkage if I remember correctly) and the food is awesome. We’ve done a number of wine dinners there.
Going to Kinjiro tonight for my last night in LA. Good to know about the corkage! Their Sake list also has come incredible prices.
Is this “check it out next time you’re in the area” or “it’s worth making a special trip from OC” level?
I’d say it’s worth making a trip for. Guys in our group that live in oc make the trip up. It’s a unique restaurant, not many places doing this rendition of Japanese cuisine
I HIGHLY recommend Kinjiro. We had a great meal. The food is outstanding, authentic and there are many dishes that you do not typically see at more Sushi focused Japanese restaurants. The service was excellent and the crowd was fun and comprised of a lot of industry / foodie types. We were sitting next to Chef Yamamoto from Yamakase and we both shared wines. It certainly helped that we mentioned Charlie’s name. The sake list is small but very well chosen and fairly priced. One of the high-end bottles was actually less than retail. We drank a Pacalet Puligny Montrachet and Kubota Manju Junmai Daiginjo (Niigata). Both went very well with the food.
On a side not it blows my mind that there are only two people in the kitchen.
This will be tops on my list when I return to LA.