2 btl max corkage at Kato.
Cocktails are incredible there!!!
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Any suggestions for a solo diner around Hollywood? Will be staying at Hotel Roosevelt for a few days coming up.
Gwen, APL, various others depending what kind of food you like.
APL is closed, I think. Musso & Franks sitting in the bar grill is always good too.
Ah. Thatās unfortunate.
Thanks. Probably more lighter fareā¦ maybe Japanese/Thai if possible.
Uber over to Thaitown (Hollywood & Harvard), there are multiple Thai places: Ruen Pair, Sapp, Pa Ord, Sanamluang, depending what style and dishes you want. Ruen Pair offers a good range of dishes. Make sure to check out the dessert place in the plaza, Bhan Kanom Thai. Thereās a great wine bar a little further east, Tabula Rasa and across the street is fantastic Labanese at Carousel.
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Jitlada is nearby too.
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Sushi Park used to be great, but itās been a few years now. Someone said itās overpriced these days.
+1 on Carousel. Not fancy, but damn the food is good!
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Some really fun meals so far in LA area this week. Quick notes:
Kato - stunning. Food was delicious and beautiful and creative without fussiness. Loved everything about it and highly recommended.
Murasaki Sushi (Santa Ana) - client choice, and not bad at all for a relaxed and fresh lunch. I bet the omakase is solid if you are looking for something in the area.
MarchƩ Moderne (Newport Beach) - another client dinner. They were very nice, but the food is not good. Avoid.
Kobawoo House - really solid in Ktown. Excellent seafood pancake and kalbi. Bo saam was good, but I like mine better.
Anajak Thai - my first time inside. The food is good, the crab especially. I donāt like the famous fried chicken very much - the meat itself is good, but the coating is not flavorful. Other dishes were fresh and delicious. I am not a fan of the loud music. I get itās their vibe, but itās not fun for me to have to yell and miss half of what my dinning companions say. The wine list is great. We had 3 bottles of Riesling, and dinner was still about $150pp.
We are here thru the weekend, so more reports to come.
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I love the loud music, but it helps that I have similar taste in music 
The music is the only problem I have with the place. In 1984, I stood too close to the monitors when Dave Alvin (at that moment in The Knitters) suddenly decided to go from acoustic to electric when playing his solo on The New World and I have ever since had a 30% loss in my hearing at the conversational level. If I sit inside Anajak, I have to sacrifice whatever joy I get from discussions over dinner. When it gets to be a little warmer Iāll try sitting outside.
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I know itās a Sarah Problem, as we put it. I like the music choices, but if i canāt talk to the other people at the table, it defeats the purpose for me. They also need to print the list in a bigger font. Old person complaints. 
Sushi Gen for lunch today!
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I am definitely with you on the size of the wine list.
Canāt wait to hear about Sushi Gen. Iāve been twice and itās always been great. But that was a while ago now.
Loud music ruins a place for me. Restaurants rarely consider acoustics when remodeling.
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Same here about loud music or if the restaurant is too loud, period. If Iām at a 4-top and canāt hear what my dining companions are saying, I wonāt return to that restaurant. I donāt care HOW good the food is.
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i used anajak as the example lol
It was good as always, though fish was a touch on the cold side, and they should know better. I think itās hard to beat Sushi Gen for this combination of quality, variety and price.
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A few more:
Budonoki - we did our sake dinner here, so it was a set menu. I enjoyed the food quite a bit, and the service was all good. Music a bit loud for me, but no where near the assault at Anajak.
RVR - snagged a last minute resy for brunch, which is really lunch (not eggs etc. thank goodness), and was excellent. Not every dish was fully successful, but almost all ranged from good to terrific. Only one dish was a total miss, a cauliflower dish with way too much sweet miso. We didnāt eat it, and I told the server it was too sweet. He came back a few minutes later and said Chef agreed! Offered to remake it, but we had ordered enough so I passed. Love the room, with light and breeze pouring in. Music was good, and not too loud where we were near the front.
Pizzeria Sei - we stopped in for a light bite and a bottle on the way to the airport. Really good. The crust has an excellent chew and tang, though I wish it stood up a bit better, as half the slice had to be eaten with knife and fork. Flavors on the toppings, including a great lamb sausage, were very good.
All in all a great trip, the first time Jonathan and I have both been there in a few years. Kato, Kobawoo House, RVR and Pizzeria Sei were the standouts. Iām not sure Iāll go back to Anajak. The food is good, but the more I think back on it, itās good not great, and the noise makes it very tough. If the food were truly great, I would manage it. But I just donāt share the enthusiasm of others.
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