Love gormeh sabzi! I have to get here to see what they’re doing.
All part of the JKS expansion baby! All jokes aside Berenjak is on our office lunch rotation. Quite good but a bit off piste from traditional if the Iranian in me is nitpicking. But that’s just nitpicking 
I’m a big fan of JKS. We ate at Kitchen Table and Gymkhana last week.
Thanks, been on my list for awhile and my picky family loves Persian, so this might be the perfect opportunity.
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Had a pretty solid couple of days of eating in LA, mostly focused around a home base in Santa Monica, but with a pretty epic taco crawl around the southside of LA.
First day we went to Golds Venice, because I just had to. It’s the Mecca! Afterwards, though, we stopped at Gjusta. What a place. I think every town needs a place like Gjusta. The energy is awesome, the selection is varied and interesting, and the food is all really good. Something about it just really clicked with me. That night, we went to Holy Basil, which was also really fantastic. I felt bad for the person working there, he was running the whole FOH on his own, two people had called out on him and he was MOVING. But honestly besides a little wait to sit, it still was pretty seamless. And all the food was solid. Especially the green curry beef.
The next day we went to Breadhead Santa Monica for a Calabrian turkey sandwich before flying out for a couple days. side note about the flight, we flew JSX which was awesome. Direct from Santa Monica Airport to Napa, show up like 20 minutes before the flight and hop right on. Super convenient.
Anyways, then we came back to LA, and I stopped at Yama Sushi Marketplace mostly because I wanted to try and walk into RVR but when I called to see if they may have space they had their 2 year anniversary party happening that night. Yama was solid, and hopping. Nothing super fancy but cool concept: pick your piece of fish and they slice it right there for sashimi, or pick from pre made rolls. Great quality fish.
The next day was Taco Tuesday! I started at Holbox. The bar seating was already full plus a line out the door when they opened at 11:30 on a Tuesday. I got there like 20 minutes early and was 4th in line. TOTALLY WORTH showing up early and waiting. I got a scallop aguachile, a taco de pulpo, and a smoky hamachi taco. I will think about the taco de pulpo for a while I think- the salsa morita was so good! Then i walked from there to Mariscos Chiltepin. Sketchy walk, but Chiltepin was even better than i expected it to be. Such fresh seafood. From a pop up tent in front of a warehouse in south central. Two tostadas here: a spicy chili oil tuna, and a tostada de camaron. I would make that trek again for these. Such good quality fish, so flavorful, no line or waiting, super friendly. From here, i went to Carnitas los Gabrieles on Olympic/8th. The carnitas here were really tasty, especially the carnitas mixtas. The habiscus agua fresca was good too. Then i walked from here to Sonoratown, which was an enjoyable walk- passed a bunch of Mexican cooking supply shops, then a bunch of Mexican fiesta stores, and then like 50 flower shops. Sonoratown was the least exciting of my stops, but i will say their tortillas are really good quality. Finally, i stopped at Villas tacos at Grand Central market. I got the mixed trio tacos and they were all three very good. I like the crispy cheese skirt thing they do.
Finally, that night I went to Anajak Thai for their Taco Tuesday. The salmon taco I got was good, but the spicy drunken noodles and the grilled cabbage were really the stars. I wish I would have been there with like 5 more people so I could have tried more, because based on what I got, i really wanted to try everything on the menu.
It was a great tuesday of eating. I walked about 6 miles, ate a dozen tacos, two aguachiles, an agua fresca, and the dishes at Anajak. No misses, and a whole bunch of really top tier bites.
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Yama Seafood is a staple in my household. Love that you went.
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this guy fucks
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I really liked the sushi I got. I was probably a bit jaded in my experience because i walked there from SMO, with a roller bag. In hindsight that was dumb. But i wish i had a place with sushi of that quality by me, the style is a really awesome idea.
My wife said “that is probably the best taco Tuesday someone has ever had”
I think she may have been correct.
When I am in need of pristine sashimi, of course this is my spot, but my real go to is the California roll. I’ve never had one that didn’t “taste cheap” besides this one. They also have INSANE deals on order ahead sushi platters. Always crushes for parties and entertaining
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I mean absent of having Taco Tuesday with LeBron, she is definitely correct!
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It has been a few months since we were in LA so we are mostly just playing the hits! Up first is, Baroo, one of our favorite restaurants in the U.S. I love the detailed complexity of Baroo’s dishes. I love the lightness. The excitement. A tasting menu that never feels like torture. You leave full but not stuffed and the fullness arrives right at the end. We always do the vegetarian menu however we are not vegetarians so Chef Kwang kindly brings us small tastes of some of the meat dishes. Chef has revamped the entire vegetarian menu, about 3/4 of it is new. He brought over a taste of their new stuffed chicken wing that was just perfect. He also informed us that last night was our 13th visit. Lucky #13!
Up next Jacaranda!!
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Looking forward to your review.
Well I have been twice and loved it. Excited to return.
We really liked our first two meals at Jacaranda. This meal was on an entirely different level. Three dishes in particular were just mindblowing. The black cod which was unlike any I have had before. It was much more light and delicate and cooked to perfection it came from Washington. A Chanterelles, potato, brown butter and sorrel dish was ingenious but also tasted great. I am not the biggest fan of beef but I enjoyed their rendition it was also so light and with very focused flavors. The entire meal was just a joy. We elected for the 6 course vs the 12 and wished we had done the 12. We ordered the supplemental caviar and egg dish and the kitchen sent out an extra course so we had enough food we just wanted to keep going as everything was so delicious. We also shared one Sake pairing and ordered a white burgundy both paired well with the food. We were blinded on a Sake which had a very unique spice character. It turned out to be from Arkansas (the Angelfish in the photo below)! Great energy and vibe in the room. Sarah is the consummate host and her and Chef Daniel are such a fun couple to be around. Just love everything about the place!
Next up Anajak! And a yet to be decided lunch spot!
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Both the wife and I have been extremely busy this year, plus we have a new 11 month old puppy, so we’ve struggled to dine out.
But went to Baby Bistro last night with the pup and some friends, and had a wonderful meal on the patio. (And so did the skeeters that gave me 5 bug bites)
Ordered the whole menu, plus the dry-aged grass-fed ribeye special, and a bottle of Stagiare Riesling. $160/pp out-the-door. It’s def possible to be in the $100/pp range if you don’t go nuts. The whole menu was beautifully executed, and felt like the quintessence of ingredient-focused California cooking. Dined at the OG Normandie popup and very happy to see Andy and Miles rocking in the permanent space. Bonus points for also being the coziest restaurant in LA.
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I was in LA this past weekend and the mosquitos were insanely aggressive!
Lets discuss
Some thoughts:
Not a terrible list.
Jacaranda at 90 is a f#4$ing travesty.
No Somni???
Pizzeria Sei should be higher but Pizza never gets the respect it deserves.
It is wonderful that Lielle was so highly rated, thrilled for Chef Marcus but #1 seems a bit ambitious. My personal 1 would be Baroo. I do love Lielle.
I have not been to Alta Adams, need to try it.
Happy for Chef Ki.
The list is obviously always ripe for debate, especially the specific rankings, but I’m shocked Somni isnt on there at all.
Article behind paywall.
Robert, Alta Adams is definitely worth a visit.