Crossing the Orange curtain next weekend (leaving Orange County - suburbs - and headed into the city for a little culture) and was wondering if anybody has any last minute recommendations on places to hit. Here is our “tentative” itinerary -
Animal is much closer to your hotel. Canele is about a 20 min drive without traffic. A reservation is essential at Animal. Langer’s is excellent. Ask them to hand carve the pastrami, it definitely makes a difference. I’m not sure how old your kids are, but Bazaar may be a bit over the top foodwise for them unless they are adventerous. Osteria Mozza would be a good choice for dinner, it seems to please just about everyone. Oh yeah, bring you’re umbrellas, rain is in the forecast for this weekend.
Actually going next weekend, the 25th with another couple. Do you know of any wine bar type places near our hotel? Love Mozza so want to try something new, although have not been to the pizzeria or mozzerella bar. Pray for sun!!!
BTW the picture of that sandwich on Langers website looks incredible.
Lots of spots close to hotel…
Son of a Gun (Sam guys as Animal), for Japanese either Robata Jinya or Izaka-ya by Katsu-ya all on 3rd street and very very close to Sofitel, also Matsuhisa is very close…for Italian you have Angelini Osteria straight down Beverly from the hotel and Dan Tana’s for a more red sauce old school room close as well…i am also a big fan of Cube (La Brea not to far) for a wine bar-ish experience
I am affiliated with Bazaar / SLS so if you have any questions please just PM direct
As for nearby winebars, there’s AOC and Tasca; both are worth visiting although I like AOC better. Check out the menus online and see if they peak your interest.
Quality is my favorite spot for breakfast in that general area.
Joan’s on Third - cafe/marketplace that sells a variety of gourmet foods and items.
The Original Farmer’s Market - a myraid of shopping opportunities (dept. stores, specialty shops) and food (food stands, restaurants, sur la table, monsier marcel gourmet market). Loteria Grill serves up some tasty Mexican grinds.
Definitely go for Animal, and Greg is right, it might be too late for a ressie. I like Pizzeria Mozza more than the Osteria.
Look at Lou or AOC (close) for winebars. Maybe Bouchon if you want an upscale spot.
Around the hotel breakfast: Griddle Cafe, Joans, BLD, Doughboys, Swingers, Hugo’s.
You’re right across the street from Beverly Center. The Grove and Rodeo Drive are other popular shopping stomps.
Get a parking ressie for the Getty. You usually cannot just drive up.
Hand-cut strami is the way to go at Langer’s, but the corned beef is good too. Validated parking on north side of 8th just east of the resto.
Thanks to all for rec’s. LA is a great place to visit and keeps getting better and better. I remember as a kid thinking it was the other side of the world.
I was there last week and order hand-cut (as I always do) and for the first time the waitress said “it’s always hand cut”. So I just asked her to make sure it was on the thick side and it was perfect as always. I don’t think I’ve ever ordered anything but the #1…
^Jane Yamamoto being a dork @The Bazaar. click on the lower right-hand icon below the video for a larger 1/4 screen sized view. (they stopped doing the gimmicky nitroballs-Dragon’s Breath, shortly thereafter)
Animal has a new seafood restaurant on 3rd St, which might be easier to get a reservation @?
Do a thread on chowhounds la, I’m sure you’ll get plenty of rec’s there.
I think/thought the olive oil bon-bon was somewhat useless as well.
Marcel Vigneron was on Jimmy Fallon recently and did the Dragon’s Breathe balls as a demo.
Tom, I’m going to Animal Thurs. night and will report on any new dishes.
The foie biscuit, pig ear, pork belly sliders, hamachi tostada, bone marrow are very good. The poutine is popular, though no better than the previous.
Make sure you aren’t too late to arrive. They will give your table away at the 15 minute mark, unless you call on the way and beg, which can buy you a couple of minutes.
Too funny. I did exactly the same thing for tomorrow, and may need to enact the plan as our companions are flying out of Logan tomorrow and might get delayed. AOC has a sleeker vibe, more available wines (though we’re bringing), a more diverse menu (though not quite as tasty), and IIRC is $25 cork vs.$20.
Last night’s visit to Animal was pretty much as expected. Really good and a fun vibe. There was no one else there when we walked in for an early 6pm. By the 7:30 seating every table was full. The only nit about the place is that once it picks up, they kind of hurry you along, not to the point of being out of line, but you can feel it. Certainly to be expected for one of LA’s most popular places, that isn’t very large.
There were four of us. We brought an 07 KB RRV, and an 06 Petrolo Galatrona. Someone there must know how mediocre the 02 vintage was in CdP. My tactic of bringing the staff a quaffer bottle and having some/all corkage waived, did not work with the 02 Pegau. Corkage was $20 each for the two bottles, stems are decent if a bit small. In actually big reds (which that Galatrona was) are tough here as the food is all over the map with flavors including spice, acid, & sweet. Probably should have had a bottle or at least glass of white, or a beer early in the meal.
For food we had:
Kale Salad: Worth having, good not great, but one has to get some veggies somewhere and it isn’t easy there. Acidic
Hamachi Tostada: Very good, as usual. Considering the meat dominance of the menu this is a must get. Very subtle peanut dressing works
Sea Bass: this was a special and worth getting. It was pan seared/sauteed with a lightly creamy sauce over some kind of “slaw”
Octopus: a tad off on this night in plating , but tasty. The octopus was great, but not plentiful enough amongst the sausage, hard to splt 4-ways
Bone marrow toast: I always have this, good as usual, personally I remove a little of the chimchurri so as to let the marrow come out more
Quail; really good, tender and moist, it’s a small portion and for four isn’t much
Pig ear: another must have, it really isn’t odd and it’s diced so could be any meat, good combo of rich, tangy and slight heatfor $12 it is one of the best items
Pork Belly Slider: the $12 (vs $23 for foie) make this and the above my favorites. Too good to not want more than the two small sliders, but doable for four.
This is and the Hamachi are the things I will get two of from now on with four people.
Foie Gras biscuit. This is a must get. The combo of the seared foie and maple/sausage gravy is unique. $23 and not big does make this less of a value item.
Tres leches cake and the sticky toffee pudding: only $7 ea, but small and really not stand-outs. I’ve also had the bacon choco thing, which is at least unique. dessert is just not their strongpoint, and I’ll probably skip it from now on. As an aside, the English Pudding Company’s premade S.T.Pudding (avail at whole Foods & Surfas) rocks and is better.
