Palos Verdes recs?

Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum
1

Will be in Palos Verdes tomorrow. Anyone have any restaurant recs for that area or around there… nothing fancy.

Thanks in advance!
Veronica

2

Just down from there in the Hollywood Riviera section of Torrance is Chez Melange and Zazou. And if you want to venture a bit further north on PCH go to Aimee’s. You’ll never forget her. [wink.gif]

3

Gina Lees is right there too. http://ginaleesbistro.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not much on “the hill”. There is the restaurant at the new resort on the backside but that will be more on the pricey/fancy side … although very good.

The sometimes controversial Christines http://www.restaurantchristine.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Maria’s on PCH & Anza - great carnitas.

Again, there aint much on the hill.

Jason

4

Thanks guys!!! grouphug

What is the Aimee’s thing? I’ll let you know if I find out!

5

Very emphatic +1 on both Christine and Gina Lee’s Bistro. When I lived in Redondo Beach, those were my favorite dinner places, along with Chez Melange and Depot.

6

I think Gina’s has lost a little something over the years. Aimee’s is also good for country french in a mini-mall setting and Aimee is one of a kind. Frankly though, I think Chez Melange is an easy choice in this case. Very convenient, wine-friendly (and knowledgeable), eclectic menu. Not the most interesting or attractive room on the planet, but not bad either. Chez has hosted wine dinners for some on this board and had the best monthly wine club dinners in L.A. for years (ended the club when they moved recently). Depot is also good, but not as convenient. Terranea in RPV is great with wondeful views (if you are eating during daylight), but mucho $$$$.

7

That’s too bad about Gina Lee’s, but I just realized that I haven’t been there since ~2003. Assuming you’ve been there, is Restaurant Christine still good?

8

I haven’t been to Christine a lot over the last few years, maybe 4 times, and I thought it was inconsistent. Not really on my radar as a place to go anymore.

Jason

9

Chez is still a good choice and they have re-instituted their wine dinners. As a matter of fact there was a Tercero dinner held there recently and I believe Gary Pisoni will be doing a dinner in the very near future. Depot is still quite nice but not quite as convenient…as a matter of fact I am heading to Depot for lunch today.


Cheers!
Marshall [cheers.gif]

10

The Pisoni dinner is next Monday, March 8. I wasn’t referring to the dinners for a particular winemaker (Larry Schaefer had one there in January as well), but rather the monthly wine club Chez had for 4 or 5 years before the move. Michael Franks just called this week say he is starting it up again. If it’s like the earlier version, it will be great. Robert cooked a 4 or 5 course dinner for the 15-20 attendees each month and Michael would have tasting flights of 4 wines for each course. We would then go around the room with our comments and TNs on each flight (ranking them, etc.).

He would often spring a special surprise wine during the evening as well as members bringing some good stuff from their cellars. Sometimes he would invite a guest that was ITB in some way. My wife and I met several couples who became friends through the club and we look forward to meeting new ones as it resumes (this time “only” every other month).

11

2nd or 3rd the recco of Chez Melange. It is about the only place down there that I wish I could get to more often. Michael & Robert are really good guys, and the food there is both very good and very reasonably priced. I’m glad they’ve gone back to embracing the group wine dinners.