WHY Fresh, simple café fare is served at picnic tables under the pine trees in Fern Dell, making it paradise for people (and their dogs) returning from a long hike. Good vegetarian choices. WHAT Had a long hike or a hard day cutting your student film at neighboring AFI? Then head to Trails to refuel [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Signature rosemary bread for toast and sandwiches, not one but two great bacon offerings (applewood smoked and candied) on the breakfast menu and killer chocolate-mint brownies in the dessert case. Plus fantastic takeout baskets for the plane or the Hollywood Bowl. WHAT Breakfast or lunch on the shaded sidewalk terrace fronting this impossibly charming [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY The Cobb and Caesar salads, and the chance to sit in the same room with the people who greenlit the movie your kids saw last weekend. WHAT This clubby institution offers an old-school menu (shrimp cocktail, chicken pot pie, meatloaf) to its power-lunching Hollywood faithful. Even though some of the lunch-hour heat has migrated [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For an omakase meal of astonishing complexity, diversity and luxury. WHAT If you have to ask how much it costs, you can’t afford it—so we can’t afford it. L.A.’s most expensive sushi restaurant (and that’s really saying something) requires an outlay of what would be a month’s rent in some parts of the country. [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY It’s a gem among the mediocre Italian restaurants littering Old Pasadena. WHAT This romantic little cottage on Green Street features a dining room decorated like someone’s (tasteful) home, a kind Italian staff and often-extraordinary seafood-focused dishes from Venice, Friuli and the rest of northeastern Italy. Bring your Gold Card, and savor a superb caprese [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Belgian endive salad with Roquefort, whitefish fillet with brandade and a great roast chicken with frites, all served in a place right out of the 8th arrondissement. WHAT Pinot Bistro is the oldest and most reliable of Joachim Splichal’s Patina spinoffs. Avant-garde when it opened, this handsome, artfully lit bistro has evolved into a [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY Personal service and cooking in an intimate, romantic, special-occasion setting. WHAT In a twist on the old French standard, at Brandywine the wife does the cooking and the husband runs the front, and it’s clearly a harmonious relationship. This tiny place is romantic as all get-out, and chef Peggy McWilliams makes the kind of [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY The country-rustic, ultra-atmospheric setting, not to mention the seared foie gras, elk tenderloin and a wine list bulging with trophy cabs. WHAT Decorated like a rustic hunting lodge and set in the spectacular mountains that divide Malibu from the Valley, Saddle Peak is that rarest of birds: a special-occasion restaurant that has remained special [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY For the newish Vin Bar, a more casual and affordable spot situated rather awkwardly within the restaurant. WHAT This groundbreaking Italian restaurant has impeccable silver and service, the atmosphere exudes self-satisfied wealth, and the kitchen is accomplished, turning out such delicacies as truffle-topped risotto, agnolotti with braised Sonoma lamb, and a garlic-rubbed veal chop [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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WHY The seasonally inspired and hard-to-resist four-course tasting menu; at $105 without wine, it’s a serious indulgence, but one you’re not likely to forget. Believe it or not, it’s worth the extra $30 for the roast chicken, which is not like any roast chicken you’ve ever had. Beautiful vegetarian tasting menu, too. WHAT Mélisse is [...]
October 28, 2011 | Posted in
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