5×5 Chefs Collaborative Dinner Series Melisse 1104 Wilshire Blvd Santa Monica, CA 90401 Dining date: 4/29/12 The 5×5 dinner series has been around a number of years now, but this is the first (certainly not the last) one that I’ve been to. I don’t know why it took so long. The concept is thus: 5…
Sushi Gen 422 E 2nd St Los Angeles, CA 90012 Dining date: 4/6/12 and 4/11/12 Sushi Gen is one of Little Tokyo’s most popular restaurants (4.5 stars on Yelp with 1500 reviews is a good indication), seemingly always having people waiting outside. It’s probably one of my favorites too, and one of the first restaurants…
LudoBites: Best of Foie Gras Gram & Papa’s 227 E 9th St Los Angeles, CA 90015 Dining date: 4/18/12 If there are two ingredients with which I’ve had the most fond LudoBites memories, it might be foie gras and chicken. I’m not counting on a “Best of Chicken” night anytime soon (but I’d love to…
Dan Moody & Adam Horton Collaboration Raphael 11616 Ventura Blvd Studio City, CA 91604 Dining date: 4/17/12 My visit to Raphael has been long overdue. I first sampled chef Adam Horton’s food at Test Kitchen, towards the end of his stint at Saddle Peak Lodge in Calabases. Horton departed Saddle Peak and came to Raphael…
Whole Hog Dinner Mozza’s Scuola Di Pizza 6610 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90038 Dining date: 4/14/12 Mozza has really made use of their space at the corner of Melrose & Highland, creating their higher end Osteria Mozza, their sitdown Pizzeria Mozza, their takeout Mozza2Go and a sort of all-purpose Scuola di Mozza all within…
Milo & Olive 2723 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90403 Dining date: 4/10/12 Milo & Olive is the newest restaurant (opened in November) in Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan’s quickly expanding empire in Santa Monica that already includes Sweet Rose, Rustic Canyon and Huckleberry. I’ve been to both Sweet Rose and Rustic Canyon and enjoyed…
Plan Check 1800 Sawtelle Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90025 Dining date: 4/3/12 Plan Check opened just over a month ago, bringing a ‘modern American’ gastropub to the Japanese-centric Sawtelle area of West LA. It’s a combination of ex-Umami Corporate Chef Ernesto Uchimura’s grub with drinks masterminded by Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix (Harvard & Stone,…
Le Comptoir Tiara Cafe 127 E 9th St Los Angeles, CA 90015 Dining date: 3/29/12 Le Comptoir has been sort of a longer-term pop-up, occupying the Tiara Cafe space in downtown’s fashion district for a number of months now. For three days a week (Thurs-Sat), Gary Menes cooks his version of seasonal farm-to-table food. What…