Dining in Westside

[silentbob]

I'm deeper into my L.A. trip plans now and I'm ready for some help!

We'll be there Feb 8th-11th. We're staying by the airport because we have an ungodly early flight out on the 11th for Kona.

Plans: The Getty Villa; the Getty Center, the beach at Venice and sometime in West Hollywood. I think we'll have time for more stuff (The Norton Simon Museum is calling my name but Mr. BLB is dubious...) but for now that's it.

Mr. BLB gets car sick so I don't want to push my luck driving all over.... So...

I'd like to stick to dinners in the Venice-Santa Monica area. (No reason not to go south to Manhattan Beach or Hermosa except that I never do...)

I'm lazy and prefer places that I can reserve on Opentable....

I'm thinking lunch in Malibu after the Villa--I vaguely recall some sort of road side shack farther up the road.

Thinking about lunch at the Getty Center the next day. But we could do a fabu lunch in West Hollywood and then head up/down Sunset to the Getty Center in the late afternoon.

Thanks for any ideas!

Jennifer

I'd highly recommend Joe's Restaurant, not just as a good place to eat in Venice but in all of Southern California. Their prix-fixe lunch is an insane bargain, and even the dinner prices are fairly reasonable. IMO, it's like the West Coast equivalent of Corduroy.

Also, Monte Alban in West Los Angeles has a wide variety of great mole dishes.

[zoramargolis]

If you want authentic, inexpensive regional Mexican food, you've got to go to Guelaguetza, a Oaxacan cantina-type place in West L.A. which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's at the corner of Sepulveda and Palms Blvds., facing Palms. It shares a parking lot with Trader Joe's. Get a chicken tamal with mole negro, barbacoa de chivo (goat stew--really good) or an "empanada" (really an enchilada) with mole amarillo, chicken, mushrooms and squash blossoms. Also try some of the Oaxacan chorizo on some of the thick, handmade tortillas called memelas. If you eat there, you will know why I am so underwhelmed by the Mexican places in Hyattsville.

One of the most unique, creative traditional Japanese restaurants in West L.A. is called Mori--it's a favorite hang-out for the best young chefs in L.A. It's on Pico Blvd. at Gateway, just a couple of blocks west of the 405 freeway. Mori grows his own shiso leaves and has a pottery wheel and kiln out back [Note: Mori sold his restaurant to an employee in 2011], where he makes, glazes and fires all of the plates, bowls and other serving pieces in the restaurant. He is completely obsessed about quality. It's the best sushi you'll ever eat. Go in and do omakase there--be prepared to shell out some bucks (not like NYC, mind you), but you will be very glad you did.

[mdt]

I'd highly recommend Joe's Restaurant, not just as a good place to eat in Venice but in all of Southern California. Their prix-fixe lunch is an insane bargain, and even the dinner prices are fairly reasonable. IMO, it's like the West Coast equivalent of Corduroy.

I had lunch at the bar and it was $17 for 3 courses of excellent food. Started with a bowl of rutabaga soup, followed by a salad with poached albacore tuna, and dessert of chocolate cake.

If you want authentic, inexpensive regional Mexican food, you've got to go to Guelaguetza, a Oaxacan cantina-type place in West L.A. which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's at the corner of Sepulveda and Palms Blvds., facing Palms. It shares a parking lot with Trader Joe's. Get a chicken tamal with mole negro, barbacoa de chivo (goat stew--really good) 

I was able to convince some co-workers to head here one night and we were not disappointed. One person had the chicken tamal and I had the barbacoa de chivo. Both wonderfully flavorful dishes that would be great if I could find them here. I don't remember what the other folks had, but they enjoyed what they had.

Also went to In-n-Out for a double-double AS and an order of fries. I really did not find this much different than 5 Guy's or Elevation, certainly nothing to really rave about IMO. Sure they cut their fries fresh, use no preservatives in the buns, and grind their beef fresh, but it tasted exactly like a Big Mac . The bread was pretty blah by itself and the burger was cooked to a pretty dry well done so thankfully there was enough sauce on it to help that aspect. The good thing? It was cheap!

[DonRocks]

"The Westside Hit List: The Best New Restaurants on the Westside" by Brant Cox and Brett Keating on theinfatuation.com

[Mark Dedrick]

If anyone has anything new to report here let me know. I'll be staying in Santa Monica for a few days later this month.