Campanile

I'm not sure why, but I always thought Campanile (pronounced Camp-a-nee-lay) on La Brea was an Italian restaurant. Once I got there it turned out I was wrong, but we decided to give the place a shot anyway. Let's start with interiors on this one. The architecture of this building, once owned by Charlie Chaplin, is awe-inspiring. As you enter the front half of the restaurant is largely stone with huge windows to the second floor at the top on either side. When you pass a little hallway with staircases on the left and right you move into a second room with stucco white walls and Spanish style windows. The interiors definitely reminded me of the Spanish castle in Granada, one of my favorite spots in the world. I wish I could say that the food was as lovely as the space, but unfortunately for me, it just wasn't. We weren't starving but went for dinner on a weekend. Three cheeses from their selection started off the evening, though I can't recall exactly the three we got. All were recommendations from the waiter and we only finished one since we just weren't that into it. We followed that up with some oysters on the halfshell. I like oysters, I really do, but these were covered with something resembling a chutney that just didn't work for me. For the entree we went with the special, a lasagna that I could only describe as limp and soggy. I think part of the bad experience food wise could just be that we ordered the wrong things, but by definition when you go to a great restaurant you should be able to eat anything off the menu and be pleased. I have heard that their brunch is decent, so perhaps I just need to go at a different time. Thursday night they do a grilled cheese night that ranges from a classic grilled cheese to a sheep's milk ricotta grilled cheese with roasted tomatoes, olives, and garlic, all of which are around $16-18. The normal dinner menu is more in the range of $20-35 a plate, and for me, just not worth it. Zagat calls Campanile one of the top 50 restaurants in LA, but I'm just not sure it makes my version of that list.

http://www.campanilerestaurant.com/