Hatfields

Hatfields is another one of the restaurants in LA that I've been trying to get to for over a year now and last night Chase and I finally went. The setting is very serene with creamy white walls and tables and cabin-looking wood accents surrounding. Once at our table, we were delivered a little treat from the chef consisting of deviled quail eggs and a cold corn soup. Deviled eggs are not usually something I like, but the deviled quail eggs were superb. The corn soup was served in a shot glass and while it was good, I really couldn't of handled more than the 3 or 4 sips that we were given as it tasted so strongly of corn. Beyond that we tried another corn dish, the house made corn agnolloti with Dungeness crab, sherry beurre fondue and shaved summer truflle. The pasta was extremely rich (even without the truffle) but the crab was still really mild and overall a well balanced dish served in a really interesting plate with a bowl cut out of the middle. For entrees, I had the buttermilk steamed organic chicken breast on top of brown buttered sunchokes with julianned squash and zucchini basil coulis. I can't say that I've had steamed chicken too often in my life, but I'm not sure I prefer it that way. The chicken was so tender, but it didn't have any overwhelming taste. Maybe baking the chicken would be give it a little more flavor? The sunchokes were great and the zucchini basil sauce was interesting and an unexpected flavor. Chase was really excited about the date and mint crusted lamb with potato chive puree, and a mixed vegetable sautee. I tried a bite of his and the lamb, cooked pink in the center, was really great. The crust of date and mint on the outside was probably the best part. The potato chive puree was another unexpected flavor that worked really well, though you definitely don't feel like you are eating potatoes since they are so light and fluffy. Mid-way through the meal we decided we needed to try the rhubarb bellini, which was better than most bellinis I've ever had. After finishing all of that off, we took the waiter's desert suggestion and went for the beignets and chocolate fondue with a shotglass of vanilla milkshake. Probably the best milkshake I've ever had and we would have loved to have more than 2 sips each. The chocolate with the beignets was just right and this dish reminded me of what churros con chocolate is really supposed to taste like. Que bueno! Take heed though, this is a very fancy place, with high prices and small portions. They are really going for quality over quantity. At the end of the night, our meal for two was $120 and Chase was making jokes that he needed to grab some fast food on the way home. While it was really delicious, I don't think I'll find myself craving anything we had or wanting to come back anytime soon. Especially not with so many other places on my to try list.

http://www.hatfieldsrestaurant.com/menus.html

Kokomo Cafe

We first discovered Kokomo when it was located at the Farmer's Market in The Grove. It used to live in a cozy little area facing 3rd St., but since it has moved not to far to a location on Beverly & Martel. I believe the move had to do with the growing popularity of the restaurant, and their menu seems to have grown since the move too. I've only tried Kokomo for breakfast, but it's really great comfort food among the likes of The Griddle Cafe and Doughboys. My favorite dish to get here is the waffle with warm fruit compote. The compote is comprised of banana, berries, and rum. I would personally think it would be improved with no bananas and a milder portion of the rum. Still, really delicious. Also delicious are the pumpkin pancakes, served year-round. The breakfast burrito is also really tasty and hearty, though nothing that makes it stand out over other breakfast burritos. Chase likes the croissantwich. One of the things I've always really wanted to try here is the chicken and waffle. I've never tried this soul food combo, but I think at Kokomo would be one of the best places to do it. The lunch and dinner menu is chalk full of salads and some interesting looking sandwiches. The two that sound particularly creative and delicious to me are the ahi tuna with sesame-ginger sauce and the crab cake sandwich. Almost everything on the menu is under $10, with the exception of the salads, that range from about $10-$15. I know before the move Kokomo used to have $3 beers, which is hard to find in LA, but I'm not positive that this steal traveled to the new location. But it's worth going back for dinner to find out!

http://www.kokomocafe.com

Jer-ne

At the Ritz Carlton in Marina del Rey is Jer-ne. I've been here a few times and frankly, it's overrated. The breakfast is pretty bland with your run-of-the-mill breakfast menu with lots of eggs and French toast and a Continental breakfast bar. As for lunch, the menu is still pretty small, and nothing's really all that original or exciting. I was there with work today and wasn't really that impressed. For starters we had a truffle & mushroom pizza, which started strong, but then I had a beef salad for lunch. The salad came with carpaccioed beef, shaved parmesan, and truffle salad dressing. The beef was good, but the salad dressing was really acidic and strong, which made it hard to eat much of it. The two guys got sandwiches that looked the best out of the items ordered (there's really only apps, pizzas, salads, and sandwiches, yet nothing is less than $15). Certainly the best part of the meal was the dessert. We tried the berry crumble and the cafe smores. Upon first read, the smores dish didn't sound too reminescent of an actual smore as it's described as espresso & chocolate ice creams in a martini glass on top of chocolate and marshmallow layers. Sitting on the edge of the glass is a graham cracker crustini with melted mallow drops on top. When you work your way through that, there are 3 cinnamon sugar donut holes waiting for you on the plate below. Probably the best reason to come here is for the lovely patio that overlooks the boats on the marina, that is, if you aren't there to look for celebrities. If it's basketball season, and you come when the Lakers are at home, you're pretty much guaranteed to see members of the opposing team hanging around the hotel as it's the official hotel of the NBA. Don't plan on parking anywhere but the $8 valet either. Just saying....

http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/MarinadelRey/Dining/Jer-NeRestaurantBar/Default.htm

Home

I had never heard of the restaurant Home in Los Feliz until some friends invited us there for dinner last night. I'm not sure how I missed it before because it is such a great atmosphere and they have such a wide variety of dishes on the menu. When you first arrive, the outdoor patio greets you with it's cedar deck and warm, inviting space heaters on cool nights. We all sat in a large wooden booth outside and it was just a perfect night for it. They supposedly have great martinis, but none of us got any and we all stuck to margaritas or beer (which are fairly decently priced - $6.50 for a regularly sized marg). For dinner, we skipped appetizers and got right on to entrees. I had the caramelized apple salad with pecans, goat cheese and tomato in it. It was really good and really sweet. This is slightly different than your normal goat cheese/pecan/apple salad in that the apples are caramelized, so they are sweeter, tasting almost like you put some apple pie in your salad. Chase had the BBQ chicken pizza, which I tried, and I have to say, I'm not normally that partial to BBQ chicken pizza, but at Home I liked it. The BBQ sauce was tangy, but not overwhelming and really not steering too clear of a normal tomato sauce. The other people in our group had the French toast, which came with 4 medium sized pieces and must have been pretty good b/c he cleaned his plate, the chicken tender salad, which looked really good and plentiful, the BLT, which came with some amazing waffle fries, and the goat cheese salad, which was pretty much like my salad if you swap the pecans for pine nuts and take out the apple and tomato. All of the entrees were between $8-15 and well worth what you pay for. We were all so stuffed that we had no room for dessert and left paying about $30-40 a couple. Due to the casualness of the restaurant, I'm not sure that I would say you should make a special trip out to Home if you don't live close to it, but if you're having a night out in Hollywood/Los Feliz, it's definitely a terrific way to start the night!

http://www.homelosfeliz.com/

Bistrotek @ Custom Hotel

At Custom Hotel, the West side's answer to the Standard, hipsters collide at Bistrotek, the chic bar/restaurant that sits between the hotel and the neighboring Ralphs. Luckily for me, you don't have to be a hipster to go there for dinner, so they let me and my coworkers in. I arrived late and missed any appetizers, but I had the halibut for dinner. It was pan fried and served on a bed of cous cous with asparagus and had an asparagus cream sauce on the side. The fish itself was pretty good, but the asparagus cream sauce tasted a little weird. The cous cous was also pretty good, but has more asparagus on top and overall the dish was just a little asparagus heavy. I had a glass of the Roseanne wine which was served in a cute little decanter that looked like a petite milk bottle. The dessert menu was a little strange and was trying a little too hard to be a new take on old favorites. For the table we shared a coffee and donuts (bite sized cinnamon sugar donuts with coffee ice cream), a grilled cheese (marscapone sandwich with nutella and a raspberry "ketchup" sauce), and a brownie with butterscotch syrup, fudge, and ice cream. The best one was the brownie, but it was a little plain and dull. The grilled cheese was interesting and at first taste was pretty good, despite the scariness of the raspberry ketchup, but left a major butter taste in your mouth. Overall, it wasn't great, but if you are looking for somewhere other than fast food around LAX, it might be worth a stop. Unfortunately, I didn't order for myself since I got there late and I have no idea what the prices were. I didn't get a chance to check it out, but I heard they had a really great poolside bar that might be worth stopping by on a hot summer day.

http://www.customhotel.com/restaurant_and_pool/bistrotek.php

Cynthia's Restaurant3

Last night as we were trying to think of a place to get a quick bite to eat, Griffin remembered Cynthia's Restaurant on 3rd (though he kept calling it Suzanna's). At first I couldn't recall the place because he didn't really remember what we got and he couldn't remember the right name. Once we drove past it though, all the food memories came rushing back. It's certainly been over a year since we dined at Cynthia's, but now that I remember it, I can't wait to go back. We didn't end up eating here last night because we didn't intend to spend $70 on dinner, but we did pick up some of their blackberry cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. More on that later.... Once I looked at the menu for Cynthia's I could remember everything we got and just the way it tastes. I recall that we started with the goat cheese quesadilla with mango creme, thinking it would taste similar to the goat cheese and guava quesadilla we loved so much from Cha Cha Cha. It was a little different, but still delicious. For our entrees I tried the spicy fried chicken, as I had read several really positive reviews about it online. As any fried chicken should, it comes with some creamy mashed potatoes and green beans. So good. I realize this is my second time to blog about fried chicken this week, and both are delicious, but they are very different. The fried chicken, and all the other dishes from Cynthia's for that matter, are very upscale home cooking. I guess because it costs $25 and is on a real plate it makes you think it's a little healthier than the Honey Kettle variety too. Griffin had the Dijon pork chop with potato pancakes and applesauce. While I'm not too keen on any kind of mustard or applesauce, I remember the potato pancakes being just great. For dessert we had the blackberry cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream. I had also read about this online and between the fried chicken and the cobbler, we had to try it. I love all kinds of cobbler, but I think the blackberry might be king. It's sweet and tart, warm and cold (from the ice cream), and just an all-out mixture of sugar and spice and everything nice. I know it's been a while, but thinking back I remember that we sat in the table next to the bar in the back and that our waitress was about as nice as can be. Even the owners stopped by to say "hi." I also remember that when we went it was a weekend night and it was pretty full, but when we went by to pick up our dessert there last night (a Friday) it looked pretty quiet, with several open tables in the small space. So I'm not sure if you'd really need a reservation or not, but if you are planning ahead, then there's really no harm in making one. There's street parking if you are lucky enough to find any, but there's also $5 valet at the restaurant. For a party of 2, you definitely wouldn't be able to eat 2 entrees and leave without shelling upwards of $60, and that's just for entrees and doesn't include any apps, drinks, or delectable desserts. If you want to try Cynthia's on a budget, you may want to try going for lunch, when most menu items are under $15 (though the menu is admittedly smaller - but they still have the fried chicken!). Whether it's for lunch, dinner, or just dessert, Cynthia's is definitely worth giving a try.

http://www.usmenuguide.com/cynthiasrestaurant3.htm

Firefly

I hesitate to label Firefly in Studio City as "American" because they are quite a bit more than that, with both French and Asian flares. Griffin and I went here for an anniversary a while back and I can't wait to revisit. Though it can be a little hard to get into on the weekends (my friends and I were once turned away going for drinks on a Friday because we weren't on the list), but if you have a dinner reservation you should be alright. Luckily, you don't have to be somebody to get a dinner reservation either. When you first walk in to the bar, it looks a bit like a library, but certainly the hippest library you've ever seen. As you pass the bar and the plush bar seating you venture to the back outdoor patio, which looks a bit like something out of a movie. The bricks and ivy mix is charming and a big outdoor fireplace adds flare. There are tables spaced under an awning of stars and little bungalow-like tables line the walls. Behind each table are several little candles lighting the scene. It's all very romantic, hence it was perfect for an anniversary dinner. We started out with a glass of wine each and an order of the cast iron skillet mussels. As I consider myself a connoisseur of the crispy rice dish, we also had to try the hamachi sashimi on crispy rice cakes. I love my crispy rice, but this is the best, far surpassing that of Katsu-ya, Iroha, or Yoshi. The flavors are delicate but crisp and certainly worth the $16 for the appetizer. For dinner, we tried the roasted hen breast and the sea bass. Both were exceptional and the pan roasted mushrooms that were served with the hen were to die for. By the time we finished our meal we were unfortunately too full for dessert because the trio of chocolate custards (i.e. chocolate creme brulee) sounded superb! The whole meal was roughly $100 for the pair of us, but like I mentioned, it was a special occasion and well worth the money. The restaurant is a little hard to find as it's completely covered in ivy, but just look for the valet umbrella down the street from Katsu-ya.

P.s. The restaurant Firefly has nothing to do with the Joss Whedon TV series by the same name (much to Griffin's dismay).

http://www.fireflystudiocity.com/
Since the website isn't very built out, Citysearch has the menu.
http://losangeles.citysearch.com/profile/12252451/#

Food Court LA

Food Court LA resides along the same stretch of 3rd St. as Sushi Roku, Wokano, and Electric Karma and is pretty much on par with the quality of it's neighbors. I ate here with a group of 10 or so friends about a month ago and the experience was a good one, though the food did not quite live up to my expectations. Either other people have thought the same way, or people just don't know about this place, because we were able to get a reservation for 10 only a couple of hours before we walked in, which don't get me wrong, it's a good thing, but for a place that small, it seemed kind of strange. When we got there, the space is really cozy with circular dashes of color, dark wood benches and booths, and mirrors furnished by Ikea. They do offer a full bar here, so we all started off with a few cocktails. Some of our favorite specialty drinks were the white wine sangria and the Fruit Loop cocktail. When ordering appetizers for the table, we were really interested in ordering the sashimi and fried onion, but were disappointed when our waiter informed us that this item was no longer available. We then wanted more details on the taco/spring roll appetizer that changes contents nightly (choices range from carne asada to mahi mahi to pancetta & Monterrey jack to goat cheese and fig). We weren't interested in the nightly special and ended up ordering the mac & cheese with bacon and sun-dried tomatoes, which was good, but not really anything to write home about. For the main course, Griffin and I shared the Latchino steak and a house salad. The salad was great with goat cheese and vinaigrette, and the steak which was served as a skirt steak with chile, cumin, and ponzu spread on top of a bed of potatoes was pretty good, but a little blander than what we expected. Another friend had a burger, and said it was good, though it didn't seem that he was that impressed. The meal that looked the best and had the best review came from my friend who ordered the steak and eggs (yep, breakfast served all day!). I have to say that everything on the menu sounded like it might be the best thing you ever had in your life, but nothing really delivered. Luckily, nothing on the menu is more than $16, so even if you don't love it, you're not out an arm and a leg. We didn't save room for desert, but the chocolate cheesecake marbled brownies sounded pretty delicious! Like all of the other restaurants in this area, there is some street parking available occasionally, but the valet is cheap enough that you won't break the bank if you can't find a spot on your own. I'd be interested to see what this place is like at brunch. I bet it's a little more crowded, but probably serving better food, which might be worth the trip back.

http://www.foodcourtla.com/