Dinner At Eight

Mélisse.It’s so French, this fancy, formal restaurant owned and cheffed by Josiah Citrin in Santa Monica. The room is sedate and a tad fussy — très authentique, from the massive chandelier down to the little footstools designed to keep your Gucci bag off the ground. (And if you don’t have a Gucci bag or its equivalent, you’re out of your price range.) Citrin gives his classical French training, high-end purveyors and farmers-market produce a real workout. Dover sole baked with the bone in Hudson Valley foie gras and beautifully roasted chicken are showstoppers. Bring a big appetite and a credit card and let this restaurant have its way with you: The great service, comfortable seats, course after course of carefully prepared fresh ingredients all add up, plate by plate, element by element, to a complete, pleasurable and singularly French experience. 1104 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 395-0881. Dinner Tues.–Fri. 6–10 p.m., Sat. 5:45–10 p.m. Closed Sun.–Mon. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, D, DC, MC, V. Entrées $27–$38. French.MH $$$¤

Michael’s.California nouvelle cuisine may have been born in this art-infested restaurant where the Diebenkorns are real, the patio swarms with Robert Grahams, and media barons sup on pretty little salads of quail with pansy blossoms and sherry vinegar. Beyond the piles of arugula that reach halfway to the moon, the steak is the real thing, a prime New York strip dry-aged halfway to infinity, with an alarming mineral pungency bred out of most steak-house meat around 1952. But make sure somebody else is paying. 1147 Third St., Santa Monica, (310) 451-0843. Lunch Mon.–Fri. noon–2:30 p.m. Dinner Mon.–Sat. 6–10:30 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, CB, DC, MC, V. Entrées $28–$36. California.JG $$$¤

Location Info

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Campanile

624 S. La Brea Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Category: Restaurant > California

Region: Hollywood

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More About

• Wells Fargo Center
• Michite Katsu
• Hollywood
• Eating Out
• Italian Food and Cooking

Restaurant Josie.Never mind, if you can, that Josie has one of the chilliest doors in town — the hostesses act like bouncers for the DAR. Once you’re seated, life improves; the waiters are real pros, and the dining room manages to be sedate yet hip, and quite cozy in a WASP-y, old-money kind of way. Chef-owner Josie LeBalch, formerly of the Saddle Peak Lodge, Remi and the Beach House, cooks her own mix of Cal-Med dishes with an emphasis on game. 2424 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 581-9888. Dinner seven nights. Mon.–Sat. 6–10 p.m., Sun. 5:30–9 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, CB, DC, MC, V. Entrées $18–$32. California.MH $$$Ü

Rocca. Don Dickman, formerly of Trumps and Daily Grill, finally opened his dream restaurant in Santa Monica, a rustic Italian bistro with the look of a neighborhood New York eatery. Dickman does the lion’s share of cooking — all the stewing and braising — but he also has brought in an ace pasta maker, Maria Gomez. I’d go back for the flattened half-chicken “al mattone,” an excellent-quality, juicy bird with beautifully seasoned skin. For dessert, try the bittersweet-chocolate polenta pudding cake. One night, a friend looked up and said with a slightly startled air, “Is this, uh, like a major restaurant?” In some ways, Rocca is simply too modest for that — too neighborhood, too underdressed. But for those of us who crave authentic Italian cuisine, Rocca is definitely a major restaurant. 1432-A Fourth St., Santa Monica, (310) 395-6765. Dinner Sun.–Thurs. 5:30–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 5:30–11 p.m. Beer and wine. Valet parking across the street at Border Grill. Entrées $11–$17. AE, DC, MC, V. Italian. MH $¤

Culver City/Venice and vicinity

Globe Venice.Globe Venice has replaced 72 Market Street, and it’s perhaps a promising sign of the times that the formerly hard-edged haute-cool celebrity magnet has morphed into a homier place. Chef-owner Joseph Manzare is a veteran of Spago and Granita, and the first restaurant he opened, the Globe in San Francisco, is noted as an off-hours hangout for other chefs. This Globe has outsized art and smart, cheerful waitresses — and one of the best roasted chickens in town. 72 Market St., Venice, (310) 392-8720. Lunch Mon.–Fri. noon–3 p.m. Dinner Sun.–Mon. 5–10 p.m., Tues.–Sat. 5 p.m.–mid. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, CB, DC, MC, V. Entrées $16–$24. California.MH $$H

Joe’s.Enlarged from cramped tables in hallways to actual restaurant proportions, Joseph Miller’s beloved Venice venue is now like, well, a real restaurant, with a real dining room, a larger wait staff and — inevitably — a certain loss. Miller’s clear-flavored California-French cooking can still graze perfection, but the overall focus in both the cooking and temper of the place seems fuzzier and the bill seems significantly higher. And yet I still love his three- and four-course prix-fixe menus. 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 399-5811. Lunch Tues.–Fri. noon–2:15 p.m. Dinner Tues.–Fri. 6–10 p.m., Sat.–Sun. 6–11 p.m. Brunch Sat.–Sun. 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, MC, V. Entrées $10-$25, plus $38–$45 prix-fixe dinner. California.MH $