Where to Eat Now

Comments (0) By Jonathan Gold Thursday, Aug 10 2006

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Hot Dog on a Stick. It’s a hot dog. It’s on a stick. It’s fried in a sweetish corn batter and served by pretty college girls who wear tall, multicolored caps. Frankly, as regional hot-dog styles go, Hot Dog on a Stick may not rank with Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island or the elaborately garnished franks of Chicago, but the stands in those cities have no spectacle that even comes close to the sight of a short-skirted Hot Dog on a Stick chick pumping up a tankful of lemonade. In malls citywide. Mon.–Fri. 10 a.m.–9 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.–7 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.–6 p.m. No alcohol. Parking in mall. MC, V. American. JG ¢b?

Westwood/West L.A.?Century City

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Hoan Kiem

727 N. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Restaurant > Asian

Region: Out of Town

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Il Moro. Nestled in a hidden crook of corporate office buildings, this spinoff of the esteemed Locanda Veneta has good fresh fish, pastas in unusual shapes (try “the pope’s hat”) and an artichoke-and-arugula salad bright with lemon juice. The patio creates an unexpected urban refuge; it’s filled with palms, has its own small lake, and a tall gushing waterfall of a fountain literally drowns out the roar of traffic on Olympic. 11400 W. Olympic Blvd., West Los Angeles, (310) 575-3530. Mon.–Thurs. 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m. Fri.–Sat. 11:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m. Sun. 4:30–9:30 p.m. Wine and beer. Valet parking. AE, DC, MC, V. Italian. MH $

Shamshiri Grill. Lovers of the Persian dishes tah dig and karafs — a thin, crunchy cake of fried white rice with a delicious green stew on top — will find good versions of both at Shamshiri, a well-mannered restaurant on Westwood’s Iranian restaurant row. 1712 Westwood Blvd., Westwood, (310) 474-1410. Lunch and dinner Mon.–Thurs. 11:30 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri. 11:30 a.m.–11 p.m., Sat. noon–11 p.m., Sun. noon–10 p.m. Beer and wine. Street parking. AE, D, MC, V. Persian. JG ¢b

Beverly Hills and vicinity

Le Pain Quotidien. This chain bakery and café, which originated in Belgium, has since spread to France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, New York and, most recently, Beverly Hills. Owner-creator Alain Coumont’s rigorous, winning aesthetic consists of a refined, even streamlined rusticity; he seems intent on promulgating precisely the small, daily pleasures that make Continental life so beguiling. Coffee is served in cunning footed bowls. Each establishment has a bakery, featuring huge disks of artisanal breads, crusty baguettes and straightforward pastries. Antique pine shelving holds Le Pain Quotidien products — olive oil, olive paste, sun-dried tomatoes, sea salt, capers and so on, an almost complete Mediterranean palette. 9630 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 859-1100. Lunch and dinner Mon.–Fri. 7:30 a.m.–7 p.m, Sat.–Sun. 8 a.m.–7 p.m. Beer and wine. Takeout. Street parking. AE, MC, V. French. MH ¢b

LA99 Urasawa. The experience at Urasawa is qualitatively different from that at all other sushi bars, the elevator ride up to a private floor, the rice-paper door that magically slides open, the way that everybody in the restaurant knows your name (or the name you reserve under) even before you are ushered to one of the eight chairs. Other sushi restaurants display fish triple–Saran Wrapped behind glass in a refrigerated case; at Urasawa, the fish is out in the open, lighted as carefully as the tomatoes in a Carl’s Jr. ad, all glistening pinks and flashing silvers and glowing translucence surmounted by a bulging slab of ice. The counter is a single, glass-smooth plank of Japanese cypress. (The last time I was in, Kenny G was trying to buy it from chef Urasawa for his house.) Behind the chef is a tableau of irises and hydrangeas and giant bamboo instead of the usual tangle of toaster ovens and rolls of aluminum foil. A ghostly white haunch of what appeared to be real Kobe beef haunted the counter behind the chef. Ginger is cut to order from whole pickled knobs. 218 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, (310) 247-8939. Dinner Mon.–Sun. 6–9:30 p.m. Beer, sake and wine. No takeout. Valet and street parking. AE, DC, D, MC, V. $250 per person. Japanese.JG $$$

Santa Monica/Brentwood

The Counter. The “Build Your Own Burger” idea behind the Counter, a fashionable new dive in Ocean Park, makes it a universe of possibilities centering around the hamburger and its matrix of 40-odd fixings, a restaurant where a thick, rare, organic-beef hamburger with herbed goat cheese, dried cranberries and roasted chiles seems not just the fancy of a celebrity used to flexing his whim of iron but almost an imperative. Ranch dressing on the side? Done! There is a wine-bar aspect to the place (very decent, if obscure, vintages from California), a selection of microbrews, and waitresses who do not, to put it mildly, look as if they are part of the regular hamburger-eating demographic. 2901 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 399-8383. Open Mon.–Thurs. 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Fri.–Sat. 11 a.m.–11 p.m., Sun. noon–9 p.m. Beer and wine. Takeout. Lot parking. MC, V. American. JG $b