Restaurants for Wine Lovers

MelisseWhen Melisse opened a few years ago, it seemed as if Josiah Citrin was trying to create a Michelin-worthy restaurant by force of will alone, imposing luxury ingredients and luxury prices on a local public that seemed happy enough to eat its seared venison without the benefit of Christofle silver, velvet purse stools or airy sauces inflected with fresh black truffle. The cooking was always good enough, but the effect was faintly ridiculous, like a teenager trying on his father's best sports jacket when he thinks nobody is looking. (What I remember best from my first several visits is not a particular dish, but the sight of Don Rickles and Bob Newhart at the next table insulting the waiters with material that would have killed at a Friars Club roast.) And the prices, $95 for an all-but-mandatory four-course menu, would be high even in Paris. But Citrin has grown into Melisse; he wears it like a custom-fitted suit. And his cuisine, which uses farmers'-market produce and the most modern kitchen techniques without calling attention to itself, has shed most of its baby fat — the cassoulet of white asparagus with morels, the melting Copper River salmon and the butter-soft duck breast at a spring dinner all brought out the soulful essence of the ingredients in the least showy way imaginable. 1104 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 395-0881. Dinner Tues.-Thurs. 6-9:30 p.m., Fri. 6-10 p.m., Sat. 5:45-10 p.m. Closed Sun.-Mon. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, D, DC, MC, V.

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Bastide

8475 Melrose Place
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Restaurant > American

Region: West Hollywood

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Cobras & Matadors

7615 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Category: Restaurant > Spanish

Region: Melrose/ Beverly/ Fairfax

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• Vincenti Valentino
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• Culver City
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Michael'sBack in its Nouvelle Cuisine days, Michael's may have been the first market-oriented restaurant in Southern California, a showcase not just of glorious art — Rauschenberg, Stella, Graham, Hockney — but of tiny vegetables, local meats, California wines and luxury foodstuffs identified by port of origin. And this was the restaurant that taught Angelenos that California wines could be just as serious as French ones. There still may be no better afternoons in Los Angeles than those spent on Michael's garden patio, hefting Christofle silver, inhaling Dungeness crab salad, house-made gravlax, tweaked yellowtail sashimi and an oaky, buttery Napa Chardonnay with just enough bottle age. Michael's still feels a little like an exclusive party that somebody forgot to invite us to. 1147 Third St., Santa Monica, (310) 451-0843. Mon.-Fri. noon-2:30 p.m. & 6-10:30 p.m., Sat. 6-10:30 p.m. Full bar. Nonsmoking, including patio. Valet and street parking. All major CC. California.

NookSometimes you get the feeling that the owners of Nook are running less an American bistro than a joke about an American bistro. As faithfully as they reproduce the fundamentals of the kinds of fancily unfancy restaurants that pepper every urban neighborhood from San Diego to Augusta, Maine, they are also poking fun at them with every dried-cranberry garnish and each day-boat scallop, each obscure Belgian beer and each boutique Oregon Pinot Noir, each crusty roast chicken and dish of iconic macaroni and cheese. Almost every aspect of the restaurant, from its double-height communal table to the admonition on the menu that cell-phone use interferes with the controls on the deep fryer, is as ironically pitch-perfect as the Neil Diamond songs on a Silver Lake DJ's iPod. 11628 Santa Monica Blvd., No. 9, W.L.A, (310) 207-5160 or www.nookbistro.com. Lunch Mon.-Fri. 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; dinner Mon.-Sat. 5-10 p.m. Beer and wine. Lot parking. AE, MC, V. American Bistro.

OrtolanAt a time when l'Orangerie is dead, and half the emigre chefs in California are putting their knowledge of Escoffier to work cooking pasta, Ortolan, which reflects Christophe Eme's Loire-trained palate, may be the most serious French restaurant in Los Angeles. If you are a fan of intimate, dungeonlike restaurant spaces, dining rooms so dark that diners are issued little flashlights along with their menus, and presentations that extend to mushroom soup served in test tubes and fish seared on hot river rocks, then Ortolan may be the restaurant for you. Actually, Ortolan's basic premise — high-level French cooking served in a supper-club setting — is an attractive one. And Eme, who co-owns the restaurant with his paramour, Jeri Ryan, who is often to be seen working the room, is remarkably skilled: The squab, served as a roasted breast paired with a leg confit, is exceptional, as are the crisp langoustines done in the style of Robuchon, and the complex tasting menus are among the most accomplished in town. 8338 W. Third St., L.A., (323) 653-3300. Tues.-Sat. 6-10 p.m. (Closed Sun.-Mon. in summer.) Full bar. Valet parking. AE, MC, V. French.

Osteria Mozza Almost anybody who has tasted Nancy Silverton's miracles in the media of bread, pastry, cheese or pizza can attest to the power of the way she thinks about food. Silverton's osteria, a sleek, bustling restaurant in the same building as her Pizzeria Mozza, has at its center her mozzarella bar, a loose take on the mozzarella-centric cuisine at the chic wine bar Obika near the Pantheon in central Rome. And it is to her credit that her ideas, along with the skills of Matt Molina, the young San Gabriel native who is her chef, and the contributions of partners Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali as well as wine czar David Rosoff — that Osteria Mozza pulls together: the braised guinea fowl and the spoon-tender pork roast inspired by rural Umbrian trattorias sharing menu space with meat-sauced garganelli and tortellini en brodo from the most sophisticated restaurants in Bologna; the baroque, almost sashimi-like constructions of fresh mozzarella and exotic condiments co-existing with the simplest possible rendition of linguine cacio e pepe. (The standard disclaimer applies: Nancy is a longtime family friend and she co-wrote a book with my wife. You are free to discount any of my opinions, although you would be a fool to do so.) 6602 Melrose Ave., L.A., (323) 297-0100. Mon.-Fri. 5:30-11 p.m., Sat. 5-11 p.m., Sun. 5-10 p.m. Beer, wine. Valet parking. Major CC. Italian.

Pizzeria MozzaAt Pizzeria Mozza, Nancy Silverton has people arguing over the entire paradigm of what a pizza might be. Her pizza is airy and burnt and risen around the rim, thin and crisp in the center, neither bready in the traditional Neapolitan manner nor wispy the way you find pizza in the best places in Tuscany. The crust is sweet and bitter, salty and chewy, circled by crunchy charred bubbles that may or may not be snipped off by the chefs as they inspect the pizzas at the pass. Every pizza at Mozza is a unique marriage of flour, salt and hot-burning almond wood, stretched into irregular disks, as individually lovable as children, topped with sausage and wild fennel, or squash blossoms and burrata, or fried eggs and pureed anchovies. Mario Batali is a part owner, and the buzziness and heat may remind you of Otto, Batali's pizza parlor in Greenwich Village, although Mozza's pizza is better than Otto's. The antipasti, which are mostly vegetables, include crackling, deep-fried squash blossoms stuffed with oozing ricotta cheese. David Rosoff's all-Italian wine list is short and obscure but loaded with delicious things to drink, and nothing is over $50. 641 N. Highland Ave., L.A., (323) 297-0101 or www.mozza-la.com. Open daily noon-mid. Valet parking. AE, M, V. Italian pizzeria.