Breaking Free: L.A. Wine Culture
Shattering the stereotypes
ProvidenceWhen Michael Cimarusti left the stoves at Water Grill to start Providence, his fans were expecting nothing less than the Los Angeles equivalent of fish palaces like Le Bernardin and Oceana in New York, with a book-length catalog of Burgundies and Alsatian wines to boot. At this glowing restaurant, he managed to fulfill even those superhigh expectations — this is among the best, most civilized kitchens ever to hit Los Angeles. It just doesn't get better than Cimarusti's tartare of live spot prawns served with buttery leaves of brik pastry, sauteed squid with piquillo peppers and meltingly soft slivers of stewed pig's ear, or a terrine of foie gras with muscat gelee that may be the best foie gras preparation in this foie-gras-happy town. The dessert tasting menu of pastry chef Adrian Vasquez is a five-course degustation demanding and ambitious enough to command the attention of an entire evening, a universe of pureed avocado and hot cider foam. 5955 Melrose Ave., Hancock Park, (323) 460-4170. Mon.-Fri. 6-10 p.m., Sat. 5:30-10 p.m., Sun. 5:30-9 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, D, MC, V. Modern American seafood.
750mlBuenos Aires? 14th arrondissement Paris? It's hard to pinpoint exactly what the view from this bistro's picture window calls to mind, but the panorama of trees, century-old buildings and whooshing Gold Line trains is unlike any other in the Los Angeles area at the moment, a gleaming utopian vision that would bring a smile to any urban planner's face. 750ml, presumably named for the capacity of a wine bottle, is another venture from the owner of Malo and Cobras & Matadors, a tiny, expensive small-plates cafe with an equally tiny menu that works better as a full-on restaurant than it does as a wine bar. It's probably best not to come too hungry: hazelnut-dusted chanterelle ravioli are delicious, but there are only two of them in an order, and a portion of the mustardy hand-chopped steak tartare is small enough to qualify as an hors d'oeuvre. But the wine list, strong on choices from Spain and Southern France, is swell. And the clientele seems to average at least 20 years younger than the usual South Pasadena crowd, whose money tends to flow more toward bungalow restoration than to plates of beef shoulder with taleggio fondue. 966 Mission St., South Pasadena, (626) 799-0711. Daily 5-11 p.m. Beer and wine. Street and lot parking. AE, MC, V. French bistro.
Sonais an exquisitely Los Angeles restaurant, a serene bubble of luxury and refinement whose basic unit of consumption is the rippling, nuanced tasting menu, which changes with the seasons and with the whims of chef David Myers. Dinner here may include cubes of sansho-pepper-scented tuna married to sauteed sweetbreads, passionfruit cannoli stuffed with peekytoe crab, tiny Nantucket scallops flavored with dates and poppy seeds, and rare duck with red wine and pumpkin seeds toasted to resemble the exact crunch of its skin. Sona is the farthest thing imaginable from the Rabelasian assault of a brasserie. The morning after nine courses at Sona, it will already seem like a half-forgotten dream. 401 N. La Cienega Blvd., W. Hlywd., (310) 659-7708. Tues.-Fri. 6-10 p.m., Sat. 5:30-11 p.m. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, D, DC, MC, V. Modern French.
25 DegreesThe tiniest restaurant project from the O.C.-based team that brought us Dakota, Whist and Red Pearl is a bordello-style, flocked-wallpaper saloon with a big list of wines by the half-bottle, the chance to have Red Hawk or Crescenza on your cheeseburger instead of ordinary cheddar, and big Chinese takeout containers filled with herb-flecked pommes frites. The soundtrack is probably close to the one you played in your car on the way to the AC/DC concert, if you were into stuff like that, a grinding mix of '80s guitar rock played with enthusiasm and played loud. The single dessert is a slab of chocolate cake big enough to feed 10. 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd., (323) 785-7244. Mon.-Thurs. 5 p.m.-1 a.m., Fri.-Sat. 5 p.m.-3 a.m. AE, MC, V. Beer and wine. Valet parking.
Upstairs 2 Just above and affiliated with the Wine House and within shrieking distance of the 405, Upstairs 2, a small-plates brasserie pushed to the postgraduate level, may neither serve the most refined food in town nor have the most startling wine list, but it very well may be the best place on the Westside to go for food and wine — small portions of Todd Barrie's Mediterraneanized New American cooking accompanied by Marilyn Snee's roster of wines by the glass, separated into categories that expertly match up with the food as if they were microengineered for each other. Really, after seeing what Snee can do with a half glass of fizzy Dr. Loosen Sekt Late Disgorged 1989, I'd hate to see what she could accomplish with a few scant grams of plutonium. 2311 Cotner Ave., W.L.A., (310) 231-0316. Wed.-Thurs. 5:30-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5:30-11 p.m. Major CC. Wine. Plentiful parking above Wine House.
Valentinoand V-VinEverybody's favorite Italian restaurants tend to serve perfected country dishes, rustic vegetables and grilled meats that replicate what a gifted grandmother might prepare for dinner in her Umbrian fireplace. But Valentino's food is as far from home cooking as any French chef's, and the wine book, one of the largest collections of Italian vintages outside Italy, contains as many adventures as any J.K. Rowling. Valentino has always been one of the most controversial restaurants in Los Angeles, loved by foodies who claim to have eaten the best meals of their lives in the dimly lit dining room and loathed by people who claim that the restaurant is a con job. It can be difficult to coax the best from Valentino. But although Valentino is quite expensive, the $85 tasting menu (and you're missing the point if you order anything else) seems almost reasonable. And if you plan ahead and discuss your wine desires with owner Piero Selvaggio, you will discover that the kitchen here works best when it is asked to cook to the contours of the wine. If you are in the mood to economize, a snack at V-Vin, the restaurant's wine bar, earns you a crack at the list. If you're going to hang out at a wine bar, you might as well head toward one that takes its wine seriously. 3115 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 829-4313. Dinner Mon.-Thurs. 5-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5-10:30 p.m.; lunch Fri. 11 a.m.-noon. Full bar. Valet parking. AE, CB, DC, MC, V. Italian.
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2012 - Food & Drink
