The Hart and the Hunter Review: The Palihotel's Restaurant Gives Southern Food the Small-Plates Treatment

Did I mention the noise? Those blue tiles are cute (or not — one friend compared the space to being in a bath house decorated by someone's grandma). But they amplify the din of conversation to ridiculous levels, the hard surface of the walls bouncing everyone's strained and shouting voices around, cacophonous, infinite.

The waitstaff is laid back and hyper-cool, sporting finger tattoos and/or fedoras, and operating as if the room were their very own house party rather than a business. It's not that they're disorganized or lazy — far from it. But the style of service here is more friendly than professional. I found this comforting; many people might find it annoying.

PHOTO BY ANNE FISHBEIN

Smoked trout in a jar

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The Hart and The Hunter

7950 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Category: Restaurant > Brunch

Region: Melrose/ Beverly/ Fairfax

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More About

• Brian Dunsmoor
• Hugh Acheson
• Kris Tominaga
• Food and Cooking
• Eating Out

One of my dinner companions turned peevish when a towel-flicking fight broke out between two flirting waiters in front of the kitchen pass. I prefer to think the Hart and the Hunter has an energy that betrays its roots — a pop-up, a group of friends doing something fun, a couple of chefs and their band of hipster waiters playing house in the bottom of a boutique hotel.

If this sounds infuriating to you, then it probably will be. But to many diners, the reaction will be similar to the folks sitting beside me at that big, communal table one night. "You hear about something like this, and half the time you show up and the food just isn't that good," a bearded guy said to his date. "But here, dish after dish has arrived, and it's, like, 'Wow, what a relief. This food is actually really, really good.' "

As a former Southerner and current biscuit snob, I couldn't agree more.

Reach the writer at brodell@laweekly.com.

THE HART AND THE HUNTER | Three stars | 7950 Melrose Ave. | (323) 424-3055 | thehartandthehunter.com | Breakfast daily, 7-11:30 a.m. Lunch, Tues.-Sat., 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Dinner, Tues.-Thurs. & Sun., 5:30-10 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 5:30-11 p.m. Brunch, Sun., 11 a.m.- 2 p.m. | No reservations | Beer and wine | Valet ($8) and street parking

See more of Anne Fishbein's photos of the Hart and the Hunter.