Michele StuevenDineLA, the annual 15-day dining event produced by LA Tourism, will move forward on Friday, Jan. 24, through Friday, Feb. 7, a decision made in collaboration with local chefs and restaurant owners who are eager to revive the culinary spirit of Los Angeles that has taken an extreme hit since the wildfires.
More than 400 restaurants across LA County will offer lunch and dinner deals to fit all budgets. For each DineLA reservation, LA Tourism and Banc of California will donate $10 to the American Red Cross (up to $100,000) towards wildfire recovery efforts across LA.
For this year’s DineLA, Maple Block will offer $15 wood smoke barbecue lunches for $15 at both the Culver City location and the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles. It includes a non-alcoholic beverage, tri-tip sandwich and onion rings, spicy BBQ sauce and house pickles, or Santa Fe chicken salad with market greens, wood-grilled chicken breast, black beans, roasted corn, cherry tomatoes, avocado, red cabbage, tortilla strips, and BBQ ranch dressing.
Tri tip sandwich (Courtesy Maple Block)
Over at Lunetta, for $68 per person, dinner includes roasted Frog Hollow stuffed pear with Fourme d’Ambert cheese, Maine sea scallop ravioli with winter truffles, braised Japanese wagyu beef cheeks with celery purée, hakurei turnips, and dried apricots, grilled Loup de Mer served with winter tabouli and lemongrass ginger rice pudding with a coconut shortcake cookie for dessert.
The Hideaway in Beverly Hills DineLA menus offer lunch for $25 and dinner for $65. Start with a choice of guacamole or guacasabi, followed by a three-course selection that includes dessert. For dinner, each meal begins with a glass of sparkling cava and an amuse-bouche, with a choice of appetizer and entrée options such as branzino frito, carnitas, and vegan mushroom fiesta. Additionally, The Hideaway will donate 10% of every DineLA purchase to Palisades Charter Elementary, which burned down in the fires and was attended by the sons of co-owner Sylvain Bitton.
Luigi Fineo at Al Dente (Michele Stueven)
Firefly in Studio City is offering dinner for $65, with 10% of the proceeds benefiting those affected by the LA fires. The prix fixe menu includes a glass of champagne and offers vegetarian-friendly options. Menu highlights include big-eye tuna tartare, duck confit, steak frites, and mushroom pappardelle. For dessert, choose between sticky toffee cake and white chocolate crème brûlée.
Tucked away on a mom-and-pop shop section of Pico Blvd. in Cheviot Hills is prolific chef Luigi Fineo’s new pasta shop, Al Dente. Housed in the redesigned shotgun space that was previously the home of Delicious Arts Cakes and longtime friend Donna Liu-Brown, Fineo offers Roman-style pizza by the cut using dough matured for 72 hours with toppings that change daily, including porchetta, mortadella, grilled broccoli rabe, and smoked mozzarella. There’s also classic Barese focaccia with fresh tomato and homemade fresh pastas including bucatini, tommarelli, spaghetti, tagliatelle, fettuccine, pappardelle and short cut versions like fusilli, maccheroncini and rigatoni. Ricotta and spinach ravioli, Kennebeck potato gnocchi, and agnolotti can also be found in the custom case with sauces to go with them. Al Dente also offers catering options.
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