In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And God said, let there be bacon, and there was bacon. And God saw the bacon, that it was good, and God divided the bacon from that which was not bacon. And the Food Dudes, having brought forth their restaurant Animal, brought forth all that was bacon, even in dessert, for as surely as God loveth the great whales that he hath created, he loveth also crunchy chocolate bars paved in bacon, and fried quail and grits with juicy slab bacon, and wilted heirloom spinach with poached eggs and bacon, and whole grilled branzino with pancetta vinaigrette, for what is pancetta but a fancy Italian word for fancy Italian bacon? And then the Food Dudes rested, because fried sweetbread nuggets work just as well as bacon in the potatoes that come with the flatiron steak, and sweetbreads are the bacon of veal glands, so sayeth the Lord. Animal is small and loud and powered by seasonal organic produce; has a nice list of manly wines available by the bottle, the glass and the half-bottle carafe; and although it is populated with people who like meat, Food Network–approved Food Dudes Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo are unafraid to prepare a simple amberjack poke (Hawaiian-style tartare) with ripe nectarines and harissa, to sell delicious grilled king-crab legs — The Most Dangerous Catch! — prepared as simply as they would be at Red Lobster, and to serve an unadorned bowl of mulberries and nectarines for dessert … if only at those times when even bacon isn’t enough. 435 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A., (323) 782-9225.

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