Cobras and Matadors

Cobras and Matadors

(323) 932-6178
7615 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Adequately Fed: $30
Green Lentils Sauteed with Jamon Serrano**
Bacaolao Salt Cod Cakes with Aioli***
Roasted Game Hen in a Catalan Sweet and Sour Sauce***
Paella****
Flan****
French Toast*****
(Out of Five Stars)

As part of Los Angeles' Restaurant Week, Cobras and Matadors features a prix fixe menu for $25 a person for a three-course meal usually priced around $30. Not much of a discount, but enough to make this place a good value. For more information on Restaurant Week, visit Dinela.com.

For each course, appetizer, main course, and dessert, there are three options to choose from. My companion and I chose different items to share to try to get a small plates tapas experience. Tapas are a wide variety of Spanish appetizers that can be combined to form meals. I suppose it would be the equivalent of Iberian dim sum. Looking at our selections however, I don't think most of these are traditional tapas dishes. But I won't let that detract from my opinion of an excellent plate.

Both of the appetizers, cod cakes and lentils, exhibited the qualities I like to see in each respectively. The cod cakes had a crisp exterior with a juicy interior topped with aioli that did not overwhelm, but complemented the fish. I have never eaten lentils outside of a soup, but this dish sauteed with Spanish ham gave me quite a surprise. Contrary to what I thought, they were crunchy and not mushy. The flavor had hints of Balsamic vinegar that made these legumes tart and sweet. It was excellent in small quantities, but it felt too heavy to finish.

Cod cakes and Lentils

I once roasted a game hen brined in papaya nectar that turned out tender and sweet. Cobra and Matador's game hen reminded me of my own experiment. Though the sauce was good, with a fruity flavor of apples or pears, it was too sweet. The chicken was overcooked and relied too heavily on the sauce to convey flavor. It could have used a longer marination if it had any at all. The paella had a creamy risotto consistency with mussels, clams, prawns, chorizo topping saffron rice. I love good paella that does not feel dried out or grainy. The texture of this dish fit that description, though it was a little sour for my tastes. The chorizo gets a special commendation for taste.











Game Hen and Paella

To finish off our night, we sampled the flan and French toast desserts. My first forkful of the flan was strangely unfamiliar. I don't know if it is because I haven't had flan in a long time, or if it was somehow different. But with each successive bite, I found myself more and more enamored with this caramel custard. The whipped cream was excellent. It always pleases me when restaurants pay attention to such details as these. Bad whipped cream always seem to be a distraction from an otherwise good dessert. The French toast also came with whipped cream and a plump strawberry. It had a great flavor as well.

Flan

Overall, the amount of food was just right. I left the restaurant feeling great without being weighed down by the food or lightened by my emptier wallet. The service was friendly; the buser even offered to take a picture of us when he spot us taking pictures of the food. The venue is small but picturesque. It seemed to fill up around 8:00, but with a reservation, you should be fine. My gripe is with the tight seating, tables almost side to side. Also, the acoustics were terrible, making a cacophony of overlapping conversations. I really did not care what my neighbor thought of her pets. But even this was not enough to deter me from giving Cobras and Matadors a good review.

Recommendation: Valet is $5.50 so look for side streets. Not cheap enough to go often, but delicious enough to treat yourself from time to time.

A special thanks to my photographer, my lovely girlfriend Yoko.

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Gardens of Taxco

Gardens of Taxco

(323) 654-1746
1113 N Harper Ave
West Hollywood, CA 90046

Adequately Fed: $25
Quesadilla****
Tortilla Soup***
Chicken Enchilada***
Shrimp in Cilantro Cream Sauce***
Banana Cream with Cream Sherry*****
Margarita****
(Out of Five Stars)

The Aztec city of Tlacho is the modern Mexican city of Taxco and inspiration for this Los Angeles restaurant. The unassuming exterior is off of the main drag Santa Monica Boulevard, but a large sign will direct you to turn onto the correct little street. Inside, the atmosphere is crowded and dark. I don't know if that's common for Mexican restaurants in Mexico, but it a tad too dark and warm to be comfortable. A musician with a guitar roams the premises playing La Bamba and other songs for the drunken gringos.

The catch with this place is that it has no menus. A waiter comes over and announces the entrees. Each meal is five courses; you have a choice of several different items. Beef, chicken, shrimp, and fish, there are a few different preparations for each type of meat. If you're a vegetarian, your options are severely limited if available at all. Their main sauce is a cream cilantro that seems to come available on anything and everything. The waiter really makes ordering a theatrical experience, but it is difficult to keep track of everything and make a decision.

With a pitcher of pineapple margaritas, chips and salsa, and Mexican pickles, we waited for our food. The first course quesadillas came out with guacamole, a great way to start your meal. Secondly, comes a tortilla soup with Mexican meatballs called albondigas. It was a simple soup, a good way to round off a multi-course meal, but nothing spectacular. Third, a chicken enchilada with a cheese sauce similar to nacho cheese. It is delicious in small proportions such as on the appetizer, but in large quantities would be overwhelming.

Now the entree is where each dinner's fare diverges. I had the shrimp with the oft mentioned cilantro cream. It came plated with refried beans, rice, and a dallop of guacamole. Personally, I've never been a fan of refried beans or Mexican rice, but the shrimp was decent. The sauce was a bit of a letdown considering how well the waiter spoke of them.

Dessert consided of a small banana cream, smooth in consistency and a small glass of creme sherry to be poured on top. The combination of the dessert and alcohol was a splendid way to top off the meal, bringing the dining experience together as a whole.

In general, the food was decent, no dish a major disappointment. For multiple courses like this, I'd like to see each course working better together to complete the meal. They do serve you a large amount of food; be prepared since you can't really order less. Overall, a solid restaurant and good place to go with friends.

Recommendation: Listen very closely to the waiter when hearing about the entrees. Be decisive and don't dwell too much on what you're ordering.

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Father's Office

(310) 393-2337
1018 Montana Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90403

Adequately Fed: $20
Office Burger***
Frittes*****
Sweet Potato Frittes***
Red Seal Pale Ale****
(Out of Five Stars)

When Joel Stein mentions you in a TIME Magazine article, you know you've made pop culture status. This week's TIME had an article about famous chefs new focus on gourmet burgers. Chef Sang Yoon of Father's Office treats his burgers seriously.

Father's Office is a bar, with elements of a restaurant. You must be twenty-one to enter the tightly packed room with over thirty beers on tap. Overwhelmed? I was. That's why I asked my bartender for a recommendation. The Red Seal that she gave me was very drinkable with a fruity after taste which I enjoyed. For the uninitiated, the scene is rather intimidating. Once you go inside, find an unoccupied bartender and ask for a menu. They have their beers listed along with their food selections. Order directly from the bartender, pay for your food, and take your plastic number placard to whatever free space you get.

Stein's article describes Yoon's $12 burger as having caramelized onions, Gruyere, Maytag blue cheese, bacon compote and arugula. Frankly, I could not taste much beyond the sweetness of the compote and the occasional leaf of lettuce. Combined, the sauce just tasted like a simple barbecue sauce and not much more. The meat was tender and cooked to order, but it lacked the meaty taste that I expect when paying so much for a burger. It went down well, but having no ultra distinguished tastes made it not worth my money. In my opinion, burgers should be simple. Made with wholesome ingredients of the finest quality, just a patty, bun and cheese can beat all the other creative things people put on ground beef nowadays.

The Office Burger

"A la Cart" Fries and Sweet Potato Fries

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Sanuki no Sato

(310) 324-9184
18206 S Western Ave,
Gardena, CA 90248

Adequately Fed: $30
Octopus Salad****
Udonski*****
Green Tea Ice Cream***
(Out of Five Stars)

Sanuki is an area of Japan famous for its udon, hence the name of the restaurant Sanuki no Sato. As such, I expected their udon to be extraordinary, and on a cold day like tonight, I was not disappointed. The walls around the entrance are plastered with pictures of Japanese celebrities on their visits, a tacky but meaningful promotional technique. When in doubt, always check what the "locals" eat.

The Udonski is a communal hot pot udon set filled with seafood including crab, scallop, shrimp, and clams. The combination of seafood made an excellent soup base great standalone but even better when used to cook the separate items that come with the meal. Tofu, mochi, napa cabbage, shitaki and enoki mushrooms were among the items on the vegetable plate. The udon comes separately to add and cook at your leisure so as to preserve the integrity of the noodle. I can only assume they make their own udon by hand because I have never had any better udon anywhere in the world. I feel like Italian pasta has no idea what al dente really is compared to the elasticity of the udon. The consistency made it not only a pleasure to eat, but also fun. Though the udon was excellent, the Udonski set meal was too expensive in my opinion. There are plenty of individual udon bowls for $10-12 that are more reasonable.

Each diner was served a bowl of octopus salad of kelp, octopus, and lemon doused with rice vinegar. A great appetizer to cleanse the palette and prepare for the entree. After the udon, the Udonski comes with a choice of vanilla, green tea, red bean, or cappuccino ice cream, a wonderful contrast to cool you off from the hot soup.

We were seated in the private dining room so I did not experience any problems with service. The tatami room was made for privacy with a little service bell to call for a waitress.

Recommendation: This place is named after an udon famous province for a reason--get the udon!

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Electric Karma

(323) 653-6445
8222 1/2 W. Third Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Adequately Fed: $23
Samosas**
Lamb Tikka**
Lamb Curry***
Tandoori Platter***
Lamb Makhni***
Naan****
Rice Pilaf**
(Out of Five Stars)

Electric Karma truly has an electric atmosphere. Unfortunately, the food is not quite so lively. The restaurant itself was tastefully furnished and appealing to the eye and ear. It helps to have a projector playing Bollywood music videos played to what sounded like bossa nova on the stereo. The mirrors on the walls are placed well enough to really convince you that this place is larger than it actually is. The room in back had a wonderful Buddha mural and floor seating romantically lit by candles. Along one wall is a large bar with an impressive wine selection.

Besides the decorations, I'd also give Electric Karma good marks for the pleasant service. The waiters were attentive and always refilled my water, a perk too often overlooked. Based on those factors, this place would be a great location--except I always base my reviews primarily on the food.

The menu had a large selection of foods appealing to the unexperienced Indian eater. The common selections of curries, vindaloos, and samosas are a solid staple. For an appetizer, we ordered samosas, the fried vegetarian turnover. The came only three to a plate and were not worth the $7. Among the lamb entrees, the curry was fine but nothing exceptional. The makhni is tandoori lamb in a heavy tomato saffron sauce. The sauce tasted exactly as it is described, heavy doses of tomato but again nothing wholly spectacular.

The tandoori platter, a mix of lamb, chicken, sheesh kabob, served with naan resembled an Indian fajita. It came out on a sizzling platter over a medley of grilled onions and bell peppers. The lamb tikka also came out similarly dressed. Neither were very flavorful or juicy. My lamb felt dry, definitely overcooked parts of an animal past its prime. The naan however, was fluffy and well made.

My biggest problem with this restaurant wasn't so much the quality of the food, but rather it was that they charged us extra for rice. I have never been to an Indian restaurant that served a curry dish with rice separate. How do you eat a curry without rice? Not only did we have to order rice separately, but it was also $5 a plate. Overall, this restaurant is not worth returning to. We did spend an hour or so after finishing our meal enjoying the ambiance, but at a $100 dinner for four people, I can enjoy my company elsewhere.

Recommendation: I'm just glad this is an Indian restaurant not named Taj Mahal Palace or some derivative of that. Otherwise, this place is impressively designed and a comfortable dining experience.

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Fisherman's Outlet Restaurant and Market

(213) 627-7231
529 S Central Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90013

Adequately Fed: $15
Lobster Bisque***
Charbroiled Sea Bass (Garlic Butter)*****
Charbroiled Atlantic Salmon (Garlic Butter)****
Coleslaw***
Fries*****
(Out of Five Stars)

Following a lead on the Yahoo homepage, I found Fisherman's Outlet, one of the highest ranked seafood restaurants in Los Angeles. Although I frequently complain about living in LA, the traffic, the sprawl, the superficiality, yet I'll have to admit that the food scene is eclectic and outstanding. This restaurant is an example of good inexpensive food, the type of closely held secret that only the locals know about.

First off, Fisherman's Outlet is barely a restaurant in terms of atmosphere. Like Pink's you navigate through long lines to order at the counter and eat at tables in the patio. On my visit, I arrived at 10:30 in the morning on a Saturday so I did not have to wait unbearably; at this time, there were still a good amount of customers. From what I hear, the restaurant does become incredibly busy during lunch hours, especially on weekdays when the downtown crowd comes by for some seafood.

Second, the major drawback of this place is the location. Nestled in downtown Los Angeles, at the end of a pleasant drive through skid row, Fisherman's Outlet is not in a good neighborhood. That's probably a good reason that they are only open for lunch 10-3:30 Monday through Saturday. But on the plus side, there's plenty of street parking and an accompanying lot. Whether you want to park on the street though, that's up to your discretion.

Since this is attached to a fish market, the fish is fresh and plentiful. The menu has much variety to satisfy the seafood aficionado. It looked like anything that swims or crawls in the sea is offered either deep fried or charbroiled. Though I did not try the fried offerings, the batter looked crisp and golden brown. My sea bass was unconfirmed Chilean, but then so many people lie about the actual origin I never know for sure. It came off the broiler with a moist interior and a crispy crust. The garlic butter sauce was nothing special, but paired with the fish, made a good accompaniment. In truth though, the fish was so delicious, it could have been eaten without any of the three sauces offered with the broiled fish, Cajun, garlic butter, or teriyaki. I've never been a fan of salmon, but their take on this all too common fish was also well-prepared.

Each dish comes with either fries and coleslaw or on a bed of rice. Make sure to tell them you want the fries or the default is rice. Biting into a golden crisp fry, I considered how successful their business could be just selling those tasty morsels. The coleslaw was too dependent on mediocre mayonnaise for flavor. My bowl of lobster bisque was unfortunately not very satisfying. I was expecting a hearty soup capturing the essence of the crustacean, but instead the flavor fell short on overwhelming hints of wine.

I do intend to come back and try some fried offerings. Although my visit was pleasant because of the time, I have considered how bad it would be if I had to wait in a long line and fight other hungry patrons for space at the tables. But looking at the experiences of other people, I'd say this place is worth whatever wait you need to endure.

Recommendation: Lunch only Monday through Saturday and make sure to come early.

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Taix

(213) 484-1265
1911 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Adequately Fed: $21 (sans wine)
Clam Chowder****
House Salad, Vinaigrette**
Braised Short Ribs****
Roast Chicken*****
Orange Sherbet**
(Out of Five Stars)

I'll admit it. I'm a foodie who has very limited experience with French cuisine. In my lifetime, I can only remember going to two exclusively French restaurants, besides my trip to France. Even worse, I took Spanish in high school and my command of French pronunciation is terrible. The issue with French food is that it always commands an air of prestige, what French restaurant is not fancy? Last night's dinner at Taix (pronounced "Tex") showed me how delicious and non-pretentious French food can be.

Opened in 1927, Taix is a part of Los Angeles history. Walking into the restaurant, I felt a wave of nostalgia for simpler times, despite the fact I have not lived in "simpler times." The decor reminded me of an old village inn and there are multiple banquet rooms for large parties.

The menu is short and straight forward. Many of their dishes are on a weekly rotation, so besides a soup of the day, there is also an entree of the day. It seemed to me that they hid their best items like their filet mignon on their rotating menu to encourage customers to come on days like Monday. The staple items of the menu were simple homestyle French dishes like roast chicken, short ribs, pork chops. They have kept to traditional dishes rather than opting for the trendy fusion cuisine that has marred so many French restaurants.

My braised short ribs were excellent in their juiciness and flavor. I always fear that braised dishes will be overcooked, but this was not the case. The grated horseradish also added a unique flavor to the beef. It was the mashed potatoes that stole the spotlight though. They were whipped to a fluffy consistency not weighed down by garlic or herbs but allowed the potato flavor to shine. Their roast chicken, a signature dish, also showcased the great food that kept this place in business for so long. Portion were large by French standards. I hate excessive plating, but these dishes were served in large plates filled to the brim. For $4, you can make any entree into a prix-fixe set including a salad, sherbet, and all you can eat soup du jour. The drawbacks in the food were few. My salad was soggy and not very appetizing. Also, the sherbet tasted generic and scooped from a tub.

Besides my shame in not appreciating French food, I also carry the much deeper shame of not liking wine. As such, I did not order any for my dinner last night. But besides my own personal preference, I was impressed by their extensive wine list worth seeing for the oenophile.

Recommended: Portions are large if you want to get a full six-course meal. Be prepared to eat.

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