Restaurant: The Draycott
Location: 15255 Palisades Village Lane, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. (310) 573-8938
Date: November 28, 2018
Cuisine: British?
Rating: Nice decor, menu too small
The Draycott is the last of the four “sit down” Palisades Village restaurants I’ve tried.
The Draycott is a California-inspired family-friendly Brasserie, created by Matt and Marissa Hermer. Named as an homage to London’s Draycott Avenue, where the husband-and-wife restaurateur duo first met, The Draycott features wholesome and classic dishes using locally sourced ingredients.
The restaurant-café melds the ambiance of Europe with a convivial all-day environment, featuring seasonal lunch and dinner menus served with a British twist, along with extensive breakfast and brunch menus and a daily afternoon tea service.
After moving from London – where Matt and Marissa own and operate award- winning bars and restaurants – to Pacific Palisades, they wanted to create a place that married all the things they love about Southern California and all the things they miss about London.
The build out is lovely with a big patio and a gorgeous clubby interior (I’ll have to photo it next time I go, forgot last time).
The have a big cocktail program and attractive bar — too bad I don’t really drink cocktails.
The menu is the biggest problem. It’s tiny. Very few items, and most are boring. There are no mains that I would generally be excited about. They are all just too boring. Moules Frites are okay, but I think of that more as an appetizer.
Kabocha Squash. Market Squash, sauteed forbidden rice, hearty greens, harissa vinaigrette, pomegranate seeds, torn mint.
Winter squash soup. Marcona almond, pomegranate seeds, baharat.
This was a special. Burrata, prosciutto, and pear salad. Decent although needed more burrata.
French fries.
Pan roasted trout. Fishmonger’s trout, sprouted almond, charred lemon, crispy capers, rice pilaf.
Another special — and actually gave me an entree to order. Lamb chops. Solid, but very expensive.
The lamb chops came with two sides of your choice so fries and Brussels sprouts. The sprouts were good, salty and cooked with bacon.
Service here was confused. They brought both our courses simultaneously! The execution on the food was decent. Was better than Porta Via. Problem is the menu is so boring and so small. Particularly on the main side, they seemed to want to keep it small, yet to appeal broadly across all demographics: vegetarian, fish, different proteins, burger etc. The net net is that when you like one thing or another you only have one or two choices. And nothing has any style or innovation to it.