Restaurant: Animal
Location: 435 N Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036. (323) 782-9225
Date: September 29, 2022
Cuisine: Modern American
Rating: Tasty
I’ve been meaning to try Animal for years and somehow never have — until now.
Space is narrow and fairly spartan.
The menu with my markups.
A Jura white.
prawns, roasted garlic, chili lime sauce. Nice juicy shrimp with a very distinct wood fire taste.
chicken liver toast. Tastes like chicken liver on toast. A bit of grainy quality. Pleasant.
sugar snap peas, ponzu, green garlic, sesame. Very fresh and delicious “salad.” There was a bit of mint in here. Quite lovely.
From my cellar: 2001 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. JG 94+. The 2001 vintage is one of the recent favorites of Signor Pepe, and he is convinced that this will be a classic in the fullness of time. The bouquet is still quite primary in its blend of dark berries, black cherries, Cuban cigars, a bit of cherry pits, dark soil, botanicals and a nice touch of nutskin in the upper register. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and quite a powerful young vintage of the Pepe Montepulciano, with a rock solid core of fruit, lovely, nascent complexity, chewy tannins and excellent length and grip on the focused and still quite youthful finish. Today, the fine 2003 accessible, but with sufficient bottle age, the 2001 is going to be a reference point vintage of this great wine. (Drink between 2020-2050)
crispy pig ear, red chili, lime, market egg. This was mixed up to eat. Tasted like crispy bacon and eggs. Hands down the best pig ear I’ve had. Delicious.
Mixed up.
double corn anson mills cheese grits, tomatillo, crèma. Very creamy with a sharp tomatillo flavor. Quite pleasant.
piri piri chicken wing, aioli. Small and a bit boney but very juicy with that wood char flavor.
Some grilled bread for dipping.
2011 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie Château d’Ampuis. VM 93. Vivid ruby. Spicy red fruits, incense, violet and botanical herbs on the flamboyantly perfumed nose. Vibrant, mineral-tinged black raspberry and bitter cherry flavors show impressive depth and vivacity and a seamless texture. Juicy, precise and appealingly sweet on the youthfully tannic, incisive finish, with the berry and floral notes echoing. The blend of fruit intensity and tension here is quite suave. (Drink between 2016-2033)
barbeque pork belly sandwich, slaw. Tasted like a Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich. Absolutely delicious. Rich and the slaw really helped make the dish by cutting the fat.
This was a great little “slider.”
dolma fried rice, chicken confit, tzatziki. Not that crispy, but did actually taste like a dolma. Enjoyable and interesting.
roasted bone marrow, chimichurri. The best bone marrow I’ve had. Very thick and succulent and the chimichurri added some zesty flavor.
duck confit, heirloom beans, collard greens, porchetta spice, fennel. Salty but spectacular. Lots of meaty duck notes.
sweetbreads, spinach, hen of the woods, caper brown butter. Not the biggest sweatbread fan.
tempura soft shell crab, green curry, coconut caramel. The crab itself was beautifully fried and delicious. The curry didn’t actually taste fully curry-like. I think it would have been better with a more punchy Thai-style curry.
creme brûlée gelato. A little boring by itself but incredible with the toffee pudding.
sticky toffee pudding, boysenberry sorbet, creme fraiche cream. Delicious. Tasted like sticky toffee pudding. Not sure the sorbet added much, but the rest was awesome.
tres leches, strawberry. Absolutely fabulous tres leches. Moist and creamy and the slightly candied strawberries totally took it to the next level.
Fun little night at Animal. We were pretty late, but it wasn’t crowded at all on this random weekday night. Such is the fickle life cycle of LA restaurants. I was not super impressed by the atmosphere. It felt like the standard kind of 3′ wide city retail space just kind of turned into a restaurant.
Food was very good though. However, somehow it isn’t the type of thing I crave and I kinda feel like I’ve “been there done that.” Hmmm. But many of the dishes were quite good. Maybe just not crowd pleaser style exactly. But that pork belly sandwich, that I could crave.