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Angelini Palisades

Oct26

Location: 1038 N Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. (424) 238-5870

Date: March 31 & May 4, 2022

Cuisine: Italian

Rating: Great for the Palisades

Angelini Palisades is finally a second decent restaurant to join Rick Caruso’s Palisades village. The other one, Blue Ribbon Sushi, while not super exiting, is also “solid” (if pricey).

Angelini is a “branch” of the Hollywood Osteria Angelini which has been one of LA’s best Italians for years.

Angelini Ristorante & Bar builds on Angelini’s storied history in Los Angeles; his eponymous Osteria has been a staple for hungry Angelenos since its opening in 2001. Known across the city for his pasta creations, Angelini offers anticipated favorites featuring Lasagna Verde ‘Nonna Elvira’; Tagliolini Limone; and Linguine with Santa Barbara Sea Urchin alongside soon-to-be new classics!

The new Palisades version has a nice “Caruso-style” build out.

With a semi-outside bar and patio.

And a swank interior.

Menus on two different days. Minor differences only. The menu is a bit small.

Bread.

Insalta Angelini. Cannellini beans, avocado, cucumber, toasted pistachios, parmigiano.

Insalata Tricolore. Endive, radicchio, arugula, shaved parmigiano.

Insalata di Aragosta. Fresh Maine lobster, golden apple, mixed greens, pomegranate seeds.

Burrata and Prosciutto. San Daniele 24 month aged prosciutto, Italian Burrata cheese, arugula.

Gluten free alla Nerrano. Zucchini, basil, parmigiano.

Spaghetti alla Nerano. Zucchini, basil, parmigiano.

Linguini Ricci di Mare. Sea urchin, shallot, chives. This is an Angelini classic.

Risotto Frutti di Mare. Riso Acquerello, cuttlefish, lobster, shrimp, mussels, clams.

Lasagna Verde “Nonn Elvira”. Homemade spinach pasta, beef & pork ragu, béchamel, parmigiano.

Branzino al sale. Whole Mediterranean branzino, roasted in sea salt, aromatic herbs, served with sautéed spinach and mashed potatoes.

Sogliola Romagnola. Except this sole was prepped with the branzino prep: aromatic herbs, served with sautéed spinach and mashed potatoes.

Torta Caprese. Soft chocolate cake, almond flour (GF).

Bread Pudding. Brioche, butterscotch sauce, vanilla gelato.

Tiramisu. Mascarpone cheese cream, layered lady fingers, soaked in espresso. Pretty good Tiramisu. No Zabaione, but otherwise “correct.”

Vanilla, Chocolate and Pistachio Gelato, made at Hollywood branch. Gelato was good. Very classic, not as intense as mine, and boring flavors, but proper gelato.

Angelini might not be cheap (it certainly isn’t) but it is now hands down the best Italian in the Palisades. This is a pretty low bar as Palisades Italians have always been either extremely dated or terrible, but Angelini is quite good. The location and setting is very nice too. The only problem is really the limited menu and the fact that it’s not particularly innovative, still, I’ll take it (2 min from home).

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By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Angelini, Angelini Palisades, Angelini Ristorante & Bar, Italian cuisine, Palisades Village

London in the Palisades

Dec31

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.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: British Food, lamb, London, Pacific Palisades, Palisades Village, The Draycott

Hank’s Palisades

Dec19

Restaurant: Hank’s Pacific Palisades

Location: 1033 N Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. (310) 427-3077

Date: November 3 & December 26, 2018

Cuisine: Burger joint

Rating: Good burger, but narrow menu and expensive

I’m slowly working through all the places in the new Palisades Village.

Hank’s is right on Swarthmore, just a bit down from where the old Mort’s Deli (much missed) was. They have a nice patio. Hank’s is VERY crowded. Lines at almost all times. Probably Hank’s is the most popular because it’s the most approachable.

The build out is a bit pubby.

The menu. Sadly it’s pretty much all burgers / sandwiches. I’m okay with burgers, but I can’t eat them all that often. There is a lingering Mort’s item in the form of a Reuben.

Buffalo Cauliflower (deconstructed) (12/26/18). This is normally fried and coated with the hot sauce and blue cheese dressing but I was trying to go “low carb” and got it steamed with the sauces on the side. Pretty decent when you drenched it in sauce — although not that much cauliflower for $14.50.

Cheese Burger with bacon, sautéed onions, and American cheese. It was a good burger. Not huge though (although certainly big enough). Heavy like burger’s always are. I wasn’t totally sure if they forgot the bacon which makes me think maybe they did because I should have noticed it. Empty cheese burgers start at $15.50 and don’t include fries!

Burger Bowl with kale Caesar and added bacon and sautéed onions (12/26/18). You can get the burger on a salad instead of a bun — but as I discovered it’s only one patty instead of the two that come on the normal burger (I guess they expect women to order this) and so it ends up a bit “where’s the beef.” Pretty small patty, 1/4 pounder (uncooked). The salad was good but I did have to pile on the stuff so this was $14.50+$2+$2+$1.50 = $20 (before tax and tip). I had ordered cheese but they forgot it. They did bring it later but it was like half a slice of Craft American on plate. They could have put 2 slices on at least. Haha.

Impossible Burger and fries. My wife loves this because as a vegetarian she doesn’t get burgers out often. Fries don’t come with — but are $6.

Onion Rings ($8!!). Good rings. But $8?

Mac & Cheese. Simple and pretty good. But also $8.

The nearby Bay Theater and it’s very short very retro sign.

So far, having tried all the places in the village (even if I haven’t posted all of them as of this posting), Hank’s actually has the best execution. It’s a burger place and the burgers are really good. I’ll have to try a shake too at some point. Problem I have is that it’s pretty much all burgers and I can only eat them every so often. And it’s crowded so it takes a bit of time. I often like burgers fast casual. And prices are quite high. A burger with stuff — and that’s the only way I eat them — will easily bust $20 and that doesn’t include fries. A burger, fries, and a shake would be around $40! Yeah, that’s right!

Still, because the food is good (for what it is), I feel this is the most successful of the rather dull collection of offerings at the village. Blue Ribbon is okay too, but a touch boring. Porta Via is downright badly executed, although I have to try it again now that they’ve been running for awhile.

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: burger, Hamburgers, Hank's, mac & cheese, Pacific Palisades, Palisades Village

Blue Ribbon Sushi

Nov25

Restaurant: Blue Ribbon Sushi

Location: 1079-1001 Monument St, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. (310) 907-9899

Date: October 2 & December 5 & 23, 2018 and August 10, 2018

Cuisine: Japanese / Sushi

Rating: Solid sushi, if a touch “typical” and American mainstream

Blue Ribbon Sushi is the only “exotic” place (and not really that exotic) in the new Palisades Village Complex.

The space is small but very cute with a big patio facing on the green.

The menu looks pretty decent.

Shishito peppers with miso sauce and bonito flakes (12/5/18). Not bad. A bit sweet and spicy.

House salad (8/10/19) was pretty good.

Miso Eggplant (8/10/19) was very (temperature hot), slightly sweet and salty and not bad.

Tiger Shrimp. Wasabi Mayo. Good, but a touch over fried and quite salty.

Hamachi Uzuukuri. Thin sliced hamachi. Ponzu sauce, Jalapeno, Togarashi, micro cilantro. Classic. Sauce was a bit too soy sauce.

Kanpachi (I think) with yuzu kosho (12/5/18). Better than the soy sauce above.

Scallop sashimi (12/5/18). Scallops were good but I didn’t like the pairing of the chili paste. Would have preferred yuzu and salt.

And low and behold, ordering it a year later (8/10/19) it had yuzu koshu and salt. Better, still very salty, and would be better with just fresh yuzu and sea salt.

Live Santa Barbara Spot Prawn Sashimi (8/10/19). Tender and tasty.

The heads came back deep fried. Ate everything but the eyeballs!

Lobster Sashimi (8/10/19). Slices in the back might be a fish, not sure. The back right is the lobster itself — excellent. Then in the front they turned the claws into lobster nigiri (nice) and those interesting shredded cooked lobster rolls.

Black Snapper Carpaccio. Black snapper sashimi, yuzu, kosher truffle oil, salt. Tasted too much like truffle oil. Sauce was very similar to the first one, masked the fish. So wasn’t really a success.

Salmon Carpaccio. Sliced salmon, Tomato Asian Mix, Ponzu sauce, truffle oil, olive oil and sea salt. Despite the slightly different sounding difference the sauce basically tasted the same. Didn’t really really properly tailored for the fish.

Mango Salmon Sashimi (8/10/19). Not ground breaking, but fine.

Toro Tartare. Tuna Belly, caviar & quail egg. The best dish of the night, probably. Solid enough for what it was.

Sushi. Salmon. Tuna. O-toro. Fine, but boring. The toro was sold as O-toro but tasted like chu-toro to me.

A sashimi plate (12/5/18) ordered at lunch. Not bad, but small and a touch “boring.”

A similar sushi plate (8/10/19).

On my third visit, at dinner with my son, I ordered some nigiri. Various white fish nigiri here (12/23/18). These weren’t bad, although leaning heavily on the yuzu kosho. I again didn’t like the scallop with the chili, although the scallop quality itself was quite good.

Lobster egg battleship and Dungeness crab battleship (12/23/18). Good quantity of shellfish.

Fresh water eel, uni, and ikura (12/23/18). All pretty good. Nigiri was moderately expensive, but pretty good.

I wasn’t super impressed with Blue Ribbon Sushi. Service was slightly green — but that’s fine as they are very new. The menu is okay, but execution is a little boring, heavy handed, or “white.” It’s like Nobu but a bit cheaper and considerably less interesting — and I’m not even that big a fan of the Nobu style of sushi. I like a more refined Japanese sensibility. I’ll go back to Blue Ribbon to see how it is on repeated visits, but I’m skeptical as if I would go repeatedly with so much other great sushi in LA.

My second visit (12/5/18) for lunch was better, as 3/4 sashimi dishes I ordered were solid, if not super exciting.

My fourth visit (8/10/19) was much better. Maybe I ordered better, maybe they have come into their own a bit, and I spent at least $150 just on myself as I ordered entirely sashimi — but it felt a bit more interesting and the fish was certainly good. They still lean a bit heavily on salt and the ultra salty yuzu koshu, but I’m upgrading my opinion to “good, if not super unique.”

For more LA dining reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Blue Ribbon Sushi, Pacific Palisades, Palisades Village, Sashimi, Sushi

Quick Eats – Porta Via

Nov09

Restaurant: Porta Via

Location: 63 N Swarthmore Ave, Pacific Palisades, CA 9027. (310) 499-2989

Date: September 24, 2018

Cuisine: Hint of Italian

Rating: New, nice ambiance, and solidly mediocre food

Rich Caruso, billionaire developer, has recently redeveloped the Palisades Village area just 2 minutes from my house. After years of no restaurants at all we were excited to get a raft of new ones and so I have been systematically trying them. Do bear in mind that this place was about 3 days old when I first did.

Porta Via is a clone of a Beverly Hills restaurant. And while the name might lead you to the conclusion that it’s Italian, or maybe Spanish, it’s really just American lunch food. Maybe someone ran an Italian flag through the kitchen. It’s not even slightly, marginally European.

The build out for the whole village is lovely with a great outside patio.

And a stylish interior.

The menu is flat out boring by my standards.

Gazpacho. I love the authentic Andalusian style of liquid salad. I even make a great one myself. This is the sort of Tomato juice style of Gazpacho. It’s not bad — but not really good either and doesn’t have that nice whipped consistency or sharp vinegar tang.

Chopped Salad. Organic chopped lettuces, beets, garbanzo beans, green beans, tomato & Feta. Champagne shallot vinaigrette. It’s a little baby salad. Doesn’t look that interesting or dressed either.

Cobb Salad. Organic chopped lettuces, grilled chicken, bacon, tomato, celery, avocado, egg & blue cheese.Red wine mustard vinaigrette. This was a pretty lame cobb salad and tiny to boot. It wasn’t horrible or anything, but was underdressed, small, and just not very exciting.

‘Impossible’ Burger. Plant-based vegan burger, lettuce, tomato & avocado. Brioche sesame bun. pommes frites. Good for a vegan burger, fairly meaty, if a bit dry. Could have used an aioli or something. Everything here is bland and dry.

Prosciutto Sandwich. prosciutto di parma, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, lettuce & black olive tapenade on grilled ciabatta.

I won’t pass final judgement on Porta Via yet until I go a couple of times, and they were about 48-72 hours into service and had absolutely zero training prior to opening. I forgive them all that. What I don’t currently forgive them is the inexcusably boring menu. I mean I fell asleep reading it. Nothing is original. And even worse than that rather grievous sin is not even executing very well on the classics. It’s possible to do a great cobb, a great caesar, great gazpacho etc. And if you are going to be so predictable and trite (not to mention fairly pricey) you damn well out to execute superlatively. Now I wouldn’t expect a crazy level this early in their life cycle, but I can tell from the plating, style, etc, that the don’t even aspire to it.

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