It’s an offal-obsessives’ favorite year, cries Jonathan Gold, a day and age “when a young man with a dream in his heart and a Lipitor in his pocket can gorge himself silly on spare parts available only to a lucky few just a couple of years before.” (To be fair, we know some ladies who love offal, too, Mr. Gold). He gets a fix at Waterloo & City, where the terrines please, and trotters and snails are great, but it’s that Dinosaur-sized pork shank that comes with the option of blood pudding on top that sends him skyward. He again suggests that “Waterloo & City is to Culver City what Suzanne Goin’s Tavern is to Brentwood: the right restaurant in the right neighborhood at the right time.” [L.A. Weekly]
S. Irene Virbila thinks it’s a shame more people aren’t making reservations at Shangri-La Hotel’s Dining Room, because former Tower Bar “chef Dakota Weiss is really quite good” and waiters appeared to know “what they were doing.” We’d sure hope so. A longtime diss-bot of hotel dining, Virbila feels the “menu is not hotel solemn but lighthearted and playful” and she loves the spicy grilled lamb sausage and truffled egg toast to start, before moving on to an entree-worthy dinner omelet, coq au vin, and a “good, straight-ahead burger.” Ending on the obvious note that this isn’t the latest hot spot, she uses “good” yet again while wrapping up: “Good things sometimes come in surprising packages.” Two yawn-inducing stars. [L.A. Times]
J. Gold deems Nick’s the “best noir breakfast” for their ham and eggs, a dish that once “so powerfully signified contentment in Los Angeles that a Depression-era political movement was named for it.” [L.A. Weekly]
Need a surprise-party-friendly space for 20 diners in Downtown? Mr. Gold’s the man with your plan. Although he’s a fan of Drago Centro, Bottega Louie, and Church & State, he suggests Wurstkuche’s the proper place for its communal tables, hidden backroom, and “really good sausages and beer.” [L.A. Weekly]
Los Angeles discovers Lomita’s Oumi Sasaya’s udon is “not about wild toppings or esoteric pork parts,” but “smoky, crystal-clear broth with its special katsuobushi (a blend of dried fish) from Japan” and its “silky” noodles. [Los Angeles]
” A Bruce Lee Roll with a pot roast chaser?” Merrill Shindler is impressed by the “Kitchen” part of Rok Sushi Kitchen, which turns out some weird rolls “that would have the traditionalist chefs at hard-line spots such as Sushi Nozawa (in Studio City) and Sasabune (in West L.A.) throwing themselves on their knives.” [Daily Breeze]
