Renaissance faire re-creationists, little kids, self-proclaimed sword experts, Dungeons & Dragons dorks, and dudes who generally like to drink from goblets served by “wenches,” rejoice! A new restaurant named Excalibur opened Sunday in Downtown, functioning like a sort of Medieval Times sans the show.
Here, standard dishes like salads and chicken wings become enchanted, turning into plates with heavy metal names like “Merlin’s Salad,” “Feast on the Eve of the Battle,” and “The Great Feast of Knights,” or as they are known throughout the land in 2012, chicken, bacon, ribs, and sausage. The food is more intriguing than one might expect at a themed restaurant, with bacon-wrapped chicken livers, as well as specialties of pheasant, boar, venison, and suckling pig that can be ordered ahead of time. What else makes this place sound pretty bad-ass?
Los Angeles magazine reports that guests will get to dress up in garments recalling the olde times, provided by the restaurant itself, while the less enthusiastic may turn their attentions to ye royal flat-screen televisions. The place is decorated with large stones, heavy wooden tables, and stained-glass, while a website tells us the first location was founded in Transylvania, but we can’t tell if that’s just romantic hype or not (if it was, why would they give an opening date in boring old 2006, and not say, bloody old 1506?).
If that’s not all cool enough already, the restaurant’s website even lets you swing a sword around instead of a mouse. Hopefully, Excalibur is also on the cutting edge of the mead movement we just know is coming around the corner to ravage and pillage the craft beer scene. In any case, it sounds like the appropriate place to burn off a little testosterone after Lakers victories at The Staples Center across the street.
Excalibur, 1248 S Figueroa St. Downtown. 213-749-7751.
