Jonathan Gold takes a bite out of Father's Office 2.0 at the Helms Bakery complex in Culver City-adjacent, and the review (the food isn't quite there yet, but there are some interesting and delicious bites, and of course, the burger and beer are tops) is chock-full of classic Goldisms. To wit:
"With Father’s Office, which inspires the extremes of behavior often described by scientists studying overcrowded animal cages, there is no middle ground."
"Yoon could probably get away with serving his goat-cheese gratinée in telephone booths if he felt like it."
"...a table should be at least as easy to command as a parking space at the Grove the day after Thanksgiving — if you maintain the necessary levels of attention and aggression."
"I have heard from several sources that when Yoon visited Osteria Mozza and asked whether he could order the pasta tasting for just two people instead of for the entire table, as was printed on the menu, Nancy Silverton said: 'Only if you let me order a hamburger without cheese the next time I’m at your restaurant.'"
He's softened on the FO experience, maybe because finding a seat in the bigger, splashier location, though still difficult, isn't as bad as the SM original. From Gold's 2004 review: "Father's Office is a perfect analogue to Bush-era America, a closed, mean, inward-looking place where tyranny masquerades as freedom, cronyism is taken for granted, and the powers that be talk a lot about hamburgers but ultimately deliver pâté." Ouchers.
· All Hopped Up at The New Father's Office [LAW]
· Fight Club [LAW]
· Eater Inside: Father's Office 2.0 Debut [~ELA~]
Two critics, one restaurant. This week both S. Irene Virbila and Jonathan Gold preview Brix@1601, a wine-centric restaurant that opened at the Hermosa Pavilion a few weeks ago. Miss Irene says Michael McDonald's food isn't breaking any barriers but it's good and well-executed. There's talk of sliders and steaks. Gold basically agrees, but also gives mad props to Caitlin Stansbury, "one of L.A.’s rock-star sommeliers, a whip-thin woman with the haunted eyes of a lead guitarist and the ability to make Greek rosés and South African syrahs seem like the most desirable liquids in the world." We took a quick look a few weeks ago, but there's nothing like a shiny new photo gallery to bring it all home. (1601 Pacific Coast Hwy, Hermosa Beach, 310.698.0740)
· First Look: Brix@1601 [LAT]
· Brix @ 1601: The Newest Home of Rock-Star Sommelier Caitlin Stansbury [LAW]
· Eater Inside: Brix@1601 [~ELA~]
This week S. Irene Virbila unearths a random Italian restaurant in Naples, the tony marina enclave in Long Beach. Michael's on Naples has all the right touches---sleek interior, rooftop deck with sea breezes, octopus carpaccio and handmade pastas from chef Marco Cavuoto, lots of Italian wines---and only a few hiccups (service is disorganized and not very professional, it's loud, "corny" Italian music). Her ambience note at the end of the review sums it up best:
Contemporary Italian in Naples with roomy booths and a stylish open-air rooftop dining area. Far outclasses anything else on the island and attracts an affluent, Italian-food-mad crowd.
So there's just not a lot of good food on Naples, and Michael's gets two stars. Miss Irene overhears a LB customer ask why should they trek to West Hollywood when they can walk to Michael's. Indeed. Someone from WeHo is probably asking themselves the same question about Naples in Long Beach. Today the "S." stands for "stolid." [LAT]
From around the blogosphere: El Prado, Fraiche, South, Amandine Patisserie and More >>
This is one of those times we're happy to be in the same city as Jonathan Gold. Not only does he discover the Thousand Cranes' tempura bar at the Kyoto Grand Hotel (formerly the Otani Hotel) in Little Tokyo for us, but now we want all things fried and glistening: "There are prawns, huge as bananas, that come out of the oil as straight as rulers, crackle-crusted and spurting sweet juice when you violate them with your teeth. You may taste big sea scallops tamed to a luxurious softness by the oil, Japanese pumpkin and gleaming shishito peppers. Lotus root turns into the densest, sweetest substance on Earth in the hands of Shiono, and okra pods lose the gooeyness of their centers. You are glad that the restaurant exits into the still of the Japanese garden, because the shock of the downtown streets might be too much after this meal." [LAW]
We expected a total S. Irene Virbila love-fest for Akasha, Akasha Richmond's uber-green restaurant in Culver City, and everything is something: eco-friendly uniforms, great space, lighting is just right, noise level is "spirited but manageable," there's a pizza she's ordered more than once, her friend got all "dreamy-eyed" over a vegetarian bowl with Punjab beans, desserts are delcious. So what gives?
With the main courses, the difficulty of the stretch from caterer to full-fledged restaurateur shows most. The execution can be uneven, too. Roast Rosie chicken tastes like a real chicken but looks like something you'd get from an amateur cook who doesn't have experience in plating or making food look attractive. Asian-style short ribs are cloying. Lamb osso buco is a mess on the plate, braised too long and its flavor drowned out in a strong reduction. It's $30, incidentally, and the short ribs are $29. At that price point, Richmond is playing in the big leagues, competing with Lucques, or with Fraîche down the street.
Ah, so that's why Akasha gets one-and-a-half stars. Miss Irene is "confident" the "fledgling restaurant with a strong point of view---and big dose of soul" will pull through. Today the "S." stands for "straightforward." [LAT]
Amarone Kitchen & Wine, new dim sum in Chinatown and more ELSEWHERE >>
S. Irene Virbila checks out the new train depot restaurant in Pasadena and finds it comfortably suburban: "Shrimp ceviche is fresh and delicious, if short on firepower. There's a chopped salad, an orange fennel salad with Marcona almonds; and for fans of Brussels sprouts, there's one made with that veggie, Manchego cheese and dried cranberries...But back to the burgers: The cheeseburger is hefty and satisfying, though the fries could use some crisping…It's all decent and hearty, but there's nothing here to get the foodies running like lemmings. The staff is trying so hard with a menu that has something for everyone that you can't help but like this genial newcomer." [LAT]
S. Irene Virbila will follow "the extraordinary" Michael Cimarusti anywhere, and this week she takes in the Silver Lake coffee experiment known as LA Mill. Sure, she's wowed by the ceremony of the siphon, the Chemex, or the one-cup Clover wonder, but it's Cimarusti's, and pastry chef Adrian Vasquez's, menu that really gets her:
In fact, there's nothing usual about the place. As an adjunct to its coffee and teas, LA Mill serves food that outclasses any other cafe in town.
Sandwiches? We're not talking tuna fish or egg salad. Michael Cimarusti, the extraordinary chef behind Providence in L.A., devised the menu for LA Mill owner Craig Min. The deceptively casual food he's come up with makes LA Mill a destination not just for the exceptional coffee...The prosciutto panino is made with Reblochon, a cheese that takes well to warming in the panini press. And although $12 or $14 for a sandwich may sound outlandish for this once-funky neighborhood, the fact is, for what you're getting, it's a great value. The quality is there, and that sandwich is large enough to share.
She highlights soups, the frisee salad with coffee vinaigrette, the new dinner menu, Vasquez's passionfruit gelee with basil seeds, and doles out two stars. The Rubbish design, the presentation, the clientele with their MacBook Airs and designer baby carriages are just the things to make any non-local feel comfortable in "scruffy" Silver Lake. Today the "S." stands for "so boho." [LAT]
NEXT: Father's Office 2.0, The Waffle, Canter's at Dodgers Stadium, More Elsewhere >>
The New York imports just aren't impressing Jonathan Gold, especially BLT Steak: "Tourondel is one of the best chefs of his generation...But the ability to run one brilliant restaurant is different from the ability to run 20 brilliant restaurants. And the strength of the first BLT Steak, the elevation of steak-house cuisine to a refined level, seems to have become a weakness — there is no way steak-house cooks can consistently execute a menu of BLT Steak’s complexity, and even where the restaurant should excel, at least after its first few weeks, it tends not to. [LAW]
The Los Angeles Times got our attention on the homepage: "Something's fishy in Beverly Hills. No stars for Bond Street." We can't say we're surprised. Sushi in trendy settings isn't S. Irene Virbila's forte; plus, she's on quite the tear these days. In a city where good sushi doesn't need stellar decor and designer uniforms, and the trendoids already have plenty of places to coo over, Jonathan Morr and the Bond Street chefs would really have to step it up. Oh how they did not impress:
After several evenings at Bond Street, I have a radical suggestion to make: Stay away from the raw fish and stick with salads, vegetables and main-course seafood and meat dishes. Your meal won't be inexpensive, but you won't come away as outraged.
This is a restaurant where sashimi comes two slices per order and where truffle butter, foie gras, pork belly, tarragon oil and other tricks of the new sushi chefs' trade embroider many dishes. Scallop carpaccio, for example, arrives looking very like an albino apple tart on an icy granita. "It's calamansi citrus granita," the server whispers as he sets the plate in front of us. This sounds as if it could be very delicious. Until I take a bite and find the raw scallop slice is funky and the granita is achingly sweet. I want to scrub off my tongue.
Right there we know this isn't a restaurant Miss Irene would normally even bother with, but she felt compelled. There are a few dishes that worked (seaweed salad, steak), so maybe that's what the crowds who flock there are eating. Maybe they're not eating at all. Maybe that's not the point. We don't know the last time Miss Irene doled out no stars (damn new LAT search), but there it is. Today the "S." stands for "scorched." [LAT]
NEXT: Fraiche, Providence, Little Tokyo and Little Cambodia, more >>
Jonathan Gold just can't keep it a secret any longer: "I confess: I’m kind of crushed out on La Mill. I know the coffee shrine is more bourgeois than a lot of Silverlakistas might prefer, and although Adrian Vasquez’s croissants are beyond excellent, for a lot of people they don’t come close to compensating for the (unrelated) loss of the Back Door Bakery up the block. The staff of the Michaelangelo restaurant across the street sometimes glare at the Bugaboo-pushing, Pilates-toned, Prius-driving La Mill customers as if they alone were responsible for the boutiquing of the neighborhood, and as I finish off the last bites of a Tasmanian-char carpaccio or a $12 ham-and-cheese sandwich, I have to concede that they may have a point...But the food, molecular-gastronomy-tinged stuff designed by Providence chef Michael Cimarusti, is easily the most exciting cooking at this price point in Los Angeles." [LAW]
S. Irene Virbila braved the trendy Hollywood scene to check out the Eva Longoria/Todd English experiment, and while her first look is almost entirely devoid of any real criticism, there are a few discrepancies: "The entrance is so discreet, you may not have noticed the new restaurant at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Ivar Street..." (the giant Beso scripted on both sides of the door might be a giveaway). "The open kitchen is carved out of the space -- deeper than it is wide -- with whole fish, lobsters and other seafood displayed on ice..." (that's the ceviche bar; the real kitchen is in the back). "You can taste her recipe for tortilla soup, which is comforting and a little wimpy on the firepower..." (definitely not the same soup we tasted last weekend). Place your bets on whether we'll see a full starred review in the future. [LAT]
Today we have S. Irene Virbila's semi-glowing review of Citrus at Social, otherwise known as the Michel Richard/Jeffrey Chodorow show. Citrus is Richard's big return to Los Angeles, although "return" is relative since the chef mainly lends his menu and cleverly named dishes to the capabable hands of an on-the-ground team led by chef Remi Lauvand. In her eyes, Chodorow is brilliant for bringing in a chef who's name "has resonance in LA" and creating "the most glamorous room in all of L.A. at the moment." But is it enough?
Cuttlefish carbonara is another tour de force, which makes Nobu's famous squid "pasta" seem clumsy in comparison. No noodles are involved. Instead, it's tender, sweet cuttlefish cut to resemble fettuccine -- a subtle ode to texture. Escargots is so rich it's better to share than eat all yourself; it's something like an escargots crumble, with the earthy nuggets disposed in three small crocks, each topped with mixed chopped nuts in a parsley sauce.
Lauvand is turning out very polished food at Citrus at Social. Big question: Will the coterie of fine diners from the Westside make it this far east on a regular basis? And will the condominiums and the W Hotel going up in Hollywood be built in time to save the day? From the looks of it, they don't seem to be turning the tables much, even on the weekends.
Miss Irene gives Citrus three stars, but it seems to be more a direct homage to Richard and his menu than the restaurant itself. Service is genial, but the hosts made her wait at the bar when she was on time and gave her the "worst table" in the house---automatic star dockers anywhere else. (She did get the best table on her second visit. Shocking.) And the crowd is as mixed as expected, with both a parade of "metrosexuals with cocky hats" and older diners, AKA the Richard fan club. Today the "S." stands for "social experiment." [LAT]
The Waffle isn't as bad as everyone says, brunch at Murano and more >>
Every now and again, the Los Angeles Times sends S. Irene Virbila to wine and dine at the resorts in Vegas because, you know, there aren't enough places to cover in LA. She doesn't write reviews, per se, but she definitely doles it out, Miss Irene-style. Yesterday, it was all about the Palazzo restaurants---Batali's Carnevino, Wolfgang Puck's new Cut, Restaurant Charlie from Charlie Trotter, and Emeril Lagasse's Table 10. Today, we have Miss Ireneisms from the rest, and in truth, she picks some winners: breakfast at Payard, oysters at Bouchon, and bargain dining at Lotus of Siam and Guy Savoy, if a $75 glass of Champagne at Guy Savoy is a bargain to you. "Budget" dining is in the eye of the wallet-holder, that's for sure.
Payard Patisserie and Bistro at Caesars Palace:
"Breakfast here is sheer poetry. For a mere $16, you get good, strong coffee, fresh-squeezed orange juice and as many of Payard's exquisite morning pastries as you can devour in one sitting. That means a croissant so buttery and flaky, you and the table are covered in crumbs at the first bite. You'd be hard-pressed to find one anywhere in Paris (I mean the real Paris) of this caliber."
The Hall at Palihouse probably isn't one of the places S. Irene Virbila's readers put at the top of their must-do list, but she braved the stylish brasserie to tell them: Don't bother. It's not that people aren't going---actors, actresses, those who aren't really eating the food, are there. And it's not that chef Stephanie O'Mary's menu is all bad; there are a few hits. It's just that Miss Irene is generally disenchanted:
Chef O'Mary's handmade agnolotti have a delicious, deep-flavored kabocha squash filling. And the thick-cut baby lamb chops -- two of them -- served with a little olive tapenade make a strange first course, but order them as a light main course. They're beautifully cooked a true medium rare and very tender.
[But]…
If you've ordered the skate wing or loup de mer, you're bound to be sorely disappointed. My skate wing is tired when it should be pristinely fresh. Whole loup de mer is a tiny fellow, overcooked, and with a funky taste. For another main course, a trio of seared scallops sits on top of shredded short ribs. The whole thing is just awful.
She assumes the crowd isn't that much into the food anyway ("Guests pick at their plates desultorily, but they're mostly talking.") because the room and patio have a nice ambience, the lighting is good, the staff "endearing" and "affable." It's just not enough: The Hall gets a half a star. Today the "S." stands for "shot down." [LAT]
Creperie, the Hungry Cat, Waffle and more ELSEWHERE >>
Jonathan Gold finds the seats unbearable after an hour, the tapas and paella pretty mediocre, and questions the lack of sherry or vermouth at Bar Pintxo. But it's pure poetry when he gets to the Ibérico ham: "You may be familiar with the sensations provided by good prosciutto or Kentucky ham, but Ibérico is something else. Slightly chewy, the rude red of a Francis Bacon painting, it dissolves slowly into a rondelay of flavors — hazelnuts, sweat, caramel, smoke, amber, Parmesan cheese — that dance around each other like sunlight reflected off a rippled pond...You could have the merely amazing jamón serrano, aged 18 months and also hewn to order, for half the price of the Ibérico here, but there is something about seeing a long knife flash into an $800 ham and knowing that those slices are for you." [LAW]
S. Irene Virbila likes just about everything about Little Dom's in Los Feliz---the decor, the vibe, the capable, confident service, the eclectic crowd---she's just not that into the food. But Warner Ebbink and chef Brandon Boudet's Dominick's off-shoot is "barely 3 months old," so she's hopeful:
Little Dom's comes on strong with its look and old-school Italian vibe. And with its moderate prices, this Los Feliz newcomer is poised to become a lively neighborhood hang. But the food at this Dominick's spinoff isn't quite there yet. Dominick's shows it's possible to turn out lusty Italian American fare at this price point. The kitchen here may just need some time to pull it all together. Meanwhile, there's the rice balls, the grilled artichoke and that wood-grilled burger. And for plenty of hipsters, that's quite enough.
We thought restaurants didn't get reviewed until after three months, so, sure, Little Dom's probably needs more time. But the constant crowds really don't seem to mind. One star for Little Dom's. Today the "S." stands for "too soon." [LAT]
FOOD, Tomato Pie, Hatfield's, Roy's and more ELSEWHERE >>
There are a lot of interesting food reads in the April issue of Los Angeles magazine (the Zankou murders, meeting industry insiders like the founder of Chefwear), but we must start with the biggest, boldest move on the food editors/writers' part: Coming up with a list of the 75 best restaurants in LA and implementing a brand-spanking new star system. The magazine, and we assume this goes for Patric Kuh's full reviews, never used stars because, the editors say, "it narrowed our options by influencing us to review restaurants based on a system rather than a sense of exploration." Now these stars (one through four) "puts perspective into opinion and grounds it in fact." In all honesty, we kind of liked that LAM didn't star restaurants. It wasn't difficult to discern what Kuh thought about a place; it almost always seemed/sounded even-handed. Now it's one more rating to clump in with the LA Times and Angeleno, the only two notable locals to use stars, not to mention the various Yelp and Citysearch ratings (which mean less since they're weighted and fiddled with by algorithms), all of which really just allow the restaurants more marketing verbage ("#1 four-star restaurant in LA!"). Then again, by definition, these ratings make sense:
****: "Remarkable and extraordinary" ***: "Bold and ambitious" **: "Distinctive and assured" *: "Pleasant and satisfying"
As long as everything fits the new ratings, it should work. This is important now because the editors grouped the 75 top LA restos by star and in descending order. Number one four star, top of the heap: Lucques, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne's nearly 10-year-old restaurant. The rest of the list (really 76 because the Mozzas are two different restaurants but grouped as one) to follow.
The headline for today's LAT review is somewhat confusing: "Wilshire restaurant reinvents itself as a serious dining destination." Chef Christopher Blobaum was nothing if not serious, which might have been the problem; he left in February after his and the owner's vision no longer meshed, and chef de cusine Andrew Kirschner took over, starting his menu this month. Somewhere between then and now, S. Irene Virbila finds Wilshire finally hitting its stride.
Come warm weather, this is going to be the place to be. And just in time. With tensions easing, Wilshire is less dysfunctional. Kirschner's assured, effortless-seeming cooking is a breath of fresh air. He's blessed with not only a good palate, but also a good eye. And he can execute, which makes him a triple threat.
The restaurant is more than two years old, and the nightlife vibe it had in the beginning has softened. No matter how good a chef or service is, when Miss Irene starts a review complaining about scantily clad women and being seated in "Siberia," as she did with the 2005 review, a restaurant really has to work to redeem itself. And Wilshire has: It gets an extra star taking it to three, something we haven't seen in these parts for awhile. Today the "S." stands for "shake up." [LAT]
Goat, Richie's Pizza, Coupa Cafe, The Oinkster and more ELSEWHERE >>
Jonathan Gold is completely enthralled with what LA Mill brings to the collective dining-scene table, whatever that may be:
"The past few months have seen a lot of fascinating new restaurants open in Los Angeles, but the most interesting of them all may be a coffee shop in the restaurant-starved heart of Silver Lake, a place whose menu is designed by Providence’s Michael Cimarusti and Adrian Vasquez, and whose owners are devoted to the cult of coffee in the same way that a chapel might be dedicated to its saint.
It’s hard, in fact, to figure out exactly what La Mill might be — a lunchroom, a tearoom, a café, or a wine bar serving aged Sumatran peaberry instead of Bordeaux. What is clear is that no brew-pub impresario, no sushi master is more serious about his product than La Mill’s self-styled “Coffee Savant” Eton Tsuno, its equivalent of a rock-star sommelier."
The fact that even Mr. Gold can't completely define, in simple terms, LA Mill, is one reason why so many people were so annoyed with it in the beginning. This is conceptual, gourmet, even cerebral coffee, which doesn't fly when you just want a good cup of joe to go.
· LA Mill: The Latest Buzz [LA Weekly]
No way Miss Irene could stay away from The Waffle, even if chili-smothered waffle fries aren't usually her thing, and states the obvious: "The burger, with build-it-yourself options, is pretty good, except for the too squishy bun, and comes with either fries or a fine coleslaw. Other sandwiches include corned beef and a sub-par patty melt. You can also dig into a very decent rib-eye steak for under $20, or a comforting chicken pot pie with a buttermilk biscuit crust for $11. The menu goes on and on for three, four pages, making executing it a challenge for newly hired cooks." [LAT]
We're all for finding new restaurants in Central Coast wine country, but even S. Irene Virbila surprises us with this random pick. She heads way north---Santa Margarita, a few miles north of San Luis Obispo---to try The Range, a good country restaurant with cowboy sensibilities. Nothing revolutionary, just good:
On a weeknight, the place is half full, yet the chef and owner, Jeff Jackson, isn't cutting back. The waitress recites the four specials that night with real appreciation in her voice. She knows they're good. But I've already spotted crawfish cakes on the menu. Steak with red-eye gravy? For sure. A homey tomato bisque, wild arugula salad and seafood risotto. Sounds good. It all sounds good.
Everything's just so darn good, it's about the only adjective she can find (at least 10 times) to describe many things, from the French onion soup to the beet salad to the wine list. The tucked-away, mostly locals-only restaurant is so good it gets two stars. Today the "S." stands for "strange." [LAT]
NEXT: Akasha, Luckyfish, Big Sugar Bakeshop and more ELSEWHERE >>
Miss Irene thought she'd find Ed Begley Jr. and a lot of bicycles in front a small café (?), but instead found sleek, urban Akasha. Not disappointed. "You can't go wrong with her prosciutto pizza: a crisp oval crust topped with caramelized onions, figs, Gorgonzola and prosciutto and wild arugula. House-made onion rings are dusted with rice flour before frying for a particularly light touch. She bakes quinoa corn bread in a square cast-iron skillet and turns out a diminutive shiitake and oyster mushroom tart with a flaky short crust. A turmeric-seared pear salad with romaine, chickpeas and much more is fresh and delicious." [LAT]
S. Irene Virbila feels the need to school all the detractors about Joe Miller's Bar Pintxo: Tapas are single servings to nibble on, not big portions for multi-course dining, and just drink the Spanish wines. This all said with a heavy dose of "quit your bitching" sensed between words. As much as Miss Irene appreciates Miller's attempts at running an almost traditional tapas bar, she has her quibbles with portions:
His seem oversized compared with Spanish versions. It's as if he wants to pile enough stuff on top that he can charge $4 or $5 each. (He's got serious overhead, more probably than a typical tapas bar in Spain has to float.) And it's these real tapas -- pieces of bread topped with chorizo, tuna salad or tomato -- that are the least satisfying items on the menu, oddly enough, though I do like the simple and classic grilled bread rubbed with fresh tomato and topped with serrano ham.
If you must eat a meal, get the paella, a seat at the bar and sip and nibble. And by the way, the bar stools inside are indeed uncomfortable, but they weren't designed for marathon dining. Bar Pintxo gets one-and-a-half stars. [LAT]
Checking in at The Waffle, Craft, Aunti Em's and more ELSEWHERE >>
Frank Bruni, back at Comme Ca. Yesterday he waited, today he solves the mystifying paradox of thin, supple bodies consuming hearty, fatty food: "This person oohs and aahs to excess over the existence of incredibly decadent dishes on the menu; orders the most decadent one; makes a big flurrying show of utensil movement, doing lots of vigorous (and calorie-burning?) cutting and forking and spooning. But when you look closely at this person’s plate as it’s being removed, you realize that most of the food is still there; it’s just a jigsaw-like Picasso of its former form.” [Diner's Journal]
Comme Ca didn't make Frank Bruni's "Coast to Coast" list, but he gives it a two-post treatment on his blog. Today, a seemingless endless report of what it's like to wait for a resrevation at a new hot spot during prime time on a weekend night, as if they have no such thing in New York: "During our wait, we couldn’t get close enough to a bartender to ask for a drink. And we had to keep reminding the disaffected hostess that we had a reservation and what time it was for. And-and-and we had to keep moving around to stay out of servers’ paths. I felt sorrier for them than I did for us. At least we had the entertainment of the flummoxed foursome standing near us." Tomorrow, he'll get to the actual review. [Diner's Journal]
When was the last time Joachim Splichal earned less than one star? Honestly, we can't think of one. No top dog is in every kitchen that has his or her name on it. Fact. But when Paperfish opened at the end of '07, Splichal was around to smooth out rough edges. Not enough, according to S. Irene Virbila. Whether chef de cuisine Yianni Koufodontis isn't ready for a Patina Group stage, or the Patina Group finally lost its Patina luster, something's not working:
The execution is inconsistent. One night almost every dish is too salty. Chestnut soup has a skin on it. Fried oysters are tepid. Another time, the cooking is crisper, but only just. Sauces are over-reduced and sweet; the rice is almost inedible, it's so unevenly cooked. Is it simply a bad match between the chef and Splichal's signature California-French cuisine?
It's more than that. With the possible exception of Patina at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Leatherby's Cafe Rouge in Costa Mesa, the cooking at outposts in the Patina empire doesn't have much of a personal stamp. The food is so anonymous it could be mistaken for a hotel or corporate restaurant's. In fact, Paperfish is a corporate restaurant, just one of the 20-something restaurants Splichal's Patina Restaurant Group owns and runs.
Miss Irene liked Koufodontis when he was at Petros, but for Splichal: "You'd think that for his return to Beverly Hills and the Westside after an absence of 22years…Splichal could do better than this -- much better." Paperfish gets half a star. Today the "S." stands for "slamalicious." (A shout out to wine guru Bonnie Graves pictured in the story.) [LAT]
NEXT: Akasha in Culver City, Brownstone Pizza in Eagle Rock and More Elsewhere >>
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This week S. Irene Virbila unearths a random Italian restaurant in Naples, the tony marina enclave in Long Beach. Michael's on Naples has all the right touches---sleek interior, rooftop deck with sea breezes, octopus carpaccio and handmade pastas from chef Marco Cavuoto, lots of Italian wines---and only a few hiccups (service is disorganized and not very professional, it's loud, "corny" Italian music). Her ambience note at the end of the review sums it up best:
The headline for today's LAT review is somewhat confusing: "Wilshire restaurant reinvents itself as a serious dining destination." Chef Christopher Blobaum was nothing if not serious, which might have been the problem; he left in February after his and the owner's vision no longer meshed, and chef de cusine Andrew Kirschner 
