Given all the new additions within the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (The Spare Room, Beacher's) it's high time SIV paid a visit to Public Kitchen & Bar, chef and owner Tim Goodell two star re-envisioned dining concept which overtook Dakota. Amidst discussing the "excellent" cocktails at nearby Library Bar, SIV adds that, hey, "you can eat, and eat well, at the newly reinvented restaurant just off the bar." Public is "an American brasserie with an inviting tavern or public-house look. The room has great bones, so it was more a matter of removing the overdesigned details than adding much. And the menu, which includes a slew of small plates, is much more easygoing and approachable...food is less about showstopping technique and more about delicious, easygoing food with bright flavors." Servers are "friendly and attentive, full of energy and enthusiasm" and SIV ponders that "[t]his time, I think Goodell has got it. Public Kitchen & Bar fits seamlessly into the hotel — as a respite for jet-lagged guests, as a place to grab dinner after an event, as a meeting place sprinkled with some of that old Hollywood glitter." [LAT]
After that initial first taste, The Goldster today files a full report on Little Tokyo's The Spice Table. He begins by discussing marrow bones, note to self, if bone marrow appears on a menu, "it means that somebody in the kitchen cares." Chef and owner Bryant Ng of the Mozza pedigree "seems to gather half the strands of contemporary cooking into a single, weathered-brick restaurant. You can smell the wood smoke a block or two away, and the roster of craft beers is as long as the wine list. The food comes out on small plates, meant to be shared. Ng haunts the farmers markets...[he] riffs on the multicultural street food of Singapore, including Hainan chicken rice; thin, bouncy kon lo mee noodles with chashu; crumbles of ground pork and braised choi sum; and crunchy fried chicken wings, crust laced with South Indian curry, that appear in no Singaporean hawker centers, but probably would be a hit if they did...If Ng has a specialty, it is his satay, the skewered, marinated meat, grilled over fire...If Spice Table is running offal as a special — it often does — it is essential, especially the tripe..." [LAW]
The Elsewhere: The Find hits Valley India Cafe, Dig Lounge tries the burger at Salt's Cure, Eat: LA picks BLD, Food GPS discusses Beer Belly, Gastronomy eats Stan's Donuts, kevinEats at Scarpetta, and Midtown Lunch talks Thai at Essan.
