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Of course The Goldster wanted to try The Parish, a new downtown gastropub from chef Casey Lane aka "the dark prince of No Substitutions Nor Modifications." A fan of Lane's first restaurant, The Tasting Kitchen, JG sings words of praise and drops the A bomb, likening The Parish to April Bloomfield's Spotted Pig in NYC:
The Parish is a gastropub; the Parish even calls itself a gastropub. But while it has all the characteristics of the tribe — fish and chips, a decent burger, a bartender obsessed with pairing each dish with a different locally brewed ale — it is a lot closer to April Bloomfield's original Spotted Pig in Greenwich Village than it is to Melrose beer bars, a restaurant that seems to adopt the form only to subvert it.
But some of the best dishes here tend to be quiet food: freshly made dal; scoops of freshly made sheep's milk ricotta on slabs of grilled brioche; bowls of fried chickpeas studded with fleshy fried olives; or a bowl of super-concentrated tomato soup served with a grilled cheese sandwich to nosh on.Lane reinvents classic plates with unexpected ingredients, and while peas in poutine might not seem like a conventional pairing, Gold reassures diners to trust the chef. [LAT]
[Photo: Elizabeth Daniels]
B-Rod files thoughts on Tar & Roses in Santa Monica, generally appreciating the restaurant for its thoughtfully sourced quality ingredients and its honest plates. However, she still feels that chef Andrew Kirschner's food gets lost in the mix of LA farm-to-table eateries: "Twenty-four hours after my first visit to Tar & Roses, I had a pleasant lingering memory of my meal there, but I could barely remember anything I'd eaten. The food wasn't forgettable in the sense that the flavors were unremarkable; it just tasted and felt like so much else of what's out there that it was hard to distinguish. It's done very, very well, though, and Kirschner imparts more playfulness than many chefs of his generation and genre." [LAW]
The Elsewhere: kevinEats at French Laundry, OCR reviews Bud's Famous Hot Dogs, Midtown Lunch picks Man Kang, Refined Palate revisits Valentino, and LAmag checks in at Bierbeisl.
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