Jonathan Gold Discusses Girasol in Studio City

This week Jonathan Gold considers recent Studio City addition Girasol, the sunflower-designed restaurant cheffed by C.J. Jacobson. Food is a mixed batch and perhaps a bit over complicated, and Goldy decides that Girasol's strength lies in Jacobson's California-styled plates:

Girasol is that weird hybrid: a restaurant tame enough to host a baby shower brunch but advanced enough to offer at that brunch not just brioche French toast or ricotta pancakes with sautéed strawberries but also a vivid green grilled-octopus gazpacho garnished with pungent Vietnamese herbs, as well as steak and eggs with house-fermented local black walnuts that taste like spherical A.1. Steak Sauce with a crunch.

Jacobson's talent may lie less in expressing L.A.'s cultural diversity — his less-than-spicy all-mussel version of the ceviche aguachile is dull — than in layering the sunny fragrances of California onto what might seem to be straightforward New American cooking...

B-Rod sings three star words of praise for Colonia Taco Lounge, a new tacos and beer haunt from former Guisados owner Ricardo Diaz: "Diaz is bringing together two factions that have long been destined to share an intimate relationship: very good tacos and very good beer ... Colonia might teach you a lot of things: the possibilities of cauliflower, how to fall head over heels in love with a flour tortilla, how to eat far too much and somehow still want more." [LAW]

The Elsewhere: kevinEats at Orsa & Winston, OverOverUnder also checks out Colonia Taco Lounge, The Offalo brunches at Gjelina, Darin Dines at The Church Key, Eat: Los Angeles hits Starry Kitchen, Gastronomy tries Mariscos Los Lechugas, e*star LA drinks at Crossroads, and Midtown Lunch visits Guerrilla Tacos.