seanbesser's Profile
Santa Monica Seafood A.K.A. 10th St. Cafe
Ate there today and had the crab cake sandwich special. It was a lump crab cake (not fried) and was very tasty and fresh. This place is open by the Santa Monica Seafood Company (which supplies fish for a lot of the restaurants in the area), so it has a great fish supplier. The only downside is that the atmosphere is as bland as can be. I'll definitely go back though!
Osteria Mozza - Almost Believe the Hype (w/ pics)
The space is intriguing and feels like an art deco bar in Manhattan. The vibe and energy were fantastic. We arrived 30 minutes early for our 8:45 Saturday reservation and settled up at the very cool looking bar for a drink. Our cocktail waitress was incredibly nice and helpful as she gave us multiple tastes of wines to make sure we picked something we liked and despite being very busy she checked in multiple times to make sure we liked what we got and that we didn’t need anything else. We each had a carafe (250ml) and they ran $16-$18 each.
Despite being warned that they were running a bit behind schedule, we were seated just about on time (less than 5 minutes late). Bread service was prompt (though they never brought olive oil) and the server was prompt, friendly, and very helpful (he did a fantastic job helping us select our meals by asking about our general preferences and discussing suggested menu items).
I’m rating our dishes 1 - 10 (10 being amazing)
(4) Chef's Complimentary Dish $0
Stuzzichino, mozzarella with sweet basil leaves, dried tomato and olives and olive oil. Nothing special, but a nice start.
(5) Burrata with fennel and olive oil $15
It was good, but not amazing as parts were a little tough. Surprisingly huge portion. I would recommend trying something more unique from the cheese bar.
(9) Grilled Octopus with potatoes, celery & lemon $16
This redfines octopus. The consistency was amazing (not chewy at all…almost like steak) and the taste was fantastic. My wife does not usually like octopus, but was practically orgasmic over it. This was the highlight of the meal.
(9) Gnocci with a meat ragout $18
The gnocci itself was the perfect consistency and the sauce was a fantastic compliment.
(5) Guinea Fowl Crostone with liver pancetta sauce $26
I’ve heard this is a must have dish (along with the pork), but I was not impressed. The guinea was very good (dark meat) but the liver pancetta sauce was overwhelming at times and definitely dominated the meal. I like it, but it tasted like something I could get at the local deli.
(8) Cioccolato $12
I am a bittersweet chocolate fan and this was basically a bittersweet flourless chocolate cake down very very well! Great end to the meal.
I’ve read reviews complaining about the price and portions, but I disagree with both. I rate the overall experience an 8.5. It was a great meal in a magnificent environment with superb service. The amount of food was perfect too and the entire bill came to about $160 including tip.
Wilson in CC
While I have only been to Wilson once so far, it really stood out as a great eating experience. The appetizers we had (a fig salad and a beef Carpaccio and barrata cheese) were just okay, but the entrées were all superb! They had great spices and aroma and tasted awesome. The pulled pork entrée was particularly good. My fiancé ordered the totelli special pasta stuffed with fig and while it was a little too buttery, it tasted amazing (even though I am usually not a pasta fan, I loved it…very unique taste and texture)! We went with another couple and the other guy also ordered the pulled pork and devoured it and the woman had the djori chicken that was also fantastic (amazing spices). The only drawback is that there is a high corkage fee ($25). Our meal cost $85 per couple (2 mains, 1 app, and half the corkage fee)…decent price considering how great the food was. We were there on a Monday night, so it wasn't super crowded and service was just fine. HIGHLY recommend!
New Downtown L.A. Rooftop Sushi Place?
I went to Takami Sushi & Robata Restaurant with a friend tonight. The décor was cool and the view was awesome. However, the food was just average in taste and but came at premium prices (definitely paying for the view…luckily my friend’s expense account subsidized the meal (which was about $125 including a $24 bottle of saki)). We started with a steak and asparagus robata, which was good, but at $15 for 3 bite size pieces of steak, it definitely wasn’t worth it. We then had a tuna poke martini that came with various layers of mashed potatoes and roe that was good, but not great. The creamy rock shrimp tempura purse was very good, but again not worth the price (5 pieces for about $15). We then moved onto a variety of rolls, including a spicy yellowtail that tasted a little fishy and was too heavy on the rice and light on the fish. The only standout item was the lemon albacore roll. We had the crème brulee trio for dessert…and it tasted more like pudding than crème brulee. The service was attentive enough but was clearly lacking because we only ordered 1 spicy yellowtail roll and had 3 order brought to us during the course of dinner along with 2 servings of spicy tuna roll which we didn’t order at all (poor form!). My final review is that this is a cool place for business travelers with an expense account, but not worth spending my dollars on. Next time I find myself downtown craving sushi, I’ll stick with R-23.
