1/5/2024 0 Comments Los angeles vicinity map![]() ![]() The staff gracefully move throughout the room with intention. There’s something about the pageantry of uniformed waiters and bartenders wearing white or red jackets, but their skill and dedication are why management embroiders the number of years employed on their shirt cuffs. While walking in, take a quick glimpse into the loud kitchen and observe the slightly faded chandeliers, wall light sconces, 1930s art, wood paneling, or even the customers who might be casually dressed or donning a tuxedo before settling into a red leather banquette or the bar. Head to the retro car-filled parking lot before descending into the nearly 104-year-old restaurant. If driving or walking near Hollywood Boulevard and Cherokee Avenue, look for the green sign that signals your arrival to Musso & Frank Grill. After one visit, one will easily understand why LA diners followed Rankin from his former Bar Restaurant and right into Bar Chelou. If a table isn’t available, the bar is an ideal place to take in the room and watch diners obsess over dishes expedited to their table. There’s barely a bone in sight, with an herby pil pil sauce laced over a bed of rice. The rich and salty clam toast is decadently messy, but the confident execution with the trout makes it a must-order. One wouldn’t expect the carrots râpées with coconut dressing, a hint of lime, peanuts, and thin fried potatoes on top of shredded carrots to be a showstopper, but it is. The menu includes plenty of dishes to show off Rankin’s skill with vegetables alongside bone-in pork chops or a dry-aged bone-in ribeye. By utilizing the region’s produce in this endeavor, this Pasadena restaurant is one of this year’s sleeper hits. Though many often mistake Bar Chelou’s menu for French, chef Doug Rankin clearly loves Spanish, Californian, and Asian flavors. The black cod rivals competitors, but gives one to Sushi Note for uniqueness in the form of Saito’s sauteed lotus root or the miso mushroom soup while serenaded by Miles Davis in a mid-century designed room. Make room for the impossibly thin scallop carpaccio with olive oil, lemon, and truffle salt. Ingredients can vary from week to week, but the chef’s decades of skill, precision, and improvisation are on display with hamachi yellowtail seasoned with garlic, serrano, and ponzu. (Co-owner David Gibbs also has an obsession with hi-fi equipment.) Watching Saito work is akin to witnessing a jazz musician at their best. Not only does Saito personally select the seafood, he’s also a devoted jazz fan. Sushi Note remains one of LA’s standouts with outstanding wines, classic jazz emanating from old-school repurposed speakers, and sushi prepared by chef Kiminobu Saito. Since 2018, Sherman Oaks, Sushi Note has operated along Ventura Boulevard, a street synonymous with sushi in the San Fernando Valley. ![]()
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