A la carte
Appropriate For Football Season…. In a recent visit to a restaurant I experienced two of the phenomenon I call server handoffs. You know what I mean – one person brings you the menus and takes your drink orders, another person brings drinks and lets you know about specials, and a third actually brings the meals and takes reorders for drinks. In this case each person introduced themselves, leading me to think they were going to be my server for the rest of the meal. It wasn’t that a shift change was happening, since I saw all three of them the whole time I was there. We had no complaints about the speed of service, but it was rather disorienting – the first server had recommended one of two wines, and when I decided to quaff the other one, the new person had no idea which one it was. Server handoffs must have some logic or the restaurant wouldn’t engage in the practice, but it seems a strange way to do things in a business where building rapport with customers is important…
First Looks… A reader brought to my attention that I had forgotten to mention the opening of Cedars, the Lebanese cafe in the space below Chelsea Gastropub in Hermosa. It’s an unpretentious spot offering simple and inexpensive Arabic food, a welcome place for a quick and healthy snack before clubbing or strolling the beach. Standouts were the tabbouleh, grape leaves, and felafel, a trio that would be a fine vegetarian meal for those who are eating healthy…
The Snax location on Artesia was under my radar for a while too, but as soon as I saw it I had to visit. I had gone to the original Snax in El Segundo when I was fresh out of high school, and I fondly remembered the homemade burgers, big and messy things unless you asked then to only put on half the sauce. The new Snax is different from the one I had remembered, with a much bigger menu that included ostrich and buffalo burgers, Mexican food, and a small selection of beer and wine. The tasty ostrich burger and glass of wine I tried on this visit might not have been available at the old place, but the onion rings are still homemade and still excellent. It’s nice when something you remember liking as a kid is still good…
Another opening of note is the new location of Sushi Duke in Redondo, in the space vacated by Catalina Restaurant. Despite the identical name, the food is different – the Redondo location has an impressive izakaya menu, the Japanese tapas that are becoming increasingly popular. I haven’t been there yet, but a knowledgeable and well-traveled couple of my acquaintance liked it so much that they went there two days in a row. I’m going to give them a few weeks to find their groove and check the place out myself…
A Grand Redecorating… I seem to remember that the old Cialuzzi’s Restaurant acquired its moniker after an East Coast Italian nickname for Charles, the restaurant owner’s name. Charlie’s Italian Restaurant has a more West Coast sound, though the newly renamed and redecorated restaurant is still proud of their New York heritage. There’s a new array of micro-brews and a full liquor license, and a sleek modern interior, plus a menu with burgers and salads. The only problem I see on the horizon is that they can now be confused on the internet with Charlie’s Place, the open-air fried fish stand on the pier. There wasn’t another Cialuzzi in town, so that was never an issue before…
And A Grand Closing… Upper Manhattan Lounge’s last day is this Friday, the sad end to the most ambitious operation in town. The idea of a full-on nightclub in North Manhattan, complete with burlesque performers and a live band, was daring, and the food was actually worthy of the high-side prices when we visited. Alas, whether it’s the economy, the parking-challenged location, or some other factor, the place didn’t make it – they’re having one last party and closing the doors. It’s hard to know what lessons to learn – they were trying so many things that nobody else was doing…
A Different Take on Halloween… It’s Halloween, or more precisely, Dia de Los Muertes, all year at Ortega 120, but when the season actually rolls around they pull out all the stops. They have been working on an elaborate outdoor altar that customers have festooned with offerings of various sorts, and it’s quite an attraction. It will be up through the weekend and demolished on Monday, so if you have a taste for collaborative folk art along with margaritas, moles, and other delights of Mexican cuisine, this is worth a special visit… ER