Review: Lawry's Carvery at L.A. Live

For my first trip to the new L.A. Live venue near Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, I went to Lawry's Carvery for lunch. Lawry's in Beverly Hills is one of our favorite restaurants, but we've only gone once since Alex was born nearly four years ago.

So Lawry's Carvery for lunch was the perfect opportunity for me to get my Lawry's fix. And the prime rib didn't disappoint. The horseradish cream was even better than I remember. Ditto for the au jus. The broccoli was cooked perfectly, but the asparagus was a little, um, woody. Overall, the food was good.

The menu had other tasty-sounding options, like roast beef and sandwiches. But how could I get anything other than prime rib?

The only thing missing was Yorkshire pudding. I don't understand why they didn't have any, and I sorely missed it. (I do realize that it's incredibly easy to make at home, and now that I've thought of it, I probably will soon, but I really would have enjoyed it with my prime rib.)

The set up of the restaurant is, to put it mildly, strange. You go through a cafeteria line to order your food, but then you get your condiments at a hooded counter (like a salad bar) and sit down. Then a server comes up and takes your drink order. He brings your drinks, checks up on you while you eat (he brought me more au jus and iced tea), will take your dessert order if you want any (I was too full of prime rib, and strawberry trifle was not one of the options), and brings the check. So despite the initial cafeteria set up, you pay at the end of your meal at the table - and of course, leave a tip. Strange, I tell you.

And depending on your interest in sports, you'll either love or hate that ESPN is on in the background no matter where you sit. Normally I wouldn't mind, but pretty much the only story they covered the entire time I ate was Tiger Woods's return to the golf course. Even Outside the Lines was going to be about "the ramifications of Tiger Woods's return."

Prices are definitely high. I paid $19.99 for my small (8 oz.) prime rib - with tip and drink, my lunch came to $27.50. I wouldn't blink at that for dinner at Lawry's in Beverly Hills, but that's a really expensive lunch for a place that's definitely not fine dining.

Even so, I'll probably go back sometime - as long as I can't get to Lawry's proper, the Carvery will certainly satisfy my prime rib craving. They do make it better than any restaurant I've ever tried.

Review: Katsu-ya

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Marc and I recently got to go out to dinner and discovered a new favorite restaurant: Katsu-ya. My friend K. has raved about this place many times, but we already had a favorite sushi restaurant so whenever we got the chance, we always went there. Unfortunately, they've gone out of business, so when we wanted to go out for Japanese food, I remembered K.'s effusive praise and made reservations.

We ordered the omakase menu (Japanese version of prix fixe), and were absolutely delighted. Unfortunately, I only have a clear memory of the first and last courses. We started with scallops and cucumber in a sunomono (vinegar) style dressing. Very refreshing and delicious. The subsequent dishes included ahi sashimi (raw tuna) with crispy onions on top, and a different kind of fish in some sort of soy marinade. We finished with a dessert trio of green tea tiramisu, chocolate cake, and banana tempura. There were seven courses in all, so I'm obviously missing a few dishes due to a faulty memory, but I do recall that they were all very tasty.

At $48 per person, this meal is obviously for special occasions only. The rest of the menu, while not cheap, is perfectly affordable. If we hadn't gotten the omakase, I would have ordered the chirashi sushi, which is a bed of sushi rice topped with sashimi, roe, egg, and other delicious components. That would have been a very reasonable $12.50.

The verdict: Katsu-ya is our new favorite Japanese restaurant. And I can't wait to go back!

Review: Pinot Bistro

Marc and I had the chance to go out for dinner a few times recently, and one of those times, we decided to go to Pinot Bistro, a restaurant we hadn't been to in almost ten years. It's a fine dining restaurant in Studio City, and we remembered the food being quite excellent (and expensive).

Since we went on Christmas Eve, there was a limited prix fixe menu, and although many things sounded good, nothing was really spectacular. Admittedly, I got a little adventurous with my ordering, selecting the things I would never make at home, like beef carpaccio and duck breast. Unfortunately, the carpaccio was took thick, and the duck breast too rare (and hence chewy). I probably would have enjoyed my meal more if I'd stuck to more ordinary dishes like mushroom risotto and halibut, but since I could cook those myself (if I had the time to cook), it seemed like wasting the special occasion. But even the bread was bland. (And I'll never understand why restaurants serve their bread with cold, unspreadable butter.)

The service was impeccable, though, which made the meal a lot more enjoyable than it would have been otherwise.

It's not that the food was bad, but it certainly wasn't worth the money. We paid $45 per person for a four-course meal, which isn't outrageous but definitely not cheap. So needless to say, we won't be going back to Pinot Bistro for another ten years.

But we did find another restaurant that we're going to visit regularly - and I'll tell you about that one soon.