Restaurant Review #138: Nook, West LA

The bar

When you're used to dining at low-end restaurants where almost all of the focus is on the food, it's a real treat to spend a few extra bucks and actually get service. Service at LA restaurants is often snooty or indifferent, but at Nook, the service is so good from the very moment you walk in that you know you're in for a great meal.

At 7:00 on a Tuesday, we had already failed to beat

Restaurant Review #137: Nanbankan, West LA

Chilean sea bass

Nanbankan, located on Santa Monica Boulevard a bit west of Sawtelle, is very easy to miss. The best way to find it is to look for the heavy dark wood door that marks the entrance.

On my first visit, at 6:00 on Wednesday about a year ago, almost every table seemed to be reserved, and the restaurant quickly filled up. That seemed promising. Since we didn't have a reservation,

Restaurant Review #136: The Cellar, Century City

Chicken pesto sandwich

The Cellar is probably a place you have never been to and will never go to unless you work in Century City. It sits far back from the sidewalk--walking past, you would probably mistake their outdoor seating for that of another mediocre office tower lunch restaurant. And The Cellar closes early, around 9:00, so it's really only meant as an after-work destination--Century

Restaurant Review #135: Bamboo Cuisine, Sherman Oaks

Hot braised scallops

I normally order from Joie Luck Kitchen when I'm hanging out in the valley, but I think I might be able to do better. Since I was still full from my lunch at The Great Greek, it seemed like a good time to try an unfamiliar place: Bamboo Cuisine.

The takeout menu they mailed out is quite attractive, and probably the main thing that convinced me to order from them. It isn't

Restaurant Review #134: The Great Greek, Studio City

The Great Greek is known for its festive ambience--at dinnertime, live music and dancing energize the place. But if quiet and calm is more your speed, visiting The Great Greek at lunchtime is the way to go. Either way, you'll hear "Opa!" over and over.

The menu features everything you'd expect to find at a Greek restaurant--hummus, pita, dolmas, schwarmas, and more--plus a few things you might

Restaurant Review #133: La Curva, East LA - CLOSED

Chicken in cream sauce with onions

La Curva is a very famous family chain in El Salvador, and there's also a location in East LA. I know some of you may wary of visiting East LA, but don't be-- the restaurant is located on the corner of a bustling street, and at least during the day, when I went, everything was perfectly safe.

This was my first experience with food from El Salvador. The dishes

Choosing Restaurants in Unfamiliar Places

How do you pick a restaurant when you're in an unfamiliar city (or in the case of a mammoth city like LA, an unfamiliar part of town)?First of all, ignore the guidebooks. Why? Pick up any guidebook with a Los Angeles section and look at its restaurant suggestions. If a place with food as bad as Toi's is considered one of LA's most exciting dining scenes, then the suggestions are very

Restaurant Review #132: Empanada's Place, Culver City

The first time I ever had empanadas was in a Spanish class I took in my freshman year of college. On the last day of class, my Argentinean professor was going to bring us empanadas. She gave us three choices: chicken, beef, or membrillo. Most people ordered one or two; I ordered all three. My classmates seemed to think this was quite funny--to this day, I have no idea why. Little did they (or I

Restaurant Review #131: Mao's Kitchen, Venice

Peace not war wonton soup

Mao's is an incredibly popular Chinese restaurant. Granted, there aren't many Chinese restaurants in the area, and most of them are bad, but even so, Mao's is very good, and it's healthy, too, with not a trace of MSG.


Late in the day, the sun can really get in your eyes

It took me a while to warm up to Mao's, because my first couple of experiences with them were