Restaurant Review #155: Champagne French Bakery Cafe, West LA

Chicken pesto sandwich

I've never had much interest in trying Champagne--I've always had an attachment to Panera, so on the rare occasion that I'm in the mood for a sandwich, that's where I go. But when you're in a hurry and Champagne is the best and fastest option available, that's where you end up. It had to be better than Baja Fresh or airport food, I figured.

I tried the garlic chicken

Restaurant Review #128: Hide Sushi, Sawtelle, West LA

Halibut and albacore

Hide Sushi (pronounced hee-DAY, or something like that) has built a reputation on being remarkably inexpensive given the high quality of its fish. But just how cheap, and how good, could it really be? In my experience, cheap sushi is almost always chewy sushi. Yuck.

In spite of the reputation, I wasn’t expecting much. I’d poked my head in on several other occasions--just

Restaurant Review #126: Ketchy's II, Sawtelle, West LA

Cheeseburger with all the trimmings

Ketchy'’s II is part of the Sawtelle strip, but have you ever seen it? Did you even know that there is another restaurant behind Mizu 212?

I didn'’t, until I went exploring on foot one day. But every time I walked by Ketchy'’s II, it was closed. I was starting to wonder if it was actually in business. As far as I can tell, the hours aren't posted in the

Restaurant Review #122: Sawtelle Kitchen, Sawtelle, West LA

According to Barry Schwartz, author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, people remember an experience as negative or positive depending on two things: how good or bad the experience was at its peak, and how they felt at the end. This theory does a good job of explaining why I do not have fond memories of my experience at Sawtelle Kitchen, even though it's pretty good at what it does.

Restaurant Review #116: Gr/eats, Sawtelle, West LA

Seafood paella

I really want to like this restaurant. It's quiet. Charming. Peaceful. There are fresh, colorful flowers on every table. The service is attentive, and so polite and friendly that you'll think you've been transported to the midwest. The not-too-loud, not-too-soft music is the Cranberries, David Bowie, and other American artists imitated very convincingly in what is probably

Restaurant Review #114: Kinchan's, Sawtelle, West LA

Shiitake ramen

Everyone has their favorite ramen house on Sawtelle. Non-grocery store ramen is new to me, so I've been on a mission to try them all--a mission that coincides nicely with my mission to eat at just about every restaurant on Sawtelle.

Ramenya is closed on Wednesdays, so I ended up at Kinchan's. It made no difference to me, really, since I hadn't tried either before.

I got the

Restaurant Review #109: Asahi Ramen, Sawtelle, West LA

Extra spicy ramen with chashu

I finally got to go to Asahi! There is almost always a line several people long to get a table, and I never want to wait, especially when it is cold outside. But I got lucky last Sunday and snagged a table with no wait at 8:30, just 30 minutes before closing time. Maybe that's the secret.

Once inside, I realized that the service is so fast that the wait for a

Restaurant Review #107: Lollicup, Saawtelle, West LA - CLOSED

Lollicup is, as far as I can tell, the largest chain boba shop in the country. For this reason, I intentionally avoided it for the first year and a half or so that I lived here.

But then, Volcano Tea started serving boba that wasn't quite fresh. And Upper House only serves those huge cups, and has a somewhat limited flavor selection. So I tried Lollicup.

Lollicup offers both a regular and a

Restaurant Review #106: Mizu 212, Sawtelle, West LA - CLOSED

Light my fire, baby

Ok, I'll be honest. The only reason I went to Mizu 212 is because there was already a line at Asahi (at 5:00 on Saturday), there was already an even worse line at Hide Sushi (have I mentioned that I've tried to go to both of these places about 5 times each, and always I am thwarted by the line?), and Orris wasn't open yet. Also, one of my anonymous readers was curious about

Restaurant Review #102: Yakitoria, West LA

Assorted Japanese Pickles-daikon, carrot, and eggplant

When you walk into Yakitoria, everyone will turn and stare at you for a good, long, fifteen seconds--or at least, that's what happened to me. My friend and I continued to stand awkwardly in the lack of space in front of the door while we waited for what felt like forever, but was probably about two minutes, for someone to seat us. There was

Restaurant Review #101: Phoreign, Sawtelle, West LA - CLOSED

Pho tai (rare beef)

Phoreign. My first thought was, "god, what a horrible name for a restaurant. There is no way this place is going to last with a name like that!" Then I realized that it might be a Vietnamese place--and it is--which makes the name slightly less painful.

So is this the reincarnation of Hanoi Cafe? I'm not positive, but I think so. When they closed, the sign said that they

Restaurant Review #96: Blue Marlin, Sawtelle, West LA

Chicken and organic vegetables in sweet and spicy miso sauce

Blue Marlin has received a lot of bad press on Yelp, and I'm not sure why. It's one of my favorite restaurants, especially for the croquette curry, the risottos, and the tranquil atmosphere.

I wasn't thrilled with the organic dish because of the quality of the chicken. On the front page of the menu, Blue Marlin devotes a couple of

Restaurant Review #92: Chabuya, Sawtelle, West LA

The Classic with chashu (barbequed pork)

On Sunday, there was nothing but brown paper and a sign in the window saying that Hanoi Cafe was moving down the street. On Tuesday, the paper was off, and serious work on a new restaurant interior was underway. On Saturday, I looked inside and saw shiny, dark wood tables and fifteen or so new staff people in crisp white uniforms having a meeting.

I was

Restaurant Review #90: Volcano Tea, Sawtelle, West LA

Volcano Tea can be a bit hit or miss, but it's still my second favorite boba shop, after Upper House, and in fact, sometimes I prefer it to Upper House, either because it's actually open, because it's not as sweet, or because the drinks are a normal size. Volcano tea is pretty cheap, at about $3.00-3.50 per drink, after adding boba, and offers the usual wide variety of flavors and consistencies

Restaurant Review #83: FuRaiBo, Sawtelle, West LA

The Dining Room

I wanted to go to FuRaiBo because I wanted to try a place on Sawtelle that I hadn't been to before, but I wanted to go somewhere that might have atmosphere (Hide Sushi and Asahi Ramen are just tables and floor and not much else, from the looks of them). Also, there is usually a line out the door at FuRaiBo, so early Wednesday evening, a slow time at most restaurants, seemed

Restaurant Review #80: Tofu-ya, Sawtelle, West LA

Soon tofu with mushrooms

I had only had Korean food once before, when I was 15 and had not yet discovered my love of food due to my upbringing of PBJ and Campbell's minestrone soup. One of my friends had a birthday party at a Korean restaurant, and apparently I insulted his family by not eating the barbecue. I wasn't eating meat at the time, and didn't see how it would have been any less

Restaurant Review #78: Orris, Sawtelle, West LA

Seafood salad with scallops, octupus, and (no) shrimp in a citrus herb dressing

I have been to Orris two times now, and I do believe it is my new favorite restaurant. First of all, I feel confident that I can order anything from the wine list and it will be somewhere between decent and quite good in quality--nothing that tastes like metal. Second, it's small and quiet enough to have an intimate

Restaurant Review #75: Restaurant 2117, Sawtelle, West LA

I had read on Chowhound that 2117 was a wonderful but largely undiscovered restaurant, so I went with high hopes. Unfortunately, for me, 2117 falls under the same category as Osteria Latini: it is mighty tasty food--for people with boring palettes.

The small menu (one page of appetizers and one page of entrees, plus a few specials) is not very vegetarian friendly, especially if you are a true

Restaurant Review #52: Hurry Curry of Tokyo, Sawtelle, West LA

I thought this place was supposed to be really good. And it smelled good. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed.

I went on a Saturday evening around 6:00 and only about a fourth of the tables were occupied. It's a casual place, with a nice black tile floor and light wood tables and chairs, but not nice enough to take a date.

Loungey deep house grooves emanated from the stereo, which turned

Restaurant Review #47: Kiriko, Sawtelle, West LA

Tuna and tamago

I've been to Kiriko about ten times, and not once have they let me down. It's one of those rare restaurants where the service is always good, the tables aren't crammed together (except sometimes on a busy Saturday night), you can usually get a same-day reservation, and no matter what you order, it will be fresh and well-prepared.


Seared Wagyu beef sushi - $20 for 2 pieces (but