oh wait… thanks to this thread i just remembered we have a bavel res today… so uh… i need to NOT be going to shmorgasburg for lunch den
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Enjoy, tovarisch…
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Everyone was wrong. The only must was the couscous. Ordered a second one the second it hit our table without even tasting it, we just knew. And my carb hater of a partner was raving the entire time also
Awesome dinner. Everything was good, nothing disappointed. We all thought the lamb tartare was really cool. The cheese, the hummus impressed as expected. Octopus cooled of really quickly as the aps were dropped at the same time but still quite nice. Kid tore it up.
the hanging plants added so much to the ambiance.
consomme was crazy good… i think it came with the duck
this was a cocktails and beer kind of place for me. i dont really want wine with that food for some reason. just weird that way.
wish they had the dumplings someone posted up above
couscous was phenomenal… great with the tagine. the tagine made me crave a proper moroccan place… does anyone know one? a tagine experience should always be a plentiful one. it’s generous and richness and I never want to feel like sharing a tagine with the table means we need to get 2 of them. but i guess you dont charge a table $400 by giving them large dishes. I think i’d rather have it served it NOT a tagine so i dont have these feelings and associations
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You crushed it!
And you are so right. That couscous is for real.
They weren’t wrong, it’s all about personal preferences. 
As for wine, apart from say the lamb or the beef dish, for my palate, the wines that work best with this food tend to be lighter and lower abv. Coastal whites, rose, beaujolais. So that may or may not be in your wheel house.
sure it is…
Everyone was wrong about what?
The ‘must have’ dishes.
foie gras halva - creamy pate, date puree, black sesame, buckwheat loaf
RIP #gonebutnotfoiegotten
duck 'nduja hummus - creamy garbanzo beans, jerusalem mix spice, herbs, pita
The hummus was smoother than marvin gaye in silk pajamas on a velvet couch.
(new) grilled lamb belly - meyer lemon yogurt, burnt cucumber, radish, chili herb salsa
Tender and fatty, but balanced nicely with the yogurt and pickles. I shall coin it ewe-toro.
fried quail - cardamom date sauce, pickled celery, smoked yogurt, fresh herbs
Crunchy, savory, sweet.
grilled prawns - harissa marinade, cured zucchini tzatziki, fresh herbs, lime
Still my favorite thing on the menu, smoky, sweet, spicy, creamy all perfectly balanced.
roasted cauliflower - hawaij chile sauce, lime leaf, creme fraiche serrano dip, pistachios, dried flowers
aged half duck - break kebab, confit leg, green amba, duck bone broth, chicory salad
I wish they still served this with the chopped liver and hearts. The duck bone broth is still unfortunately too salt. The breast and leg are still delicious with crispy skin and rendered fat.
rose clove chocolate donuts - bar au chocolat ganache, sherry diplomat cream
(new) coconut tapioca - passion fruit, basil syrup, lime zest, coconut tuile
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Had a nice dinner here last night. Popping off on a Sunday night. Some hits and misses.
HITS:
–Lamb shwarma. Remains a great dish with fantastic bites of chart, fat, and meat, balanced beautifully by the condiments. The pricing on it is also pretty fair.
–Hummus and Pita. I’ve come around on the pita. It’s different–it feels like the equivalent of whatever pizzeria mozza is to traditional neopolitan–but it’s great. Liked the traditional hummus more than the duck one. With the duck one, I just get no duck flavor out of it. It could be any meat.
–Farm Cheese. Glad I got this one. Delicious spread.
–Cucumber Persimmon salad. Not on the menu. Perfect salad, comes over some thick whipped yogurt, with the persimmons playing the perfect foil to the cool cumbers, pool of olive oil, and tart yogurt. Very nice dish.
–Prawns. Perhaps the best shrimp dish in LA.
–Licorice bon bon. Polarizing at our table, this is one to get only if you’re a licorice lover. The sour caramel was a revelation to me.
MISSES:
–Lamb saddle chop. Just a relatively boring, thin lamb chop. Did not do much for me.
–Oyster mushroom kebab. There is a lot of hype around this dish. It’s rare for me to be disappointed, but the flavors were just dull to me. The cook on the mushrooms was perfect, but they were lacking salt, and the sauce below basically had no taste to me. I would not get this again.
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I love the bread with that Farm Cheese
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Just my opinion: That Oyster Mushroom Kebab was no hype to me! I thought it was fantastic. If I was offered a nice ribeye steak or those mushrooms, I’d opt for the mushrooms (and I love steak!). The mushrooms have characteristics very similar to a charred steak, but without the heaviness (juicy, charred, flavorful).
I’ve been raving about those mushrooms to anyone that will listen!
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Finally made it here the other night - walked in a little after 10, plenty of seating available but we went straight to the bar. They were sold out of most of the entrees but we still had a really great meal.
Got the duck 'nduja hummus, which was great although it felt a little like guisados in that basically anything would be delicious with that absurdly good pita.
Artichoke & cucumber salad was light and super floral and refreshing, felt like a summery dish. I enjoyed it but wouldn’t call it essential.
Malawach was awesome, again the bread was phenomal, almost like a buttery flour tortilla. Also really liked the spicing on the strawberry zhoug, particularly blended with tomato & creme fraiche. That egg was real nice too.
But those mushrooms, though - I didn’t re-read through this thread before we went and I had forgotten the discussion of them, so we just happened to order them and damn they were phenomenal. So meaty and savory and absolutely full of charcoal flavor that it actually reminded me of one of the random yakitori spots I ducked into in Tokyo last year, a really evocative sort of sense-memory. Really cool.
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duck 'nduja hummus, creamy garbanzo beans, jerusalem mix spice, herbs pita
Smoother than a freshly oiled veal cutlet.
pita
oyster mushroom kebab, stinging nettle puree, sumac
The mushrooms were meaty like a soft tender abalone and i loved the charred almost crispy edges, but unfortunately, as @Chowseeker1999 reported, everything was overpowered by a lighter fluid taste as if these were grilled before they had a clean fire going.
grilled prawns, harissa marinade, cured zucchini tzatziki, fresh herbs, lime
A bit spicier than before, but still excellent.
butternut squash, feta, baharat, pepitas, fried sage, wildflower honey
If not for the feta and sage, this would have tasted exactly like a pumpkin pie. It was okay, wouldn’t order it again.
(new) almond blossom honey nougat glace, candied mandarinquat, pinenut nougatine, minted citrus salad
Highlight. My favorite out of all the desserts. The candied mint was brilliant.
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I went last night and the butternut squash flatbread was not on the menu anymore anyway.
see or order anything new?
Not really. I was going to order the coal roasted turnip as it sounded very interesting but we didn’t have the space and cancelled it.
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Made the reservation before the Restaurant of the Year award.
Hummus was excellent. Pitas good. Excellent value.
Mushrooms were meh. Seems like a good concept, maybe execution was off. Worse than any robata mushrooms I’ve had.
Malawach, a dish I love and order whenever I see it, was just wrong. Hard fail. Tzatziki was fabulous. Egg was meh.
WTF with the tiny servings of zhoug?
Licorice bonbon was great though would have been better not freezer-cold. A knife and fork would have been more useful than the spoon.
Oveeall, hard to understand the enthusiasm.
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