Here's Looking At You

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
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Former animal CDC Jonathan Whitener opens a new fusion restaurant in north koreatown.

Beef tartare, red chili, ramps, yolks, turnips, cress

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Prawns, sauce diabla, avocado, rau ram #headsortails

Duck hearts, plum, sherry, grits, tare, parsley

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Veal sweetbreads, fennel, mustard seed, sesame

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Saba, red ale, smoked soy, grapefruit, sorrel

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Yuzu tart, white chocolate, burnt meringue
This was a perfect dessert, the meringue was kissed with binchotan charcoal to give it a nice char and caramelization. It reminded me of the key lime pie at fishing with dynamite.

@wienermobile parking? #compensating

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shishito peppers - tonnato, huamei
Who doesn’t serve shishito peppers? These were fine.

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hamachi collar - nashville hot spice, fuji apple, snake peas
This is what you get if howlin’ ray’s and raku had a one-night stand with no protection. Wow, this was excellent and the highlight of the night. The nashville hot spice was like a howlin’ ray’s mild and gave the fish a touch of heat and sweetness. The skin was perfectly crispy and the meat soft and flaky. Eaten with the apples and peas provided some tartness for the perfect bite.

sturgeon - aged rice porridge, chicken skin, verjus, buttermilk
The sturgeon was perfectly cooked and i loved the crispy chicken skin, but they were a bit heavy handed with the tangy buttermilk and verjus foam. I enjoyed the dish a lot better scrapping off about half of the foam.

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heritage pork belly - key lime amba, pineapple, palm sugar, herbs, shallots
soft, crispy, tender, fatty. The fresh herbs and fried shallots gave it a very Vietnamese feel.

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yuzu tart - white chocolate, burnt meringue
I had to get this again, so fucking good, am-i-right or a meringue?

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frog legs - salsa negra, scallion, lime, s&p
Thanks @T3t for the rec. These were good but begs the question do frog legs taste like chicken or does chicken taste like frog legs?

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white trout - khmeli suneli, hummus, snap peas, lemon, cilantro
This was just okay, the fish was nicely fried and deboned, but i thought the pairing of the cold hummus didn’t work.

It’s nice getting a little head at dinner

hamachi collar - nashville hot spice, fuji apple, snake peas
Still a great dish, the meat is tender and juicy and the sweet heat from the nashville hot spice paired perfectly with the tart peas and apple.

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strawberry - crema, brown sugar, sable, fennel
I think they were trying to go for a deconstructed strawberry shortcake, and it was mostly successful. I still prefer their awesome yuzu tart though.

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cookie

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Now THAT is a clean (non-Japanese) bathroom.

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Hi @PorkyBelly,

Thanks, great pics. So what did you think of the place? Worth going? How was the food?

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Thanks @Chowseeker1999. I really wanted to like this place since animal is one of my favorite restaurants. But i’m feeling indifferent about here’s looking at you right now. The hits were the beef tartare, prawns, and yuzu tart, however the ingredients in the duck hearts, sweetbreads, and saba just didn’t come together for me. I’ll probably try it again once they get into a rhythm.

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Thanks for the report.

Not food related but, assuming that the menu is fairly animal-heavy, all i can think about when I hear the name of the restaurant is some cow looking up sweetly at me right b/f the guillotine comes down… And I can’t unsee it now. ::sigh::

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their menu is surprisingly not meat-heavy, only 4 meat dishes, the rest are vegetables, seafood, and poultry.

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OMG :cry:. I think the same thing when I pass places like Terrine with the pig logo. In my heart I’m a vegetarian. But my heart hasn’t conveyed it to my taste buds yet. I still crave meat.

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The name is from a thank you card fwiw

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It’s also a famous Humphrey Bogart line from Casablanca.

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Early on, Vinny would say, “Don’t forget, we’re feeding the American public. Don’t be afraid to do something common.” - J. Whitener.

That was funny. It reminds me of something Porthos would say about Animal… It’s common :grin:.

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Vive la tartarevolution

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PGL:
that image you have is still more tolerable than what really happened.

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:disappointed:

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Sadly I don’t ball hard enough to try the $26 OG mai tai, but… I’m sure most of you do.

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i don’t see a mai tai on the cocktail menu…any idea what’s in it
that makes it worth 26 dollars?
or is it a standard mai tai plus a handjob?

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Now that would be a bargain.

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everything you need to know:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIiy_TQjvIz/?taken-at=1026394688

On the Almost OG Mai Tai.

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all of a sudden I want a $26 mai tai.

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thanks for the info, tony.
on the other hand, i think i’d like a glass of that rum, neat. maybe a little lime and sugar.

on the other hand, that person’s hands look very plush and giving. just sayin…

p.s.
if i could deal with other people, i’d stand tony or ns1 a 26 dollar mai tail.

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This was practically in my backyard, so I had to take a look.

Bar was a bit crowded - practically rubbing shoulders with my neighbors. Service was attentive.

Order of food was a bit strange - Saba, then prawns, then brussel sprouts on toast?

Saba was decent but unspectacular. Prawns were great, with the sauce being an especial highlight. Sprouts on toast were a miss - textural contrast was great, flavor contrast completely missing.

Drinks were good, with the Challenge Accepted edging out the Seascape Swizzle.

Dessert special of the day was plum pie, which was really excellent.

All that said, for the price of a solid meal at Republique, I would rather just go there.

Great for cocktails and dessert, pass otherwise.