Republique: Perfect Pasta

I think Jason Neroni’s new version of the Rose Cafe comes close and a (little) bit cheaper. Posted a review earlier in the summer hoping to get convince someone to do a full review lol but there were no takers.

Hi @Bookwich,

Yah they were amazing. About the Lamb Tartare, I forgot to ask. :sweat_smile: We were having a good time, talking and were starving when the Lamb Tartare showed up. Suffice to say they were promptly devoured and then by the time our server came back (busy night), I forgot to ask.

Sorry I was trying to ask for places way below.

I regularly spent $100-$150 pp all over. I’d like to know if there are places at Repubkique levels for like $50 pp including cocktails because I really need to start going to them.

Thanks for the report @Chowseeker1999, i agree with you on the price. Republique and cassia are two places i would go to more often if not for the price.

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“But what are the little balls on the lamb crostini?”

Could be pickled mustard seed.

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Hi @Aesthete,

Good question. It does seem to becoming rarer these days. Some places perhaps:

(I’m not counting the most expensive meat dishes.)

  • Norah - Great cocktails, some great food (and some misses though).
  • Tar & Roses - I can’t speak for their cocktails (I’ve never tried them), but their food was pretty solid when we went.
  • MB Post

They are all different places, but farmers market driven, fresh ingredients, interesting, tasty small plates, some of them have pastas, etc.

Haven’t been to Norah but I always spend about $100 at MB Post and Tar and Roses. Arguably you could restrict yourself to make it less. But you can restrict yourself at Republique. I’ve gone and just got pasta and salad and been fine. Admittedly t would be easier to do somewhere like MB Post but their cocktails are only maybe a buck or two less than Republique’s. 3 cocktails at either place with tip and tax will be about $50. Good cocktails always run up the bill in almost standardized pricing it seems.

Actually Suburbia could fit. Good cocktails and if you get the Loco Moco and dessert you can get out for $72. Reminds me I need to post about my recent trip there… But still… I guess for me that is nearly the same price conceptually. Maybe my own bias there since as I think about it, that’s almost a $30 swing haha But I also think you could easily go spend $100/person at any of those places, not sure if all dishes are as generous at the loco moco at Suburbi for example and it would quickly climb to $86 and then a $14 swig feels almost the same to me…

You would think it a place can offer $12 dishes you could offer $8 cocktails huh?

I think it’s noticeably more expensive still between Republique and Tar & Roses.

Republique (from the latest menu that we just had):

  • Starters: More than half of them are $20 or more. In fact their cheapest starter is $16.
  • Pastas: $29 - $50!

Tar & Roses:

  • Starters: $9 - $17, with easily 75% or more of them are closer to the $10 range.
  • Pastas: $14 - 16

That’s not even close in comparison.

But yah, most places if you get 3 - 5 Cocktails (that’s splurging for us) as you say, would push your bill close or over the $100 range.

Thanks.

No need to speak for them, since they don’t have cocktails at T&R!

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But they do at down the block sisterestaurant Santa Monica Yacht Club!

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Good to know @CiaoBob. :slight_smile:

Ah, online Republique has starters that are as low as $12, many hors d’oeuvres at $12, and bread options ranging from $7-$9. Maybe the actual menu doesn’t have any of those anymore though? Still yeah, I am not sure why their pasta is priced so high even relative to other high-end pasta places and in general you’re right. I haven’t been to T&R in a while so wasn’t thinking straight. I never had pasta at T&R before, is it as good as Republiqe’s?

Hi @Aesthete,

Oh there’s no doubt Republique is putting out amazing pasta, I agree with you and @Porthos. :slight_smile:

The last time we went to Tar & Roses the pasta we had was good, but it’s been awhile, so I don’t remember the details. And I wasn’t going in trying to compare it to any place in particular, just enjoying a relaxing dinner with visiting friends.

Contrary to Petit Trois, Republique serves some ridiculously flavorful, if perhaps not totally authentic steak frites. They’ve modified their steak and fries program so that an NY strip is a separate item from the ribeye, and somehow $95 for steak frites felt slightly too high for me, so I opted for the NY strip to see how it was, and it was everything you could ask from a dry-aged NY strip. Funk and meat tartness with perfectly seared, crisp edges, juicy fat and blood flowing…mmm

Even better, the sunchoke puree, and au gratin spinach whipped with foie gras underneath it was absolutely stunning as an accompaniment to the beef, providing an earthy, almost nutty flavor from the silky sunchoke, and astringency laced with the savor of fatty liver in the spinach. Rather indelible.

Even though it doesn’t seem to need it, they still give you fries and aioli. The fries were perhaps a touch over crispy, but perfumed with a pungent herb blend, hot from the frier, and dipped in a touch of custardy aioli they made for the quintessentially comforting potato accompaniment to a steak main.

I was most pleased to see Georgian Saperavi on their wine list and decided to have a bottle to go with the steak. I love the funk of Georgian wines and am always happy when I see them listed.

With the steak and fries costing $56 pre-tax/tip, I still walked out spending $150 (I had a class of French Cahors before noticing the Saperavi bottle), but of course the bottle of wine is optional. Somehow I felt far happier dropping $73 on this steak and fries compared to the $57 at Petit Trois.

Republique remains a hopelessly grand place to while an evening away.

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Wow, that steak looks incredible. Did you order it med or med rare?

Is that really 4 pieces of steak + fries for $56?

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and you were questioning my statement that some items at Republique are overpriced? I don’t care how great that steak was.

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I am going to say no, it doesn’t seem too overpriced to me. 8 oz of dry-aged beef + sunchoke puree and spinach with foie gras + french fries + aioli for $56.

Compared to 12oz dry-aged NY at Ink for $62 that includes, presumably no sides (looking at the menu). If one added foie gras shavings and salt and charcoal potatoes to their analogous steak at Ink it would be $22 + $11 + $62 = $95. To be fair, minus 4oz of the steak at $5.10/oz = $95 - $20.40 = $74.60.

You would probably end up with more foie gras at Ink I am assuming, but even if you ended up with $19 more foie, you would end up at $55.60, or within $.40 of Republique’s price.

Republique’s food was so good I didn’t really think about the price, either, compared to the $36 Petit Trois plate. (Which is 2 oz less beef, and not dry-aged).

So, no, going by the math, and the way I feel after eating the food, I don’t see Republique as overpriced, at least not by enough to complain about. Depending upon how you look at the numbers, it may even be somewhat underpriced for what you get in this case.

This is not a post about pasta (though we did have the Maniche w/Lamb Ragu, now taking the fifth pasta slot on the menu, which was very good).

This is to alert those who love pork (@Aesthete) of Republique’s new iteration of their pork main - what used to be a fairly plain pork chop (as I understood from those who’d tried it, because I hadn’t had it myself) is now is now this:

http://imgur.com/a/RTgd0

From back to front: potato mousseline (tasty), (unseen) some spectacularly biting mustard, pork belly, pork chop, sausage, and peppercorn sauce. While the pork belly and sausage were great, both fantastic examples of each respective item, the true standout was the pork chop in the middle. Cooked a perfect medium-rare, the seasoning, sear, and texture on this made it comparable in quality to the best steak I’ve ever had, while remaining fundamentally porcine. I will be honest and say that each time @Aesthete raved about various pork chop preparations I rolled my eyes and moved on, but if this is the kind of thing he has been eating then I am a convert.

The brussel sprouts were fine, though I prefer mine blackened. The wine-braised (poached?) apple slices were very good. The peppercorn sauce was largely unnecessary, though a small dab did provide an interesting contrast with the pork belly.

I only hope this version of the dish sticks around long enough for me to order it again.

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Glad to have another pork convert haha

Whatever these kinds of pork chops/cuts/breeds are, they are way different than what I (and I presume most people) grew up eating.

I hope even more people are inspired to go out and try some of these bad boys =D