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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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. 
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:
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
How much was that beautiful plate of food?
$56 - 5 pieces of pork belly (+ a few smaller ham-like pieces scattered on the board), 6 pieces of pork chop (+ the one on the bone), and a sausage. It’s more food than it looks like, even ignoring the brussel sprouts.
kevineats went back and did a magnificent review.
this sole looks goddamn amazing and is plated tableside. From what I hear, $72 isn’t awful for this dish.
http://www.kevineats.com/2017/02/republique-los-angeles-ca-2.html
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He claims he did an 11-course $200 tasting menu, which is something they are offering now it seems.
I can’t figure out whether that feels justified or not at Republique. On the one hand, it’s not hard to spend $200 on the regular menu there for far fewer than 11 dishes… but on the other hand, the cooking never felt like it lent itself to a tasting menu format exactly. At the $200 level it also feels crazy… that’s only $25 below Providence’s most expensive menu…
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Melisse is doing 10 courses @ $185 for comparison
Yeah, pretty wild.
I guess people just really love Republique haha
Yeah not too bad. This used to be big ticket entree at classic high end french places… wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back then ~ $60, which was considered expensive.
FWIW when I went to Le Bernardin the dover sole supplement was an additional $20 which rounded out to around $150 for four courses.