Sounds like it’s better than nojack
I think most of the items @ Singapore Banana Leaf run towards the sweet side–no strong flavors and not spicy. I’ve had their rojak on a hot day and it was light, crisp and refreshing (never been to Singapore so can’t compare). It would be great to try some better versions of the dishes you mentioned.
Having watched on PBS “I’ll Have What Phil’s Having”, I remembered that we don’t have a good, nor decent, French Brasserie.
Figaro in Los Feliz ???
Ba in Highlsnd Park ???
And las freres taix is like the fucking Olive Garden of fee hit food.
Spanish tapas
I guess I’m in the minority because I’d rather not eat it at all than eat a “wrong” version of it. Real Rojak has a very strongly flavored dressing and isn’t very salad like… The one at BL was more like a salad, so it just didn’t have that Rojak feel to me.
charcuterie, a la bar boulud. sorely missing here.
How is Bar Boulud different than Chi Spacca from a charcuterie perspective?
charcuterie at chi spacca, and, hell, at church and state both excellent.
i’d say on a par with bar boulud.
Republique, Chi Spacca, Bestia all serve good charcuterie boards. I guess I’m looking for French-ier version. Come to think of it, these are all restaurants. I would love to have a specialist shop, such as Olympic Provisions (Portland) or Boccalone (SF).
okinawan, now that i think about it
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Have you tried the traditional charcuterie at Terrine on Beverly? Or from a French-Vietnamese perspective, the charcuterie at Cassia in Santa Monica?
Are they (the developers) wrong in that perspective? Based on what I know of the Valley, high-end or “exotic” food wouldn’t generate enough business to be successful based on the Valley population alone, and nobody’s going to brave traffic to get into the Valley in the evening on a weekday to eat that kind of food (when it’s available in more central areas)… JMO, of course.
I think it’s a bit wrong to assume that people who live in the Valley don’t want high-end food. After all, we do have Go’s Mart and Morton’s and other high-priced places. They are always busy. We also have Brent’s and Fab’s, lower-priced places which are always packed too. What I don’t understand is why no one will open up a place like Redbird or Bestia out here. If they open it, people would come because we wouldn’t have to drive over the hill anymore. We drive over the hill because we have to, but if there were better local choices, we would pick the local choices over a 35 minute drive over the hill.
I was at Sprouts in Granada Hills last night and they had cheese curds. They had white cheese curds in a plastic deli box prepacked salad section, and also yellow cheese curds in the cheese “island” in a plastic bag.
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This is all JMO, of course. Can’t speak to Go Mart, but I assumed that part of the reason Morton’s and Roy’s were/are always busy is b/c of the corporate dinner parties that are being hosted there. Or, at least, were being hosted there. They also serve things are very recognizable (Roy’s has become so passé that seared ahi tuna is indeed “common”).
Brent’s and Fab’s are hardly “exotic,” though. Sandwiches and hot dogs are always going to do well, IMHO, if they’re done, well, well. Paru’s and Red Chilli Halal had virtually no business when went there during prime lunch time (maybe they were just both having an off-day). Same w/ Rocio’s. Streets of India does pretty decent business at lunch, but I assume most are tempted by the “Indian Buffet.” Not much business at all during dinner. Pho So 1 does phenomenal business, but I assume that’s b/c of the price point.
The vast sprawl of the Valley also means that, depending on where one lives and where the good food is, the 35 min drive over the hill might not be much more than the 35 min that would be required for you to go from, say, Woodland Hills to Studio City (if traffic is moderately heavy). Much of it is also heavily suburban in feel; not sure if that encourages the kind of dining you and I want. And, truth be told, the residents in the more affluent areas may want to keep it that way.
The area around the Valley Performing Arts Center would be a great place for high-end restaurants… Except they built it at CSUN, and the immediate-surrounding area needs to target the kind of food that college students and staff/faculty want to/can afford to eat on a daily basis.
As a younger/hip/more urban crowd begins to populate the Valley (since real estate prices in the more central areas of LA long ago surpassed completely insane), I think the demand for more interesting dining options will grow. But I think we’re a good 10-15 yrs away from that.
I think there are many people in the Valley who want good dining options… I just don’t feel there’s a dense enough concentration of them to make a good business case for a lot of high-end eateries… yet.
I fucking love go smart.
it’s definitely in the top 4 for me, for the entire city, not just the SFV.
but in the SFV and even if you include the SGV, it is far and away my favorite.
and that’s no fucking joke.
yes, he does lavish the goods with potentially copious amounts of truffle oil and caviar and 24 karat gold leaf but that’s part of why you’re even there. his fish is some of the greatest in town too.
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Joints that land on Pellegrino top 50 or Michelin 3* list. We really need to have at least a few fancy world class establishments
I’m not sure where the “exotic” part came into play here. Maybe my definition of exotic is different that yours though? Redbird is upscale Southern food, Rivera was upscale Latin and even Bestia is Italian – I wouldn’t call any of those exotic.
Paru’s is in LA, not the Valley. I’ve never been to Rocio’s (and I believe it’s closed right now anyway), so I don’t know how busy it gets. Red Chilli – most of the people I know (including us) that go there get takeout. But I also think many places that are busy for dinners and weekends may not be busy at lunchtime too, depending on the location. Red Chilli is in a strip mall, not near any offices, so I don’t think many people would go there to eat lunch.
The point I was trying to make is that it would be nice to have some nice, upscale, date-night/GNO/special-occasion type places in the Valley (such as a Bestia or Redbird type place) without having to drive over the hill to have that kind of experience.
Sorry, meant Peru’s Taste, not Paru’s.
I understood your point. My point is that when market forces reach a threshold level, you’ll get what you want… But not until then, unfortunately. And, IMHO, those market forces don’t yet exist in sufficient strength for restauranteurs to open other types of eateries there. That’s all I was trying to say.