This might be the prettiest restaurant in all of LA.
Tucked away on the edge of Los Feliz and Thai Town border, a new boutique hotel recently opened call Cara Hotel along with a restaurant sharing the name. This used to be Coral Sands Motel in years past. The chef, Michael Patria, hails from Atlanta, but was most recently the EC at Four Seasons Santa Barbara before taking the role of EC at Cara Restaurant. His menu will focus on local seasonal ingredients along with a very heavy french influenced wine list, mostly from Provence.
This place first caught my attention because of how beautiful the space looked. The restaurant space essentially takes up the middle courtyard of the small hotel. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves (not my pics).
Now onto our meal (apologies for the bad pictures)
The menus
We chose a bottle of the De La Coste sparkling rose, which was really tasty.
Our dinner started with an amuse bouche of radish with butter and sea salt. Ate a few before taking the pic.
Smoked spaghetti. Pasta is made in house. Had a nice chew. Slight smokiness, was very good.
SB snapper ceviche. This dish would have been a home run except it was slightly heavy handed on the salt. Was served with home made chips which were really good.
Smoked trout salad. I love smoked fish anything, so this was really tasty. Really fresh greens to go with the nice meaty fish. I like that the fish wasn’t sliced too thin.
Whole roasted branzino comes out deboned and butterflied. Can’t tell from my picture, but it was much smaller than I expected. Liked the flavors but would have liked a crispier skin.
Charcoal roasted chicken. I’m torn about this dish. I was expecting some char from the charcoal but it’s really more of a smoked chicken. It had heavy smoke flavors and no crust on the chicken whatsoever. The chicken itself was tender and juicy but wasn’t really what I was expecting. Also, at $39 for half of a smallish chicken, I probably won’t order this again. But it did come with a side of crispy potatoes that were to die for. It’s worth ordering it on it’s own if you don’t want the chicken.
And not pictured, we had the raspberry galette for dessert which everyone loved.
Wasn’t a cheap dinner but given that it’s a hotel restaurant and the beautiful setting, we left very happy. I would happily return to try some new dishes. The GM said that the chef is already working on an updated menu to showcase the fall produce.
Also, if you’re seeking a COVID friendly outdoor restaurant where it’s not a makeshift dining room in a parking lot, this place can’t be beat.
