First date night in the city after a while. Also trying to avoid the nightmare Friday traffic going home.
Where should we go? It’ll be right after work, and it’s a last minute plan so I think fine dining is off the table…and he’s not one for fine dining anyway. Only requirements are a solid cocktail and wine program in addition to great food. Open to all cuisines and budget.
Favorites in the area: AOC, Jar, Angelini, and Republique. We tend to favor AOC and Republique more.
Thanks!
Consider Lucques. Great cocktails, wine, food and more romantic than AOC
Aburiya Raku is always a good place to go, IMO
Depends on what “right after work” is to you two…most “fine dining” places are praying for most “right after work” customers.
Also West Hollywood to the Westside is such a huge swath of territory for us to help you.
With all that said check out Auburn, Alta Adams, Ronin, Angler, Rosaline, Luques, Night + Market, Dan Tana’s, Wally’s, e baldi, Hinoki and the Bird
Connie & Ted’s. I enjoyed the cocktails there (a touch smaller range). Can’t comment on the wine selection, although it might not be a bad idea to also bring your own (e.g. delectable French white wines), since the corkage is quite reasonable. I think they only have one or two kinds of sake, though what they offer is not my style.
I’m leaving Burbank via Lyft to meet him in the Cedars area at 6PM. We did not like the idea of driving down south to go home at that time of day…especially on a Friday. Also dressed for casual Friday, so I didn’t think fine dining would be appropriate.
Thanks, @CiaoBob! It’s not often we find ourselves on this side of the neighborhood with enough time to hit the Westside, so I widened the search.
Petrossian, Tesse, Rosaline, Chateau Hanare
Tess fits the bill
How about Hatchet Hall, http://www.hatchethallla.com/. The Old Man Bar doesn’t open until 8, but I think it would fit the bill.
Second Rosaline
How important is the cocktail part?
I really like Belle Vie in Brentwood (French-ish bistro) and Milo and Olive (California cuisine), but I’m pretty sure they don’t do cocktails. They both have the wine list on their websites, so you can check to see if their selections would fit the bill.
Milo and Olive might also have a huge wait, depending on the time you get there. Ambiance of both is quite different from the restaurants you’ve mentioned, although still totally appropriate for date night (I prefer Belle Vie for a date night, personally, since Milo and Olive has either communal seating or some rather uncomfortable 2 and 4 tops).
Food at both places is very good, although neither of them are gonna knock you out w/ innovation or presentation.
Does Gjusta do cocktails? The outdoor patio can be quite romantic.
I like Night + Market’s food, but the acoustics of both the WeHo and Venice locations make them nearly intolerable for me for eat-in (thankfully Sahm now does delivery and take out!).
Carlito’s Gardel
animal
Angler or raku likely to get tables.
Also chi spacca or republique but might be harder to get tables.
Thanks, @paranoidgarliclover. After a long day and a fair selection of wine at home, cocktails are a must while in the city for dinner.
Thank you everyone! This is a great list. I like all the options…and was reminded of Hatchet Hall. I remember seeing so many great reports. That’s definitely and option or Lucques, Connie & Ted’s, Tesse, or Rosaline. It’s going to take several Fridays to cycle through this list.
I love Raku, too! So many options!
If you like the cocktails where you go, do report back (since @spockspork enjoys a nice cocktail once in awhile).
Have a wonderful time! If it isn’t too much trouble (after all it is a date night and that takes precedence) let us know how it went.
Hatchet Hall was perfect. The food was great and I loved how the inside reminded me of an intimate Southern house. We sat on the patio just bordering the inside of the restaurant. It was really lovely when the sun went down and the candles and dim lighting went up.
Loved the cocktails…particularly the bird of paradise…a delightful mix of mezcal, pineapple, mint and a hint of jalapeño. Also loved the sunburn and the old fashioned.
I am a sucker for sweet cream butter and hot yeasty rolls…we ordered the Surryano ham, too. We also ordered the yellowfin tuna, the braised greens, green beans, and potatoes. The vegetable offerings are so good…the potatoes and the green beans were our favorites.
Service was great and the Old Man Bar was so cool! I wish Hatchet Hall was closer to our neighborhood…I could see myself coming here all the time.
Decided to make our evening an adventure and stroll over to Platform and Roberta’s because the husband is a pizza fiend. The Bee Sting is a a very tasty pizza, but like many on FTC, we didn’t enjoy the floppy soupy center of the pie. I did enjoy an arugula-mezcal cocktail. But the real winner was their summer corn salad…it’s Roberta’s take on street corn…I am also a sucker for summer sweet corn and could have easily eaten two more if we hadn’t hit Hatchet Hall.
If we weren’t so full, we would have tried some tacos as Loqui. I wanted to pick up some tortillas to take home, but they were closed when we walked out of Roberta’s.
Thanks all for your advice.
We’re going to try to cycle through this list in the next couple of weeks our schedules align for Friday night eating.