Dinner recommendation for girlfriend's birthday

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
#1

Great forum, first time poster. Looking for recommendations for a special occasion dinner with my girlfriend for her birthday. She loves vegetables more than anything else, though she eats and enjoys everything. She’s also a big fan of DTLA.

Therefore, I have picked Orsa & Winston. N / Naka would have been perfect, but I couldn’t get a reservation for this month. Spago? AOC? Gwen seems too meat-centric. She has been to Maude.

Here are some places we have already tried in LA that she loves:

  • PYT
  • Sushi Gen
  • Shibumi
  • Kinjiro
  • Norah
  • Lasa
  • Kali
  • Angelini Osteria
  • Chi Spacca
  • Bestia (edited to add this, thanks for the reminder PorkBelly!)

Thanks everyone!

#2

Bestia
osteria mozza
gjelina
providence
redbird
spring
le comptoir
raku

5 Likes
#3

Erven in Santa Monica is plant-based and delicious!!

1 Like
#4

Spring

1 Like
#5

Bestia
Gjelina
Odys + Penelope

1 Like
#6

I don’t think you can do better than O&W if you want to do DTLA and don’t want to repeat PYT or Shibumi. You’re ahead of the curve man!

If you want to leave DTLA, everyone else has already named everything, but I’ll toss Hatchet Hall out there for the heck of it; as J Gold noted last week, the vegetables are unusually great there, even though the lard brushed pork chop is also out of this world.

#7

While I enjoy O&W, and find myself there more often than I care for, I really don’t think vegetables are the restaurant’s strong point.

#8

Other than the one famous dish does Spring do lots of vegetables?

Keeping it jut to DTLA, what are the best vegetable places?

#9

Plant, Food & Wine is your huccleberry

#10

Aside from the Legumes de Saison, Spring does really well with their salad appetizer offerings. They rotate (obviously because it’s market driven), but their Salade Niçoise was maybe one of the best iterations I’ve had in a while, even basic preps like a butter salad or a tomato salad are vibrant and memorable. The vegetable risottos, meanwhile, which I’ve had either with mushrooms (wood ear, chanterelles, and lobster) or with greens (asparagus or persillade) were all very good.

As to other stellar vegetable-centric places in DTLA, I would suggest ant, the weekly Monday pop-up at Woodspoon by Giacomo (the husband side of the husband-wife team owner of Woodspoon). Menu changes every week, but generally highlights at least two or three different seasonable vegetables, or vegetable preps.

#11

For special occasion vibe, vegetable-centric and downtown adjacent, I’d take a look at Le Comptoir:

1 Like
#12

Thanks so much everyone.

Ant is definitely high on the list of places to try one day, if we can find a Monday that works. Hatchet Hall as well. I personally have a weird obsession with Shibumi, though I seem to alternate fantastic and so-so meals there on each visit.

#13

Shibumi quickly becoming a favorite of mine. Another place a lot of people hate, but I’ve yet to experience anything bad yet.

The wine program has become my favorite in the city with Maxwell Leer, who used to run the program at Hatche Hall.

Reminds me that I need to make a post about my most recent meal there.

#14

Ask Shunji-san to prepare a vegetable-themed omakase for you guys (his desserts often feature excellent fruits also)…

#15

crossroads on melrose is vegan and very elegant. it’s the most upscale
plant based restaurant in LA. it has a full bar and excellent food that is
accesible to vegans and non vegans.

1 Like
#16

For a downtown & vegetable lover, I vote Redbird and Le Comptoir. Ipse’s Woodspoon rec seems sweet too.

#17

That seems really nice.

#18

Not DTLA, but Aburiya Raku blows me away every time.

2 Likes
#19

Le Comptoir in the Hotel Normandie? Or did they move into DTLA? Or am I missing something?

#20

It is not very accessible for non vegans, unless those “non vegans” are closet vegans.