3 and 5 years old
want to try a new place
help me pick based on best tasting food and good atmosphere for kids (i.e. - no stools, reasonably loud so they aren’t causing a ruckus)
Simbal
Lil Sister
Broken Spanish
Otium
My kids are well behaved and we’ll find something for them to eat no matter where we go. Otium looks a bit too fancy and big plate oriented for my kids who like to try a bunch of different things. The other 3 all look great.
little sister is really tiny with no elbow room.
simbal will most likely very, very dead. broken spanish is kinda haute, so, BS Taqueria?
Personally though, if early evening, I’d hit up Everson Royce with 2 preschoolers just to be a DICK. Also, after a day at the museum, I’d be pounding cocktails faster than you can say : “Octonauts to the rescue”.
You must not have kids Tony.
BS Taqueria seems more our speed and happy hour from 5:30-7:30 right up our alley.
Don’t yell at me but my kids love Yang Chow….
I’d consider Grand Central.
Otium’s decor is on the fancy side (ie high design, and they put a ton of money into it), but the vibe is very casual, and the restaurant itself is quite noisy and bistro-like. I think you’d be fine with well-behaved children, especially if you sit outside on the patio. There are some larger items on the menu, but they’re not larger than main course size, and the dinner menu falls into that “small plates, everything is meant to share” trend so you could order a number of things. We were 3 (adults) the other night, and we ordered one main course meat dish, a pasta, and 5 apps/veggies, and it was the right amount of food.
Petty Cash could be fun, too, and BS Taqueria is great.
Do kids still love Clifton’s?
From one parent of little tykes to another: Suehiro Cafe in Little Tokyo.
Or Phillippe’s the Original.
bad daddy, BAD.
Tsurumaru Udon Honpo is jammed with little people on the weekends. And they have beer. praise jesus.
last time I went to MOCA w/ a friend and her kid (8 or 9ish), we went to the shabu shabu place in little tokyo (having a total mind blank on the name). it was a fun and interactive meal for the little one and a lively scene for the adults.
(edit: ahhhh—just read that your children are younger. might not be a good idea for them to be dipping food into hot broth)
Great. My kid can be the designated driver home. Wonder if I can get the kiddie carseat re-mounted in the driver position?
(… cue the lights, and “action!”)
“But Dad, I don’t want udon!”
“Too bad. There’s only udon on the menu. And Mommy says you must eat something before I bring you home after the museum, else Daddy gets in trouble with Mommy.”
“No udon! No! No!”
… and we’re off to another eatery to find something the pup will eat, simply so that Daddy avoids Momocalypse. (i.e. Likely ending up at Suehiro anyways.)
Thanks Helen. Initially wanted to stay close and Otium sounds great but didn’t know if it would work. Initial reviews were hit or miss but might have been due to just opening.
You definitely have kids since you also lie to them about what food is available if its not something you want to eat. At some point my kids will have access to the internet and realize that certain places aren’t just randomly closed for dinner all the time at 6pm.
Why not just head over to Grand Central Market?
Otherwise, how about Seoul Sausage in Little Tokyo?
Man, lots of spoiled kids around here 
Nothing the belt or a little no dinner won’t solve…
cue CPS
The belt worked when I was a kid. And worked well. But you are right - Apparently in the 2010s there is a genetic mutation where Child Protective Services is called out when the belt is even mentioned.
And thanks for telling me how to better write fictitious scenarios - always looking to improve my screeenwriting skills. My actual pup is a much better eater than I ever was at that age.
I would go to Grand Central Market.
What kind of Asian kids don’t eat thick squiggly noodles? Seriously. There’s also fried chicken. And curry. And curry udon. And, beer.
Also, sorry baby mama doesn’t serve as permanent DD. I believe au pairs can apply for Cali DLs now.
Well you are right by Chinatown - ton of choices there.
And yay philippes.
And close to Mexicali Taco - much fun to be had there!
Now I know for sure you’ve never had kids. And (again), the scenario involves a fictitious one (not my actual spawn), meant nonetheless to illustrates a slice of life in toddler parenting.
And au pairs cut into the 529 Harvard fund, dude. Good Asian grandma will say “Ai-yah, why you waste good money on childcare?”