Warrior: we like Eszett in Silver Lake. The flavors are big and bold. Nothing delicate going on here, but there is sophistication. The best dish I’ve had here is the chicken wings, which were ridiculously flavorful. Spicy, smoky, bitter, earthy, intense. The best chicken wings I’ve ever had. We look forward to returning.
Peony: We recently discovered this lovely new restaurant and enjoyed it so much that we went twice! I am very impressed by how skillful and creative they were with the flavors and seasoning combination. Loved all the dishes we tried. The special peel’n’eat shrimp (with watermelon) is really tasty and interesting - strongly recommend you try it if they are serving it!
I really like Eszett. One of my favorite “neighborhood” restaurants in the city and a go to during Covid lockdowns. It was a real pleasure to dine at their bar the other night. The steak tartare was splendid and a bittersweet reminder of what we lost to the lockdown.
Peony: we went to Eszett for the third time. As always, we loved the meal. I really like the tomato salad as the tomatoes are so tasty and succulent. We had the chicken wings and fish before. This time, I feel the flavors were less intense compared with before. The French dip sandwich was the highlight for me this time as it really made the best out of the mushroom flavor. I find the dipping sauce (jus) a little bit too strong, so I enjoyed it without the dipping sauce, although I believe the dipping sauce by itself would be good with bread. The eggplant dish was good, but didn’t stand out for me among so many other strong-flavored foods. Overall, it was another good meal we enjoyed here, and we hope to come again when they change the menu more extensively.
Warrior: Another good meal at Eszett. I thought the French dip sandwich with mushrooms inside and a burnt leek jus was the best dish I’ve had here and one of the best dishes I’ve eaten all year. Really delicious! At its best, this restaurant hits home runs with its bold flavors. The whole fish was very good as always, though I was disappointed that it was the same fish as on our past visits (the online menu listed ruby trout). Chicken wings seem to have been spiced down. While still good, they did not make the impact they made previously. I like them as a flavor bomb. I felt the eggplant dish with a puréed red pepper sauce was solid and on the right track, but I wasn’t fully convinced by the composition of grilled peppers (mild), Asian eggplant, red pepper sauce, charred herbs, and pine nuts. The heirloom tomatoes in the tomato dish were good quality, but I thought the tomato and melon salad that we recently had at Bicyclette was more successful, for nuanced reasons that are hard to articulate. One thought is: I’m not so sure tomatoes benefit from an acid like sherry vinegar, because their own acidity is already sufficient.
Warrior: Same impressions as usual. All dishes good, one home run (Cantonese-style shrimp toast, with perfectly balanced flavors and textures). Also noteworthy tonight was the nori oil in the kampachi crudo. While nori oil sounds like something that should be commonplace, I can’t remember another restaurant using it. Eszett’s nori oil was a nori purée with oil, not nori-infused oil. It had terrific flavor and texture. (I wasn’t, however, convinced about the composition of the kampachi crudo dish as a whole.) I will also give kudos to the remarkably succulent texture of tonight’s swordfish.
Peony: We had another wonderful meal at Eszett tonight. I felt the strong and bright seasoning for the swordfish worked really with the flavor of the swordfish. This flavor style is consistent with what we’ve been tasting in previous visits. I was also excited to find a more diverse seasoning style tonight. For example, the kampachi crudo with seaweed oil was lightly flavored but really tasty too. The shrimp toast was a creative new menu item. They also had a good hot sauce selection; each has its own unique flavors.
I’m a little more lukewarm on Eszett. From my visit this week, I liked the shrimp toast, mushroom dip, broccollini, and smoked beets. The filet of fish was a little dry, and I’d avoid the steak.
So impressed with my dinner here last night! Sorry totally forgot to take pictures of the food. Restaurant is super small and they were full last night with your typical cool Silver Lake crowd. Our server was super friendly and service was great all around. Definitely coming back.
Here’s what three of us shared:
Shrimp toast - totally not what I expected. Strong asian flavors with some spice. Everyone loved it
Fries - these are thick cut, almost like wedges. I haven’t had the famous fries from Majordomo but I imagine they’re something like these. Super crispy exterior with soft baked potato like consistency on the inside. Served with a great aioli type sauce. Highly recommend. And you don’t even have to know the right people to get these
Roasted beets - lots of smoky flavor on these. Thought it was a better beet dish than the one I had at Angler.
Mushroom french dip - Rich and meaty. Very tasty but I wouldn’t be able to finish the whole sandwich by myself.
Filet o fish - Standard fare here. Tastes like a filet o fish. Probably my least favorite dish of the night.
Beef tartare - Even my non beef tartare eating friend liked it. The bread that it’s served with is great!
Chicken wings - nice char flavors from their charcoal/wood grill. Get this.
Grilled market vegetables - this was the surprise highlight of the night for me. They can work some magic with their charcoal grill. Very nicely dressed.
Desserts were just ok. They had two options, bread pudding and basque cheesecake and we tried both. Not to brag, but the basque cheesecake I make at home was better and the bread pudding was just ok as well.
Had a really really solid dinner here last night.
Egg and anchovy–this is a very niche dish. if u like eggs and anchovies order this haha. otherwise, don’t.
Fries–a classic if you’re into the genre of crispy outside, soft inside.
Salad–really damn good, the pumpkin seed oil is a nice touch. just food I like to be eating.
Chicken wings–that charcoal grill taste hits different.
Grilled artichoke–very good but maybe the only dish i wasn’t super impressed by
steak tartare–just gets better and better here. the steak mixes so well with the chovy and the egg jam toast is a perfect vessel for this bad boy.
Mushroom french dip–this is a remarkable dish. as @tailbacku said, it’s so rich that it’s best to split, but they’ve crafted a super meaty, dense dish. If anything, it conceptually reminds me of Taco Maria’s mushroom chorizo, in that the mushrooms work so well that you wonder why anybody ever made these dishes with meat in the first place.
Sad note: our pal has a shellfish allergy so we didn’t get to hit the usual classics, plus a soft shell crab caesar that looked unreal.
The vibes here are really good: the staff is super friendly and helpful and it’s one of my favorite spaces in the city. They fired a second order of fries for us at 9:41 last night which felt above and beyond. Eszett is intimate enough for a wonderful date night, but just popping enough that it’s also a great place to come with a group. Can’t recommend enough. Eszett, Lasita, and Hail Mary complete my trinity of natty wine neighborhood spots that I’m extremely grateful to live near.
They’re usually pretty good about updating the menu every month–it’s usually the items below the shrimp toast and above the mushroom french dip that get swapped in and out.
Eszett has been improving and nailing some dishes recently. The seabass on our last visit was exceptionally delicious, but I would recommend every single dish of the 11 dishes on the menu below that I’ve tasted. We both think that the food here is better than that of several more acclaimed LA restaurants.
