Fun restaurant to take sis in law to near Hollywood?

Americas - USA West Los Angeles
#1

My sister in law is stopping in LA to see us on her back home to Sydney. We’d like to take her out to a nice dinner while she’s here, most likely on a Saturday. Last time, we took her and her husband to Red O to try some upscale mexican food, which they enjoyed. So I’d prefer to take her elsewhere and not to do Mexican again.

What would be a fun, California/LA type place we could go to? She doesn’t care for unusual items (no foie gras or tripe or anything) and isn’t a big seafood fan, although we are. Proximity to Hollywood is a plus as we are supposed to go out there for another event after dinner and we like drinks, so wherever we go must have good cocktails.

TIA!!

#2

I haven’t been but maybe EP/LP fit’s your criteria. Wolf and Kali are both in the area as well

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#3

Gwen
Birch
Ink
Odys + penelope
Lucques
Ep / lp
Norah

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#4

Hi @boogiebaby,

Near Hollywood? Some good suggestions above already, but I’d second:

Enjoy.

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#5

In Hollywood proper, I like Cleo. And visitors who want to experience the “LA scene” will enjoy it. Great cocktails at Library bar upstairs too.

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#6

EP/LP is like Australian takes on SE Asian… I think it’s very good but probably the worst possible choice if you want to rake someone from Australia to a CA-specific place. Amazing if you want to take an Australian to a comfort spot serving food to their liking I imagine.

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#7

Why not just go to Animal. Or Jon and Vinnys but that’s more American than CA-specific.

Hard to miss with a lot of other recs but if you really want to showcase CA…

Also, AOC. Which seems super SoCal/LA to me.

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#8

Wow, that was fast!

Hubby and I just went to Animal this past weekend, plus SIL won’t eat the oddball items.

Cleo is on my short list, but we’ve been there a few times and I was hoping to find something different for us to try too.

I want to take her somewhere that she couldn’t necessarily find in Sydney, so that’s why I was thinking something Californian/LA that she can’t really find back home.

#9

No oddball items whatsoever on the menu + American-specific + in WeHo area = Jon and Vinny’s.

You really have no other options. Just about the only thing they won’t be able to get in Sydney will be the American-Italian high-end stuff done there. Sydney is not exactly a small city after all.

The only other spot would be, as mentioned, Connie and Ted’s for their New England style seafood. I imagine that’s also not available in Sydney.

#10

Kali - great vibes, food and service and close to where you want to be.

#11

FYI raku, animal, and jon and vinny’s don’t serve cocktails, not sure if that’s a deal breaker for you.

#12

Was just at EP. I think it would be a fun choice. Lamp, steak and chicken all very good and not distinctly asian.

#13

It is Australian-Asian.

Do you think they don’t have any Australian-Asian restaurants in Sydney, Australia?

I could be wrong, but I would imagine they do.

#14

I see that reading comprehension is not our strong point based on the recs for Animal.

She doesn’t care for unusual items (no foie gras or tripe or anything)…Proximity to Hollywood …must have good cocktails.

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#15

Thanks, but I mentioned in the OP that she’s not a big seafood fan. I like my sister in law. I wouldn’t take her to a seafood restaurant when I know she doesn’t like seafood. That’s just wrong!

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#16

Will check it out. I have friends who went a few days ago and said the menu is pretty Asian, but I know they have different areas with different menus.

I made a reservation at AOC in the meantime, just so I have something, but I’m going to keep looking to see if someone else comes up that makes me want to change my reservation.

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#17

I don’t think it gets better than PorkyBelly’s recs, given your criteria. Birch seems like the most obvious, with a very good Hollywood location giving you many options.

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#18

Ah yeah, missed the cocktails, I always forget Animal doesn’t have those.

But Animal has plenty of normal stuff on their menu…does the existence of foie gras on a menu disqualify the entire restaurant?? If so that disqualifies nearly everywhere in LA!

#19

Odys and Penelope might be a slightly more “LA” experience than AOC, but otherwise it seems like AOC will serve the purpose pretty well. Always pretty good food there. I will be curious to see what the Australian thinks of it.

#20

I think we can all agree that the theme of Animal is non-standard animal parts. If that’s not what you’re into, why bother going to Animal. Animal doesn’t have cocktails either, and there’s no way around that.

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