Yup! 2 pieces of nigiri. Also a highlight. Long line all night as you might imagine but they had like 6 people on their assembly line so it moved fast.
Other highlights for me: rustic canyon (slice of persimmon with chili oil), bavel (shrimp toast), nok’s (crispy rice salad), kismet (sweet potatoes with grapefruit and chili oil)
That stood out to me as well.
I really think Republique - AS A RESTAURANT - is just OK. Very uneven, over-hyped and over-rated for me.
Perhaps, AS A BAKERY, it deserves high marks but for this discussion, I tend to only think in terms of the food – the list isn’t for the 101 Best Bakeries
Jenn Harris’s capsule review for Republique is heavily focused on pastry:
… toast. Corn beignets … crostini … a dome of pastry … a pastry case brimming with Margarita’s pastries, cakes, tarts and pie. … baked like a sausage roll in a pastry shell …
The roast chicken is the only dish she mentions without a pastry element.
To me ranking such a diverse group of restaurants is absurd!
I’m feeling an urge to stand up for Republique.
First of all, best wine list in LA.
Second: I can’t think of any place in LA where I’ve eaten more meals of such a high quality. That’s based in part on how often I go there, which is based in part on: (1) quality of food; (2) price; (3) menu change frequency: (a) changes to main items (b) changes of cheese; (i) cow
Republique has high quality dishes but the prices seem to be 10-25% higher than comparable restaurants with similar quality
Every time when we go back to LA and decide on restaurants Republique is on the list (as we enjoyed our visit there) but gets dropped because the prices are quite inflated
Anybody on here been to these obscure places? I admit that I’ve been to Mario’s and it was very tasty! Got a steak sandwich that I was quite content with.
But has anybody been to Las Segovias or El Bacano?
This list (in a good way) feels like a total departure from the Jonathan Gold selected “ethnic” restaurants. Most of these cheaper spots have emerged post Gold, and thus were “discovered” by this current crew. Interesting, I think? I don’t have the bandwidth to do this, but there are a ton of newcomers on this list.
My obscure sleeper pick is Two Hommés, #89 last year, #47 this year. Incredibly delicious “Afro-centric” cuisine. I even posted a thread about it after I went last year but I don’t know if I inspired anyone to go. Highly recommend checking it out!
Brunch. Lunch. Pastries. Desserts. Dinner. Cocktails. Wine. I believe it’s the most complete restaurant in LA. No one else bats above average at every facet like republique.
That means something in the grand scheme of things.
Well, got an email from DPH about a ‘foodborne illness outbreak investigation’ into the 101 party.
Cue the jokes about Dr. Pat sucking up to RFK, raw milk, etc etc etc.
(I didn’t get sick but the questionnaire they sent makes it sound like it’s oyster related and luckily I didn’t have any.)
On the event there was already sick person who threw up when event just started, at the back side of the event area. If these people were sick from norovirus from outside. It can spread really fast (grabbing dirty hand with hot sauce spoon etc)
Also there was thousands of people, and stomach flu and flu are pretty strong these days and keep going on
Sad to see people blame on oysters. Could be caused from out and spreaded. I ate oyster and I was fine (before event started)
The issue is that there’s an active recall of oysters that were harvested during the 101 reveal party and contaminated with norovirus. Not every single oyster will be contaminated and not every single person will have the same reaction to need to report the illness
It’s far more likely that there was a food borne contamination than someone with the stomach flu being a super spreader in that short of a period of time. This is the statement from DPH
“The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is investigating a norovirus outbreak associated with oysters that were served at an event on December 3, 2024,” a spokesperson for the health department said without referring to the L.A. Times reveal party specifically. “At this time, over 70 attendees that consumed the oysters have reported illness, a majority with gastrointestinal symptoms that include diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain and vomiting.”
“This outbreak is associated with a multijurisdictional outbreak linked to oysters that have now been recalled,” the spokesperson continued. “The recalled oysters are Fanny Bay Select oysters and Fanny Bay XS oysters from Pacific Northwest Shellfish Co., with a pack date of November 25, 2024, or later. The date of the recall notice was December 13, 2024. Public Health is continuing to investigate the outbreak.”
I also was a victim of a food borne illness at a food festival. I believe the only edition of the Food & Wine Taste of Beverly Hills. Campylobacteriosis outbreak. Worst week of my life, worse than covid. Ended up at the hospital hooked up to IVs at the end of the week.
Best part - I had proposed to my wife before we left for the food festival lol!
They did publish it.
Perhaps the LA Taco article shamed them into it… hard to imagine they were less aware than outsiders as the organizers of the event.
I believe the events department is under PR or marketing. Definitely not part of the news team. LA Taco got the news ASAP since their editor in chief got sick and received an email from the health department a week ago.
I wonder if Providence would normally source oysters from Pacific Northwest Shellfish.
A co-worker, an ex Restaurant PR person, was at the event. We’ve been chatting about it since she got her questionnaire. It was the oysters as confirmed above, apparently the oysters in question were served by Providence and sourced from Santa Monica seafood. As mentioned the recall was not issued in time for the event. She said she waved to Michael but did not want to wait on their line. Lucky lady.