I don’t see any commentary on Lillie’s yet so I thought I’d share some notes.
L.A. Eater included Lillie’s at The Culver Hotel on their list of best brunches. We went for dinner.
We were a party of four for dinner on Saturday night (Dec 17, 2022). We had a 715 reservation. My wife and I arrived early, to take a look around. It was our first time visiting the hotel in general, even though we live in the area and have dined at plenty of places in the area over the years.
Lillie’s takes up the lobby of the hotel and the place was hopping on a Saturday night. There is a bar that was crowded on one side of the room and the rest of what is more or less the hotel lobby is the indoor dining area. There is also a large outdoor dining area that looked pretty busy, too, and I’m guessing it’s great to sit outside when it’s not as cold as it was this week. We sat inside.
Lillie’s has live music most nights, on this night there was a jazz quartet (singer, keyboards, standup bass and cornet) doing standards and holiday songs. They even did a mini-set of Fats Waller tunes - the piano player had some chops, too.
Started the evening with a round of drinks – I had a nice gin martini. The service allowed us to take our time, which I liked, there was no rush at all. After the drinks were served, we ordered what turned out to be a really nice burrata with a loaf of warm sourdough baguette. The burrata was a bit different than the one described on the menu. That version mentions figs, but on Saturday the cheese was accompanied by beets and berries. A very nice way to start the meal. Once again, we took our time, not ordering dinner until the appetizers arrived.
For dinner, I had the steak frites – a medium rare wagyu bavette that was very tender and very beefy. Fries were nice, crispy outside, soft inside. The birthday boy (he turned 60) also had the steak, my wife had the grilled branzino and the birthday boy’s companion had rigatoni with kambocha squash. I did swap some steak for some branzino and liked the fish just fine. I’d order it. I also added a pale ale with our meal.
We were to full for dessert.
We sat down around 715 and dinner was over a little after nine. The room had a good energy – the Culver Hotel has an old-time festive feel to it. I could see some folks saying that the combination of the band and the conversation made the room too loud, but we were able to carry on a conversation even though we were pretty close to the combo.
We left feeling happy and looking forward to trying the brunch when the weather gets warmer and we can sit outside comfortably.
Dinner for four with drinks (my companions drank wine - I had the beer and cocktail) was about 370.
All in all, a nice addition to the downtown CC area.