That’s experienced, whippersnapper.
I consider myself elderly at 27 mind you 
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A kick save and a beauty.
Spent a couple of hours drinking and indulging in a bit of food in between drinking while getting over a head cold last week.
Pump Spice
I began with a new fall cocktail loaded with pumpkin puree and cinnamon. A touch on the sweet side but completely capturing the feeling of fall, especially with the heat of gin underneath it. The picture was taken after I had some of the cocktail already. I ordered 2 more.
LAMBRUSCO
Caprari, Bollino Rosso, Emilia Romagna, IT
I decided to check out the new meatball sub on the brunch menu, and got a class of Lambrusco to go with it. The standard lambrusco here is a great example of easy drinking, pungent, and crisp tartness, exactly what you hope for from a good class of lambrusco, though it might not excite those looking for something special.
Wood-Roasted Meatball Sub
They toss the whole sub into their wood oven, which chars the bread decently. The meatballs themselves are savory and slightly sweet, but the bread is sourced from Goin’s Larder and is sort of remarkably pedestrian compared to the bread that is made in-house at Love and Salt. Overall, felt skippable, unless you are in the mood for a standard meatball sub with burrata and cleaner tasting meatballs than you would expect to find at a traditional deli or sandwich shop.
Egg
There was an option to get an egg on the sub, which I took up, but it ended up coming out a bit late on the side. It was a shockingly great fried egg. I think I enjoyed the egg itself more than the sub. The egg yolk helped on the sub itself though.
Passionfruit Campari Martini
Was feeling like some salt, and the citrus, fruit, and bite of the campari with tequila was pleasant, although not exceptional. Good, but not as exciting as I was hoping.
Penicillin
A classic cocktail of scotch, lemon juice, ginger, and honey. This is a fantastic rendition with fresh ingredients that actually made this drink feel like a restorative medicine, and made me feel better than any cough syrup. I had quite a few of them over the course of the afternoon/evening.
CREMANT D’ALSACE
Brut Rose, Hubert Meyer, Alsace, FR
As the penicillin began working its magic I worked up a bit more of an appetite and decided to get some roast chicken, which is just about the only major dish I’ve never ordered at Love and Salt. I switched to a glass of cremant d’alsace for it, which turned out to be an exceptional wine. Vivid, lively, bright red fruit on the nose with an exciting, dry finish. Perfect for cutting through the deeply viscous chicken fat-laden sauce.
Roasted Half Chicken
The chicken itself was nice, although falling somewhat short of extraordinary (thinking of Hatchet Hall’s game hen), but the housemade, thick-cut grilled bread that was soaked in the chicken-fat sauce made the dish extraordinary. To my palate, there is hardly anywhere in LA that makes their own bread that is as tasty as Love and Salt and it was brilliantly used here. The sauce was livened up by sage and garlic, and incredibly simple, but so thick it was almost creamy. There was something transcendental about the purity of chicken, herbs, and bread that this dish captured; it did not feel like eating chicken in, say, the French Laundry, but more as if a French grandmother in Alsace had prepared you a plate of chicken in a small dining room. On a menu filled with decadent California cuisine, this was a most fascinating anomaly.
English Muffins
I had some more penicillin and ordered some English muffins after dark as a friend joined me, she also had some gnocchi, which were excellent from the bite I had (but failed to snap a photo of). The intense rosemary-spiked butter and the soft, yeasty and slightly sour muffins remain one of my favorite bread orders anywhere.
There are a number of other new items I didn’t get to, such as a pizza made with locally sourced mortadella and garlic cream, and pappardelle with an all-day rabbit bolognese, duck leg, baby yams, and wood-roasted turnips. It’s easy to forget about Love and Salt but it remains one of the most comforting restaurants in SoCal to dine at for me.
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Just had these over the weekend. Truly amazing.
It was perfect with the black kale salad.
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Nice.
Another place I really am due for a revist on, shit…
No pasta or rabbit porchetta though?
We had the rigatoni and spaghettini, both of which we thought were too heavy and over-cheesed.
How come? Haha
it’s hitting all the right notes for me… i want this. i’m going to make something like this but probably with a mix of lamb and pork. already have a broth