Peony: I think the food tonight was pretty nice. Everything was tasty and flavorful. I expected it to be something similar to Osteria Mozza, and I wasn’t disappointed. Some of the dishes were quite salty for me.
Warrior: The Barish is another good restaurant. I would rather eat at Republique. On to the next restaurant.
Warrior: I’m not a fan of this restaurant. I think pasta that is not al dente is fit for eating by animals only. Tonight’s mushy torchio falls into the “slop” category, while the rigatoni was just barely edible. Other dishes were better, but I didn’t think highly of any dish tonight except the pumpkin gelato. Actually, my two favorite dishes at the Barish in two visits have been the olive oil gelato and the pumpkin gelato. I enjoyed the contrasts of sweetness and saltiness and creaminess and crunchiness in both.
Peony: We decided to go out for Thanksgiving last minute and we were very excited to find the Barish had availability. The restaurant was very busy tonight, and the atmosphere was festive. Overall, I had a great time, although the dishes were not quite consistent. I liked the three appetizers (anchovies, preserved vegetables, and corona beans) most. I feel the appetizers were prepared much better than the main course (turkey). I feel this restaurant has the potential to make good dishes, although right now some of the dishes are not that good.
Thanksgiving’s not a great day to judge a restaurant. They’re likely shorthanded, in which case consistency suffers.
Peony: Thanks for pointing that out! That could be the case.
Had a really nice dinner here tonight.
Farmhouse Roll
Sweetbreads
Testa
Smoked Beets
Mustard Greens
Mushrooms
Duck
Pork Chop
6oz Rib-eye Cap
Ice Cream Sundae
No pasta because one of three of us tonight was gluten-free (the roll was split in 2).
Outstanding: the testa, beets, and pork chop. Roll, sweetbreads, and duck were also very good, and I liked the mushrooms but they probably could’ve used a bit of acidity or something. The ice cream sundae came with marcona almonds, and really excellent fudge sauce - great composition. The mustard greens and the rib-eye were still good but I probably wouldn’t order them again (for myself).
Overall, slightly exceeded my expectations. We had a bit of food left over; could’ve easily skipped the steak and cut the bill by 30%. Most importantly (heh), I was able to get a reservation for 7:30 pm on Saturday night an hour ahead of time. It’s definitely joined my list of places to come back to, instead of just ticking a checkbox.
Looks like there is patio seating? And when you said you wouldn’t get the rib eye again, is it just bc it was too big? Or bc the other dishes were better?
I’m not sure if there’s patio seating; I didn’t think there was and we sat indoors. But it’s possible I just missed it.
The rib-eye cap was 6oz (so fairly small) and cost $95. It was good in the abstract, but not as good as either of the other meat dishes we ordered, not that much better than a rib-eye we can do ourselves on the grill, and ultimately pretty poor QPR. The bill was like ~110/person (before tip & tax); without the rib-eye it would’ve been about 80. (I knew we were over-ordering slightly; since I wasn’t sure if I’d like the place enough to come back I wanted to try a steak, since, y’know, steakhouse. So in that sense I don’t regret it 
)
To be fair, it’s not cheap source Snake River Farms ribeye cap. But I agree that it’s generally much more cost effective to cook steak at home!
Huh, didn’t realize that the margin was so thin. Guess the fact that it was wagyu (even if American) should’ve tipped me off.
To me, the point of a steakhouse is to source and dry-age beef that’s better than I can buy from a butcher.
Yeah, I was waffling about whether to get the dry-aged NY strip, but 1) not a huge fan of NY strip in general, and 2) it was 15 ounces, and we were already overdoing it. But it was only $15 more so maybe it would’ve been the right play.
Since there’s no bone-in ribeye on the menu I’d go for the porterhouse, in part because it’s so tricky to cook the whole thing to medium-rare that I don’t grill those at home.
On the other hand, I don’t believe I’ve ever ordered a steak at Osteria Mozza, since there are more interesting things on the menu, and the same seems true fot The Barish.
Me too. But I think it’s gone thru a couple of not so cool iterations since the classic Hollywood days.
I went there for the first time maybe five years ago. Only been to the Library Bar (and not since the makeover into the Writer’s Room).
The Barish is the red-headed stepchild no one talks about.
Air Jordan had a whole episode about The Barish, literally flat out calling it a hotel management deal.
In a good or bad way? She is usually pretty on top of anything she lends her name to. I keep meaning to try Barish but it never happens for me.
That’s not saying whether it’s good or bad. Although I’m hearing the food isn’t spot-on at this restaurant, like you would expect of her others. But there’s a reason you have almost every hour of reservations available this friday or saturday. Angelenos are keen at spotting management deals, and I think no one senses it as actually being hers, especially when you hear how hotel branding works. A lot of us were not surprised about what Cafe Basque actually was, either.
