It’s not only in Santa Monica that you find first-rate restaurants that have survived the various changes in food styles over many years. While playing golf near Girona, Spain, we heard of a restaurant — El Celler de Can Roca — reputed to be among the top three restaurants in the world (check out ww
I am interrupting my series on old-time restaurants in Santa Monica because of a very different experience I had the other day. My wife and I were staying with friends in a small town near Montpellier, France.
In the 1950s and ‘60s, fine dining in Los Angeles was centered in Hollywood. There was Chasen’s, La Rue, Scandia, Ma Maison (if you were lucky enough to have the unlisted telephone number) and a few other fine restaurants, usually in the French mode.
The one restaurant most closely associated with fine dining in Santa Monica is still Michael’s. While it has not followed the many fads into more modern or experimental foods, it has maintained the same level of quality and consistency since it opened in 1979.
With hot new restaurants opening up all the time, we tend to forget some of the old standbys that have stood the test of time. If a restaurant has been in the same location and under the same management for 20 years or more, it must have something special.
Whenever I write an article claiming one thing is the best, I get a number of e-mails suggesting I try another place. So after my hamburger article I received about six e-mails from PR people suggesting I try their client’s hamburger, and one of those was an invitation to the Daily Grill.
A lot of people I know were disappointed when they learned that Chez Mimi, one of the few remaining authentic French restaurants in our area, closed and that another Italian restaurant would open there.
BBQ is a culture like sushi, or Menudo. People will drive hours to find it. It’s a multi-geographic culture. There is Texas BBQ, Memphis BBQ, North Carolina has its own version and is famous for 12-hour cooked pulled pork shoulder, and of course L.
Centrally located on the southeast corner of Overland Avenue and Palms Boulevard in a small, unassuming shopping center, Sushi Central is a real find for any true sushi lover.
Another hot new spot for young people, and those seeking youth through healthy eating, has opened up in Santa Monica. The True Food Kitchen occupies a great location on the west end of Santa Monica Place, right on Second Street.
The Robata Bar is part of a group of highly successful restaurants that includes the Sushi Roku chain and the Boa steakhouses. In fact there is a Sushi Roku in Santa Monica located just next door that shares the Robata Bar’s kitchen.
There are a lot of hot new restaurants opening up in Santa Monica. In fact, there are so many I am having trouble keeping up with them and writing the other two great articles I have in mind, “Where are the best BBQ ribs in the SM area” and “Old Timers.
