My trouble with restaurant week is the time I spend over thinking where to eat. My husband and I have been known to spend countless hours scrolling through the menus online, trying to determine which trios are most alluring. Beyond that, there are SO many spots that participate that it’s nearly impossible to narrow the choices down. Last year, I implemented a new system: We took the printed restaurant list out of the LA Times and crossed off any place we’d already eaten, as well as any restaurant that has more than one location. (Like Il Fornaio, Katsuya, Morton’s). Then I crossed out every fourth restaurant on the list, no matter what it was. 1, 2, 3, 4. Michael’s. Have we eaten there? No. Is it on our list of places to go? Yes. Well, merde. With a long list of eateries, and only 2 weeks to dine, I had to get a little cutthroat. Michael’s will have to wait.
Last year was trickier for me to attend dineLA, being pregnant, and then having a newborn. I think the only place I made it to was BLD, where we have eaten several times, but it was one of those ‘we’re out and starving and we’re right here, so let’s just get a table’ kind of nights. I really love BLD for their blueberry ricotta pancakes, but dinner was delicious. It was a lovely evening, except that I was sitting next to David Spade, and he was incredibly distracting. He sat on the banquette to my immediate left, with his legs tucked up underneath him like a second-grader settling in for story time. That, and his companion who complained to the server that her tuna tartar was totally raw. Hmm. I digress…
We lunched at Drago Centro downtown the dineLA before last. Yes, I am referring to it as a season, because I treat it as such.
Here’s a glimpse at lunch:
Bon Appetit!