I still enjoy the new, hip restaurant despite a zillion less than stellar experiences. DH has forsaken me, so I either go on his expense account, entertaining clients, or go with friends.
After last week, however, I may have finally come around to his way of thinking. If it’s been open less than a month or so, I’m there. Last week this meant dining at CommeCa for dinner, and Paperfish for lunch.
A friend had recommended Comme Ca, so I booked a table. CommeCa is the brainchild of Sona chef David Myers. Let me say up front, I did not like Sona, though they have a great wine list. I found the food too heavy, to protein laden, and not that good, given the price. I know, I should have been wary of a space that started out as an izakaya idea (love Japanese pub food), but changed to a French bistro according to demographics.
It was awful. The space was too loud. The food was too salty. Would it kill them to put a vegetable on a plate? When I ordered the sole, I fully expected one dainty fillet, not three heavy fish rolls. On the one hand the service was great, but it had the egregious West Hollywood valet cost. It was Sona part 2. I love France, and French bistros. This reminded me of neither.
So of course riding on the wave of one disastrous meal, I went to lunch the next day at Paperfish. In the old Maple Drive space on, you guessed it, Maple Drive in Beverly Hills, I was a little hung over and not feeling great. But great food can sometimes snap you out of that. I wasn’t so lucky. First, let me say, I can’t figure out the popularity of Patina Group restaurants. They all seem mediocre and overpriced, if you ask me. Especially if they’re serving you at the Hollywood Bowl.
I wanted something small. I ordered the seafood and avocado salad with Meyer lemon vinaigrette, pistou and fines herbes - and yes that’s a direct quote from the menu. It was a tiny portion of food and a beautiful presentation. I love tiny portions, but pretty presentations make me nervous. They remind me of the many terrible, and I mean terrible, meals I had Cornell - where in theory, they were teaching hospitality, but definately not cooking, but I digress.
While I was eating, I thought the food was good, not great, but good enough. The bad part came later. I had eaten a small lunch for two reasons, because that Comme Ca food was still sitting in my stomach, and because I was going to a Lakers game that night -and you know those private suites have nothing but junk food. But at about four, when we were making plans for dinner, my office mate noticed I looked a little green around the gills.
FYI, work is not a place to be nauseous, but whether it was a bad mussel, or squid, or whatever, I severely regretted my lunch. It was like a slap in the face for being trendy. Had I gone to some hole-in-the-wall local place I would have felt wonderful and my wallet would have only been a few dollars lighter.
For the mean time (because I don’t learn), I’m off the super-hyper-trendy, and I only eat real food prepared by real looking people. My current favorite. Han Bat Suhl Lung Tang - a Korean beef bone marrow soup joint that’s wonderful for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and it wont make me ralph.
