This place is located right at the corner of Wilshire and La Brea in an area that I wouldn't expect to be "hip". It was across from blockbusters and away from other popular restaurants. To my surprise, my cousin who arrived first was asked if she had reservations. We didn't and had to wait 15 minutes for a table...not bad.
As usual, I was the late comer. As I stepped in, every seat at the bar was taken, and the wooden dining tables were filled with age groups ranging from mid 20's to early 40's. It was a happening place.
We started off with a large bowl of sangria:
I have bits of fruit in my sangria and be able to taste the wine in it. As you can tell from the bright cherry color, this was more like a fruit punch to me, and only had a lone piece of lemon to represent the fruit family. My cousin started to feel a buzz from 2 glasses, so it did it's job. :)
We ordered poke and a side dish of macaroni and cheese as our appetizers. The mac 'n cheese to me was my favorite out of all the dishes. I had a nice crusty topping and a cheese taste that isn't too overwhelming. One of my cousin's said she can make better mac'n cheese.
The poke, or marinated raw tuna, had tomatoes, ginger, poke, garlic, lime, and every ingredient necessary to make a salsa. It tasted good as a general dish, but if you order it, don't expect to get a traditional poke plate. I like to be able to taste more of the poke than it's supporting ingredients, and this one didn't really do it for me. "It's like a ceviche" said one of my cousins.
My cousin Lan got the pan seared Mahi Mahi with Morroccon couscous and baby bok choi. I thought the Mahi Mahi was good but lacked some flavor, and didn't realize that it was supposed to be "pan-seared" until I looked at their website. I always thought pan-seared meant "lightly cooked on the outside and raw in the inside"...but this one was cooked all the way. It didn't fit the bill.
My other cousin Thanh ordered the breaded pork cutlet, and I ordered the parmesan gnocchi bolognese.
The pork cutlet was very good...it reminded me exactly of the Japanese pork katsu...except this one had a dab of cranberries on it, making it more American.
My gnocchi were as big as big marshmellows and the texture of the gnocchi was almost as soft as marshmellows. It's with "ground Ninan ranch flat iron"...which basically means ground beef (I couldn't taste the difference if ground flat iron is supposed to be better quality). Overall, I think flavor-wise my dish was good, but again, it's not quite the traditional gnocchi I was expecting.
Overall, if you're looking for a happening place to hang out with your friends or a place to go out for a casual date, this is it. If you're looking for "the place" to go to for food, I'm sure there's better places out there. I had fun.
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