Quick Bites: Comme Ça, Oinkster and Seven Grand

For afternoons when it takes me forever to get out of the house and we miss lunch at most restaurants, Comme Ça comes in handy. Daylight is kind to the space. White vinyl tufted booths and high contrast decor elements demonstrate the waning yet persistent influences of the Hollywood Regency revival trend. There is not a single remaining trace of Noura, the Middle Eastern place we'd go for yogurt Push-Up pops almost every day after elementary school.

Very limited offerings at 3:30 meant just sandwiches and salads were available, plus amazingly smooth Malpeque oysters served with a perfect tangy mignonette sauce. I would've liked the $12 frisée aux lardons much, much more if all the bacon pieces were crispy. Instead I wound up with a pile of mushy pig fat. Who wants to eat that? But like everyone says, this is a restaurant L.A. has needed for a LONG time, so I'll inevitably give it another shot.

For less than half of what we spent on a modest lunch/snack at Comme Ça, we stuffed ourselves with meat sandwiches, salads, and fries at Oinkster in Eagle Rock. An apples and oranges comparison, but let's say Oinkster is far better suited to an early Sunday dinner for two families with young kids. James kept screaming for more aioli -- so much so that the other patrons were glad when we left. I didn't know that would be so popular with the tot set.

And last but not least: After the research I did about the history and previous tenants of 515 West 7th Street,  it was exciting to finally see the quirky new inhabit the old at the Seven Grand Bar.

Comments

[Cicely]

How does James say "aioli"? I'd love to hear that. Reminds me of a Metropolitan Diary item in NYT, in which some Upper East Side kid was being bad and his dad said sternly, "If you don't behave, you won't get any caviar!" Of course, aioli isn't caviar, but it's still funny.

[Jess]

He actually said "eggie! eggie!" which is how he refers to any food that's vaguely white/yellowish.

Ah, Metropolitan Diary. The high of getting one of my entries published in '98 lasted for days.

[MBT Online]

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[PamPreston21]

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