Ritz Bites

Bye Bye Benito's?

Though admittedly it's been years since I've been to the Benito's location on Santa Monica Blvd., I felt a tinge of sadness when I noticed it's no longer. It appears a hot wings joint has opened up in the modest structure on the northwest corner of Santa Monica and McCadden. The 3rd Street location immortalized in the Big Lebowski was razed a few years ago, and now the Hollywood branch once featured in a "This American Life" episode is also gone.  Hard core taco lovers will hardly shed a tear, yet...

The Shakey's down street (where the "Ye Olde Public House" sign written in Gothic font are numbered, given the chain's recent rebranding efforts) and Benito's seemed to be the eateries of choice among some of Hollywood's  tranny youth. Will H&W Express be embraced as an acceptable substitute?

Tasteful Tea Update

Marissa digs up the scoop about the soon-to-open tea room on Fairfax for those who want their contemporarily reinterpreted tea for two at 2 ... a.m., that is.  Or roughly thereabouts.  Leave it to Marissa to post the news complete with teabagging jokes on Curbed LA.  Ah, it's that fine sensibility which endears her to us so.

Looking forward to June

Though it's obvious to anyone who glances at me that I'm not in it for the wine, yesterday I took up space at Silverlake Wine's Sunday tasting to try a preview of June Restaurant.  Let's just say that I'm P-S-Y-C-H-E-D.  The talents of Roxana, Dan and Elizabeth are never in question.  But the steamed mussels with sofrito, prosciutto topped with rich stewed cherries and roasted almonds, unbelievable shredded rabbit, and walnut bread with honey and a pungent Alsatian cheese (pasteurized, lucky for me), hugely turned up the level of anticipation for the restaurant's opening sometime this fall.  If you haven't yet been to the store on a Sunday this month, go before July is here.

But we actually did go for the wines, too, and grabbed the recent releases of Sea Smoke Southing and Ten pinots the second we walked in the door.  (Only six bottles of Ten were for sale.)  Since experiencing Ten at Sona we've never been able to find it locally because this winemaker pretty much exclusively sells to its list, and average joes are hard-pressed to find bottles available in regular retail locations.  The other attraction of the day: we're big fans of Samsara syrah; while their pinot packs a bit more of a punch than I like, we've now got one stashed anyway. 

Yes, I did take teeny tiny sips, aided by the super sense of Pregnancy Smell.  And even more emphatic yes, I'm eager for the day when I can partake in cracking open some of these bottles and start getting my palate used to wine again. 

Regarding June, I at least have the frozen remainders of our brown butter hazelnut gianduia wedding cake, which Roxana made, to look forward to eating for our anniversary in July.  A small consolation that should barely tide me over until June's doors on Hillhurst open.

There'll always be Taillevent

Do I feel like a sucker for having blown our 3-star wad at Lucas Carton in Paris, only to see the "pompous restaurant" close and refashion itself as the livelier, youthful, edgier, and lower-cost (yet hardly economical) Alain Senderens?

A little. I spent weeks agonizing over that decision. But once we were seated at Lucas Carton thoughts of Guy Savoy and L'Arpege vanished, and I wouldn't give up the memory of that lobster with vanilla sauce for anything. I didn't find Lucas Carton to be exceedingly stuffy; the service from Pierre et al. was amazingly attentive and not overly-meddling, and the fanciful art nouveau room – still intact, thankfully – struck a balance between formal and relaxed.

But I can't pause for too long to mourn the passing of yet another haute cuisine traditional stalwart. Some will always remain. And dripping chandeliers have never been my thing anyway.