I will be in LA for a few days beginning of October and looking for a few ideas for solo dining for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Hotel is in Westwood but willing to drive around. It would be nice to have perhaps a small tasting menu or a relaxed dinner at the bar with a few small plates. This time not looking for high end stuff (e.g. Providence) or sushi. So far Baroo on Saturday at the Bar looks quite tempting but need more ideas for the other two days.
Also, I will be at a concert on Tuesday and need a late night dinner option (kitchen open until 1am) - are there any places with good dishes and cocktails available - years ago I liked the late night menu and cocktails at Red Medicines and also The Pikey but obviously both are gone.
And lastly, what are currently good cocktail bars. Again, years ago we often ended up at Roger Room (is it still good ?) but what else is out there ?
kato and leopardo, not bars but excellent cocktails.
pasjoli is starting a 5 course $95 prix fixe in the dining room and alc at the bar
kali has a chef’s counter and tasting menu
kato bar tasting menu
dunsmoor chef’s counter
the benjamin
cento pasta bar
shibumi
Thunderbolt near DTLA is an impressive cocktail bar. I’m more into their Basque cider and madeira than the cocktails, but the cocktails are tasty and unique. Cocktail Bar | Thunderbolt | Los Angeles (thunderboltla.com)
I had an incredible meal at Antico Nuovo the other night. @robert previously alerted us that they do half portion pastas for solo diners. Turns out it’s more than that. They do half portions for solo diners for some of the appetizers and desserts as well. Likely the best solo dining experience I’ve ever had. And the food is fantastic. I’m not a squab guy, but the server swore I’d like the squab pasta, and he was damn right. There is a bar, which is reservation only along with the tables - you can request it if you call.
Here’s Looking at You used to have (imo) the best cocktail program in the city; I have no idea if that’s still true today but the current menu reads like they’re at least continuing to put in the effort.
Melisse is perfect for solo dining at the bar you are able to order tasting menu dishes a la carte or a mini tasting menu. They do really nice cocktails and the 'house red/white is just a bottle of something nice they happen to have open. Plus of you’re still hungry the bar only burger is small but super tasty
That squab pasta at Antico Nuovo flat out tastes outerworldly good.
I had a great solo meal at Rustic Canyon’s bar. Not far from Westwood.
rustic canyon cocktails are also pretty decent.
holbox - the tasting menu is pretty light
if you dont have plans in the earlier hours of sunday morning, either birria el jaliciense or make a drive sans traffic to barbacoa atotonilco, both i think worth waking up before 8am for
Just wondering: What venue is the concert?
Kia Forum
Little Fatty’s open until midnight and is on your way back to Westwood.
I’ll be there on October 8, unfortunately I don’t know any late night dining spots in Inglewood.
Thanks everybody for the suggestions - made reservation at Baroo, Antico Nuovo and Pasjoli. I have to do a bit more looking on the late night options
Thanks everybody for the different suggestions and I enjoyed the dinners at Baroo, Antico Nuovo and Pasjoli quite a lot.
For the late night (~0:30am) dinner I was looking into different options in Koreatown but most of them don’t look quite interesting for solo diner. So I ended up at Jones in West Hollywood which was perfect for that time with fried calamari, rigatoni carbonara and two cocktails. That place was packed at 1am during the week that I really wonder if there isn’t a bigger market for good late night places
I also had time to visit three cocktail bars with Roger Room (still good but not as good as 5-10 years ago), The Normandie Club (very nice, updated interpretation of classics) and Thunderbolt (best of the three with very creative and unusual cocktails)
Thanks for the update!