Hi @rovingfoodie,
Welcome to FTC! 
Glad you found us.
Yes, the L.A. Board here is where most of the former Hounds ended up.
Search for the many posts on those restaurants suggested (upper right corner, magnifying glass icon). I posted some pics and thoughts about Gjelina in this thread:
And Broken Spanish here:
I agree with @ipsedixit that the nicest of those 4 for “special occasion” are probably AOC and Broken Spanish.
Gjelina’s vegetable dishes are outstanding though (I’m not vegetarian, but after eating their vegetable dishes I could be, seriously. ;)). You can also walk around Abbot Kinney afterwards (lots of cute shops, and Venice Beach is nearby).
Enjoy!