animal restaurant

On August 20th a review for Animal appeared in the LA Times. I sent a link to a few people and by the end of the day we had made reservations for five people on August 23rd.

The review is of the opinion that the restaurant is on the marginal side, and yet something about the dishes, and even the complaints about the dishes still intrigued us, so we wanted to check it out for ourselves.

We encountered surprisingly little bacon.

We also did not find things to be unpleasantly sweet or salty, another thing the reviewer complained about, and our group had one person who is not fond of sweet and one who is not fond of salty.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised. While intrigued by the review, I was also concerned because the chef owners have been on a Food Network series Two Dudes Catering and while I have never seen the show, I tend to be a bit leery of TV celebrity chefs, or more specifically, of their restaurants.

We enjoyed ourselves. We enjoyed the food. The service was solid and the surroundings were clean and simple. The noise level was a higher than I would prefer, but not to the point of completely aggravating me. The space was a bit too cramped. Actually, that is really my only seriously complaint about the place is the space/price ratio. I feel that it was a bit overpriced for the ambiance, which came down to a matter of crowding. I'd much prefer that they keep those prices and remove a few tables.

Finally, they really need to do something about their website and they need to start accepting reservations online.

I've seen photos of menus from other nights, so I know they do make changes, but these are the dishes available the night we went.

pork belly, kimchi, peanus, chili soy

melted petite basque, fra mani chorizo, garlic bread

garden lettuce blue cheese vinaigrette radish, candied pecan

beets, romano beans, egg, potato, tarragon aioli

heirloom tomato, kalamata, feta, fresh garbanzo, pickled onion

crispy squash blossoms, oaxacan cheese, tomato, avocado

raw amberjack, nectarine, oragne, mint, serrano chili

roasted marrow bones, herb salad, toast

shaved asparagus, black truffle, poached egg, grana padana

pork ribs, balsamic, heirloom tomato, rocket & bread salad

niman flat iron, bordelaise, creamed leaks, potato, corn, sweetbreads

quail fry, anson mills grits, long cooked greens, slab bacon

whole grilled branzino, caper brown butter, pigweed

turbot, rancho gordo marrow, beans, tomato, favas

pork chop, eggplant, broccoli, peppers, our pancetta, cipollini

the 109 for two, foie gras sauce, mash

dancing demon pluot & blueberry crisp, whipped cream

bacon chocolate crunch bar, s&p anglaise

macerated strawberries, cream, toasted pound cake

changes and modifications politely declined
we support local and organic farming whenever possible
*we hate capitalization and punctuation

*Okay, they did not actually say that last thing.