Thirty-Three Ways to Feed Hungry Historians

Lynn Dumenil

Restaurant Price Code

$$$$ Very Expensive
$$$ Expensive
$$ Moderate
$ Inexpensive

There are many reasons to love L.A., but its choice of excellent restaurants has to rank among the city's great pleasures. While the best way to sample the area's cuisine is to have the time, energy, and transport to sample food in a variety of L.A. area communities, there are fortunately enough places in the vicinity of the OAH convention headquarters to keep you busy and well fed. Most of the restaurants listed here are in walking distance, a short cab ride away, close to the DASH route <http://www.mta.net/>, or near metro stations. At almost every place listed below, reservations for dinner are recommended.

For upscale dining near the convention hotel, one of the best choices is Water Grill, which offers superbly prepared seafood, a good wine list, an oyster bar, and an elegant setting in its Art Deco dining room. Menu choices include an excellent French sea bass, an bouillabaisse of monkfish, prawns, mussels and clams in a fennel-scented tomato broth and house-cured salmon with ginger-scented crème fraîche and osetra caviar (544 South Grand, (213) 891-0900, $$$$, <http://www.nrn.com/dining/fd00_watergrill.html>) .

Cicada, which LA Downtown News rated as "Best Restaurant" and "Best Romantic Dinner," serves northern Italian Cuisine in the stunning Art Deco Oviatt Building. Highly recommended is the ravioli of smoked duck and the marinated tuna with mint and Italian white beans (617 S. Olive, (213) 488-9488, $$$$). If beef is your thing, try Stef and Nick's Steakhouse. Most of its beef is prime cut, but it also offers a special dry-aged New York strip and a rib-eye steak. Its barbecued shrimp appetizer, crab cakes, and extensive wine list also receive good marks from reviewers (330 S. Hope St., (213) 680-0330, $$$, <http://www.findarticles.com/m1346/2_45/59026343/p1/article.jhtml>).

Engine Company 28, an "American grill," offers steaks and chops, as well as comfort food like meatloaf and chili, inventive salads and sandwiches, and a vegetarian risotto. The building (a converted 1912 firehouse) adds to the ambiance (644 South Figueroa St., (213) 624-6996, $$-$$$). Another American-style grill is the venerable Pacific Dining Car, which is open twenty-four hours a day (1310 W. Sixth Street, (213) 483-6000, $$-$$$).

Perhaps one of the most interesting restaurants downtown is also the most conveniently located. Directly across from the Bonaventure is Ciudad, which specializes in pan-Latin American food, such as Argentine-style steak stuffed with jalapeños and garlic, seared calamari with Bilbao chorizo, white beans, and roasted peppers or Latin Vegetable Fiesta, a sampling of seasonal vegetarian delicacies including spinach with pepitas, plantain fritters, black beans, arroz con gondules, and grilled vegetables. The bar is especially attractive and is known for its exotic drinks (445 South Figueroa St., (213) 486-5171, reservations recommended, $$-$$$).

Two Italian choices are Tesoro Trattoria, which features Tuscan cuisine of grilled fish and meats, as well as tuna carpaccio and calamari fritti (at California Plaza, near the Museum of Contemporary Art, 300 S. Grand Ave., (213) 680-0000, $$-$$$) and Ciao Trattoria, which serves northern Italian trattoria cuisine, including pastas, veal picatta, and calamari in the beautiful historic Fine Arts Building (815 W. Seventh Street, (213) 624-2244, $$-$$$).

Sushi fans can find numerous restaurants in the Little Tokyo district (a short cab ride away from the convention hotel), including Oomasa. In addition to its excellent sushi, reviewers recommend its deep-fried soft-shell crab and soybeans (100 Foster St./Japanese Village Plaza Mall, (213) 623-9048, $$). Slightly farther away in the warehouse district adjacent to Little Tokyo is the much touted R-23. This stylish restaurant has a small sushi bar, but most patrons get their orders delivered to the table in a stunning presentation on a marble slab. Sushi and sashimi are exceptional here, but the cooked items tend to be disappointing (923 E. Third St., (213) 687-7178, $$$). For Japanese noodles, try Umemura (123 South Onizuka Street #303, (213) 620-9023, $).

Also close to the convention hotel is Chinatown. ABC Seafood (205 Ord St., (213) 680-2887, $$), Empress Pavilion (988 N. Hill St., Ste. 201, (213) 617-9898, $$) and Ocean Seafood (750 N. Hill St., (213) 687-3088, $$) all serve dim sum-small dishes like shrimp hidden in thick rice noodles, pork buns, or steamed dumplings stuffed with scallops you choose from carts that circulate throughout the dining room (a fun way to get a great lunch). Also open in the evening, these three restaurants are good places for groups. Empress Pavilion and Ocean Seafood are large and can feel cavernous at times, but the food offsets the atmosphere. Chinatown is also home to a number of Vietnamese restaurants, including Pho 79 which offers a variety of noodle soups in an unpretentious environment (727 N. Broadway, Suite 120, $).

Other inexpensive options include Philippe's the Original, a 92-year old landmark establishment which specializes in beef, lamb, or pork french dip sandwiches served in a down-to-earth environment with sawdust on the floors and shared tables. It's also well known for its breakfasts, which are served from 6:00 to 10:30 a.m. (1001 N. Alameda St., (213) 628-3781). Another classic place is the Original Pantry, which offers American-style fare and goodies from its bakery and is open twenty-four hours (877 S. Figueroa St., (213) 972-9279). A good cheap lunch option is Grand Central Market. After browsing through the produce, cheeses, and meats offered for sale, try Roast to Go for tacos and tortas, or for gorditas, Ana Maria's (317 S. Broadway). Although many of the restaurants in the vicinity of Olvera Street (close to Union Station, near the Plaza de Los Angeles) are disappointing, critics praise La Luz del Dia, especially its carnitas (1 W. Olvera St., (213) 628-3781).

An excellent choice for modestly priced Mexican food is Guelaguetza (about three-and-a-half miles from the convention site), which offers Oaxacan specialities and a floor show of music and dancing on Friday and Saturday nights, a great place to go with a group (3014 W. Olympic Blvd., (213) 427-0608). Another favorite is La Serenata de Garibaldi in Boyle Heights (less than three miles away), which is particularly known for its seafood. Try the camarones in cilantro sauce or the fish enchiladas in tomatillo sauce (1842 E. First St., (323) 265-2887, $$).

If you are in the mood for exploring a bit, the city's metro system offers an avenue to some good dining possibilities. The article, "The Fat Red Line," in the 16 August 2000 edition of the Los Angeles Times recommends restaurants in the vicinity of the subway's stations. For two dollars you can purchase a copy on-line from the newspaper archives (<http://www.latimes.com>). Here are a few highlights.

Near the Westlake-MacArthur Park station, for lunch, consider Langer's Deli, an L.A. institution, known for its pastrami (704 S. Alvarado Street, (213) 483-8050) or Paseo Chapin (220 W. Seventh Street, (213) 385-7420), a charming Guatemalan restaurant. The combination plate #20 (carne guisada, taquitos, and chile rellenos) is a sure bet, but so are the longanizas (sausages served with rice and black beans). Hit #6702 on the jukebox for "Sabor a Mi" and forget you're a historian for awhile.

A few blocks from the Wilshire-Vermont station, the tiny Guelaguetza (a smaller version of the larger restaurant mentioned above) is another good lunch choice. The Wilshire-Western Station is worth the trip just to see the marvelous Wiltern Building. In the Wiltern, the Atlas Supper Club has decent food and good music (3760 Wilshire Blvd., (213) 380-8400, $$-$$$), but the real restaurant attraction here is Woo Lae Oak, an upscale Korean restaurant that features barbecue you grill at your table (Kal Bi, a boneless beef dish, is especially nice), but has a variety of offerings, including shrimp and vegetable tempura, noodle soups, and rice dishes. There are lunch specials under $10, but a meal built around grilled entrees will be more expensive. A good choice for lunch or dinner, but make a reservation for the latter (623 S. Western Ave. (213) 384-2244, $$-$$$).

For those of you with cars, or for spendthrifts when it comes to cabs, here is a highly selective list of places farther afield. Campanile offers superb upscale dining in a striking building that once housed Charlie Chaplin's movie studio. Entrees and wines are exceptional, but it is also famous for its desserts and bakery (624 S. La Brea Ave., about 6 miles from the hotel, (323) 938-1447, $$$). One of Los Angeles's (and some say the United States's) best restaurants is Matsuhisa. The sushi is superb, but it's the special dishes like Chef Nobu's award-winning black cod in miso that make this such a memorable dining experience. If the sky's the limit, go for the tasting menu, or omakase (129 N. La Cienega Boulevard, about eight miles from the hotel, Beverly Hills, (310) 659-9639, $$$$).

If you are in Santa Monica (about fifteen miles away from downtown), three very different options stand out. One is Drago's, an excellent and elegant (but not stuffy) Italian restaurant (2628 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, (310) 828-1585, $$$), that offers consistently good and imaginative eclectic Italian cuisine (<http://www.celestinodrago .com/>). Another special place, touted as one of the city's best, is Wolfgang Puck's Chinois on Main, famous for its sizzling whole catfish with ginger, lobster ravioli, and its divine spinach (2709 Main St., (310) 392-9025, $$$$) .

Finally there's Typhoon, a Pan-Asian restaurant with dishes ranging from Filipino fried squid to scallops with black beans to Korean barbecue beef. Its location at the Santa Monica airport is an added attraction (really!) (3221 Donald Douglas Loop South, (310) 390-6565, $$). To supplement these listings, you might wish to look at Alain Gayot's The Best of Los Angles and Southern California or go on-line to <http://www.digitalcity.com/losangeles/dining/> or <http://lamag.com/dining.htm#downtown>.

BON APETIT!