We had a great long birthday weekend dining and looking at art all across LA. Amazing dining experience at Here’s Looking at You which has its own take on the new ethnic synthesis in pulling together Asian and European ideas in a refreshing and fun mix. Kismet continues the march of the Trois LA Empire (Trois, Jon & Vinny, Animal and many more) this time embracing light Levantine dishes and great natural wine list. Gjelina keeps an amazingingly high level of quality and variety while serving hordes.
But the most remarkable item from LA’s dining world is that quite a few restaurants add a service charge of 18-20% to their bills before tax. They’re very clear about it on the bill and wait staff tell you as well. It’s a great shift that I’d like to see everywhere. Even better – just add a standard service charge of $20 per bill or whatever your business model looks like, and leave it at that.
We stupidly missed the entire Frieze circus. Next time we’ll plan better. But highlights of what we did see include the Diebenkorn show way out in Pepperdine’s Wiesman Museum, the LACMA’s Outliers and American Vanguard Art, and the Laura Owens show at the Geffen Contemporary.
On a coffee note: The Go Get Em Tiger cafes continue to expand and continue to serve up amazing espresso, breakfasts, and fun nut drink combinations. Check out my full map here.