dineLA RESTAURANT WEEK

Due to sheer laziness, dineLA Restaurant Week didn’t really happen for me. Well, almost. I originally had three reservations in place (at Dakota, Tokyo Table, and Chaya Brasserie) throughout the course of the food-fest. I was a little hung-over and tired the day of the Dakota reservations, which was too bad since that’s a place I’d been meaning to try. But the damp weather, and being wrapped-up in my blanket in my room, kept me from venturing out to Hollywood that day. Who leaves the Westside anyway? The night of the Tokyo Table reservation was also a bust. I wasn’t feeling it after the long week at work, and neither were my friends. Luckily, I was able to push through with the reservations at Chaya Brasserie in Beverly Hills.

I’d gone to Chaya several times before, but always for their ‘industry’ happy hour – which isn’t bad at all. The one and only time that I was actually there for dinner prior didn’t actually happen. It was for my birthday two years ago, and I was drunk out of my mind from happy hour, and we basically couldn’t wait around to be seated. (That was the same night we saw Michael Vartan hanging out at the bar at Chaya.) We moved the party to Sushi Roku on Third St., and I barely ate my sushi. I don’t remember throwing up, so that must’ve meant the night was decent. That’s another story, though.

Anyway. Two Mondays ago I had gone to a taping of Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann with the roomies and Ekie, who was visiting from home. The show/taping was absolutely lame, aside from watching the actual performances. Again, another story. After the taping, we were famished, and had the reservations at Chaya. We made it right on time for dinner, and we got right to it. Libations were flowing, and the prix fix menu looked pretty good. Two of us chose the lobster ravioli for our appetizer, and the other two had the shrimp gumbo. Yum. The 'gumbo' girls enjoyed their bowls quite much, and Ekie and I were lovin’ the ravioli – two raviolis (is that how you spell that?) stuffed with steamed lobster meat. They were showered in a delicious pesto sauce. It was absolutely divine. Our main course followed –with three of us ordering a Cajun-grilled sea bass over kale and basmati rice; Nicely prepared, and perfectly cooked. The fish practically melted in our mouths. Ekie was the lone soldier who got the boneless short ribs, which was sweet and tender – an excellent choice. It was definitely yum-azing. For dessert, we each ordered an ‘ice cream sandwich,’ which was basically vanilla ice cream with chocolate shavings sandwiched in-between two chocolate chip/walnut cookies. It was very simple, yet amazing. Surprisingly, we were very full after the rounds of drinks and food, and we left Chaya Brasserie with a good feeling. The place is most def a “sure thing” when it comes to fine dining. A sure hit, and our out-of-town guest was pleased.

I was just happy to have been able to take advantage of LA’s restaurant week (and adding more points to my optentable.com account!). Hopefully next year the offerings will be more diverse, and plentiful. I love NYC’s, Chicago’s and DC’s restaurant weeks. I think I will try to plan my next trip home to coincide with Restaurant Week just so that I can try someplace new in the city.