so who out there has NOT heard of govind armstrong? if you haven't, look him up NOW. b/c even if you don't know or care a thing about his food, you should at least know and care that he's HOT. yes, he's HOT. i mention this b/c i think he actually came into the dining room a few times during the night! mmm.... yummy food made by a yummy chef, what more could a girl ask for? well, maybe that he were mine....
while the 1.5-2 hours that was required to get me from campus to table 8 on a bus through crazy traffic on sunset blvd during rush hour was frightening to say the least, i think i was way too tired (from lack of sleep) to get way too worked up about it (that is, aside from a bit of a rant to elizabeth as i was getting off the second bus).
plus the driver on the first bus tipped me off to the correct transfer point for the second bus (after seeing the wrong transfer point printed on my mta.net directions -- BOO mta.net!), which probably kept me from freaking out and/or missing dinner entirely. the latter which would've been worse than anything imaginable after a super long day on campus which started soon after i woke up at FIVE in the morning. and don't bother asking. i have no idea why.
so as i walked in the door, i realized that dani was there already. yay! so this meant we were getting seated right away, yes? um, no. the hostess said she was new and asked if we wouldn't mind waiting a few more minutes. so we sat down on the cushy seats by the hostess stand. a few minutes later, she said our table was ready. so we got up and proceeded to follow her into the dining room (which was a bit small and nondescript in my opinion). to a huge booth prepared for a party of 4. as we were attempting to not look confused, a second hostess came over to tell us that the first hostess had directed us to the wrong table. so we left the dining room and went all the way back out to the hostess stand. stopping midway b/w the dining room and the bar/lounge area b/c we really had no idea where we were supposed to be going. the first hostess looked at us and wondered why we were back. and we looked at her and at least *i* wondered "why us?" within a few minutes, the second hostess returned us to the dining room. this time to seat us at 2 side-by-side tables set for, yet again, a party of 4. by this point, i know *i* was anxious for dinner, so who the heck cares about the seating arrangments? of course, as i proceeded to slip into the inside seat, i almost tripped over the attache case by the feet of the gentleman at the next table. needless to say, this was nothing more than a pre-dinner comedy of errors. but thank god the night could only get better, right? right.
while the dining room wasn't particularly lavish or memorable (just dark) nor was the ladies room (which has been known to be pretty ridiculous at some places), the food and the service (other than the semi-incompetent hostesses) certainly made up for the space.
first of all, the waiter brought us both menus (regular and dineLA) in leather books. umm... yeah... if i get my prix fixe menu in a leather book, i'm pretty impressed. re: the dineLA menu, not only had the online menu options already looked delish, but the restaurant chose to add more dishes! and unless you're wildly indecisive (which means you have issues), who doesn't appreciate more options? to be honest, probably us to the teensiest degree b/c now there were even more scrumptious-looking items we'd have to deny ourselves!
at any rate, after discussing our top picks (which amounted to pretty much everything on the menu), i decided on the roasted broccolini and the duck confit (both additions to the menu), and the tres leches with coconut macaroons. dani picked the boucheron with greens, the short rib, and the dulce de leche chocolate cake. all of which sounded absolutely AMAZING by description alone. considering the power of advertising and marketing, i simply don't understand when my eyes are met with bland food descriptions. how are those supposed to draw me in? if you can't even convince me to pick the thing, how am i going to taste it to know it's fabulous? the restaurants that want my money should know what makes me tick. and the restaurants with decadent food descriptions (and equally decadent food to match) ultimately have a *much* better chance of getting their hands on my dwindling fellowship funds!
the meal started out w/some yummy appetizers b/c both of our dishes involved greens (healthy) and some delicious cheese (*slightly* less healthy). my dish was literally warm broccolini covered in melted cheese -- a bit too salty for my tastes, but delicious nevertheless in all its gooey-ness. dani's was a little bit lighter and a perfect combo of flavors and textures, especially w/the inclusion of some roasted mushrooms. mmm.... mushrooms....
FYI that duck is literally my favorite bird of all time. while dani made a good point that duck *can* be fatty and gross, all that means is that the poor bird was cooked by an IMBECILE. needless to say, no imbecile came near the duck on my plate b/c it was absolutely heavenly the way it fell right off the bone as soon as i touched it with my fork. the meat was perfectly seasoned, cooked -- and swallowed. mmm.... dani's short rib was also quite delicious, especially with a bit of the crispy bacon and creamed swiss chard. honestly, creamed anything w/crispy bacon sounds like a pretty good combo.
last but not least, dessert. before i go on, i want to preface this next comment by saying that i'm generally NOT a fan of tres leches. particularly b/c i'm simply not a fan of milk. it really doesn't do a thing for me. and the last time i had tres lches, i was completely overwhelmed by the milk that'd been soaked up by the cake. it was a big ole mess in my mouth. THANKFULLY, the tres leches at table 8 is the reason why i don't (usually) let one bad experience ruin things for me. as dani pointed out, this cake was *so* light -- even airier than angel food! and there was just enough milk on the bottom of the plate for *some* soaking to occur (but not too much). in addition, the dish came with a coconut macaroon, which (in retrospect) i totally should've shared, especially since we'd had SUCH a bad experience w/one sunset's wannabe macaroons just last week. alas, i stuffed the whole thing into my mouth way too quickly, especially when i realized how perfectly crunchy and moist it was. not that it mattered b/c dani seemed to be thoroughly enjoying her chocolate cake, which was BEYOND amazing. this cake totally beat the lava thing we'd all shared at one sunset...BY FAR. and y'know what? on top of the great combo of chocolate and caramel, i could taste chocolate nibs! i swear those nibs will do it for you. they add just a little bit of texture to the ooh gooey deliciousness in your mouth. mmm....
so as this first year of dineLA comes to a close, all i can say is that i'm pretty darn impressed. not only w/some of the YUMMIEST meals i've had since being in LA, but particularly w/the fact that i got so many of them in my schedule over the course of 2 weeks! and the best news? table 8's extending their dineLA menu till the end of the month!!! talk about unbelievably freaking amazing. do they KNOW how many weeks are left in february?! *happy happy sigh sigh*
go go go:
table 8
7661 melrose ave
la, ca 90046
323.782.8258
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