Today I review two very different restaurants in Santa Monica — and both exceed expectations.
Before I became a divorce lawyer and while I was working my way through law school I had a job with a management consulting firm primarily working in distressed restaurants — which gave me a solid foundation for knowing what differentiates a mediocre from a great restaurant. That, combined with my family's foodie background has led me to be critical and discerning in the restaurants that I like and recommend.
A few weeks back I received an invitation from Herringbone to come have lunch on them. This is nothing unusual in the restaurant world; they invite in members of the press on a regular basis hoping that a positive experience will result in a good story. I used to invite the media in to restaurants when we had successfully course-corrected in trouble businesses all the time. As a writer it is usually a good sign that the management feels confident in their staff and kitchen to open themselves up to the type of critique that the media can offer.
Two weeks ago Friday, I and my friend Mike had lunch at Herringbone, which is a member of the Hakkasan Group — a 14-restaurant conglomerate of culinary excellence. The Santa Monica outpost is a light and airy open space environment, with a hearty dose of nautical whimsy, and light rock music playing a bit too loudly for me. As you enter the restaurant there is a tree with dried puffer fish, hanging like so many Christmas ornaments. Throughout the high ceilinged space are upside down boats hung to help deaden sound and add to the overall fun but fancy ambience.
We started the lunch in a room that was mostly empty on a Friday at noon with a seafood tower of oysters, clams, shrimp as big as a baby's fist and some humongous Alaskan King Crab legs and claws. The traditional accompaniments of cocktail sauce, a Russian dressing, fresh lemons with seed covers and a vinaigrette and horseradish dip were all excellent. The one flaw I found in Herringbone was the lack of drawn butter with the seafood tower — clearly a huge deficiency! However, the ever present staff were accommodating when I asked for some melted butter, they brought me a small ramekin, which instantly required another for Mike.
For our entrees I had the Tuna Tartare and a stone fruit salad which made for a light and refreshing interlude after the appetizer extravaganza. Mike had the lobster roll that looked amazing as it exploded out of the fresh roll. The white chunks of lobster glistened against the red of the halved cherry tomatoes. This was all followed with coffee and a dessert of hazelnut chocolate mousse on a brownie crust with fresh raspberry ice cream. The food was superb, and the service was excellent. But for the blemish of no drawn butter, and questionable music tastes, I can say I enjoyed the restaurant immensely and would definitely be back.
Saturday night was the grand opening of the newest Umami Burger. This 7-year-old chain was founded by Adam Fleischman and almost immediately was named the Burger of the Year by GQ. The burger chain has had tremendous growth across the country and is soon to be international. They have over 20 outlets from Los Angeles to New York. Umami Burger is based on the Japanese concept of a fifth flavor — it's beyond the savory. The party had approximately 100 people when I arrived with my friend Brian at 7:15 p.m. and the house was already rocking with gorgeous men and women. There was one stunning woman in a sleek skintight orange strapless dress who was not to be missed.
Restaurants always live or die based on their food. The selection provided by the General Manager Evan Coburn, started with a mini-falafel and tzatziki sauce in an Asian spoon that was light and flavorful, not overcooked, dry and hard like they so often are. The burger parade started with the (shredded beef) burger that was like pulled pork with a light BBQ sauce and caramelized onions — to die for. Next up was a slider of the regular Umami burger, then a portobello mushroom burger and of course the smothered French fries that had truffled cheese and shredded beef.
For the sweet side there were root beer floats circulated to top off the evening. The new site is hip with a full bar and several special new cocktails. We started with a Greens6 cocktail that was Matcha green tea, pineapple and orange juice, cucumber, cilantro and mint — I had mine without the vodka since I was driving, but it was delightfully, refreshingly bright.
Umami Burger has daily happy hour specials from 3 - 6 p.m. with truffle fries for $3, sliders for $4 and draft beers for $5, even their specialty cocktails are only $7. I know I'll be stopping in for an early evening snack, probably on Thursdays before the concerts on the Pier, which are coming right up.
All in all, I'd say our selection of great restaurants is continuing to grow and I look forward to trying them.
David Pisarra is a Los Angeles divorce and child custody lawyer specializing in fathers' and men's rights with the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes your questions and comments. He can be reached at dpisarra@pisarra.com or 310-664-9969.You can follow him on Twitter @davidpisarra.
