Animal

Exterior of Animal/image courtesy of The Mei Lai Project

Background: 
Animal is owned by LA powerhouse restaurateurs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. The duo also owns Petit Tois, Trois Mec, Son of a Gun, and Jon & Vinny's. Animal, opened in 2009, was Shook and Dotolo's first restaurant, and it still makes nearly every "best of" list for Los Angeles cuisine. 

True to its name, Animal focuses on meat-heavy dishes and adventurous ingredients for the hungry cave man inside of us all. Their menu staples include crispy fried pig ear, veal brains, rabbit larb, sweetbreads, and foie gras biscuits. For dessert they don't let up and their most notable offering is a bacon chocolate crunch bar. So, basically, vegans should stay far, far away from Animal, but I am guessing they would have figured that out based on the moniker alone. 

We visited Animal for brunch, so we kept our fare a little lighter than the options listed above, but our experience left us eager to come back for the full dinner experience whenever we are in the area again. 

Why were we in LA for all of this great eating? Why, so Jason could run a race, obviously. Here he is rocking the Disneyland Star Wars Half Marathon!

Go, Jason, go!

Eat This: 
Tamago Scramble
Bone marrow sushi rice, Japanese pickles, arare

My favorite breakfast dish of all time

I loved this dish so much. It was light but filling, and the tangy soy flavor meant I could not stop eating it. What's arare? You've probably seen them a million times--they're those little soy rice crackers.

Image courtesy of Snack Treasures Hawaii

Hamachi Tostada
Fish sauce vinaigrette, peanut, avocado

There's fish under there!

The tostada was described by our server as one of the most popular (and lightest) dishes on the menu. Its bright, fresh flavors did not disappoint!

Chicken Liver Toast

Art

My love for chicken liver toast is undying, and this was the hands down best I have ever had. I always feel like my body is getting healthier and stronger when I eat chicken liver, and while that immediate feeling is most definitely in my head, organ meats are legitimately filled with so many good nutrients and healthy fats. Those of you who still believe in the fat/cholesterol myth? Put down your fat free yogurt and get #woke. It's not the 90s anymore, ya'll. 

Dessert: 

Cinnamon Roll

Do you hear that? It's the sweet siren song of BREAKFAST DESSERT

Drink: 
It was brunch, so it was all coffee, all the time. They also had a mint infusion (just straight up mint and hot water) that changed my life. I started buying mint on the regular when we returned to NC. Mint is great for your digestion!

Atmosphere: 
Hip and cozy spot. It was a sleepy Sunday morning, and even though we had reservations we probably didn't need them as it wasn't crowded at all. The vibe was very relaxed and inviting. 

LA Baby Hospitality: 
Our service was a little slow, which was odd considering they weren't busy, but we weren't in a rush, so we didn't mind just relaxing with our coffee/tea and enjoying the morning at a leisurely pace. The servers were super friendly and offered great recommendations. 

Frankie's Notes: 
Jason bought the bright green race shirt so he would be easy to spot; Apparently literally everyone else had the same idea--all races now seem to be a sea of bright green, at least from this spectator's perspective; Disney security is no joke--I tried to jump a barrier to follow Jason to the finish and I almost got tazed; Don't taze me bro; Fat is your friend and his name is Bob the Fat Fairy; LA is a super awesome place filled with the best food and art; But seriously, why do we chase that cat?
 

Check out this pretty picture of Laguna Beach! And no: I didn't see Lauren Conrad; yes: I am still upset about it.

Rating: 5 out of 5

 

Kato

LA vibes/image courtesy of Open Table

Background:
Kato is an unassuming spot in a strip mall in West Los Angeles. Kato is unique in that it offers a sophisticated tasting menu at a reasonable price ($50 per person). Chef and owner Jonathan Yao opened Kato in June of 2016 to rave reviews. We visited in January of 2017 with an old friend of mine from high school (Hi, Zach!) and his lovely girlfriend. Kato's vision is awesome, because you get quality food for a reasonable price and it's not your typical night-long tasting menu experience--we were able to get in and out and onto a comedy show at The Upright Citizen's Brigade!  

y, tho?

Eat This:
We started with this lil' seaweed sandwich---it was super-charged with umami to get the evening started off properly!

It's filled with secrets (mostly because I can't remember what was in it)

Wagyu Tartare

Hamachi Crudo with pickled cucumber and nori mozuku sauce

Ocean trout with charred cabbage

Duck with plum sauce

Uni & crab porridge

Dessert:
Dessert was my absolute favorite course (I promise that this is not always the case (just usually), but this rose granita with buttermilk pudding was out of this world! I wanted five more. 

Drink:
Kato did not have their liquor license yet on our visit, so we had some really awesome Jasmine tea topped with a sweetened condensed milk foam--basically the best version of Thai tea ever. 

Image courtesy of Yelp

Atmosphere:
Kato is a very intimate spot (read: small), and the fact that it's tucked away in a strip mall makes you feel as though you are a food secret agent and you've found some sort of hidden gem, so that's exciting. The tables and decor are sparse--the focus is on the food, not the ambiance. 

Hi, I'm sparse!/image courtesy of Yelp

LA Baby Hospitality:
The servers were nice, and they were understanding of our lateness (LA traffic is seriously no joke), but we could tell that they were trying to move us in and out quickly, probably because they had someone else slated to use the table, which again, is totally on us for being late. There isn't really much reason to linger though, as Kato doesn't yet serve alcohol. Seriously, who wants to talk to their friends sober for longer than it takes to eat a meal? Does that make me an alcoholic? 

Frankie’s Notes:
LA strip malls are probably where we will find a portal to another dimension; When your old high school friends are LA chic, does that make you fancy, too?; Seriously, I hope Elon Musk realizes his vision for an underground tunnel below LA's highways, because that situation is bananas; It actually makes me mad that they stopped traffic to film that dance scene for the opening of La La Land--like, seriously, these locals go through enough--get a proper set, Ryan Gosling; It's not Ryan's fault directly, but I am going to need him to apologize to me in person; "Hey girl, this traffic is really messed up, but I appreciate your flexibility in a stressful situation."

Swoon

Rating: 4 out of 5