Grace Restaurant

Our current best friend, Cat, treated us to a fantastic dinner at Grace tonight. None of us had ever been, so it was one of those Los Angeles milestone meals for everyone.

Cat ordered the butter lettuce salad. We were a little disappointed by the iceberg-like appearance of the butter lettuce, but impressed by the smokiness of the large chunks of bacon.

Jimmy got the red wattle pork belly with dates and black rice. Isn't that just a fun name? His appetizer was enormous; the size I would expect an entree to be. This smelled so much like Chinese style braised pork belly that we were all drooling.

I had short ribs with snails. I thought it was hilarious that they use words like haricot verts on the menu, but just called them plain snails instead of escargots. The sauces on this dish were amazing. One white creamy sauce, another clear citrusy sauce, and a beefy thick pan sauce. Beef cubes, snails, and mushrooms were piled into the biggest hollowed out artichoke heart I've ever seen. It was pretty impressive, about the size of my fist.

Cat's entree was hilariously enormous. She got an entire pork shank, smokey roasted potatoes, and broccolini. I said it looked like a cave man's TV dinner.

J's plate of food was also huge. Cat and I split one chunk and he got through one more and all the polenta before crying uncle. After the pork belly entree there was no way he could have eaten all this.

I had the rare wild boar tenderloin on a bed of spatzle. I found it very interesting that the dish was covered in dill, which I associate with salmon. This is super delicious if you like something like thin sliced flank steak. Again, the sauce was fantastic

We were so stuffed we each took about half an entree home and shared the peanut butter cup dessert. I see why Grace's dessert menu gets huge kudos from the Los Angeles dining community. It wasn't too sweet, the peanut butter mousse inside tasted like lightly sweetened fresh ground peanuts (not like peanut butter!), the caramelized bananas were just barely crisped on top, and the presentation was whimsical but not fussy.

Lesson to self: Grace has some of the biggest portions I have seen in a long time. If most LA restaurants are like this, I fully understand why entree prices tend to be higher than in SF. We would all have been very happy with one appetizer and one dessert each plus a shared entree for the table, or two of each course for our table of three.

At just above $50 a head after tax but before tip, this was a fantastic meal. We all have lunch packed away for tomorrow, too! Jimmy and I contributed to the meal by choosing a 2001 Barolo off the wine list. It was quite lovely, but not as lovely as a Barolo I had that was hand selected by an Italian ex-pat (you know who you are, if you're reading!). Anyhow, it's time for bed, but much thanks to Cat!