Howdy and welcome to Staci and Elkeer’s Los Angeles food blog. Elkeer and I met nearly 16 years ago while working at Disney Feature Animation and forged a lovely friendship. One of the things we have always connected on is good food and wine. Elkeer is an amazing cook and patisserie chef, and me, well……let’s just say I’m a big fan of eating tasty vittles.
I realized when I moved to Portland, Oregon about five months ago that after 20 years in Los Angeles, while I had experienced many of the cultural activities L.A. had to offer, I had never truly explored the food scene. Portland has become one of the most vibrant and exciting food cities in the nation and in my short time there, I tried to fit in as many stellar restaurants as I could (yes – the Reggie Sandwich at Pine State Biscuits is really as transcendent as everyone claims). With an unexpected return to L.A. a few weeks ago, I decided I needed to make this city brand new to me. And the best way to do that is to finally find out what all of the hype is about surrounding the restaurants that consistently make the top 100 lists of local foodies. I have never been to any of them. Strange, I know. But I’m going to right that wrong.
Up first: Lucques.
Staci
Lucques opened in West Hollywood in 1998 and is the first restaurant of Chef Suzanne Goin and business partner Caroline Styne. It was not at all busy for a Thursday lunch, which made me think that maybe dinner is where it’s at. We were seated on their lovely, perfectly-lit garden patio beneath the branches of an olive tree (the leaves kept raining down on my head, but it was funny, so I didn’t mind). Almost immediately we were graced with a small plate of multi-grain artisan bread with creamy, delicious butter and coarse rock salt. Delicious. Did I mention I’m gluten-free? Well, not today. They also brought a small dish with almonds and olives lounging in a pool of olive oil. Simple and lovely. I have always hated olives. I don’t anymore. I ate five and would have eaten more if I thought it wouldn’t have ruined my lunch. I chose an appetizer of white bean soup with almond pesto, pecorino and scallion cream. Light and well-flavored. I did add a wee touch of salt, but I’m the daughter of a salt-a-holic.
My entree was the chopped chicken salad with romaine, string beans, cucumber, jalapeño and lime. It was pretty perfect for a salad. The jalapeño added an occasional kick and the chicken was perfectly cooked and chopped into thumb-sized pieces, which I really like. Very nice. If you’ve ever wondered what an $18 salad looks like, here you go:
For me, for a salad to be worth $18, it should at least come in a punch bowl so I can get a few more meals out of it. But it tasted great. All in all, a pleasant dining experience.
Elkeer
Lucques was the perfect setting for our first establishment to start us off on the culinary adventures we plan on cultivating.
I also enjoyed the white bean soup. It was light, creamy and satiny smooth! I definitely recommend this soup.
For the main course, I chose the grilled arctic char with farro, curried cauliflower, preserved lemon and tomato salsa. I nearly ate it all up were it not for the fact that I over indulged on the yummy artisan bread, olives and almonds.
This meal is definitely going to be a hard act to follow, but I look forward to our next meal with salivating glands.
Mighty Appetity 