From the driving, to the parking, to the not knowing where to drive or park, dinner in L.A. is harder than it should be. That’s why we created Dinner Plan — your itinerary to a damn good time.
Today: a date night dinner plan that that’ll have your partner bragging on you for weeks. Follow it to the letter, or go ahead and improvise.
The location: Koreatown. Grab an Uber to and from; at most you’ll walk three blocks between venues. Koreatown is L.A.’s Manhattan, walkability-wise.
Image: Katie Boink
Normandie Club
Anyone who enjoys a tasty cocktail, dark wood, exposed brick, low lighting and a playlist that’s always appropriate will cotton nicely to the Normandie Club. It’s been around for a few years now, and it’s aging just as well as the top-shelf spirits you’ll find in their delicious cocktails. You can start here. You can end here. You can start and end here. Mix. Repeat. It’s all good.
Image: DYLAN + JENI
Here’s Looking at You
Dinner is at Here’s Looking at You, a short walk from the Normandie. The passion project of two Animal vets, it has a stately feel thanks to a bar that houses a library of foodie tomes. Cocktails like the Known Associate (Cynar, mezcal, watermelon, pink sea salt and sugar) pair well with a convivial atmosphere, but it’s the grub you’re here for.
No flavor overpowers another on these stunning dishes, which are all intended to be shared. The waiters are well versed in the menu, but there’s something to the surprise of it, so I’m only going to spoil two dishes. First, the quail, which says it’s served with beets, red wine vinegar and spices. But what it doesn’t say is that’s a BBQ sauce, which is how the beets have been rendered. It adds a sweet and spicy dimension that even this Carolina boy enjoyed. Then there are the Brussels sprouts, which come shaved over thick wheat toast with a tahini-navy bean spread. We’ll be back soon to try more dishes.
Got more in you?
Walk over to Breakroom 86, the Houston Brothers ode to the ‘80s. The dance floor will be bumping, but it does get crowded, in which case the porch has a trailer bar where the line is often shorter and quicker.
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