Judging by two recent meals there, the kitchen isn’t always up to executing some of the overambitious ideas. My advice? Stick with the simple and classic. What’s best? The extravagantly tall Getty Club sandwich, served with a crock of green mayonnaise on the side (so California). ![]() ![]() Crispy whitefish is nicely crisped, but not enhanced by gluey mashed potatoes. We end up eating all the delicious chunks of shiitake mushroom and leaving the leaden gnocchi behind. Our waiter swears the pumpkin gnocchi, which are the menu’s tie-in to the current Dosso Dossi show, are fabulous. But baby spinach salad is overburdened with smoky bacon and fried leeks, and sodden with dressing. A summer Greek salad is nice, except for the tasteless tomatoes. Every wine on the list is also available by the glass.Ī mild-mannered seafood soup with salmon, shrimp and scallops isn’t particularly compelling, though. I like to sit outside on the breezy terrace at a table set with a vase of gerbera daisies and Riedel stemware. The light-drenched space, decorated with an Alexis Smith mural on the theme of taste, is especially pleasant at lunch. The Restaurant at the Getty Center, one floor up from the casual no-reservation cafe, has a setting that most restaurateurs would kill for: a drop-dead view of the hills and, on a clear day, the sea beyond. Created by Patina’s Joachim Splichal, the cafe has a clean, contemporary look with pale, polished cherrywood walls, granite tabletops and stylish cafe chairs, a full bar (handy for the Friday afternoon jazz concerts) and an attractive outdoor terrace shaded by umbrellas. Newest in the local galaxy of museum restaurants is Pentimento Cafe at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which opened in January in the former museum bookstore space. The choices are as varied as the city’s museums. Fortunately, here museum restaurants and cafes offer a place to rest weary feet, get a jolt of caffeine, a little something to tide you over till dinner, or an entire meal. Looking at art has the same effect on me as the character in James Salters’ collection “Dusk and Other Stories” who announces she’s very hungry: “She had been at the museum, the paintings made her ravenous.” The story takes place somewhere in Germany, where I gather, unlike Los Angeles, museums don’t necessarily have anywhere decent to eat.
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