You heard correctly. The best bakery in New York City is in LA. Specifically, Dominique Ansel is located in the Grove, the center of LA shopping and eating destinations. The bakery is accompanied by the restaurant 189, which serves up delicious lobster rolls and burgers for lunch. Notably, the bakery is always bustling with people. But when we came, the upstairs restaurant was relatively empty.
Excited about the Dominique Ansel approved meal we were about to have, we eagerly ordered our main dishes. I opted for the sirloin steak, topped with squash and zucchini. While the squash and zucchini paired deliciously with my medium rare steak, I noticed that the portions were a little smaller than I’d think, especially for the price. For a steak dish, I actually liked the sides of vegetables better than the meat, which is unusual for me. The color of the meat was definitely medium rare, but the steak was very chewy– much chewier than I’m used to. You can see the lunch menu with the steak description and a picture of the steak below:
I had the restaurant’s 2 for $24 option, so ordered a dessert next. I was a little taken aback seeing only two desserts on the menu, since the bakery downstairs is so well known for it, but ordered the pavlova anyway. Paired with a delicious red wine sauce, the pavlova’s fresh berries and passionfruit curd served as the perfect summer dessert. Needless to say, I was much more impressed with the dessert than the main course, though the desserts I had at the New York bakery were still much more impressive.
The meal itself was perfect for summer, though I was unimpressed with the steak and have seen better from Dominique Ansel with the pavlova. Moreover, our server was inefficient and rude– something I don’t often say about servers. Usually, servers at high-end restaurants like Dominique Ansel are charming, hospitable, and excellent at their job. After we thanked him for bringing us our spoons for dessert, our server sarcastically remarked “well I’m not just a hat rack.” He complained about understaffing at the restaurant, and only came to our table when the next dish was ready: never to refill water, take dishes away, or check how we were doing. The lack of good service at the restaurant combined with my disappointment at the meal compared to New York’s bakery convinces me to give 189 🙂 🙂 🙂 / 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 .
That said, the Grove is a wonderful location for shopping and eating. Blue Ribbon Sushi is across the way from Dominique Ansel, and the area has many other amazing restaurants to offer. To me, the Grove seemed like the Disneyland for adults, complete with high-end restaurants, beautiful fountains and walkways, and charming shops. I’d highly recommend going.
See you all next time in India!
Over and out,
Anya