At the Downtown Hilton: 535 S Grand Ave; Downtown; 213.624.0000
This formerly Thomas Keller-helmed downtown landmark has been heavily renovated, yielding a dark, flatscreen'd front bar; a tiled, casual patio; and a brighter formal dining room. The menu's all new too, with unique dishes like miso Chilean sea bass w/ braised baby bok choy & toasted quinoa in vanilla rum butter, and braised shortrib pot pie w/ wild mushrooms, whipped potatoes, & baby root vegetables; in addition, on Thursdays from 4-8 the patio's got a cheap-o menu w/ $4-6 tapas (seared local albacore & grilled lemon; ginger glazed pork belly) and $4 cocktails from a rotating slew of specialty booze companies, with past hosts including Tito's Vodka and Rodney Strong vineyards, which before finding a trainer was a total Fat Bastard, but keep Mums about that.
The dinner menu's at HiltonCheckers.com
