A MELODY WITH THAT MEAL
By Leslee Komaiko
For dineLA.com
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For every restaurant in this town playing painfully schlocky muzak or headache inducing rock n roll, there’s another one where you can hear some seriously talented musicians, often pros, do their thing. Turns out Los Angeles is a very good town for supper and a song.
Jazz seems to be the most popular musical genre on offer. Our favorite place to listen to top jazz players: Vibrato, the sexy grill atop Beverly Glen. Too often at music clubs, the food plays second fiddle. (No pun intended.) But here you can enjoy a quality steak or a nice piece of grilled fish. And it’s not one of those places where you have to be hush hush during the show. Nor do you need to shout over the music to be heard.
Want something a bit more laid back? Every Friday and Saturday night, and Sunday during brunch, a jazz trio warms things up at The Foundry on Melrose, the sophisticated, progressive French-American restaurant Eric Greenspan, ex of Patina and Meson G, opened one year ago. They start around 9:30 p.m., play til 11-ish, then start back up again at 11:30 and swing until 1 a.m. This means you can show up at midnight, park in the lounge, dig the music and order off the bar menu. The grilled cheese is ridiculous: taleggio cheese, tender short rib meat and apricot caper puree on crunchy raisin bread.
A bit further west, at Chaya Brasserie, Sunday nights mean jazz in the bar from 7 to 10 p.m. Add half off martinis, reduced prices on some of the more popular sushi offerings and a Sunday night special bento box presentation for diners with heartier appetites, and you’ve got the makings of a very civilized and groovy evening.
Sunday night, as well as Monday night, there’s also jazz at Hal’s Bar and Grill, the Venice fixture. The roster of musicians is ever changing, the crowd cool, the turkey burger exemplary and the pork chop among the best in town.
What if you’ve got the kids in tow? Head to The Stand in Encino. Thursday and Sunday evenings starting at 5:30 p.m., the Nathan Duncan Trio jams on the patio. Sunday night is especially family friendly. In fact, if your party doesn’t include kids, you may want to steer clear of this haute hot dog house on this night as it can seem like a Barney concert with all the bootie shaking toddlers on the premises.
Not a big jazz fan? No worries. You can listen to Greek classics seven nights a week at The Great Greek in Sherman Oaks. Drink enough ouzo and you may just find yourself up dancing with some of the other more enthusiastic patrons. Lares, the charming Mexican dining room in Santa Monica, hosts a guitar duo Tuesday through Sunday evenings that plays traditional Mexican music. The waiters at Miceli’s, the old school Southern Italian spot in Universal City, regularly launch into show tunes and opera arias. Crooner Max Vontaine channels the likes of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Bobby Darrin every Wednesday night at Pasadena’s Mediterranean NeoMeze. And blues is on tap during weekend brunch at Firefly Bistro, the delightful progressive American spot in South Pasadena.
Last but by no means least is the beloved Gary Sherer, who tinkles the ivories just about every Tuesday through Saturday night upstairs at Mastro’s in Beverly Hills, the sceney steakhouse. A veteran of Chasen’s, Sherer plays a whopping nine instruments in addition to piano and has been known to whip out a clarinet or trumpet mid performance. His repertoire includes some 5000 tunes from standards to current pop favorites and he’s happy to take requests. But if you want to be original, don’t ask him to play Louis Armstrong’s “It’s a Wonderful World.” It’s the most requested song by a long shot.
Chaya Brasserie, 8741 Alden Dr., West Hollywood, 310.859.8833
Firefly Bistro, 1009 El Centro St., South Pasadena, 626.441.2443
Hal’s Bar and Grill, 1349 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, 310.396.3105
Lares, 2909 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, 310.829.4559
Mastro’s, 246 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, 310.888.8782
Miceli’s, 3655 Cahuenga Blvd., Universal City, 323.851.3345
Neomeze, 20 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, 626.793.3010
The Foundry on Melrose, 7465 Melrose Ave., L.A., 323.651.0915
The Stand, 17000 Ventura Blvd., Encino, 818.788.2700
The Great Greek, 13362 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, 818.905.5250
Vibrato, 2930 Beverly Glen Circle, Bel-Air, 310.474.9400
