Friday, March 21, 2014

Freddy Smalls Bar and Kitchen (West Los Angeles, CA)

One of the early cocktail bars with a full food menu that opened in West LA was Freddy Smalls. Situated in a part of Pico Blvd I rarely visit, the bar was crowded despite being a weeknight.


I was pleasantly surprised by the food here! We started with some deviled eggs as appetizers. These are Buffalo Deviled Eggs with crisp chicken skin. point reyes blue cheese, hot sauce, and celery ($4)
Deviled Eggs
I've heard good things about their brussel sprouts and wasn't disappointed. The Fried Brussels Sprouts were served with smoked goat cheese and apple cider glaze ($8)
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Unlike some I've tried at other places, the brussels sprouts weren't too salty or overwhelmed with sauce. It was flavorful with the sweet glaze that's tempered by the creamy goat cheese. This is probably one of my favorite brussels sprouts dishes out there.

The cocktail menu here is small and though fairly conservative, you can still find some interesting drinks. I started with the Star-Crossed Lover, made with Smith & Cross Jamaican rum, kaffir lime. simple syrup ($10)
Daiquiri


I thought this was a little too acidic for me, but Lush Angeles said it had to be that way because of the strong flavor of Smith & Cross.

I liked my second drink much better, the London Punch (gin, Combier, tea, lemon, simple syrup - $10)
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Though the flavors waned as the ice melted, I really liked the initial sips when the complexity still shone through.

We followed up the food with some Roasted beets and smoked trout salad, chicory, quinoa, pickled shallot vinaigrette ($13)
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It's certainly an unusual pairing but the sweetness of the beets worked well with the smoked fish.

Seared scallops, Cara Cara orange, sunchokes, green olive ($15)
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The scallops were large and perfectly cooked. 

Lamb sugo and potato dumplings, Bloomsdale spinach, parmesan, golden crumbs ($16)
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This was another of my favorite dish. The dumplings were pillowy and the lamb was very tender and flavorful. This definitely hit the spot and I'd order this again - not that any of the dishes we had was bad, I'd order any of them again!

There were only a couple of options for dessert (not counting cheese), so we tried the Rocky Road Namelaka, with toasted meringue, almond praline, murray river salt ($8)
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Very decadent, to say the least.

We had some good cocktails here, though the cocktail menu overall doesn't excite me as much as some other places, but I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious the food offerings were!

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Freddy Smalls
11520 West Pico Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90064
(310) 479-3000
Freddy Smalls Bar & Kitchen on Urbanspoon

Disclaimer: this visit was hosted

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