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limon,
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when you leave spago or ivy you pretty much feel like you got what you paid for it was worth it but not transcendent
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While I agree that when I go to a nice restaurant I want to be blown away, LA is not completely bereft of restaurants that can be transcendent, the two you cited are examples of old standards that are simply solid. Restaurants that can make me say "holy [censored]" in LA would include: Melisse, Patina, Grace, and Diaghilev. Last week I went to Jar on Beverly and it absolutely knocked my socks off, but I had relatively low expectations.
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yes, patina and grace are excellent, campanile and aoc as well, easy 9 out of 10 jar i would give 8.5. but i cant really say i've had a 10 in l.a. again places like gotham and babbo are just on another level. incredible creativity and all the little extras that fit perfectly w/ the meal.no 10's for me in vegas either but i have yet to visit joel rubichon.
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Haven't been to Grace yet, really want to check it out. I think Campanile is the closest I've had to a "10" meal in LA. Jar is excellent and just introduced a fantastic oxtail entree.
Here's a review of AOC I posted a while back in OOT.
One perfect meal I've had was at Montrachet in Tribeca.
-Al