I’m not sure if I talked about it, except just now on WFD. No resys needed. It’s a swanky delicatessen, good for breakfast, lunch & takeout. Same people also have a good sit-down spot called Gjelina www.gjelina.com. But you’re doing great with Rose Cafe. They remodeled, enhanced the menu and peeps are lovin’ it.
Have fun!
STOP!! NOW I WANT TO GO TO BOTH!!! 
Rose on Friday, Gjelina on Saturday & Gjusta for brunch? 
Or do casual dinner at Gjusta.
Yep they have a wine list. Here’s the full menu.
https://gjusta.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/027_GJU_NEW_Menu_18_SEP_2019.pdf.
Sorry, Idk how to do that embedded thing everyone else does.
thank you again!
Hi @Saregama!
Could be. Haven’t been to Superba yet (lots of raves), can’t remember specifics about Gjelina, which may or may not be a good sign (friends love it). But Gjusta is my must in Venice. Beware: it’s pricey in Venice now.
Happy Venice Eating!
Side bar: celebrity sighting at one of my Gjusta visits - Alex Guarnaschelli. I get more excited about seeing chefs than movie stars. 
Soooo, Gjusto or Gjelina?? We’re going tonight.
Never mind, I just looked at the menus. Gjusto!
Great! Looking forward to hearing (reading) about your experience. FYI - it’s counter service and first-come-first-serve seating. It gets a little hectic.
P.S. Some of my food buddies have been raving online about their soups this week (chicken dumpling, pozole verde, minestrone, french onion).
We had a great time in L.A. - Venice, to be exact. But I have to be honest, and it pains me to say it, we had some not-great food experiences! We split a piece of Gjelina pizza from their take-out shop on Abbott Kinney. It was ok but it did not wow us. First, they don’t reheat it, so even though it was in the mid-80s outside, the slice was luke-warm. And just a little blah.
But more disappointing was Gjusta. I wanted to love this place SO MUCH, believe me! I tried to get the BF to get the porchetta because I’d read (here?) that was the thing to get and I thought he’d like it. Instead he got the pastrami. They’d griddled the pastrami so parts of it were crispy and hard, and overly salty. There was no Russian or thousand island dressing on the sandwich, so therefore no sweetness to balance out the salty. BF did not like it at all.
I got the brisket banh mi - I should have gotten the porchetta! The brisket itself was silky and tender, with a slight smokiness, but it was so overwhelmed by the veggies piled on top it really didn’t taste like a banh mi at all. Don’t get me wrong - Banh mis are one of my favorite sandwiches of all time, and I love the pickled veg that comes on them. But this was unbalanced. You could barely discern the meat, and there was just too much veg on it - there IS such a thing. I pulled off almost all of it and it was better.
We did have a trio of absolutely perfectly delicious salads - marinated peppers (to die for), some roasted potato salad, and a chopped salad. Really good. Too bad about the sandwiches! Very cute space, there was NO WAIT at 7:00 p.m. Sat. night and we got a lovely table on the patio.
Also disappointing… I’m not into sweets, but the BF is, and I’d heard they were good bakers. I bought three of their baked items to go: Bread pudding, pear tatin, and a polenta almond cake. The almond cake was too sweet, the polenta super crunchy in places, and it tasted more lemony than almond-y. The other two were ok, but nothing spectacular. We didn’t eat them, and the next morning I took bites again - they were at least a little more tender, but we ended up throwing them out (should have put them out for the homeless - kicking myself for not doing that.)
I have no doubt there are items we would have loved there, this just wasn’t the time. 
Rose Cafe, however was spectacular. We split the hamachi crudo with tomatoes, tomato water, chilis, mustard green oil, and I forget what else. Incredibly fresh and meaty, with a touch of sweet! Awesome.
Then, a smoked watermelon salad with feta, tomatoes, and arugula in which you could actually taste the smoke on the watermelon. Fantastic.
BUT THEN!!! A dish recommended by our server: boiled heirloom potatoes with crispy tuna “prosciutto,” a beautiful Araucana egg, porchini marmalade, and a chive oil/beurre blanc. HOLY CRAP, that was one of the best dishes I’ve tasted in like, 2 years maybe? Seriously incredibly delicious, perfectly balanced flavors and textures. The potato itself tasted like it had just been dug out of the earth. The mushroom jam was sweet and earthy. The beurre blanc and chive oil blended together in a buttery/herbal dream. I am only a little ashamed to say I tipped that plate to my lips and sucked down every last drop. I almost ordered it again as dessert, and told the BF we would probably have to go back before the weekend was over so I could have it again.
The last thing we ordered was their signature dish: radiatore carbonara with another gorgeous egg and fatty, smokey chunks of guanciale. Unfortunately, it was very salty. Bummed because the meal had been so perfect up till then. I’m a salt fiend and I only managed a few bites. BF said it was only not great in comparison with the rest of the meal and wolfed it down
After that, we ate mostly cheap eats (fries with our bloody marys and beers, really bad Mexican food on the boardwalk [no one to blame but ourselves, but HOW do you ruin Mexican food in So.Cal.??], a pretty blah pupusa, etc.), except for a snacky take-out Peruvian chicken quarter and ceviche from El Huarique (also on the boardwalk, surprisingly.) Super fresh ceviche, and the chicken was on point, with fiery aji verde.
and we DID end up at Rose Cafe again, waiting around for our late flight back home. I got the potato dish again (still mind-blowing), and then i went too far and got 2 pieces of their Korean chicken. I should have known it would be too sweet, but also a little tough - very craggy and thick batter. Not bad, just not as good as everything else we had there.
I’d be in trouble if Rose Cafe was in SF. Loved the space too, and our 2nd dinner there we ate at the bar.
I didn’t do almost any research for this trip because i knew we were going for such a short time, and I didn’t want to start chasing places far away from our rental apt. Good thing this was all nearby. I’ve already told the BF I’d do this trip again next year. (We both grew up in L.A. but have only been back when forced to and haven’t been up on the food scene for a while.)
@TheCookie - thanks for your tips! Even though it didn’t work out this time, I really did appreciate it.
Hi @mariacarmen!
Thanks for reporting back. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy Gjusta. I can’t argue because I haven’t tried the dishes you had and haven’t read anyone talk or report on them, with the exception of the Banh Mi which is kinda’ meh. My faves are the Porchetta Butcher, Porchetta Melt, Prime Rib Sandwich and their terrific house Smoked Fish (smoked salmon belly is 
) But there’s also a chance that since the daytime is when they’re busy they have the B-team cooking at night. It happens.
On a positive note, I’m happy you guys enjoyed Rose Cafe. I haven’t been since the remodel, but have always loved it and hear the new menu is great!
The Westside is not really my stomping grounds. We live in the Miracle Mile/Beverly-Grove area. L.A. is such a great eating city right now (upscale, hole-in-the-walls, sushi!). There’s actually some great spots already on this thread. If you come again maybe you’ll trust me with more recs… to the places we really frequent.
Happy Eating!
I would totally trust you with more recs! i didn’t even look at the rest of this thread, however, because i didn’t want to go down the rabbit hole of finding all these places I wanted to try. I make almost every where we go a foodie thing, and I kinda wanted to give the BF a break - not have to travel far to find places, just kind of stumble into places nearby, etc. that always makes for iffy eating (crappy Mexican on the boardwalk, for instance.) And I didn’t read any reviews on Gjusta to steer away from certain items. My bad.
And I get that we may not have ordered the right things. I love smoked fish but wanted to get something the BF could potentially share, and he’s not a fish eater. I’m kicking myself about the porchetta.
So, yeah, if I go back to L.A., i’ll be checking with you! and this Board, of course.
Sorry to hear about your experience at Gjusta. I’ve only been twice and had an excellent breakfast dish with eggs, lox, etc. and had the prime rib sandwich and octopus salad both of which were also excellent. My buddy got the pastrami sandwich and I agree with you it was pretty mediocre. I know they do dinners but to me its more of a breakfast and lunch place. I didn’t try any of their baked goods.
I had a nice meal at Gjelina a fews years back sitting out on their warm back patio felt very LA, but the Cal/Med/Italian menu is something you can get at any number of restaurants in SF. I like to focus on Thai and Mexican when I go to LA (and an obligatory Langer’s pastrami stop).
Yes - we should have sought out good Mexican. While i do live in the Latino neighborhood of SF (The Mission), and we do have a plethora of taquerias, my experience from growing up in L.A. is that there is better, more varied Mexican food there. We ate at a stupid boardwalk cafe in Venice (mostly just for hair-of-the-dog purposes) and just happened to both choose Mexican dishes, and they were truly inedible. That was our fault. I know for a fact L.A. can do better. Next time!
I totally understand. It’s why I didn’t bombard you with a lot of out of the way restaurants or dishes to try. Sometimes when we’re going on a trip and I put out feelers I get way more recs than my brain can handle. You & I are the same in that every excursion (even in my own county) is a possible foodie excursion. And I too like to give my sweetheart a break from my obsessions every now and then.
Anyway, seems like you had a great trip otherwise and got your L.A. feet wet again!
TOTES!! 
This! Man/woman after my own heart. Not just Thai - I’m on the Asian food tip period. But I think she was far from a lot of the good spots and only in town a couple days, so. Anyway, Venice is a trip in itself. It’s changed a lot but I still love it.
P.S. I 
Langer’s too!
Hey @TheCookie, I don’t want to go too far off thread, but I’ve got a night in LA in a month or so and my sister wants to get some Cuban food. Any recs? We’ve both been to Versailles but many years ago.
Hi @brisket44!
Were totally not going off thread! It’s an L.A. thread. Yay! This is the most action it’s seen in ages.
Unfortunately, with all the great traditional foods here Cuban is not one of them. I used to love Versailles but had it recently and it was pretty bad. We also had a family/friend function at Habana in Orange County this summer. The atmosphere was really nice and service was great. But we all agreed the food was kinda’ one note.
The best option is Porto’s Bakery, but closest locale to L.A. is in Glendale. Peeps’ love the bakery (guava cheese pastry & cheese rolls ) and some love the Cubano sandwich too. www.portosbakery.com. If you’re looking solely for a Cubano sandwich I hear raves about the one at A Cut Above Butcher Shop in Santa Monica. www.acabutchershop.com
Happy Hunting!
Aw, sad to hear Versailles has gone downhill! Used to love that place…
