Or a slice of their Mango Passion Fruit Cream Pie (fantastic!), their Peach Pie, Hazelnut Paris Brest, the Calamansi “Twinkie”! And so many other things. Pastry Chef Margarita Manzke and team are pretty great with various morning treats (but not the Croissants).
! You definitely need to get over there and try the Creme Brulee Bombolini (there are 2 Bomobolini pastries usually, get the Creme Brulee one). They usually sell out by mid-Lunch, so maybe try getting there a bit earlier?
Not sure if I agree that a EC being less involved in the day-to-day operations of a restaurant means the quality has to automatically drop (I think that is more of a problem with (international) chains, e.g. ramen etc but much less with independent restaurants). It is part of the job profile of a good EC/owner to build a kitchen team which performs on the same level with him/her daily on board or not. There are many examples like Benu/ Mr. Benjamin (Lee), Per See/Bouchon/Ad Hoc (Keller) (just to name a few) where we had great visits without the EC/owner around. And following Fox’s story after he left Ubuntu he will particularly look into building good teams without him the center
I never said Rustic Canyon went “bad” or anything, see my question. I think there’s nothing wrong in wanting to try food made by a specific chef (e.g., Birdie G’s, Chef Fox was there consistently, on the line from grand opening for well over a year or more, the last time I visited). So I was just asking how Rustic Canyon was after he stopped cooking there. Thanks.
handmade gyoza and terrific shrimp fried rice are what I always get at VR.
never would have leaned toward the fried rice but was told by a Japanese chef to try it.
I don’t mind the ramen but almost never get it
Rustic Canyon is still firing on ALL cylinders IMO. Andy Doubrava is such a talented chef, who’s really going all in and exploring fermentation on a Noma-esque level. That, paired with the philosophy of “simple is best” and sourcing very high quality ingredients (Pork chop is from Pork & Flower), makes Rustic Canyon one of the top spots in LA still. Service is ALWAYS amazing every time I go.
You can see my thread on pics. I’d eat their Creme Brulee Bombolini any day of the week! It is SO GOOD! 
