Bravo Bistro

As of Oct. 2007, this restaurant is no longer kosher. Dan

When it comes to kosher dining, one’s expectations vary based on the type of establishment you are going to. As an example, when I go to a quick serve place like Fish Grill or Jeff’s (to name two of the better ones), I expect tasty food that is priced well, a clean environment and fairly quick service. When I go to a fine dining establishment eg. Prime Grill or Pat’s, I expect to pay a lot more but I also have much higher expectations for all the variables that go into fine dining such as selection, service, aesthetic surroundings, wine selection and very important but highly overlooked - the dessert.
This being said, my latest foray into kosher food writing takes us to a new place that opened about a week and a half ago. When I say new, it is newly kosher but has been an existent bar/bistro for a long time. I’m talking about the new Bravo Bistro located 1 block east of LaCienega on the south side of Wilshire Blvd. From what I can tell so far, Bravo and it’s new owner Stephan Memmel are doing a lot of things right and I think it will be a very nice addition to the ever-increasing number of kosher restaurants in LA.
The first piece of information that I need to put out there is that Bravo is certified by Rabbi Yehuda Bukspan and is opened on Shabbos when the theatre next door is open. This was a contingency in the lease that Stephan could not get around. He assured me that for the shabbosim that he will be opened on, he would have a mashgiach and an agreement with a non-Jew to sell the profits.
As far as the restaurant is concerned, the actual space is really cool. They have a full bar with old-fashioned wooden booths around the walls. The ceiling is made of geometric metal plates and they have a walk-in wine room. The actual menu is simple and unoriginal, remember though, this is a Bistro, not a full blown restaurant. The main revenue from this place is supposed to come from the bar. Their steak (which they call “prime rib” even though it’s just a rib-eye steak) is a 12 oz rib eye that uses Uruguayan meat from Rubashkin. They charred it on the outside, which gave it a very nice contrast in its flavor - charred and peppery on the outside, soft and tender on the inside. Even though the meat is Uruguayan, it is corn-fed like the American meat we are used to as opposed to the Argentinean meat that is grass-fed and much tougher. They offered us a choice of sauces; the mushroom that we chose was bland and didn’t look very appetizing at all (it looked a little like a bowl of phlegm with brown specs in it, I know nasty). Their hamburger was excellent, juicy, cooked right and served on a small bun made by Delice bakery. At first the small bun bothered me (it’s weird to see the patty jutting out like a flying saucer) but when I was done, I really liked the fact that I ate less bread. I also like that he isn’t using the Old Country packaged junk that so many of our local places use. Their grilled chicken with mushrooms and spinach felt healthy and tastedgood although it was a bit too oily. I went straight to the Entrées, astheir appetizers (they call them Tapas) are really weak. They have avocado egg rolls that are not nearly as good as the ones from LaGondola or Pat’s. The “Fire Bravo” are the avocado egg rolls filled with salmon and spinach instead of avocado. The dipping sauce for both tasted the same, kind of like a watered down soy sauce. I was craving the honey cilantro dip from La Gondola. Stephan told me that the appetizers are really geared towards people having drinks at the bar who want to munch something. Their carrot soup was very good - not overly sweet and it was a broth - not the mushy, baby-food stuff they give you at the bagel factory.
The best part of this place aside from the super cool bar is their desserts. This brings me back to what I started on at the beginning, where there are so many upper class places out there that do a nice job overall yet when it comes to desserts they totally suck (think Prime Grill, Shilo’s, La Gondola, etc, etc). My wife always says that she can’t understand why any restaurant can’t make at least one great dessert. Bravo makes homemade crepes, bread pudding and Crème Brule. None of these are particularly difficult to make yet they taste really good and make you want to go there. The Crème Brule is decent, maybe a 6 on a scale of 1 - 10 but still enjoyable (for me, crème brule is like pizza, it’s always good). If it was a bit thicker and dryer it would get higher marks from me. The bread pudding is not as good as the one from Pat’s but it comes with a fudgy chocolate sauce drizzled over it that was fantastic and you need not order it 45 minutes beforehand. The crepes were delicious - try the fresh berries with whipped cream, yum.
In closing, Bravo Bistro is a quaint little place that you can go to for lunch or dinner or just for drinks and dessert. None of the food will blow you away but everything is tasty and the owner is a genuine nice guy. Hank the waiter/bartender/runner/busboy, does a good job and while you might wait a little while for your food, at least you can have a cocktail or scotch to help the time pass by.