When I visited: March 2016

Location: LA, Santa Monica (within Hotel Casa del Mar)

Rating in the Michelin Guide: Not rated in the Guide (the Guide doesn’t cover LA)

Dining Owl Hoot rating: 3/5

What to wear: Could go casual

Ambience: Lively, chilled

Course of the meal: Egg white omelette with kale, mushrooms and tomatoes

If I could change one thing: Bigger lunch / dinner menu

Review:

Ah, LA. The home of palm trees, sun, sand, fit people, Hollywood, movies and apparently no restaurants worth reviewing according to the Michelin Guide. Oh well, I’ll just have to step in …

Santa Monica is one of the coolest parts of LA in my humble Owl opinion and Hotel Casa del Mar is one of the best hotels there. The lobby / bar / Terrazza area is huge and airy, with great views by the window of Santa Monica beach, where lots of cool and fit people stroll along shirtless and/or carrying yoga mats.

I had a few meals with my partner Owl in Terrazza, including a few delicious breakfasts where I enjoyed LA’s finest type of meal (ultra-healthy) in the form of egg white omelette with kale, mushrooms and tomatoes. They also do a mean orange juice, fruit selection, ricotta pancakes, and green tea if you like those things. They have a general lunch / dinner menu as well as a breakfast menu, which includes things like shared nigiri or sashimi selections, octopus, pizza fritta (a doughy wonder of a dish) and ‘Les Fleurs’ cocktails. The bar menu is also good with some high-quality Californian selections, especially the Chardonnays.