Bottega Louie Restaurant and Gourmet Market

02/03/10

Great food in a Beautiful Atmosphere

by Erin W Davis at Citysearch

Sunday morning means one thing- brunch! Time to soak up all that alcohol from the past 3 days. The best way to do that is to head to Bottega Louie for their lemon ricotta pancakes. This Italian restaurant serves up delicious dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and their brunch is one of the best around. There’s so much yumminess to be had here that it’s kind of hard to decide what to get, but if you only order one thing you should make it the Portobello fries! Best of all, while you nosh away, you can marvel at the absolute stunning design of the restaurant. If you don’t live near DTLA, this one is definitely worth the trip.

01/30/10

Gorgeous hotspot downtown

by LaMaria at Citysearch

Great Scott, the white walls and sumptuous decor had me at bonjourno.

• Pros: Pastas
• Cons: Can be loud

01/17/10

Fancy food and a fancy ambience for a good price

by Jessica Lopez at Citysearch

First Impression: The wait staff and hostesses are all supermodels and hunky superstar lacrosse players/part-time Abercrombie models. There was a manager guy in a suit that looked like he stepped off the page of a Hugo Boss ad. THE CHEEKBONES ON THIS MAN. The staff was so good looking my lunchmate and I barely spoke to each other because we were busy staring around in awe and feeling super under dressed.

Lunchmate: Dude Bobby is looking really good.

Me: Bobby? How do you know his name? Is he wearing a name tag?

Lunchmate: No, he just looks like a Bobby.

Me: Yea, he's got those veins on his forearms.

Lunchmate: Yea he's making me feel anxious.

We eat in silence.

Me: Do you realize we haven't said more than ten words to each other because you've been staring at Bobby.

Lunchmate (pretending to be Bobby, grabbing his shirt close to him and gesturing to reach over): Excuse my pecs, I'd like to grab your plate.

Me: You want Bobby to grab something else, I suspect.

End Scene.

But seriously, let's get down to brass tacks here folks.

1.The service was reeediculously attentive, to the point that if I even moved my face towards a server and parted my lips slightly, they were there before I could even utter a phrase.

2. The food. It was good. I had the lentil soup which is vegan and the Pizza (which was not- SHHHH! I SINNNED!) But only b/c it had cheese. The crust is kosh. The lentil soup woulda done me, it was so hearty and full of finely chopped veggies, mushrooms, delightful. The pizza was like, woah, this is GOOD GOOD.

3. The atmosphere. I felt like I had been transported to a chic european restaurant, the lines are clean, minimal, airy with just the right amount of Rococo accents. It would be an amazing place to have a bridal luncheon or the like.

4. The price. One would think that there would be a premium on service, sexiness and superior sustenance, but you'd be wrong. The prices were reasonable and then some. This is some place you take your Mom for a lovely lunch. It's that good, bring your Mom here.

Bobby, I'll be back.

• Pros: fun atmosphere, hot waitstaff, good food
• Cons: loud, wait can be long