I'll Meet You Halfway: Dreamworks Animation vs. the Securities and Exchange Commission

In Hollywood, lunch is not a meal; it's a problem.

People have them every day, yet they're often taken aback when assistants ask, "What's good for you?"

That's because it's often a trick question. You can’t tell the truth, which is: "The place across the street from me. You can roll calls."

As a result, the answer is often, "Barney Greengrass" or "Kate Mantilini" because parking is easy and, at this point, everyone can find them in their sleep.

Blame the city planners of Los Angeles. They may or may not spend their lunch hours with sandwiches at their desks, but they've dictated the dining habits of the entire entertainment industry.

There’s Lionsgate in Santa Monica, Sony and Anonymous Content in Culver City, Disney and Warner Bros. in Burbank, MGM and a lot of lawyers (and soon, CAA and ICM) in Century City; Paramount is on that weird part of Melrose. Beverly Hills claims nearly everyone else.

If a William Morris agent wants to have lunch with a New Line exec, they’ll probably alternate between their respective cafeterias (i.e., The Blvd. at Beverly Wilshire and Chaya Brasserie, respectively). However, the taking-turns routine pales when the parties are nowhere near each other or when there really isn't anything good nearby.

(On that note, restaurant scouts should be scouring every corner of the 90067. Clementine, French 75 and La Cachette only go so far in Century City and the Westfield food court doesn’t count. On the radar is Craft Los Angeles, the first West Coast outlet of Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak franchise; it's expected to open next spring, which means we probably won't see it until summer.)

Hence, I'll Meet You Halfway, in which The Knife examines a star-crossed couple and makes dining suggestions designed to give equal pleasure (or, depending on traffic, pain) to both parties.

This week, our lovely contestants are Dreamworks Animation (Glendale) and the local branch of the SEC (mid-Wilshire -- hey, we're neighbors!).

Given the disappointing performance of "Flushed Away" (do titles like those ever bode well?), DW Ani and the SEC may have a lot to talk about. But where to do it?

DW Ani is located in a a particularly dire section of Glendale and, as Variety can attest, the SEC has easy access to Baja Fresh, Marie Callender’s and this fairly unpleasant organic place. (When those scouts finish with Century City, they should turn to 90036.)

Of course, there's Campanile and Ca’ Brea, but maybe DW would prefer something less obvious and just a little closer. At the same time, it should be somewhere nice; no one wants to get the SEC in a bad mood.

With that in mind:

Brasserie Vert, 6801 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 411 (323) 491-1300 (DW: 9.2 miles; SEC, 3.6 miles)
Vert is the red-headed stepchild in the Wolfgang Puck empire, probably because it’s tucked away on the fourth floor of the self-important Hollywood & Highland shopping mall. However, the food and service are usually up to Puck’s standards.

eat.on sunset 1448 N. Gower, (323) 461-8800 (DW, 8.7 miles; SEC, 4.4 miles)
Maybe it’s the pretentious name (punctuation marks. and all lowercase. look silly.), but eat. has yet to recapture the onetime momentum of the Patina Group tenant it replaced, Pinot Hollywood. However, it still has a good patio and a skylight brightens what was once a dour dining room.

Larchmont Grill 5750 Melrose Ave (323) 464-4277 (DW, 9.8 miles; SEC, 3.1 miles)
The mishmash menu reads like scaled-back Kate Mantilini (iceberg wedge with homemade Thousand Island or blue cheese dressing, salads with steak, shrimp or fried chicken, Korean shortribs); unlike Mantilini, the servers are calm, the location is soothing and you will never be forced to contend with half the ICM lit department.

(All distances are approximates. The Knife accepts no responsibility for Highland Avenue.)

Comments

[Big Bomb]

Lunch around the Avalon pool, in your own pool cave (so that all one's braying about ancillary rights is private) is a perfect halfway for BH and CC.