FOOD SECTIONAL: LA Times visits Bastide, gets giddy

Bastide, post-Chairgate.

First up! Irene S. Virbilia reviews Bastide. And it's a flat-out, full-throttle rave.

It's Bastide, unbuttoned. ...Service is as good as it gets in Los Angeles... All this at a price that's a bargain by European standards. The result is a restaurant unlike any other, certainly in L.A., and probably anywhere else in the country. This is restaurant as art form.

And so on. However, there's something missing, at least online: Where's the friggin' stars? They're missing, along with the little box that tells you the address, phone number and hours. On that note, Virbilia mentions that Bastide owner Joe Pytka is thinking about opening for lunch and breakfast. Who knows if that will happen -- Pytka thinks about a lot of things -- but brunch at Bastide? Bring it on.

Also, Restaurant Journal returns with some truly tasty scoopage: Providence's Michael Cimarusti will open a restaurant on the second floor of Beverly Blvd. clothing boutique Lords, in the old Le Colonial space. And already, Lords has a foodie retail counter: Espresso (and Clover coffee!) from LA Mill and bready goodness from Providence pastry chef Adrian Vasquez. All in advance of the coffee boutique that LA Mill's Craig Min is opening with Cimarusti. (Betty Hallock's source was Lords' owner; Providence reps declined comment and LA Mill was weird about it, too.)

The rest of the Food section, as often happens this time of year, is devoted to holiday-minded recipes, although Amy Scattergood has a nice piece about the Foundry chef Eric Greenspan cooking for Hanukkah with his mom. "Use a box grater, Ma!" "Ma, it's a latke!"