The Knife

Comme Ca: The chairs come, the chairs go

Let joy be known throughout the land: Comme Ca got rid of the awful chairs in the bar area.

Technically, of course, they aren't chairs at all but metal stools and oddly low ones at that. Perching on them conjured up memories of sitting at the kindergarten coloring table, which is more than a little weird when you're in a bar. (Pics below courtesy Eater LA and its photographer, the wildly talented Alen Lin)

In any case, they've been stacked and replaced with the same white chairs as the front room of the restaurant. (Although some are less than pleased with this selection as well.)

Comme Ca Monday night: Raise a beer to a record-breaking paddler

Comme Ça wasted no time getting philanthropic. On Nov. 5, David Myers' new restaurant will team with Alaskan Brewing Co. for a prix-fixe, beer-pairing four-course dinner. Even the charity is charitable: Costal CODE (Clean Oceans Depend on Everyone) was the evening's original beneficiary, but they're now splitting the evening's take with the American Red Cross to aid Southern California wildfire victims.

The evening also promises to be festive, as it's also celebrating Tom Jones' completion of his world record-breaking paddling expedition more than 1,250 miles down California's coast (he began Aug. 7 in Crescent City and is scheduled to end Nov. 4 on Imperial Beach, just south of San Diego).

Here's the menu:

Appetizers (Alaskan Amber)
Mushroom risotto, duck confit, maitake mushrooms (Alaskan Winter Ale)
Wild Alaskan salmon, roasted endive, gnocchi Parisienne (Alaskan IPA)
Paleron of beef Bourguignon, horseradish pomme puree, braised carrots (Alaskan Stout)
Brioche bread pudding with raspberries (Alaskan Smoked Porter)

All this for $125. You could do a lot worse for a Monday. To reserve, call Comme Ça at (323) 782-1104.

Comme Ca: The second coming? Eh, not so much

The Knife didn't get to Comme Ca on its opening weekend, but Variety comrade Danielle Grimes did. The verdict? A fair amount of glitchery, although nothing that can't be fixed or ascribed to opening jitters. That said, it sounds like the initially rapturous reactions (The Knife's included) might be just a wee overstated, if only for the moment. Take it away, valiant guest blogger...

So it's Saturday night and it's appropriate that I'm winding my way to Comme Ca with four friends who are chattering away in French. We're quite aware it's only the second night the restaurant has been open, but we've had a glass of Champagne and we're feeling optimistic.

Let me state this about my party of five: We know our way around the butcher block, but we are not PLBs by any stretch. Pretend we're your neighbors whose taste you respect very much.

What we liked very much  Oysters on the half shell served with traditional vinegar and shallots; sweetbreads; crab salad with celery root remoulade; skate; the wine list; the cheese plate (chevre garnished with a little sundried tomato, blue drizzled with a little honey and something drippy and wonderful on a little spoon that we politely did not shove into our mouths though we wanted very much to do just that); the bar; the white banquettes.

We wanted to like very much  Sole (overcooked); beet salad (tasty but undercooked); oversalted oxtail that accompanied the bone marrow and toasts; pork belly with beluga lentils (Let it be stated that we will take our pork in any form, including belly. But what we were served was, well, the size of our heads and needed something a little more acidic to accompany it); tarte flambee (Fromage blanc, caramelized onions and lardons are quite possibly the best three things you could put on bread. In fact, we think it is what we would want for our last meal if life turned out that way. But crispy (kinda) flatbread isn't the best platform.).

We are still on the fence about  Decor (part Craftsman, part Restoration Hardware); teensy kindergarten-sized tables and stools in the bar area; the pungent waft of cheese when you enter the restaurant (sidenote: It didn't really bother us so much because we do love our cheese, but you get our point); the wine cellar next to the gas fireplace. (Though we assume that there is some sort of supersonic barrier between the two.)

We are confident the following kinks will be fixed  Service (waitstaff doesn't seem to know food that well and the demeanor was a bit too much, "Hello, I am your server"); the sommelier brought over a lovely bottle of red, but the table next to us ordered it; our predinner cocktails were served at a snail's pace; the plating was sloppy; no ice bucket for our white.

We absolutely, positively did not like  Black Formica tables and plastic white chairs (they added a certain charmless chill to the rooms); waiters' short-sleeved, checked shirts with ties (slightly geeky, slightly Ryan Gosling in "Half Nelson," though in theory we're against neither, especially Gosling); the deafening sound levels

Will we give it another try?  Absolument! Just in another month or two.

Thanks, Danielle!

Comme Ca will soon open for dinner, lunch and breakfast; world domination to follow shortly thereafter.

Comme Ca's frites, which were topped with aioli and served in a paper cone

Comme Ca (8479 Melrose Ave.) held its opening-night party Wednesday and did only one thing wrong: It didn't open today (as chef-owner David Myers once hoped).

And when it does, L.A.'s restaurant world will shift on its axis: Between Lucques, Bastide, Ago, Myers' own Sona and his wife Michelle's Boule(s), the city's food nexus will be at the corner of Melrose and La Cienega. (Drag out the hyperbole a little further and Melrose becomes even more powerful: the Mozzas, Providence, Lou, La Buca.)