Royale flush

 

There’s a new restaurant, Royale, inside the refurbished Wilshire Royale. A helluva job they did on the old hotel, just two blocks from the sketch-fest that is Macarthur Park. (Valet parking is free.)

Very 1920s supper club, which was the intent. The space, as others have noted, is gorgeous, with soaring white-tiled arches and windows lined with heavy brown velvet curtains (lest you should notice that you are dining at the corner of Wilshire and Rampart). I have to wonder what the place will sound like when it’s busy because we were only one of two parties in the restaurant.

The food? For now, it's OK, but they’re still doing the "soft" open. That means there’s still time to get rid of the kinks (too-salty salt-and-pepper shrimp; too much lime juice in the crudo). The familiar menu also includes tuna tartare, macaroni and cheese, crabcakes and flattened chicken. (All come with a side of deja vu.) Thumbs up for including Alma Rosa Chardonnay on the wine list.

However, the evening’s star didn’t make itself known until after dessert.

One of my dining companions returned to the table. "I now look in this restaurant in a whole new light," he said. "You have to see the toilet."

So I saw. And it’s no mere toilet. It’s a Toto Neorest 600.