The Knife

Tanzore review: What they said plus 1,000 points

As Eater LA pointed out, Tanzore got reviews in today's LA Weekly and LA Times. I'd also planned to visit today, only my inspiration came from this morning's Open Table newsletter, which said Tanzore joined its ranks of 1,000-point restaurants. (For the uninitiated: Explanation here.)

This definitely doesn't mean a Deathwatch (although I'd keep an eye on Social Hollywood, which is currently 1,000 points for all tables Sun.-Thurs); even long-term successes need help prodding customers into less-attractive slots. But for a place as young as Tanzore?

I want this place to work. It's LA's first Indian restaurant that could approach the success of Floyd Cardoz's sophisticated Tabla in NYC; it's not there yet. Lovely room; the disco Bollywood soundtrack is a nice touch. (Favorite: The "Shaft" theme, in Hindi.) A crab salad with mustard seeds is fantastic. They aren't scared of whole spices. Tandoori sea bass with spicy tomato chutney had great flavors, but could have been fresher; sprouted lentil salad is fresh but bland. Valhrona dark-white chocolate mousse (brought out by the kitchen) is delicious but seems like a weird fit. LA's glad to have you, Tanzore; let the tweaking begin.

Decibel count: About 60 dBs (lunchtime, near-empty restaurant). In the range of normal conversation.

Tanzore, 50 N. La Cienega Blvd. (310) 652-3894

[Addendum: To be clear, Tanzore is not and has never been (to my knowledge) a 1,000-point restaurant across the board. That's very rare in the Open Table universe, which is why I pointed it out re: Social Hollywood. (I think the late BlackSteele may have done that as well.) However, it is unusual for a new restaurant to launch with 1,000-point reservations. In any case, the timeframe that Tanzore selected is the early bird slots of 5 -6:30 pm, which are traditionally difficult reservations for restaurants to fill.]

Tanzore: Indian goes Bollywood, not Hollywood

In the wrong hands, "fusion cuisine" is slang for "I don't know what I'm doing." That's been the case for several haute Indian restaurants in which the owners seemed driven by the possibility of luring Paris Hilton to sample the scallop tikki masala. The elegant Tanzore has a little of that, too, with a bar-lounge dominated by two mega-screened plasma TVs, but the former Gaylord also has the courage to not dumb down. A cocktail party included trays of homemade panneer fried in chickpea batter and dusted with chat masala; the batter also created morels of catfish with carom seeds. The tamarind chutney will make you'll realize how often you've dipped a pappadum in thinned-out prune butter. Looking forward to dinner.

Tanzore, 50 N. La Cienega Blvd.  (310) 652-3838