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restaurants
Los Angeles , California
90021
Tel: 213 405 1434
Concierge.com's insider take:
Americans love the idea of a second chance, of watching someone persist until they get it right. So there's something especially thrilling about the successful rebooting of Church & State, a French bistro in downtown L.A. that opened to sullen reviews back in 2008. The place always had a great look—carnival lights, antique mirrors, brick floor, and a great location in the vintage Nabisco building—but it wasn't until the talented chef Walter Manzke (formerly of Bastide) arrived earlier this year that the food began to match the charming atmosphere. For lunch we had a moist, bacon-y roasted chicken à la Bourgeoise with pearl onions and carrots, and a croque-monsieur so light and fluffy it could have doubled as a tea sandwich. After a summer job at a cannery in Alaska many years ago, I thought I never wanted to see a shrimp again, but a plate of sweet Santa Barbara spot prawns, accompanied by garlic aïoli and topped with a handful of English peas and fresh wild arugula from Manzke's parents' garden, had me rethinking my boycott. The place was noisy, the tables full, the prices reasonable. Church & State is in a somewhat dicey neighborhood, but who doesn't want to support a comeback, especially in this town?—Margy Rochlin, first published on Gourmet.com
Open Mondays through Thursdays 11:30am to 2:30pm and 6pm to 10pm, Fridays 11:30am to 2:30pm and 6pm to 11pm, Saturdays 5:30pm to 11pm, Sundays 5pm to 9pm.
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