Lou Wine Bar

Sarah went to Fiddler on the Roof at the Pantages last night with one of her friends. I didn't want to go, because let's face it--musical theater is generally lame. However, despite the fact that we've lived here for over three years, Sarah didn't know how to get from Manhattan Beach to Hollywood...The show was at 8, and considering that she hadn't left our place by 6:30, she was a little worried that she wouldn't make it in time (yes, traffic is a bitch in Los Angeles, especially if you have to get to the 101), and she didn't know where she was going, I decided that I was just going to drive her there. Of course, that meant that I had 3 hours to kill in Hollywood by myself. Not normally something that I'm all that into. I mean really, it isn't all that fun to "go out" by yourself. It doesn't really make me all that uncomfortable, it's just that it's kind of lame. I hate being that guy at the bar reading a book or something with no one to talk to. Anyways, I ended up at Lou, (which Sarah probably would have been underwhelmed with anyway) and I had a great time.

Lou is definitely an LA thing. It's in a fucking strip-mall. I don't know that there is any other city on the planet that has such a laissez-faire attitude about institutions in strip malls. This is a pretty serious place, but it's in a strip mall next to a laundromat or something. You can't even see inside because of the curtains that are hung on the windows. So you'd NEVER end up here unless you had read about it, or you happened to be in the strip mall (which is small). It's just plain weird for anywhere but LA, but I guess that's what makes LA so interesting. Lou is on the small side inside; there are maybe 20 small tables for two. They've got lots of great food, and a nifty map showing where all of their food comes from on a chalkboard. It's pretty cool and something I've never seen in a restaurant before.

I have to complement all the servers because they were all really cool. Not only were they all talkative (even to the weird dude sitting by himself at the bar), but they poured me lots of tastes of the wines they liked just because I was there. Really cool. So many people have a chip on their shoulder in LA, and it was refreshing to meet some really fucking cool ass people.

I had several things: a fig salad with with melon, some arugula, a balsamic reduction and almonds, a smoked pork chop with potatoes, maitake mushrooms, and a broth, and a cheese plate. Salad was great; the figs and melon were perfectly ripe, and the balsamic reduction gave the salad a nice tang. The pork chop was also great; cooked medium rare (it's sad when people murder meat), juicy, and smokey. The maitake's were a little boring, but they were still good. The broth was great, and they let me have some bread to mop it up with. The cheese plate was tasty; my favorite cheese was a moo-buzz cheese that had been rubbed with coffee. Awesome cheese. I'm going to have to track it down. There was also Cook's 10 Year cheddar (quite nice, but actually my least favorite), a Cowgirl Creamery cheese with peppercorns, a Rogue Smoked Blue Cheese, and one other thing (which I can't remember). It wasn't Sally Jackson though. Maybe next time. The cheese plate also had some really nice cornichons, some dates, and a fig-nut thing.

Lou is all about bio-dynamic wine and terroir driven wine. There aren't any oak bombs on the list...which is awesome. Every single wine that I had there had depth and complexity, which generally isn't what you get by the glass. At the recommendation of the first server, I had a glass of the Quivira Vineyards 2008 Rose. Made from Grenache and great--lots of minerality, nice depth, some nice strawberry fruit, and here's the shocker: it's from California. Honestly? I thought it was a Bandol. It's funny because the servers felt the same way about the wine as I did. I guess they aren't generally friendly with California at Lou.

Next, I had a glass of the 2007 Thierry Germain Samur Champigny. A cab franc from the Loire by the glass? You don't see that every day. Very nice wine--leafy, tobacco aromas (strangely enough smelled like peanuts to me at first), lots of minerals, and some berry fruit in the background. This wine had a lot of poise, balance and depth and went pretty well with the pork chop. They also poured me a taste of a 2007 Alsace Gewurztraminer from Boesch (I think...not quite sure, and their menu changes a lot). Whatever, it was pretty great. A soaring perfumy nose, lots of tropical fruit, and minerals. Another poised, balanced, delicious wine. This went a lot better with the pork chop...

With the cheese plate, I had a glass of a 2004 Cahors (made from Malbec), which I'd never had before. Unfortunately, I assumed that it would be online...and it isn't. So I don't really know what it was. Too bad, because it was a nice wine as well. Totally different from any new world malbec. I don't think it had any oak--just nice fruit and minerals. I also had a taste of a zinfandel that was almost a rose (seriously light in color), that was very nice and different--ie not an oak bomb. That doesn't seem to be online either. Too bad again! It had a little spice, and some nice strawberry fruit. They let me have a taste of the 2005 Montirius Vacqueyras (not as good as the Cotes du Rhone in my opinion), which was huge and meaty, with some leather and the same bright wild cherry note in the Cotes du Rhone. And finally, I had a taste of a 2006 German Pinot Noir, which was super piney, and to the bartenders point, grapefruity. And damn it, not online! Too bad, because that was good too.

And after all this wine, they only charged me for 2 glasses. Pretty fucking cool. If you're in LA, you need to check Lou out. It's pretty rad.