Ciudad: Latin Food, Latin Drinks, Latin Music. Also, Mojitos
Los Angeles's stab at Latin American foodie respectability, Ciudad is the Downtown outpost of celebrity chefs Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, they of Border Grill fame. The place is always crowded, so much so that a realtime form is available online to check seating and make reservations. The early evening crowd is mostly young professionals enjoying specialty drinks, including the restaurant's justifiably famous mojitos, and waiting for the 110 to thin out (yeah, good luck with that). The yuppies eventually get replaced by a theater crowd drawn in by the pan-Latin menu featuring apps like Bolivian Sweet Corn Tamales and platos principales like the Tamarind Glazed Salmon, Ciudad's peerless mojitos, and a complimentary Culture District shuttle that goes till 8pm. We should probably also mention Ciudad's mojitos, which really are exceptionally good. Milliken and Feniger build each mojito with a lime cooler base and topshelf booze. Seating-wise, there's a cozy patio out front that often hosts live Latin music. Customers who crave a quieter meal can flee inside, swapping the assault on their ears for the dining area's visually hyper decor. Remember that scene in The Big Lebowski where Julianne Moore is strapped to that swinging thing and she's flinging paint everywhere? That's what the inside is like, only more citrusy and with less mention of the word vagina.
Previously: Burgerwatch: LA, Silverlake:East Village::Malo:Mogador, Porto's Bakery: The Sweet Smell of Excess", Architours: London and LA, Gansevoort West Puts Meatpacking Brother To Shame, LA: Famously Segregated or Segregatedly Famous?
