J Restaurant / Lounge

It was DM13's birthday last night and JDawg and I took the old fart out for dinner. DM suggested a new restaurant that opened downtown LA called J Restaurant/Lounge. The restaurant is located in an old brick building with lots of character. The main dinning room was big with many tables and booths. Watch out for the low ceilings/doorways there are metal support beams all around, but it ads to the charm. Up an industrial/chic stairway is the main bar (there is also one downstairs). The seating area wraps around the bar with a combination of chairs, stools, and couches. The outside smoking area was nestled between two tall buildings with a huge mural of a cigar in an ashtray. When we were checking it out we noticed the smell of funk. We stood there thinking what it smelled like when DM's snout picked up the sent of sewer. Ya, we went back inside. Back downstairs, out the door by the small bar was an expansive patio area. This space has many possibilities with dancing, private parties and even a movie projecting on one of the many tall surrounding buildings.

So why did we go there again? Oh right, it was to eat. I called ahead and asked what the cork fee was...$25 with a two bottle min. That's pricey especially for a new restaurant in my opinion. I decided that we would have at least 2 bottles at $35+ so it was justified. We sat down next to the only other patrons in a booth. The menu is Asian/Italian fusion. How many fusion restaurants can we have in LA.? For starters the now-traditional tuna tartar, caprese salad, and arugula with goat cheese and toasted hazelnuts all interested me. I went with the arugula. Everything looked fresh and tasty, but the sherry vinaigrette overpowered everything. I had to put pepper on the salad. Shouldn't have to that with arugula. Jdawg had your standard caesar and DM lettuce and what looked like boxed croutons.

So far ok for a new restaurant, now on to the entrees. I went with wild mushroom and ricotta ravioli, J with braised short ribs and DM with halibut. The ravioli’s were fair, with the tomato sauce covering the tastes of the main component. J's short ribs were tender and DM's fish was a good size portion. I would say that while I got the better end of the salad, they did well with their main dishes.

The idea of this spot seems like it could work, there are a lot of solid elements. What they need is people. I'm going to reserve judgment until I go back in a few months...if it's still open

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