If you live in
LA (not "if you are from" LA because I don't know a single person "from" LA), or know
anything about this odd city at all, then you know that LA's downtown shuts down into a veritable ghost-town after 5
PM. Or 6 PM if you're an attorney.
So it makes me wonder how restaurants like the Too Hot Tamales' pan-Latin restaurant, Ciudad, do for dinner. We've talked about Ciudad's sister restaurant in Santa Monica, Border Grill. I had lunch at Ciudad the other day for the first time, but I wasn't sure that I'd be willing to drive there for dinner. Having dinner at Ciudad means driving through ridiculous rush hour traffic along the I-10 freeway in the early evening.
Still, Ciudad's food was good. There's an offering of small plates in the tradition of Spanish tapas, as well as regular-sized entrees of foods from other Latin countries. Butternut squash and roasted poblano chile empanadas were an interesting twist on the usual meat- of cheese-filled empanadas I've had in the past. The winner of the meal, though, was a plate of three tiny tacos filled with tender, flavorful braised beef and topped with a cabbage slaw.
I suppose Ciudad does most of its business at lunch and during Happy Hour, when a small menu of very inexpenisve Happy Hour foods accompany great deals on mojitos and margaritas.
Ciudad
445 South Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 486-5171
www.ciudad-la.com
What Can I Get You Folks? - Eating Out for Thanksgiving
In Defense of Guy Fieri
'Top Chef Vegas' - And Then There Were Five
