Anniversary Dinner at Bestia

Yesterday's anniversary dinner in downtown L.A.'s Bestia restaurant went great. This restaurant is located in the Arts District an area where they are building lofts and is being slowly gentrified. The adventure for me and the challenge was first to get a reservation at this popular place when it opens at 5:00 and to be able to get on the last bus home before 7:30. Neither Mike nor I like to drive to downtown Los Angeles. For us the traffic, congestion and parking is a lot to deal with. We do enjoy ourselves in the midst of this bustling area once there. Public transportation works perfectly great for our adventurous spirits. To this I add I just need to be able to travel to and fro during daylight hours with public transpo. Anyway Mike planned it all so well and we had plenty of time to explore the area in the afternoon before our dinner reservations at 5:00. We were the 4th people in line at 4:45 and the line steadily grew. Reservations I would say are a must but if you are in line early you could likely find a seat at the beautiful bar area. We were given a great table on the shaded outdoor patio and had a marvelous dinner. We were home by sunset at 8:00 and had Mike's 2nd favorite Lemon Meringue pie waiting for us. Again thanks to our daughter Aria and family for this thoughtful gift and to our daughter Athena and husband Mat for the generous uber gift as she said treat yourselves to a ride. We'll save that for another adventure.   PS
Mike just told me that the transportation total for each of us to and from downtown Los Angeles was .75 cents each. I think we could now write the new Arthur Frommer book titled "L.A. on the Cheap".

 
 First bus using our tap cards in Long Beach. They only make one more stop from this Willow station and then its a swift ride on the freeway to downtown. So convenient.



 

 
 If you have the time to walk downtown L.A. the architecture and detailing on many of the old buildings is fabulous.




 


 
 The old Clifton's cafeteria on Broadway is where my grandma would take us after looking at the Christmas windows at Bullocks on the corner of 7th and Broadway. Things in this area are pretty dilapidated now but this Cafeteria was recently redone inside and reopened. It does appear to be for sale again but not sure. The whole area is rather shabby.



 
 The   bus stop where you get off  is Mateo and then you walk east on 7th to   Santa Fe then its a very short walk to "Bestia". Actually this area of the arts district is not terrible but en route you pass through some very sad and sketchy areas of downtown. on the bus.



 
 The second bus we took was number 60. A very short ride from 7th and Broadway.



 

in the Arts district you see big artist loft and condo development. This is one we walked by.



 
 The entrance to Bestia an industrial building. People line up daily before the opening at 5:00.

The crowds grew waiting for the 5:00 opening. you do need reservations there is valet parking for those that drive.

 


 
 Once inside the outside world disappears.


 Our table was on this shaded patio. There is another patio facing the street not as pretty.

 

great bar which filled up fast

 


 More lines waiting to go inside to interior seating.
 

 
 Yayyy we got this perfect table
 
 a quiet interior garden with condos on either side.
 

 Everything is made to share. This was the gorgonzola pizza with kale, mozzarella, grana padano, olive oil and sea salt
 

 
 Mussels and clams with housemade n'duja sausage, fennel seed, preserved lemon, grilled bread. i loved this
 
 This sauce was garlicky and spicy. mmmm loved it. The server also suggested that this arrive with our second pizza which had the same sausage. She said use the pizza as well to sop of the juice from the mussels.

 2nd pizza n'duja sausage, san marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, tuscan kale, fennel pollen

 


 Spagetti rusticella, main lobster, calabrian chili, tomato rosemary
 

 

 

 


 


 


 

 Mike's favorite rhubarb wasn't available so his second fave lemon meringue was our dessert at home.