Dine LA, Finally

Last night Hubs and I took advantage of Dine LA, which takes place for two weeks every year in January. Participating restaurants offer three course dinners for $34 or $44. It's one of those things we always read about right before the holidays, then forget about it, then remember. "When was that, again?" "Aw, it ended yesterday.  Grrrrrr."

This year we stayed on top of it. We decided to go to Waterloo & City, a fairly new restaurant in Culver City, so we trekked over to the West Side. It's a strange place to walk inside. It seems sophisticated and fancy with black painted wood and silver platters hanging on the walls. But something was off and we figured it out. The chairs are the same chairs as Cracker Barrel. Yeah, they're painted black, but even in dim candle lighting they're still Cracker Barrel chairs. Ugh.

For appetizers, I got the Potted Pork and Truffle Parfait with Brioche. There's a charcuterie revolution going on in LA right now. Meat in tube form thinly sliced is everywhere. Meat in a jar is en vogue. It's been fun to compare. This pork was creamy and perfectly smooth spread on the brioche. But it wasn't packed with flavor. I think the brioche overpowered the pork, but the texture was so good that I ate three toast-fulls of it.

Hubs got the Blood Cake with a Fried Egg. Our waitress described it as a flourless cake made of blood sausage and it was the perfect description. A cake made out of sausage. With an egg. It was excellent, and so rich. Tony Bourdain would love it.

For the main course. I ordered the Meat Pie with Bone Marrow. The pie was fine. Tomato-ey. Nothing special. After eating the pork parfait, the bone marrow fell flat. But the potato puree was delicious. I think there was a stick of butter in there.

Hubs did a better job of ordering by choosing the House Merguez and Lamb Shoulder, which seemed to be a Moroccan inspired stew. The sausage was delicious, the lamb falling-apart tender, and the stew had a nice little kick and was perfectly seasoned.  I was not expecting a dish like this from an English restaurant.

Finally dessert. This was the best course for both of us. We shared the Sticky Toffee Pudding and the Doughnuts.

The Doughnuts were my favorite. They didn't taste like a Krispy Kreme, they were more like what I would imagine the best funnel cake in the world tasking like. They were decadent and utterly satisfying. Still salivating over them today.

All in all, Waterloo & City was good. Three courses for $34 was a sweet deal. The ambiance wasn't my favorite, but I would consider going back for more charcuterie and dessert.