A new wave of hotel restaurants is vying for the attention of Angeleno diners, like the splashy new Sous Sous in Silver Lake and the luxe steakhouse Baldi in Beverly Hills. La Monique opened last fall in a ritzy corner of the Hotel Oceana in Santa Monica,
serving a French-Californian menu from chef David Fricaud. The early menu, while adequate for expense account types, tipped a little too far into hotel restaurant (too many steak options, a fussy salad, five different pastas) instead of something befitting its own destination. Forbescovered its opulent bathroom, adorned with a marble counter and copper sink in front of ornate tiling. Fricaud refreshed the menu to reflect something less overly bistro and more suave French fine dining, keeping the escargot poppers but refining the entrees with a seared Dover sole and duck a l’orange. Note that prices are still somewhat astronomical, more for splurges, birthdays, and anniversaries, with the service and ambience to match.
What to order
- The caviar canapes ($55) are a bit of a price grab, but the four bites — salmon croque monsieur, golden grilled cheese, tartlette, and potato crisp — each get crowned with a mouthful of caviar and are luxurious enough to make you feel like a celebrity.
- Escargot poppers will come recommended, but I prefer the intricately arranged mushroom tart ($34), with sauteed button mushrooms painstakingly arranged on puff pastry encircling parsnip puree that comes right out of the Michelin playbook.
- Pear and endive salad, featuring a generous pile of sliced endives, crumbled blue cheese, and candied walnuts, works as a sweet-salty-cheesy mid-course that somehow tastes better with the claw-like sharing tongs.
- Lobster fra diavolo arranges the crustacean in swimming form above tomato-sauced rounds of pappardelle noodles, the claws on each side and the sliced, cooked tail laid over the pasta.
- Sweet corn agnolotti with hefty pieces of crab and a single strip of uni capture the last gasp of sun-kissed summer corn, with cheesy, luscious pasta morsels that your table might fight over.
- Dover sole comes with nutty brown butter meuniere sauce or a tangier beurre blanc and a side of fluffy rice pilaf. The tender, meaty sole carries a proper sear and flakes off without too much fuss. Escoffier would be thoroughly impressed.
- Duck confit a l’orange features a whole crispy duck leg, covered tableside with a sweet-savory Seville orange sauce. The meat isn’t quite pull-apart tender, requiring a fork and knife to get onto the plate, but it’s otherwise textbook.
Best for
Dinners where the rich in-laws are paying; a place you can dress up for on a Tuesday night and pretend you’re in a fancy Manhattan or Paris hotel; expense account dinners where you get to fight to pay the bill so you get more credit card points; quietly luxurious anniversaries where you toast to joining the one percent.
Insider tip
Leave room for the chocolate souffle, a swoonworthy, mascarpone-topped dessert that every Francophile would adore. Its unconventional semi-bitterness stands in refreshing contrast to sometimes overly sweet versions, with the actual sugar coming mostly from the topping.
The takeaway
If you can get past the five-star pricing, La Monique transports you to an ultra-fancy dinner haunt — where it’s quiet enough to have real conversations — and you’re getting pampered by white-tuxedoed servers. The seating is plush and substantial; the ceiling reflects light off its copper-mirrored tone. A lot of L.A. places aspire to be everyday, but La Monique is more of a gem — a big, shiny one you’re not afraid to show off. It’s a place to conjure your inner socialite.
