Comments on: A Los Angeles Classsic

By: thranduil

thranduil — Tue, 02 May 2006 15:03:43 +0000

We happened to go to the Santa Monica branch (which is now open 24 hours) for a late celebratory lunch over the weekend and it was fantastic!

We started off with the roasted artichoke appetizer, which was accompanied by a tasty lemon sauce. We split a couple of the sides: the mashed potatoes, which was not overly creamy and was surprisingly spiced with mace, the creamed spinach, which was also not overly creamy and allowed to spinach flavors to come through, and the steamed asparagus, which was a very nice complement to the meat (!).

We got a new york strip steak and a dining car club steak. The strip steak was superb - juicy and tender - and the club steak had that wonderful sirloin beefy taste. The only downside was that I had ordered the club steak with smothered mushrooms on top - the tip ended up being medium instead of medium rare, probably from having the mushrooms on top. But I love mushrooms and I’m not picky about good meat. However, next time I think we would both order the mushrooms on the side (which we did for the strip steak). It also came with a sweet tomato-based relish which was interesting, but really the meat stands alone quite well.

We were stuffed, but we couldn’t pass up on dessert. We went with the chocolate souffle, which was heavenly light and topped with a perfect dollop of whipped cream. We aren’t really chocolate people, but that was one that might change my mind, at least.

All in all, a great experience. The ambience and service are wonderful. You get what you pay for.

The funniest thing that happened was unrelated to the dining experience. We brought our own wine (corkage is $35). Since it was unfiltered, we asked for a decanter. The decanter was a bit small and looked a bit more like a vase. As our server was pouring our wine, we could overhear the wait staff in the background saying, “Do you see that decanter - it’s terrible! We need to get some new ones.” So maybe you they’ll have some new ones if you happen to go. :)

By: Pauline

Pauline — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 20:20:05 +0000

Haha… or something! What made my lunch at PDC more touching today was that it was a good friend at work who was treating me to a goodbye meal. I think goodbye happy hour is tomorrow and Friday.

By the way one of my friends today had the bread pudding which still was pretty heavy with the Tennessee whiskey. Another friend ordered the raspberry sorbet, which was big enough to share for 2 or 3 people.

By: SoCalorie

SoCalorie — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 19:55:52 +0000

You hit so many L.A. restaurants a day it’s like you’re moving to Illinois or something.

By: Pauline

Pauline — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 19:51:19 +0000

Just a follow up… Went there for lunch today and had the filet mignon. Absolutely wonderful! It’s no wonder why Pacific Dining Car is so well-known for its steak. Also tried the raspberry creme brulee, which was extremely rich.

By: Pauline

Pauline — Thu, 26 May 2005 14:23:55 +0000

Yikes! Well, there was no funkiness when I went (thank goodness). Then again, there are several areas to PDC. I ate near the entrance, which was in a fairly open space. I’m assuming that Top Model probably wanted a bit more privacy and used the Wine Room or Huntington Room. Let us hope that after the taping PDC had the sense to burn the chair (and everything else that was in the room). In the meantime, maybe try the PDC in Santa Monica to help subside the damage of watching something so traumatic.

Sigh. It’s bad enough models look like they don’t eat, but they have to go ruin nice restaurants for us now, too.

By: laura

laura — Thu, 26 May 2005 01:06:33 +0000

Pauline… I saw a contestant from this season’s America’s Next Top Model get loaded at PDC and then proceed to barf all over herself and her chair in the dining room while the other contestant’s watched. I can’t help but think she really funked up the room and it’s ruined the idea of eating at PDC for me forever.