la.foodblogging

This movie I’ve been working on had the wrap party Saturday night at the RokBar (Las Palmas just north of Hollywood Blvd).

RokBar’s claim to fame is that the owners are Dave Navarro and Tommy Lee, and I went in expecting.. well, I’m not sure what I was expecting.

Debauchery? Depravity? The Sunset Strip circa 1988?

They certainly haven’t spent a lot of money on decor, but I doubt they’re going for that visually stunning kind of place - it’s mostly cement and metal, and everything’s kind of grey and post post-modern looking.

I think they’re going for the “easy to clean up the morning after those wild parties that you know we have every night” vibe, but it’s oddly sterile, sort of like MoCA but without the art. It’s so much like MoCA, in fact that until I got a drink in me, I felt like I should be whispering to my date about the deeper meaning of the “Girls Girls Girls” mural on the wall while nursing a bad Chardonnay.

Since we were a private party, we got extra big smiles from the scantily clad waitstaff, and snacks were being passed around, which were okay - feta cheese and grocery store tomatoes on some cracker that had a really strange texture (almost crunchy, almost chewy, almost soggy but not quite any of those), grilled cheese bites on the same sort of cracker, and kobe beef skewers. The beef skewers were the best - done perfectly and in a very tasty sauce.

Once we found out that the kitchen was open, some of us decided to order actual food. I opted for the kobe beef burger - I’m a sucker for kobe beef and will order it any time I see it on a menu.

My burger was done correctly - not pink but not dried out, but it had a weird metallic aftertaste to it - almost like they sprayed the grill with WD-40 or something, but the fries were good and surprisingly not greasy at all.

Since I doubt anyone’s going to come here for the food - once our party (which was rockin’, no pun intended) ended at 9 and they opened the doors to the public, the place never did pick up. Around 11:30 there were maybe 25 people in there who weren’t a part of the crew.

Overall, the staff were really nice, the food was okay (not great, but again I doubt anyone’s going there for the food), and it was a fun night until the crazed film crew left. The patrons just kind of sat there and stared, not doing anything - not dancing, not snorting coke off the waitresses exposed midriffs, not doing much of anything other than looking pretty and being incredibly boring.

The 80’s party is over, and sadly it’s not coming back - but this’ll be a fun place if they can manage to get a less zombie-like crowd in the door.

http://filmhacks.blogspot.com

RokBar
1710 Las Palmas Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 461-5600