Carribean
Cuban Food at a French Palace?
Or so it seemed when I heard about Versailles. I would normally expect such a well-known name to be associated with a very upscale French restaurant. In fact, it is quite the contrary. Located close to Overland on Venice Blvd., Versailles is a very down-to-earth Cuban restaurant that focuses not on looks but on food.
First, the system of getting a table must be cleared up. Versailles doesn’t take reservations and rather than put your name down on a list, you stand outside in a line and people are seated as tables open up. It creates almost a clubbing atmosphere where you’re waiting for the bouncer to let you in. But, the line moves briskly because the food is brought out quickly and it is not the type of place where you lounge around after finishing your meal.
Given this attitude towards the meal, the service is not exactly three star. However, given the food, I’m willing to let it slide. You start off with a basket of warm buttered bread. Since I underestimated the wait (as I’m sure many others do), this was the perfect way to quell my hunger. The bread was had a crispy crust but the inside was fluffy and soft. Out of all the free pre-dinner offerings I’ve had, this is probably my favorite. It’s that good.
For my entree, I decided to go for the Roast Chicken and Pork combination. Before I even had time to settle down, the food was placed in front of me. I immediately dug in and was overwhelmed by the juiciness of the chicken as well as the infusion of garlic and lemon. Now this was not a bad thing, but for the unprepared eater, it may come as a shock. Once the burst of flavor wore off, I continued to tear into the rest of my food. The pork was very similar to pulled pork except that it was drenched in a lemon-vinegar sauce. As much as a I liked the combination of this flavor with the extremely tender pork, I found that after a few bites, the lemon-vinegar taste was too much. It would have been better if they had drained the pork slightly before putting it onto the plate.
The plate also comes with a bowl of black-beans cooked with bay leaves as well as a generous portion of white rice that goes extremely well with the lemon sauce (but that may only be because it helps to taper down the strong flavor). However, the best side dish has to be the grilled plaintains. Sweet and soft yet somehow a little firm, I left these until the end to cap off a very filling and delicious meal.
Versailles also offers various other meats and dishes, but I would highly suggest sticking to the chicken and pork. I tried some lamb and while I found it to be very flavorful, it was also quite tough. You can also order a variety of alcoholic drinks to accompany your meal. I saw people ordering wine, beer, mojitos, and a mango/soju concoction. However, my suggestion would be to get a pitcher of sangria, which my party did. My party of five each had two wine glasses full of sangria for a total of $16.
Versailles
10319 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90035
By Jeff (see more of his posts).
Discussion
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I will probably be horribly admonished for this, but… I really don’t like Versailles that much. While I don’t mind coming out of the place smelling of garlic, I found that the food needed MORE garlic flavors. This always make me mad because whenever I first cut into the food, this rich aroma of garlic comes steams out, yet I just don’t taste it.
I do agree that the plaintains are fantastic, but it’s not so good to make me go back to Versailles on a regular basis.
There’s also a Versailles at Universal Citywalk. Phone: (818) 505-0093
I demand a duel…pistols at dawn….j/k. I can definitely see the desire for more garlic. In general, I think it may be difficult to really infuse chicken with garlic on such a grand scale. I’ve had great success at home, but have yet to find it in any restuarants. Anyone know of any places that are good at this?
Versailles is okay. I am with you on the bread - it’s pretty darn good. But the restaurant itself certainly isn’t at the top of my list and doesn’t even come close to comparing to any Cuban restaurant in FL. If LA had those restaurants, Versailles would be out of business.
There’s one on Sepulveda in Manhattan Beach, too.
I like the plantains, but I think all their other food tastes exactly the same no matter what you order. They just smother everything in the same garlic and onion mixture.
I love the intense flavor of Versaille’s garlic sauce, and I have yet to eat better plantains. I ate at the Encino location (on Ventura Blvd.) and didn’t have to wait at all.
Just had dinner there last night - I thought the garlic chicken has great flavor on the outside - it doesn’t really infuse the interior meat but I thought that was fine. I actually got the lechon asada, which I really enjoyed - since the meat is shredded the garlic flavor gets into all the meat. The mojitos with the sugar cane slice in it was a nice touch. These must be the most common orders since we got our food 5 minutes after we ordered.
No, really, I don’t sweet plantains, I like the starchy garlicky savory ones a.k.a. tostones. But I’m from back east were cuban and puerto rican is the mexican of the northeast los estados unidos. Though i must admit their mojo is a go-go in my book.
For your information, I believe that the Versailles restaurants in L. A. are named after a very famous Cuban restaurant in Miami. That restaurant is named after the treaty of Versailles which ended the Spanish American war and resulted in the emancipation of Cuba from Spanish rule.