Come Fly with Me
Eating by the airport rarely satisfies, but Truxton's would soar anywhere
By Richard Foss
The day will come: A friend is in town for a layover for a few hours, and wants to go out for dinner – somewhere cool and hip. You must then administer a cruel lesson and explain to them that, well, they’re by the airport, and places by the airport are never, ever hip. You’re stuck with Encounter, the restaurant in the theme building, which has surprisingly cool decor but mediocre food, or your pick of the overpriced restaurants at airport hotels.
Uantil recently, the best you could do is go to the coolest airport hotel joint, the restaurant at the Sheraton Four Points, which has above-average food and a surprising selection of Belgian ales, but compensates with stuffy, dull décor. Points for the food, minus for the ambiance. However, a new option has emerged – on a side street just off Manchester, there’s a place that brings a lively atmosphere and good food to an otherwise drab area. Truxton’s American Bistro claims to serve “California Cottage Dining,” and whatever that is, they make it taste surprisingly decent.
The room is an airy, high-ceilinged place decorated in cool colors, and the large bar bustles in the evening. Our large party ordered some of the recommended appetizers – Vietnamese avocado spring rolls ($7.85), fritto misto ($9.35), and “monkey bread” ($2.35) – while we perused the menu.
The Vietnamese spring rolls actually were served Vietnamese style, with fresh vegetables, bean sprouts, and lettuce on the side to make a kind of vegetable burrito. The sauce wasn’t the Vietnamese nuoc mam (the lightly pungent chili sauce) but some kind of sweet sesame/soy mix. The addition of avocado to egg rolls wasn’t an improvement in my book – it made what is usually a light, crisp appetizer heavier and more oily, and didn’t really go with the vegetables. It was the major misstep of our meal. The fritto misto, the traditional Italian mix of fried artichoke hearts and calamari, was much more to my taste, and served with a nicely tangy dipping sauce. We also liked the monkey bread – though what’s not to like about puffy little loaves of buttery garlic bread rolled in cheddar cheese? It’s almost the dictionary definition of comfort food, and we all know how well that sells.
My friends ordered ahi sesame salad ($12.85) and Cobb salad ($10.85) as main courses, and balanced the scales in favor of dietary virtue. The Cobb was the better of the two, thanks to attention to detail. The vegetables were fresh and finely julienned, then served over lettuce that had been tossed with ranch dressing instead of having the dressing on the side, or worse, just dumped on top. This treatment, plus the good quality blue cheese and bacon, made for layers of flavor. The ahi salad didn’t quite strike the same balance, thanks to excessive ginger in the dressing, which knocked an otherwise good dish out of balance.
The entrées at Truxton’s are centered on burgers and mildly eclectic Americana and international dishes, but I only had eyes for the roasted brisket ($16.35). Brisket is touchy – when cooked wrong it can be either spongy and textureless or leathery, and it’s a good test of a kitchen. The version here is slow cooked for 12 hours, and, on the day I ordered it, they aced it. Tender but not mushy, lightly smoky and spicy, it was what barbecued brisket is supposed to be. I paired it with parmesan-garlic fries and sautéed spinach and was in bliss.
Other entrées that we tried included miso salmon ($16.85), which had a nice caramelized sweetness and was served with excellent spicy cucumber salad, and a meatball hoagie ($10.35) that would have been a credit to an Italian deli. We paired our meals with wines from a list that had some very good values on decent wines, including a fair number by the glass.
It would be easy to shine in this neighborhood because competition is so sparse. But Truxton’s would do well anywhere, because it elegantly balances modern food, reasonable prices, and an atmosphere that is stylish but still family-friendly. That’s a nice trick anywhere you do it.
Truxton’s, 8611 Truxton Avenue, L.A./Westchester. Small parking lot, wheelchair access good, vegetarian friendly. Open daily for lunch and dinner; (310) 417-8789.
2008-02-07
Published: 02/06/2008
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