"A young man wearing a bucket hat and a denim tuxedo monogrammed with the letters LV across every inch of fabric leans in to talk to his dinner date. Another couple takes selfies between bites of a California roll, both using forks to stab at the maki. Four women, their faces buoyant with Botox, clink glasses of elderflower and lychee martinis. It's just another Friday night at Nobu on La Cienega Boulevard."
"The Los Angeles Nobu is not as flashy as the one in Malibu, where the waves of the Pacific Ocean create a backdrop for the restaurant and Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox were just spotted on a double date. This Nobu, which opened in 2008, several years after its more famous Malibu cousin, is somewhat of a hidden gem on a stretch of La Cienega Boulevard, where black cars once swarmed its valet stand and reservations were elusive."
"The main dining room that houses the sushi bar still vibrates with a current of money, celebrity and those who seek it. But, once revered as one of the most stylish rooms in Los Angeles, it now suffers from the aesthetic malaise of an "Asian-themed" chain restaurant in the mid-2000s, its patterned fabric banquettes feeling more dated than retro. The menu, for the most part, is similarly past its prime even if everyone (this writer included) still loves the black cod with miso."
Designer-clad young diners, selfie-taking couples, and women sipping elderflower and lychee martinis populate Nobu on La Cienega on Friday nights. The Los Angeles location opened in 2008 and is less flashy than the Malibu restaurant, now surrounded by furniture and home decor stores. Once-elusive reservations are now easier to secure. The dining room still draws money and celebrity but its once-stylish design reads as dated Asian-themed chain decor, with patterned banquettes feeling aged rather than retro. The menu largely feels past its prime, though the black cod with miso remains a favorite. Sean Tan, from Malaysia, has led Nobu kitchens in Melbourne and Chicago; a server said he tweaked the Chilean sea bass with jalapeño.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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