Rate-A-Restaurant, #135 in a series



Restaurant: Simon/L.A.

Location: 8555 Beverly Blvd. (La Cienega)

Type of restaurant: American/Comfort Food

We stipulated: Taking the day off, Maria and I wanted to try some place new. And we wanted dessert. Enter Simon/LA, known just as much for its sweets as its main dishes.


chicken caesar

What we ordered: Classic caesar with chicken, $16. Maine lobster roll and Tuscan fries, $23. Wood burning pizza: crab and tuna, with avocado, cucumber, wasabi, sticky rice, $18


lobster roll

High point: Dessert. Dessert. Dessert. See the pictures further below.


crab and tuna pizza

Low point: The prices are a little out of whack.


molten chocolate banana cake, with vanilla bean milkshake

Overall impression: So-called "rock and roll chef" Kerry Simon puts an interesting and often tasty twist on old comfort food favorites. Cranberry relish on a turkey burger, for example. And the space now inhabited by Simon/L.A. has a new, fresh look and feel to it. But the prices are geared more toward Beverly Hills-adjacent crowds and less to the people simply looking for decent food around the Beverly Center.

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milk and cookies

But again, it's the desserts that make the meal at Simon/L.A. Word to the wise: Order light, in order to save room for the final course. The vanilla bean milkshake perfectly complemented the molten chocolate/banana cake. And you can never go wrong with freshly baked cookies and milk. Comfort, indeed.

Chance we will go back:: For dessert only.