The Gold Watch

J. Gold Finds Le Ka’s Fine Bistro Food ‘Trapped In The Body of a Nightclub’

“There is a name for restaurants like this. They are called lounges.” Photo: Ali Khan

Remi Lauvand’s cooking may be “very” good, but Jonathan Gold is a little perplexed at his new Downtown restaurant, Le Ka, since “food seems like such a secondary thing” here. “There is a name for restaurants like this. They are called lounges,” the critic warns, while taking in the beautiful patrons and grating techno tunes. And though he loves Lauvand’s attentions, from his adroit sourcing to his French technique, he dubs Le Ka “a modern French bistro trapped in the body of a nightclub,” trying to eat the pigs’ feet and head cheese from your plate while you’re distracted. Some of the small plates may fail, with wild boar albondigas coming off like an Applebee’s version of tapas, but Lauvand scores when he sticks to the beat of his own Gallic expertise and strays from trying to please the electro-entranced masses. [LAT]

J. Gold Finds Le Ka’s Fine Bistro Food ‘Trapped In The Body of a Nightclub’