Dining

One of my favorite things about living in Los Angeles is introducing friends from out of town to restaurants they would probably never discover on their own. This week a friend was visiting from New York, and I knew exactly where to take them—Broken Spanish in Culver City.

The moment you walk through the doors, you know you’re somewhere special. The restaurant is housed inside a beautifully restored A-frame building with soaring timber ceilings, exposed beams, oversized pendant lights, and an airy dining room that somehow feels both modern and nostalgic.

The restaurant has a fantastic indoor and outdoor atmosphere, and within minutes of opening the place was buzzing. That tells you everything you need to know. If you’re planning a visit, make a reservation ahead of time.

We started with the spicy guacamole, served alongside enormous house-made corn chips that are impossible to stop eating. We also ordered the lentils, which were packed with rich, comforting flavor and proved that simple ingredients can still steal the show.

Then came what may have been my favorite dish of the evening—the Caesar salad. I know that sounds like an odd thing to rave about at a Mexican-inspired restaurant, but trust me on this one. It was loaded with flavor, beautifully dressed, wonderfully crisp, covered in freshly grated cheese, and topped with some of the biggest, crunchiest croutons I’ve had anywhere in Los Angeles.

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It’s my birthday month, which means one thing: yummy dining with friends. First impressions matter, and this one was memorable. We arrived at Capitol Grill to find our table thoughtfully decorated for the occasion, and the sommelier greeted us with glasses of prosecco!  Unexpected touch that set the tone for the evening.

The dining room strikes a nice balance: white tablecloths, dark wood, warm lighting, and a striking glass-enclosed wine display near the entrance. There’s also a mile-long bar that’s elegant with just the right amount of sexy.. “Did somebody say Happy Hour!” Add in the classic Hollywood-style portraits lining the walls, and you get a space that feels polished without being stuffy.

A quick note on the bread basket …genuinely one of the best I’ve had at a steakhouse. Worth the carbs. For the main event, the dry-aged filet mignon was cooked to a perfect medium-rare, paired beautifully with the lobster mac and cheese and a healthy side of garlic spinach. The scallops deserve a special mention too, easy to overlook at a steakhouse, but they shouldn’t be.

Dessert rounded things out nicely. The cheesecake was light, not overly sweet, and disappeared from the table faster than expected. The crème brûlée held its own right alongside it.

After twenty years in the LA area, it’s clear why this brand has staying power, and if this Burbank location is any indication, it’s off to a strong start.

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Muse doesn’t read like a restaurant started by twenty-somethings! Then you learn the backstory, and then it makes perfect sense. Chef Fardad Khayami, a self-taught newcomer to LA’s dining scene, first tested his instincts as a USC student, running an apartment dinner series called Museum with roommate David Gelland, with support from friends Taylor Martin and John Stolrow. What began as a scrappy campus pop-up quietly served a couple thousand guests before Khayami found a building on West Channel Road and turned the concept into something permanent. Muse grand-opened in August 2024, with Gelland now serving as bar director.

The result is refined, intimate, and unmistakably grown-up. The kind of place that warrants getting dressed up and impressing somebody important. The contemporary salle, layered with rotating fine art, sets a sophisticated backdrop for an à la carte menu divided into four sections.

Dinner opens with a warm brioche puff pastry that crackles like a croissant when torn apart, paired with beurre Bordier from Normandy, worth every bite. The veal bon bons follow, exploding with flavor and impossible to stop eating. Mains hold their own: filet mignon with a rich Bordelaise sauce and rack of lamb à la Provençal both showcase Khayami’s precision with seasonal ingredients. The cocktail program matches the ambition, each drink built with its own story to tell.

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