In front of Zanzabelle.
"Wait, this is a toy and candy shop. And it's closed."
Rob sounded mistrustful. But I couldn't really blame him. I had, after all, told him we were going to a prix fixe dinner at a sort of supper club in Silver Lake, but I had forgotten to mention the location -- Zanzabelle, a candy-slash-toy-slash-ice-cream shop on Rowena. No wonder he was confused.
But once we stepped onto the wooden porch and saw candles twinkling on the butcher paper-topped tables inside, we knew we were in the right place. As our eyes adjusted to the dim interior, we saw six tables fit neatly into the small store, four of them occupied by diners happily eating and chatting.
Jackie, half of the husband and wife team behind Freight, welcomed us as warmly as a hostess greeting her dinner guests, then showed us to our table and opened our bottle of beer. "How do you say your name?" she asked. "Anjali. Is that right?" Rob looked at me in surprise -- I hadn't given my name when we walked in. But I had emailed for a reservation and Jackie had been the one to respond, so she remembered my name. And even said it correctly the first time, no mean feat. I relaxed into my seat and sipped some beer while we waited for our meal: bourbon-glazed tri-tip, cowboy beans, homemade pico de gallo and buttermilk cornbread.
But after a moment we had another reminder that we weren't at just any restaurant. Matt, the chef, appeared at my elbow, greeted us and said he had our meat seared rare at the moment. How did we want it? "That was kind of cool," Rob said after he left. Having the chef come to our table to inquire how we'd like our meal cooked made the dining experience feel intensely personal and very friendly.
The meal.*
And then there was the food: tender slices of perfectly cooked beef edged with bits of crunchy char, plump beans with a drizzle of crema, fresh pico de gallo and a big hunk of cornbread, soft and light as a newly fluffed pillow. Or a just-born baby chick. Something soft and wonderful anyway. As I worked my way methodically around the plate -- topping a bite of the meat with a tangy smidge of pico de gallo, taking a buttery bite of bread -- I glanced over at Rob's plate. His bread was gone. But Jackie had only just put the plates in front of us. I peered closer and saw he was holding his chunk of cornbread and eating it pretty much exclusively. "Yeah," he said when I pointed this out. "I picked it up and never put it down again. I think it was the best cornbread I've ever eaten." A bold statement from a man whose pronouncements usually involve nerd movies and video games.
Oh, and by the way? The cost of this meal? An incredible $12 per person.
Jackie stopped by to ask how we were enjoying the food and told us a bit about how Freight at Zanzabelle got started. She and Matt were on the lookout for a place where they could bring a nice bottle of wine and eat dinner without breaking the bank, but they came up empty -- so they decided to create the sort of place they were looking for. In October of last year they had their first dinner and have been quietly giving weekend prix fixe meals ever since. They've been written up on Eating LA and Eat: LA, but the bulk of their promotion is a weekly email letting people know the menu and cost of the upcoming meal. They don't even have a website. It's like the anti-thesis of the Kogi phenomenon, which is I think what makes it so special, like you've stumbled onto this rare and wondrous treasure and NOBODY ELSE KNOWS ABOUT IT which makes it a hundred times more precious.
But ironically, because it is so special and wonderful, you want to tell everyone about it. And so this:
Get yourself onto the Freight email list by emailing info@freightfoods.com. Or, if you like the sound of this week's meal, just email or call 626-243-3686 to make a reservation between 6-9pm. There's no corkage, so bring along a nice bottle of wine or your favorite beer. This Friday and Saturday they are serving roasted celeriac soup with candied lavender; lamb osso buco with firm polenta, sauteed greens, fennel and gremolata; and a Calvados panna cotta with caramel sauce and bruniose apples for dessert. All of that for $26 per person. Sound good?
...I thought so.
Freight at Zanzabelle
2912 Rowena Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90039
(626) 243-3686
* Sorry for the blurry, craptastic food photo in this post. It was really very dark. To make up for it, here's a (blurry, craptastic) photo of Rob taking out his Invisalign, which those who eat with him know is the prologue to every meal. It's like saying grace, but with more saliva.
This sounds (and looks) amazing! So good, in fact that it's really painful to not be able to go right now. It's making me second guess our choices for this year...
I love the end. Great and hilarious way to wrap things up!