food near universal city, ca

March 19, 2006 4:30 PM

I'm trying to put together a restaurant guide for an academic meeting being held in Los Angeles' Universal City. Aside from the (mediocre) places along the nearby Citywalk, can folks recommend interesting / funky / neat / fancy and other types of worthwhile places to eat within a short taxi ride, drive or public transportation trip (from the Universal City metro station)?
posted by luriete to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

I know about Ca' del Sole, Minibar and Barsac, and am looking for other places - restaurants, bars, anything. Now that Benita's is gone from Citywalk, there's not a whole lot to recommend there, and I'm going to have 900 sociology faculty and students wandering around and need to come up with places for them to chow down.
posted by luriete at 5:02 PM on March 19, 2006

If a sushi/Japanese restaurant would be something you'd want, Ventura Blvd. between Lankershim and all the way past the 405 has a number of great ones. Try chowhound for details on them. Tama, Nozawa, Asanebo are some good ones near Universal City. There is a really great sushi and kushiaki place further down Ventura Blvd, in Tarzana, called Kushi-yu. It's a really lively and fun place with fantastic food and plenty of seating, and probably a 15 minute drive straight up Ventura.

For good French/French-California: Bizou, Mistral, Pinot Bistro or Max on Ventura Blvd. Bizou is particularly inexpensive and popular, with a $1 or $2 corkage.
posted by shoos at 6:06 PM on March 19, 2006

There's always Art's Deli on Ventura at Laurel Canyon. Fairly cheap, good food, not too far away, etc... Would make a good lunch spot to recommend.
posted by zachlipton at 8:19 PM on March 19, 2006

Tokyo Delve's in North Hollywood is interesting/funky. Jerry's Deli in Studio City is also fun, though it's a chain. Also, one can take the train to Hollywood & Highland, where there are quite a few restaurants.
posted by Lillitatiana at 8:28 PM on March 19, 2006

Take the Metro Red Line 5 minutes to Sunset/Vermont station. From there you've got all of Los Feliz: Vermont, Fred 62, awesome japanese place that I'm not sure has a name, Palermo, House of Pies, and a bunch of other stuff if you're willing to walk a few more blocks.
posted by the jam at 9:10 AM on March 20, 2006

Late to the party, so I'll second a bunch of the comments here. Both Jerry's and Art's are indeed great delis. All the sushi restaurants shoos mentions are good -- I'd also suggest adding Teru to the list. For Italian, there's a Miceli's in both Universal City and Hollywood, though personally I'm much more partial to Fabiolus Cafe.

My favorite bars in Hollywood are Boardner's and the Frolic Room. Back in the Universal City area, I like The Foxfire and NoBar (both of those are technically in North Hollywood) and the Money Tree (in Toluca Lake), where you can catch some jazz as well.
posted by scody at 3:12 PM on March 20, 2006

Oh, and in case anyone's desperate for a sports bar, Timmy Nolan's is right by the Money Tree and always has a game (or three) on. (Caveat: the food's mediocre at best, so I wouldn't recommend it for much beyond fries.)
posted by scody at 7:57 PM on March 20, 2006