Hungry Cat

What can I say . . . I love Hungry Cat. Indeed, some might say my love of Hungry Cat borders on obsession, and maybe it does. But if I am obsessed, it is completely justified. The food at Hungry Cat is amazing, and truly seasonal. I've eaten at Hungry Cat three times in the six weeks, and the menu has been slightly different each visit. The Pug Burger (with bacon, avocado, blue cheese and an optional fried egg) is always on the menu, but don't get too attached to anything else. Despite the kitchen's penchant for mixing it up, though, everything is always incredibly well executed and just plain delicious. Here are the details on my last visit:

The drinks:

I went with my standby cocktail at Hungry Cat: the Greyhound Proper. Hungry Cat does the greyhound better than anyone else in LA, with Plymouth Gin, fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice (squeezed in an old-fashioned citrus press) and a piece of candied grapefruit. Yum! Everyone else tried the persimmon margarita. Mellow yet tart, with a cinnamon salt rim. It tasted like a margarita, not a syrupy fruit bomb. Two people in our party wanted something a little sweeter, and two of us liked it as is. Thus, the persimmon margarita isn't for everyone, but I thought it was a great use of an underrated seasonal fruit. In any event, they ran out of persimmons after our first round, and the non-greyhound drinkers made the switch to tangerine margaritas.

The food:

We started with a half-dozen oysters (self-explanatory) and the marinated diver scallops, served with asian pear, green curry vinaigrette and peanut brittle. Sounds odd I know, but everything worked. There was just a hint of spice, and the natural sweetness of the scallops paired really well with the small morsels of peanut brittle. We were really really hungry and I forgot to take a picture of this course, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

We tried four mains (rather unsurprising since there were four of us):

(1) Grilled arctic char with sunchoke puree, roasted carrots, mustard greens, beets and hazlenuts.

(2) Black grouper with braised octopus & fregola sarda stew, almond gremolata and romesco.

(3) Chorizo stuffed squid, grits, slow cooked peppers, basil and saffron aioli.

(4) Monkish stew with coconut milk.

The artic char was the hands down favorite. Despite the varied ingredients, the differing flavors and textures meshed beautifully. The mild fish paired fantastically with the creamy sunchoke puree, bitter mustard greens, crunchy hazlenuts and sweet beets. The squid and the monkfish stew were the two runners up. The squid was savory and tender, and the creamy grits were a nice counterpoint to the bite of the spicy chorizo-stuffed squid. There were two people in our group who had never eaten squid before; once they got past the ick factor (one woman thought there would be suction cups and tentacles) they really enjoyed it but still found it to be a tad adventurous. The monkfish stew was light yet creamy, and the sweetness of the coconut milk was tempered by a hint of curry spice. It was more of an appetizer than an entree, but given all of the other food we ordered, I suppose it was good that the monkfish stew was on the "lighter side." The grouper rated last only because we were divided on whether the octopus was on the right side of charred. One person in our group found the charred flavor overwhelming, although she found it less so as the meal went on . . . perhaps the flavors just needed more time to meld. The romesco sauce and gremolata, however, were bright and flavorful, and the grouper was cooked perfectly.

For dessert we shared the apple fritters with caramel and sea salt. Little warm bites of deliciousness, and perfect for sharing if you're already stuffed full of well, everything else. A nice alternative to the over-the-top (but utterly wonderful) chocolate bread pudding.

The verdict: MEOW!!!

(Sorry -- couldn't resist the bad pun!)