San Laurel
José Andrés' Spanish kitchen sits ten floors up in the Conrad, looking straight at the Disney Concert Hall. Garrett Snyder rated the view above the plates.
Why go
The room is one of the flagships in Andrés' collection at Conrad Los Angeles, cooking Spain through Southern California produce off the local farmers' markets.1 The hotel sits inside The Grand LA, which Frank Gehry designed, across the street from the concert hall he also designed.
The terrace is the reason to book. Snyder puts the space half indoors and half out on the tenth floor, with the sun going down behind the concert hall.2
Snyder ate here in August 2022 and liked the room more than the food. Scallops in gazpacho with uni and caviar, grilled romaine under manchego foam, a cocktail that arrives under a dome of smoke. The sun-dried tomato tartare and the Basque cheesecake are the two he named as worth it.2
Order this / avoid
- Order: the sun-dried tomato tartare.2
- Order: the Basque cheesecake, which Snyder called respectable.2
- Avoid: the patio at night.
The surrounding skyscrapers turn the patio into an urban wind tunnel at night and the blankets that the servers hand out don't quite cut it.
2
What locals & experts say
- The Infatuation LA, Garrett Snyder, 22 August 2022:
The food here is pleasant, but definitely says 'hotel restaurant' as much as it does 'José Andrés restaurant.'
2 Nobody with a byline has written about the kitchen since. The Infatuation is owned by JPMorgan Chase. - On the chef, and not on the room: Time put Andrés on its 100 Most Influential People in 2012 and again in 2018, President Obama gave him the National Humanities Medal in 2015, and he founded World Central Kitchen in 2010.1
Good to know
- Timing: open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.1
- Booking: worth making, and worth asking for the terrace.
- Getting there: 100 South Grand Avenue, inside the Conrad at The Grand LA. Ten minutes on foot from Union Station on the Metro side of Bunker Hill.
Verdict
could-visit — You are ten floors up with the Walt Disney Concert Hall in the window, eating Spanish cooking off Southern California produce, and that view is what Garrett Snyder rated highest when he ate here in August 2022. His verdict on the plates was cooler: pleasant, and as much hotel restaurant as José Andrés restaurant. The tomato tartare and the Basque cheesecake survived that judgment. Nothing published since has revisited the kitchen, so the rung follows his call and waits for a newer one.