The chef-owners Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo created Son of a
Gun after the massive success that Animal was. As a complete anti-thesis to the
meat-based food at Animal, Son of a Gun does seafood. The room alone is already
different from most places in the world. Its got a delightfully
kitschy selection of fishing memorabilia, a long communal table and some very
trendy music. If you don't like such places, it's probably best to stay away,
but if not, you will be in for something quite special.
One thing that bears testimony to the restaurant's success
is the large queue that forms already before the dinner service begins. Once
you get a table, you immediately understand that this is a very different place
than you might expect to find in the States. In contrast to the very cool, and
edgy room, the food here is not only very serious, but also very interesting
from an intellectual point of view.
In contrast to the very cool, and edgy room, the food here is very serious
One of the more daring dishes is a cured hamachi that is
served with peaches and citrus fruits. This dish is so well balanced that your
palate doesn't quite know if there is more sweetness or more a savoury element
that dominates here. The quality of the fish is undoubtedly of admirable
standards, and the tension in the dish, just like that of a great wine, makes
it a superb start to a meal.
Heartier, and even more delicious is Son of a Gun's lobster
roll. A little brioche bun is liberally filled with perfectly cooked and
intensely flavoured lobster that makes this a sinful little thing. It is the
essence of what a good lobster roll should be, and one of the better versions
of this dish one can find on the West Coast. In a similar style, a prawn toast
is just as gloriously decadent and rich. The dish is certainly one of the more
memorable one can eat in LA, as it is so distinct. The juicy, sweet prawns are
sandwiched between two toasted slices of bread, which are filled with a number
of goodies. Both of these should absolutely be ordered at Son of a Gun as they
are quite simply divine.
Often ‘simpler' restaurants are very good when it comes to the savoury parts of a meal, but cannot keep the level constant in the sweet section. Not here, as the desserts are just as sublime as the rest of a meal is. One of the most delicious is an interpretation of a lemon tart. You have a citrus ice cream, some meringue and a crumble that bring you all the elements of a classic lemon tart in a slightly different form. What is striking here is on the one hand the balance of the flavours again, and the technical precision with which the two dudes in the kitchen cook.
Son of a Gun is great fun. It is a restaurant where you can have a genuinely good time, whilst eating some of the better food to be found in LA. Its unique approach to what a restaurant experience should be, makes it one of the most interesting restaurants on the West Coast.
