Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne (Lucques and A.O.C.) opened The Tavern in the old Hamburger Hamlet Space on San Vicente Blvd in Brentwood. It doesn’t resemble the old Hamlet at all. In fact it is quite glamorous.
The bar area
The larder for either sit down or take out
The dining room
Another view of the dining room
Wine from their list
Bread
Lunch is a limited menu of mostly salads, sandwiches and burgers with a couple of entrees.
We decided to split two sandwiches.
The Spaniarde – grilled mahon, lomo, romesco, quince, fried egg ($16) This was by far the better of the two. My only problem with the sandwich was that the crust was very thick and you ended up getting too much bread relative to filling. The sweet potato chips are addictive.
The Spaniarde – open-faced
The Pilgrim- turkey, cranberry, stuffing, mayonnaise ($13) – I think this sandwich needs tweaking – the turkey tasted freshly made, but the whole didn’t equal the parts. It is a clever idea to recreate Thanksgiving in a sandwich, but somehow it just didn’t “work.”
the pilgrim halved
Open-faced Pilgrim
Niman Ranch beef burger with fontina and onion rings ($17 ) The onion rings are delicious.
We asked for rare and they delivered! But, for me, there was just too much bun relative to the meat. Although,this seems to be a trend in restaurants at the moment.
Our wonderful server.
I see the Tavern as a work in progress. I haven’t eaten dinner or their bar food and this post is based on one lunch. It probably isn’t fair to make any judgements based on one meal, but I do think the kitchen staff needs to taste not just the individual ingredients, but the entire dish to experience the dish from the diner’s perspective.
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