#4 - Little Dom's Oyster Po Boy

“Hellooo….we’re rich!” Adam exclaimed as the platter of oysters appeared in the center of our table at Little Dom’s restaurant. No we’re not actually rich…but there is nothing wrong with acting like it.

Let me bring you up to speed. Previously on 99pLAtes, my new roommates Peter and Jessie joined me for pLAte #3 at Comme Ca. Well, I thought it only fitting that for my next dish, I’d have a meal with my old roommates – Adam and Meredith.

Adam and I met circa 2002 on the heights of Boston College. He was intrigued by my Survivor: Newton Campus television show I co-produced (for fun) and I was obsessed with raiding his collection of Napster music (he had the SNL theme song!). Fast forward four years and we’re roommates together in LA, living in the luxurious La Vista Terrace.

Meredith and I met a few years later while working together at the highly regarded website TMZ.com. Let me tell ya about what it’s like to work for TMZ. First of all….what’s that? Lawyers? On the phone….right now? Confidentiality agreement….right…

Ahem – pardon the interruption, back to our regularly scheduled blogging. At any given point in the last four years, some combination of Meredith, Adam or me lived in Apartment 213. At one point, all three of us lived there…at the same time…which was – ridiculous. There wasn’t enough room on the DVR, let alone in the apartment.

Now that you know the players…let’s talk about the place. Little Dom’s, located in the heart of Los Feliz village is the preeminent first date place in my opinion. You want a no-pressure, better-than-average food and cozy atmosphere spot – go to Little Dom’s.

I should note that so far on the blog, I’ve only been to places in neighborhoods I know…pretty soon we’re gonna have to go rogue people. Koreatown? Compton? Any takers?

Back in Los Feliz, where the level of hipster-ness is tolerable (unlike Silver Lake – sorry Peter), Adam, Meredith and I met for our mini-reunion. After a quick drink over at Big Bar, the new cozy watering hole next to Alcove (go with the LA Cocktail – it has egg in it and its delicious), we settled in for our main meal at Little Dom’s.

 

Our waiter, who may or may not have been a stunt double for Zach Galifinakis, showed us to our table and listed off the specials. The fun thing about this blog is before I even walk in the door, I know what I am going to eat – no pressure, no decisions, “no…t on the menu???” I exclaimed. What I was searching for was the Oyster Po’Boy…which is the same as the Fried Oyster Sandwich Mr. Galifinakis pointed out

Just for fun we ordered a platter of oysters to start things off, because (as mentioned earlier) “Hello…we’re rich!”. While sipping on white wine, the three of us reminisced on our time together in 213 (“I slept on an air mattress…for five months!” Adam exclaimed) and the neurosis’s of our new respective roommates (love you guys…mean it!). When the oysters arrived we each slurped two down, but noted they tasted fishier than we were expecting…will this spell disaster for the impending pLAte? Will this be the first blog entry where I cannot endorse the food?? Will Batman survive from the laughing gas and catch The Riddler???

Alas, the Oyster Po’ Boy did turn out to be a little fishier and greasier than my liking. Served on top of slightly over-toasted focaccia bread, the oysters suffered from over-breading and just a general fishy taste similar to the problem we ran into earlier. Little Dom’s rounds out the po’ boy with greens, an Italian meat called ‘speck’ and a spicy mayonnaise (called remoulade for all you food snobs). Naturally, I polished off the entire pLAte (the FFK in me cannot let food go wasted) but I ended up feeling less totally-worth-the-food-coma full and more I-need-to-go-for-a-run-tomorrow full. 

The traditional dishes on the table, Adam’s hangar steak and Meredith’s ricotta ravioli, seemed to go over a bit better. Although with the avalanche of mixed greens on Adam’s plate (and one bottle of Chardonnay down) it was hard to find the steak at all. 

Complaints about the pLAte aside, I still stand by Little Dom’s as a go-to dinner spot you can always keep tucked away in your back pocket. Besides…it’s not every day you see a celebrity waiting tables…

…and on a bus stop right outside the restaurant. 

Little Dom’s

2128 Hillhurst Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90027

(323) 661-0055