Rustic Canyon Wine Kitchen - Santa Monica Los Angeles

Rustic Canyon Wine Bar & Seasonal Kitchen started more than ten years ago, when Josh Loeb held dinner series at his family’s tree house nestled in Rustic Canyon. A decade later, he is now married to his pastry chef Zoe Nathan, and still serves market-driven dishes with an extensive wine list. The chef is Jeremy Fox, a Manresa alum, famous for gaining the first ever Michelin Star for a vegetarian restaurant (called Ubuntu in Napa, now closed). And the food is brilliant: clam pozole verde (a bowl of clams, hominy, poblano, scallion, radish and tortilla), whole roasted branzino (with shaved fennel), beets and berries (served with JJ’s Lone Daughter avocados, Rancho Gordo quinoa and pistachios)… You’ll have to discover the rest by yourself, as the menu changes daily — and go with a large group in order to sample as many dishes as possible. Pair it all with small-production boutique wines from all over the world: the rotating 30+ wines by the glass and 500+ bottles should be enough for you to pick your poison.