Is there an uptick in the number of French restaurants in Los
Angeles? I certainly hope so. French food = comfort food. At least in
the case of Le Saint Amour in Culver City. I haven’t kept track, and I
don’t really know actual figures but it seems to me that there are more
and more French restaurants opening in Los Angeles. And that’s a good
thing. We’ve been so Italian for so long that I’m ready for the return
of France. The best recent example of this was my weekend visit to the
very French Le Saint Amour, a Culver City restaurant that has been open
for a year and a half.
But before I go there, a bit more on French restaurants in Los Angeles, (San Francisco and New York too). I just checked on Open Table and seventy-four French restaurants came up in a search for Los Angeles and Orange counties. A quick cursory glance and I’d remove a number of them because they’re not truly French. A secondary search of West Hollywood/Beverly Hills/Mid-Wilshire and the Westside gave me thirty-five results. For those same neighborhoods seventy-three results pop up for Italian.
Not scientific in the least. The reason I say there seem to be more French places: Le Saint Amour, Petrossian, Fraîche Culver City (French chef Benjamin Bailly), RESTAURANT at the Sunset Marquis (French chef Guillaume Burlion), Church & State, Comme Ça, Bistro LQ (French chef Laurent Quenioux), RH at the Andaz (French chef Pierre Gomes), to name a few and not naming the many that have French influenced menus, or American chefs that lean towards cooking French food.
We
had planned to spend New Year's Eve with friends and family but the flu
and changes in schedules left us on our own. The New Year deserves to
be celebrated, so we organized a dinner the first week of January at Il
Fornaio in Santa Monica.
We couldn’t even get into the parking lot at Saks, it was 5 of 11 and the 70% discount ended at noon and neither of us had even had a cup of coffee.... (I sometimes think my daughters and I should wear signs around our necks that say “Please feed before attempting to interact with us.”) 
Living in Southern California, we enjoy rich ethnic diversity. Those of
us who explore culture through cuisine are very happy about that.
Located in West Los Angeles, Yabu, which has a devoted following and is a
good example of a neighborhood Japanese restaurant. Because Yabu has a
much larger, sister restaurant in West Hollywood, when you call to make a
reservation, you will be asked to confirm that you want to eat at the
Pico restaurant.
Chef Ricardo Zarate has proven once and again his blossoming creativity
of modern cuisine, all while never losing sight of his roots. I had the
pleasure of meeting Chef Zarate back in April while dinning at his
original restaurant, Mo-Chica in south Los Angeles. I was with my
parents, and we had the distinct opportunity to enjoy his company while
discussing our beloved Peru. As my parents and I left the restaurant for
the evening, my dad commented that Chef Zarate was so humble
considering his accomplishments, and my mom said he had very kind eyes.
At that time, his newest restaurant Picca was still under construction.
Fast forward a few months, and we have the newest, hippest, most
delicious place to dine in LA: Picca Peruvian Cantina!