Is it possible not to like chef Alain Giraud’s new brasserie, Anisette? It’s located in the 1920s landmark Clock Tower building in Santa Monica; it has sky-high ceilings, a long poured-zinc bar, antique mirrors, a pressed-tin ceiling, and red leather banquettes; and it doesn’t feel preciously new even though it’s only been open since June. Part of the menu reads like a French cookbook of brasserie favorites: rich onion soup gratinée, steak frites, cote de boeuf, duck l'orange, slow-roasted leg of lamb with flageolets, and a garlicky Toulouse sausage that comes curled atop an herb-flecked pole bean ragout. At lunch there are perfectly toasty croque monsieurs and madames (as well as lighter fare, such as seasonal soups and salads). But what’s hardest to ignore is the brasserie burger, a glorious riff on an all-American bacon and avocado cheeseburger that substitutes crispy bits of pancetta and postage stamp–size pieces of Brie on a soft brioche bun—it could easily feed a small family.
In Los Angeles, Giraud is probably most famous for his tenures at Citrus and Bastide. But back in the late ’90s he was the mastermind behind Lavande, a restaurant in an oceanfront hotel no more than a five-minute walk away from where Anisette stands. There, the shaggy, white-haired Giraud served up food that reminded him of his childhood in Provence, and he liked to stroll through the dining room passing out tiny, pungent sachets of dried lavender as door prizes at the end of the cozy meal. Now, as with Lavande, it feels as if Giraud has been able to figure out the intersection between his own French culinary sensibilities and the quirks of a coastal city location: the cool foggy mornings and evenings, the casually dressed wealthy clientele, and the bike-riding, skateboard-shredding street traffic. Every American city can’t have a coast, but wouldn’t if be great if they all had Anisettes?
Anisette Brasserie 225 Santa Monica Boulvard, Santa Monica, CA (310-395-3200; anisettebrasserie.com)
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