Friday night I met Stacey in LA. What a fun reunion that was. I saw her late last year but it was fun to see her in my territory. She introduced me as a local, but I didn't squint, I'll be here for a bit I think though anyone who knows me even a little knows LA isn't anywhere I'd like to claim. That said, it's been about 6 years of wishing and hoping something fun was down there. Sure, I like the Getty and am already getting some friends ready for my "please let's go to a Dodgers game...it's summer" comments, but other than that, it's this big name city which I know to be as the 405, 10, and 101. Traffic, no thanks. I knew we'd be down there for the night and that there had got to be some fun restaurant I'd want to check out. Thanks to Les I heard about AOC. When she told me it had a relation to Hungry Cat through Suzanne Goin, I was in. When I read the menu and saw the first thing listed on the dessert menu was sticky toffee pudding, I was there. Stacey and I got the direction and headed out. I don't know the ins and outs of LA, but when we parked near "audi, audi, jaguar, jaguar, audi" I figured we were safe. In we walk and there we sit at the cheese bar. We looked at the little menus and asked that we get a full menu. Well, thankfully this cued are waitress to tell us a bit about the small plates, the coursing of the meal, and how you get a number of things to share. We started off with bacon wrapped dates and later had a lengthy discussion about re-creating these at home. Next was some cheese- a Spanish with a little olive oil and a blue. Yum. We then shared a market lettuce salad with lentils and lemons sliced so thin, it was delicious and light. I had a scallop dish with fresh peas. Wow- if you haven't had fresh peas, what a difference. That dish was excellent. I tried a bite of Stacey's beef with Stilton butter and it was incredible as well. We had some asparagus and then of course, had to try the sticky toffee pudding. If I'm honest I'll say it wasn't as moist as I would have liked, or maybe as moist as the one I make, if I'm honest, but it was wonderful none the less. It was an excellent meal, one I'm still thinking about in fact. It was wonderful how small the portions were and how they are coursed out so you really get to focus on each dish, and you don't end up eating too quickly. Enjoy your company and the food, done and done.