roasted tomato soffrito (Courtesy of Lucques).
Lucques – in case you’ve been living in the middle of the Côte d’Azur for the last seventeen years – is arguably one of the country’s best restaurants. It’s rustic yet refined and plentiful yet consistent.
And since Angelenos only love more what they can’t have, a coveted reservation or seasonal dish offered but once a year makes Lucques L.A.’s preferred choice for high-class French-Mediterranean cuisine.
Chef and restaurateur Suzanne Goin’s hearty, vegetable-heavy, slopped-in-broth dishes leave a warm feeling in your belly. But at this restaurant, you come for the food and stay for the story.
Lucques, one of the top restaurants in West Hollywood and on Melrose Ave., takes its name from a vivid green variety of French olive and is located in silent film star Harold Lloyd’s old carriage house. Today, it’s a sleek, modern bungalow replete with a fireplace, French doors, and half-moon booths. Think: Paris disco club housed in a long-gone chalet with Gesaffelstein spinning for the night.
plums, nectarines, dandelion, pecorino ginepro, walnuts & saba (Courtesy of Lucques).
Sunday Suppers at Lucques – a weekly prix-fixe dining event tethered to the idea that menus should change with the seasons and dinners should be enjoyed with the family – became Goin’s titular cookbook “Sunday Suppers at Lucques,” a compendium of the dishes that have since made her famous.
The Lucques group has been taking the dining scene by storm since Goin opened its namesake in 1998 with her business partner Caroline Styne. The instant success funneled into their next venture, a.o.c., a small plates restaurant with a focus on fine wine and specialty cocktails. Their next milestone was Tavern in Brentwood, a three-tiered concept restaurant featuring a dining room, bar, and marketplace. Next came the Larder at Maple Drive and at Burton Way. Finally came the wholesale baking operation, Larder Baking Company.
In 2005, she and her husband Chef David Lentz opened Santa Monica’s seafood favorite the Hungry Cat; soon, another was opened in Santa Barbara.
Goin has become a veritable restaurant mogul in California who has stayed true to her Provençal tendencies, inspired by her Francophile foodie parents.
After attending Marlborough School and graduating from Brown University with honors, she worked at a number of successful restaurants and traveled to France to work with Alain Passard at his three star Arpege. Most notably, she has won or been nominated for the coveted James Beard Foundation award six times.
With her arsenal of eateries, Goin has somehow found time to give back to the community that has so widely embraced her. Passionate about healthy sustainable food for children, Goin is also a founding member of Lunch Matters, a program that serves healthy, local school lunch menus to the Larchmont Charter School. She and her business partner Styne and husband Lentz are all co-founders of L.A. Loves Alex’s Lemonade, culinary cookout benefiting Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation and the fight against childhood cancer. The three will host the 6th annual fundraiser Saturday, Sept.12 at UCLA’s Royce Quad from noon to 4 pm.
Lucques is located at 8474 Melrose Ave. in West Hollywood and open for lunch Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 2:30 pm and for dinner Monday and Tuesday from 6 to 9:30 pm, Wednesday and Thursday 6 to 10 pm, and Friday to Saturday 6 to 10:30 pm; Sunday Supper is from 5 to 9:30 pm.
