18 Jan dineLA Is Here! January 19 – February 1

It’s time for dineLA when for two weeks (January 19 through February 1) restaurants offer specially priced prix-fixe lunch menus for $15-$25 and dinner menus for $30-$50. These are the perfect days to try new restaurants or visit old ones while maintaining a bit of control on the wallet…..and losing a little control of the waistline. After all, when some of the best chefs in LA are offering affordable dining opportunities, how can you say no?!?! One of the many participating restaurants is Acabar in Hollywood and we got a preview of their dineLA menu. The dineLA menu price is $40, a great value for Chef Octavio Becerra’s food and includes three courses, with three options to choose from within each course. First Course: Shades of Winter Salad with parsnip + cashew purée, cauliflower couscous, radish and goat cheese Kanpachi Crudo – amber jack fish, shaved pears, olive dust, plum vinaigrette and salmon roe Beef Carpaccio with bone marrow vinaigrette, crispy pulled beef, arancini and horseradish SECOND Sweet Potato Gnocchi with hen of the woods mushroom, red cow parmesan and brown butter Seared Scallops with celery root, roasted chestnuts, bok choy and red mustard Braised Short Rib with smoked oyster cream, roasted sunchoke and spigarello DESSERT Coconut Coulant – coconut custard, mango compote, coconut powder and coconut foam Sweet Potato Pie – financier cake, sweet potato sorbet, mascarpone and sugar tuille Gimmie S’more – chocolate crèmeux, candied cocoa, graham cracker and marshmallow ice cream With great options for each course, I say go with friends so that you can order everything. Hundreds of restaurants from the San Fernando Valley to the South Bay are offering prix-fixe meals for lunch and/or dinner, and a few are even featuring exclusive plates prepared just for the occasion. For a full rundown of participating restaurants and their menus, visits dineLA’s website. Reservations can be made by calling the restaurant or online on OpenTable. If you haven’t already, start planning your dineLa visits now!