11 Apr Justice Urban Tavern

Justice Urban Tavern is the newest gastropub in Downtown Los Angeles. Located on the outside of the Double Tree Hotel in Little Tokyo, on the southeast corner of First and Los Angeles streets, Justice offers a menu of modern comfort food while looking out at the lights of the Civic Center looming above. The interior sports a bar near the entrance, plus communal seating and tables spread out through a sleek dining room with high ceilings. For those looking to get some fresh air, there’s also a large outdoor patio. Executive Chef Francis Dimitrius has created a menu that offers classic dishes with a modern twist. The menu is all about comfort food. The Little Gem Salad ($8) with sweet 100 tomatoes, radish, avocado and green goddess dressing was served deconstructed. The presentation was simple but because of the large hearts of lettuce, it was hard to get all of the ingredients together in one bite. I really liked the batter of the Parmesan and Cornmeal Dusted Fried Calamari ($9) with spicy fire roasted tomato sauce which had a good crunchy texture and flavor. Baby Kale Salad with crimini mushrooms, pork belly crouton, cherry tomato, shaved dry jack cheese and sherry vinaigrette was an ordinary salad ($10). It was light and well-dressed but there was nothing about it that stood out or that I couldn’t do at home (except maybe the pork belly crouton). Grilled Salmon with sauteed broccolini and smoked paprika butter ($16) was perfectly cooked but the smoked paprika butter was a little sweet. Hand Cut Fries with spiced ketchup Grilled Asparagus with mixed mushrooms Justice Urban Tavern 120 S. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 473-1229