Best Contemporary French Restaurants in Echo Park

For full disclosure, we were already huge fans of their Tsubaki. With Camelia, Chef Charles Namba and the superb Courtney Kaplan have created a remarkable dining experience. The menu offers choices for everyone at the table. By offering small plates or larger communal options, Camelia allows you to enjoy an exciting and delicious dinner. My husband and I happily cruised through just a small part of the menu. Starting with Chef Charles' version of Uni toast and his spin on Dungeness crab on purple yam blini, we were primed for the elevated Chicken liver mousse toast that followed. These small bites each built flavors and tastes. Our meal was further enhanced with Courtney's perfect choice of sake. Her deep knowledge and instinct for what a guest will enjoy is unique. If there is any such thing as a "Sake Sommeiler," Courtney would be the grand master. We moved to larger plates with Scallops, dashi lime cream, maitake & king trumpet mushrooms, Tokyo negi, and chestnut date purée, a series of complex tastes. And the Abalone and Florida wild pink shrimp pot pie!!! A perfect sized bowl of magic! We finished up with the Koshihikari risotto, grilled Monterey Bay squid was a perfect ending, creamy with and rich with deep flavors. The grilled squid were lightly spiced, crisp, soft and with a bit of chew all at the same time. GM Kristen Dumandan leads a warm and welcoming staff. Everyone was knowledgeable and helpful guides through the menu. Happily, dinner was perfectly paced, without more plates arriving to distract from what we were enjoying or getting cold. We didn't leave room for dessert. But we're coming back because there is so much more we want to enjoy.

We sat at the Chef's Bar. It was cozy and so interesting watching the chef's cook. Jake was our server. He was outstanding. It was our first time at the restaurant, and he guided us beautifully through the menu, including by telling us HIS favorite dishes, which we always appreciate. Service was amazing; we never felt rushed, and our meal was timed perfectly. The food -- gosh, just next level. Even the classics were elevated by care of preparation, extra layers of taste, and beauty of presentation. At some places, these strengths come with a trade-off in smaller portions -- not here; the servings are generous. We started by sharing the beet salad and the onion soup gratin, then the mussels and fries for me and the Big Mec and fries for her; we finished with the triple-chocolate soufflé (chocolate soufflé, chocolate sauce, snd chocolate sorbet). The fries are cooked in clarified butter rather than oil, which makes for a cleaner potato taste. All the food was outstanding. The prices were fair in relation to value. Oh, and an excellent sidecar cocktail to start. And the baguette with a quality of butter that you can't get at the supermarket. Amazing place, wish we'd discovered it sooner, and will now return frequently. Amazing meal and fun evening!!!

The food is nothing short of outstanding, Shawn (sp??), our server, was super friendly and helpful, my wife and i have been to restaurants all over N Am and i said to her The Little Door had the best ambiance of any restaurant i have ever been in

This was our first time to see a performance of the LA OPERA. I wanted to have dinner before the performance and felt that something at the Music Center itself would be best because of the traffic. Good call. Viewing the menu in advance of our evening, it seemed good but frankly, I had only moderate expectations. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! We started dinner out with a shared Caesar Salad which was excellent and the bread was fantastic. For dinner, my wife had the Steak Frites and I had the Brick1/2 Chicken. They were both superb. Our server was extremely polite and attentive. The noise level was low. You can talk and actually hear what the other person is saying. This is going to be our new go-to restaurant prior to attending performances.

The escargot, the beef bourguignon , and the duck leg confit were all excellent. The frisée salad is also delicious and has a fantastic dressing. The lavender earl grey tea is really fantastic.