Church and State

No, it's not a separation thing, this is the name of a restaurant in a warehouse-y district of downtown LA. I went there for lunch this week and was thoroughly impressed. The space is big, open, brick on one side, glass on the other looking towards a side street with a pub and market on the other side. The bar is on one end and open kitchen on the other. The restaurant serves french bistro style food. Our waiter was friendly and apparently eats where he works a lot! The mini baguettes and butter brought to the table were as good as bread and better can get. We were slathering it on. I had the tarte flambee, which is a thin almost crackery crust with melted gruyere, caramelized onions and bacon. I don't know what it is that they do to alchemize these simple ingredients, but OMG! Crunchy, melting cheesy, sweet oniony, salty bacony goodness. We had a cherry tart for dessert, also delicious. The menu appears to be more extensive for dinner. They also have what appears to be an interesting drinks menu at the bar. I would definitely come here again.