My sister got married last weekend, and her new parents-in-law threw the happy a couple a rehearsal dinner at Angel City Cafe, a favorite of the whole family. It was great! Not only was this a place that the family loved, but the food and service was wonderful and it certainly left me wanting to go back.
We tried the Caesar salad ($7) and the Mixed Green salad ($6.50), which comes with candied pecans, goat cheese and a citrusy vinaigrette. I’m not big into Ceasars, so I can’t really comment, but I really enjoyed the mixed green salad. The goat cheese was perfect to enliven every few bites and I ate more than my fair share. I’d order it again.
We also shared the ahi tuna taquitos ($8) and the shrimp scampi ($8). I’ll confess I thought the former were chicken. They came in a lobster butter sauce and were served with guacamole, so the flavor of the tuna was well masked. They were very tasty, however. The guacamole, in particular, was very fresh and vibrant. I don’t eat shrimp, but loved the fries on the scampi sauce. Shrimp eaters loved it too.
I had the tri-tip ($13) as my entree, which came with fries and BBQ sauce. The beef was great, nicely seasoned, and thankfully in no need of the sauce. The sauce was interesting at first, but it was bursting with cumin and as much as I like cumin, this was just too much. Fries were good.
Mike had the salmon ($16) and he thought it was good, but not extraordinary. And really, that’s what he usually thinks when he orders salmon, so he should know better. The people who ordered the potato crusted sea bass ($15) – and there were four of those at our table – were much happier. Nobody gave me a bite, but they were ooing so I’m betting it was good. I also got to finish the pasta alfredo ($12.50) two of my daughters ordered. The sauce was a bit too creamy and I felt it needed just a tad more Parmesan. But it came to the table steaming hot and, really, was bloody good. The portion seemed very generous as well.
They had ran out of most desserts by the time our table offered, but we got to try the tiramisu, creme crule and white chocolate bread pudding (all $6). The tiramisu was good, but nothing too extraordinary. The creme brulee was a very good version of this dessert. It was a good size portion and very nice. But it was the bread pudding which blew everyone’s mind. It consisted of two full slices of bread cooked with a white chocolate sauce and served with blueberries. OMFG, it was so good. I’m still dreaming about it. Whoever conceived that recipe is a genius. You must order it if you visit.
Angel City Cafe apparently does not have a liquor license, but you can bring your own and there is no corkage fee. There is a Trader Joe’s across the street.
Service was great, but I was with a large party. The restaurant itself looked charming. They have a semi-open kitchen and you can see big blasts of fire going from time to time, which definitely amused the kids.
A great find, and I look forward to going again and having more bread pudding!
Angel City Cafe
21136 Ventura Blvd
Woodland Hills, CA
(818) 713-9500
http://www.angelcitycafe.com/