Recon: XIV

Los Angeles, CA


I recently visited this delicious place called XIV on Sunset with two lovely ladies of the night. I’m just kidding.  They’re just regular lovely ladies. The décor here is fabulous, part hunting lodge, part French baroque with an industrial tinge to it.  We had a very friendly waiter who made some wise recommendations to us, and bless his soul, he’s an actor.

We ordered several items off their fabulous menu- one of them being the KOBE BURGER.  Now, as you darling readers are well aware, I have had the sliders at XIV before, but let me tell you, they don’t do the burg justice.  This burg came out looking tall, juicy and covered in toppings: farmhouse cheddar cheese, balsamic onions, shredded lettuce and roasted tomatoes with secret sauce.  The chef was nice enough to cut in half too.  I took off the pickle and jalapeno pepper (that’s what that is, right?) and a second later Dre goes, “Are you going to eat that pickle?”  No, Dre, no I’m not.  That pickle is all yours.

 Back to the KOBE… This burger was good. It hit the spot, and then it kicked the spot, and then it grabbed the spot and gave it a nookie. I shared some of it with my lady friends, but then -rest assured- I gobbled up the whole thing. You are probably wondering if I ordered fries with this burger- I did not.  I have had their ‘trio of fries’ before and they were tasty but we wanted to branch out with something new, specifically some TRUFFLE OIL MAC AND CHEESE.  Yep, you read that correctly.  After I stuffed my face with the Kobe burg, I turned to the truffle oil mac and cheese and had my fill of that.  And by had my fill, I mean our actor friend cleared the table and I kept the mac and cheese so I could eat more of it, even though I was totally full about 5 bites into the burg. Needless to say I was so stuffed with rich foods I could hardly drink anything later at Drais. 

There are several menus at XIV, and while some things are expensive, you could definitely control your cost with what you order.  They also have outside seating called the Terrace with a smaller menu that more resembles aperitivo in Italy.  Whatever your preference, go, have a burger and sample their fares.