Hungry Hollywood: Hungry Cat

Following drinks at Musso and Frank’s, we headed over to The Hungry Cat.

The Hungry Cat was fairly busy and we didn’t have reservations last Tuesday. They seated us outside which they assured us we could order anything we wanted from the menu. We started off with a buncha oysters and tons of shrimp. Luckily for me, they moved us indoors to the bar before the feasting began.

I started off with the Famous Door cocktail. For many years I’ve heard how great the cocktails are and most people claim these to be their favorite cocktails in the city.

Famous Door- Buffalo Trace, Porter ale reduction, lemon juice and coca-cola. Amazingly light cocktail.

I started eyeballin’ the list again. I was considering the 4 on the Floor.

4 on the Floor- Pig’s nose scotch, Buffalo Trace, Carpano Antica vermouth, Maraska maraschino. I stole someone’s cocktail and it was pretty damn good.

I’m not a big fan of sea urchin. It always taste like the scrapings of the underside of a pier to me. It doesn’t matter how fresh it is, I just don’t like it. The urchin last Tuesday wasn’t as bad as I’ve had it before. Maybe not the scrapings of the underside of the pier but definitely bordering on a stink and not something I enjoy unlike most sea creatures I consume in incredible quantities. Hey, I can’t like everything.

I’m going to admit something I don’t normally admit, I was pretty buzzed at this point. You may recall that I had two cocktails at Musso & Franks, a glass of wine and one cocktail so far (I didn’t steal the 4 on Floor until later) but the bartenders, Jeremy and Bob, were really taking care of us that night. Not pictured are all the little shots I had in between.

The salad? Loved it.

Once I spotted the soft shell crab, I knew I wanted it. We got two orders for the table. Oh man was it good. There was pork belly, crunchy fruit bits and that beautiful crab all working together to dance on the Minty’s tongue.

I also thought we should get the halibut. I had a bite. Then I turned around and it was nearly all gone. I’d say it was pleasing to everyone else as well!

Dessert mysteriously appeared and we dove right into the creme brulee. I had coffee at this point. Of course, it may have had a bit of Jameson in it…

I’ve never heard one bad word about Hungry Cat and now I know why. It’ s just fantastic. I can’t wait to go back and I’d like to try it for happy hour which I saw was from noon to 6 p.m. weekdays. Noon? Oh my!

 

The Hungry Cat

1535 Vine Street
Los Angeles, CA 90028-7304
(323) 462-2155