LA Paella is a tiny restaurant located in Los Angeles, tucked away in a side street near a residential area. I’ve been coming here since 2008, enjoying the various tapas plates and of course, their paella.
Stephen’s birthday was coming up, and we commented how we haven’t been back to LA Paella in years… found out it was almost 2 years since we last ate there. I made a 7:00 reservation for a Saturday, and we were seated immediately. Unfortunately, our table was near a large family with screaming young kids. We asked the owner if we could move, and he apologetically said sure, but it would be about 20 minutes.
While we waited for our new table, we ordered a half pitcher of their signature sangria at the bar. The sangria, a drink made with red wine, fruit, a sweetener of some sort (I think they used soda), and served chilled. So refreshing!
Before we could refill our glasses, our table was ready. The owner apologized for the delay and handed us our menu. A basket of bread with a garlic aioli spread, and an olive spread was put on our table. We knew we wanted the paella, which took at least half an hour to cook and ordered the Paella Valenciana Mixta, which is meat, vegetables and seafood with a touch of red peppers and rosemary served over saffron rice.
For appetizers, we shared:
- Champiñones con Chorizo.- mushrooms with Spanish sausage
- Tortilla Española – A wedge of a traditionally Spanish potato and onion omelette, served warm or cold
- Jamón Serrano – Slices of imported salt-cured “serrano” ham from Spain
By the time we finished our appetizers, our paella came out about 15 minutes later. The pan was so colorful, and there was enough food for probably 3 or 4 people to share. I ended up taking some of my paella home.
For dessert, we shared the flan, and each had coffee. The staff surprised Stephen by singing “Happy Birthday”. While it was a nice touch, they didn’t comp us the dessert like many places do.
Overall, a great dinner. With the alcohol, appetizers and dessert ,the dinner came to just over $100 which was not bad. Thumbs up, and I look forward to returning again.
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