Joe's on Abbot Kinney

Recently our friends took us out to dinner to Joe's on Abbot Kinney in Venice. I've passed this restaurant many times and have always wanted to eat there. Joe's sounds like a diner but it's not. Very upscale place, light and airy. My dear friend Conrad who recently passed away has a son who was the architect of this restaurant, so without even looking at the menu I wanted to try this place.

Our friends former boss and spouse love this place and told her about a particular waiter that they always request, Greg. Well this very nice gentleman proceeds to ask us if we've ever been to Joe's, "no", was our reply. He thought it funny that we were all locals and had never been there, my friend said "Abbot Kinney not my scene." Funny thing is he lives on AK. Loved the honesty and so did Greg. He said he could tell we were new since we were studiously reading the menu. He explained it all with confidence and warmth. My friend knew he must be Greg and indeed he was. I see why her former boss likes him. He's confident without being obnoxious, friendly without being snobby. It was already a good start.
Here comes the food. Heirloom Tomato Salad with Burrata Cheese, Pistou, Fine Herbs, Melon Marinated in Port Wine. Really I never get tired of this appetizer.

Then we all order something different. Silver Salmon with braised mustard greens, pumpkin puree, littleneck clams, white onion, water chestnuts, clam juice. New Zealand red snapper with potato scales, wild rice, crispy spinach & red wine sauce. The potatoes literally looked like fish scales. Sorry all these picture were too blurry to include, I'm sure the wine had something to do with that.
Finally one good picture the roasted sirloin of beef with mashed potatoes, crispy artichokes, brown butter balsamic vinaigrette, and red pepper juice. We all tried everything and it tasted as good as the descriptions. The fish was fresh tasting and seasoned perfectly, the steak was cook just enough to melt in your mouth like butter.

Finale was a pumpkin panna cotta with spiced ice cream, gingerbread, maple marshmallow, cranberries (everything around the panna cotta was good, but I was NOT fond of the panna cotta, it was very bland, definitely not my favorite). We also had what I call a chocolate dream, chocolate crunch cake with hazelnut praline and vanilla ice cream, candied hazelnuts I only had a taste of this but wow, it was superb.

We had a great evening again with good friends and Joe's stands as one of my favorite places on Abott Kinney.