Canele in Atwater Village... the verdict is in...

Canele: 2.5/5 Stars

I love a great neighborhood restaurant. And I definitely love supporting them. Since I live in the Atwater area, I've gone to Canele (Mediterranean Cuisine) four times now over the past several months. While there are great things about it, I still have some reservations on the consistency of the food.

Let's start though, with the good here. I love the space and concept. The idea of a restaurant catering to the community with a (guess what?) communal table and a no reservation policy really does jive with me. I don't want to go to the restaurant down the street and not be able to get a table because some Westside snob decided to throw their name around to facilitate a last minute res for herself and 20 of her closest friends. Ok, I know I'm exaggerating, but, hey... At Canele, everyone's equal. If there isn't a table, you can make one of two choices: a) wait like a normal person, or b) choose to leave and go somewhere else. Pretty simple and democratic. No problem.

In terms of the food, I have to give them credit for doing fish well. Both times I've had fish here (trout once, branzino another time), it's been served whole (head and all) and been lightly but deftfully seasoned and wonderful. Maybe it's the Japanese in me, but I'm definitely not one to be squeamish about fish staring me in the face, and in fact, I am the one who loves to poke at the cheek meat. I almost yelled to the couple sitting next to us at the communal table earlier, "no, give it to me!!!" when they sent back the beautiful branzino to be decapitated to better serve their morals or well, I guess, tastes. I say kudos to the Mediterranean restaurant that actually, gasp, serves fish like they do, gasp, in the Mediterranean.

I also love that despite the small scope of the menu (6-7 appetizers, and 8-10 entrees with daily specials), that the chef here does try some interesting ideas. One of the dishes that I've tried that fits this bill is a dish that was served last winter. It was lamb chops with a grapefruit sauce served with Israeli couscous. I honestly would never have though to pair lamb with grapefruit, but this was a decent dish if only for the novelty factor. I guess my problem was that once you got over the combination, it was boring after the third bite, and the couscous was totally lackluster. I'm imagining that the Israeli couscous was trying to emulate the texture of the individual juice sacs of the grapefruit.

The flan here, voted as LA's best by LA Magazine, does stand up. It's a sinful delicious, oozy blob of YUM. Save space for it. If you don't, just share one with the table. It's really THAT good. Oh yeah, not to make it and afterthought, but the other desserts I've tried, like the cheesecake, are good as well.

The nicest touch, and one that definitely screams "neighborhood restaurant" is the fact that you get a fresh two bite canele on your way out. What's a canele, you ask? It's a baked custard similar in taste to a flan or creme caramel, but much denser and chewier. Can't get the idea? Refer to the picture to your left. Mmmmmm... if their flan wasn't as good as it is, I would skip dessert altogether just 'cause of this.

Ok, onto the things I didn't like. As much as Canele does a great job with fish, I'm not a big fan of the way most other animals are prepared. I ordered the summer iteration of their rack of lamb today (herbed rack of lamb with eggplant and tomato ragout) and got a tepid and rubbery trio of chops instead. The flavors were ok... I mean, how do you screw up some good lamb with a mixed herb pesto, really? But the texture just said that they didn't care. Tepid and chewy (not a good thing here like with the canele) is not medium-rare in my book. We all know that most of the food that we eat in a restaurant is pre-prepped to some degree, but this felt like they just weren't trying with this one.

Pork chop... again, boring. It was definitely well brined, but it seems that whoever was at the oven reheating this chop... (no sear whatsoever here), forgot to reseason it. Bland and boring. Somewhat overcooked (aren't we glad it was brined?) No sauce to boot. Eh...

Look, I live in this neighborhood, and I love to support a good neighborhood restaurant. But if I'm in the mood for good Mediterranean food, give me that, ok? And while I'm willing to overlook quite a bit in terms of perfection, give me what I pay for. See, the big issue here is that for the dishes that aren't great, the price tag really seems high. Higher than usual high. The Cuban place down the street, with its rustic home cooking, I believe is a much better bang for your buck. Sure, you won't get fancy pretty food there, but the prices make you feel that it was worth more that it is.

Bottom line. If you go to Canele, which you should, order a fish dish (and PLEASE don't let me catch you getting it guillotined), and get the flan with a cup of coffee to wash it down with. If you do that, you'll be happy since the fish dishes tend to be less pricey than the pork, lamb, beef, or other land meat. You'll get more, it'll taste better, and you'll want to go back. And do sit at the communal table. Serious dates aside, what's better than eating good food in a neighborhood restaurant than being able to meet your neighbors while doing it? This is Canele at its best. You should go for it.

Happy Eating!