Blvd. 16 at the Hotel Palomar in Westwood

This dimly lit, casual hotel eatery prides itself on fashioning dishes from sustainable ingredients obtained from fisheries, ranches and farms that follow eco-sensitive guidelines. The fare often veers in a ‘comfort’ arena accenting some California and American cuisine with Mediterranean touches. At Blvd. 16 you can expect to find everything from pot roast to halibut ceviche. They also have a regular lounge menu.

My first visit to the Hotel Palomar was for an industry drinks mixer. It’s always nice to have an excuse to stop by a Wilshire Blvd. establishment since so often that street is a drive-by or zoom-by. The restaurant, lounge and lobby setting--though a bit gray-scaled and ‘80s for my tastes--is dimly lit making it a good first date spot.

It’s rich on menu choices--including a weekend brunch buffet, and a lounge menu, in addition to the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner options. Cocktailers will find the Lounge menu plenty filling as it includes comfort dishes like 'Mac and Chevre' (a more inventive alternative to the usual American cheese), Caesar salad and all natural beef sliders.

Therein lies the hitch for me. So much of the food is so heavy. I guess I’ve gotten so used to the usual light LA fare, that I literally no longer have the stomach for dishes like blue cheese cauliflower soup, and ribeye cap with cippolini onion puree, Yukon Gold potato and mushrooms and garlic chips. Surely, with an inevitable overflow of out-of-town guests from the hotel, Blvd. 16 has no problem piquing palettes that haven’t grown accustomed to dietary restraints. If you’re big on big food, this is your place.

The plus with Blvd. 16, is that it’s not your usual Americana comfort cuisine spot in that its chef [Richard Hodge, as of 2012] takes extra pride in making sure the ingredients are farm-fresh and sustainable. It is indeed refreshing to sample tomatoes, Fava beans, beets and carrots, for example, that taste like they’re supposed to.

There are some nice subtle touches in dishes like the halibut ceviche with Fuerte avocado, orange miso sauce, radish, Fresno chilies and potato chips. And the Fanny Bay oysters are pretty tasty too. But generally speaking, I found that subtlety wasn’t really the point of Blvd. 16. If you’re a purveyor of pizza, you’ll probably enjoy the flatbread selection including a particularly nice one with mushroom and goat cheese mousse, caramelized onions and duck confit.

Desserts can be another excursion into decadent dining with options like chocolate terrine with layers of chocolate and hazelnuts, rosemary tangerines and goat cheese ice cream, strawberry and white chocolate bread pudding with strawberry and black peppercorn sauce, and classic vanilla bean creme brulee--already quite rich but accented with shortbread cookies and candied orange.

Blvd. 16 at the Hotel Palomar

10740 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024

310-474-7765

Hours:
Breakfast: Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m.-10:30 a.m., Sat.-Sun., 8 a.m.-10 a.m., Sun.; brunch buffet: Sat.-Sun., 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; lounge menu: Mon.-Sun., 4 p.m.-10:30 p.m.; dinner: Mon.-Sun., 5:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.