Somni

101 Best restaurants of Los Angeles

@latimes

"#19 José Andrés’ two dining rooms inside the SLS Beverly Hills aren’t conventional hotel restaurants. The Bazaar debuted a decade ago, a Spanish-inspired small-plates restaurant offering traditional delicacies (slivers of jamón ibérico) and modernist concoctions (cocktails fashioned out of cotton candy). Last year, Andrés and his team replaced Saam, the tasting-menu dining room inside the Bazaar, with Somni, led by chef Aitor Zabala. Somni is a pricey, 10-seat chef’s counter situated in a spare, dome-like space with a full view onto a well-lit exhibition kitchen. Like the Bazaar, Somni is frequently theatrical, riffing on Spanish modernist tropes and technique for a 20-course-or-more dinner punctuated by flashes of surreality (Margherita pizza constructed from tomato-flavored meringue) and seasonal flourishes (fresas con nata). Collectively, the two restaurants’ allure has to do with their innate playfulness and continually evolving menus, qualities that can be otherwise hard to find in this part of town. Both Somni and the Bazaar, (310) 246-5555, are inside SLS Beverly Hills. Full bar. Valet parking. Credit cards accepted.Read the Los Angeles Times review »"