So many blog posts on this joint already. Every single one is positive? Internet kiddies somehow dropped all pretense of standards when it came to Barbrix. Room too dark? Romantic! 50% misses? Will come back! $150 bill for 2 in Silver Lake? Affordable!

No, no, no, and here we go with the chop chop:

Fried sweet bread. Hipsters are being charged $7 for 2 ounces of what essentially are offals. Offals, ya know, guts, without the glory. Sweetbreads to cow is gizzards to chicken. It’s only a delicacy because ze French said so. Cemented in garlic batter, this version of sweetbread is completely useless. Harissa aioli? Chic, complex, but lacked spiciness. Wimpified and pointless; give me Sriracha.

Wild boar Sausage. Do not know if house-stuffed. But it doesn’t matter. 1 sausage. $6. FMW(allet). Boar is a game, it ain’t Kurobuta wild boar. It’s just lead shot killed meat trucked in from the Midwest. This particular version lacked the B.O. funk of typical wild boar. I’d like to think these sausages were wearing sexy domestic hog perfume.

Monkfish + chorizo + chickpea. Exactly what the menu listed. Boring, inconsequential. $11 dollars for tough fish, tho to Barbrix’s credit, monkfish is rubbery by nature.

Lamb chops. Good, cooked medium. Easy on the palate. Mostly tender. Not over spiced, not over coupled with ingredients. 2 tiny ribs, beyond expensive. For $19.50, I can have over half a pound of full sized lamb chops at Le Petit Bistro on La Cienega, have some cool French speaking waiters/waitresses and be done with the meal, without chickpeas, without chorizos.

Sicilian meatballs with pecorino cheese. Great combination of cheese & baby flesh. Distinct with citrus and bay leaves. My fave of the night and relatively reasonable at $6.

Browsing what the local residents are writing, it is easy to understand the appreciativeness for this Silver Lake bistro . Unfortunately, I don’t live in Silver Lake. LA is my restaurant and the i10 is the culinary super highway. Will have to pan Barbrix for the same reason I dropped The Other Door. There is better grub, at the same expenditure level, elsewhere in LA, nearly equal distance from my house: Cube, Tasca, Craftbar, and dare I say Tavern’s bar menu?

Barbrix
Barbrix on Urbanspoon

New-ish blog thought from Rate a Restaurant

Horny for food drops $150 for small plates in Silver Lake + 1 bottle for 2.

LA Times has rich writers.

Food, She Thought had a great time, but then again, she had wine.

Delicious Coma missed dessert, definitely wants to come back as well.

FoodGPS says portions are “generous”. Uhhh… but my tiny lamb ribs looked like they came from downer sheep?


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  • http://la-oc-foodie.blogspot.com H.C.

    yea – I get the feeling this the kind of place where a lot of small plates at “small” prices can really rack up (even w/o drinking wine, which one feels almost obligated to do here); funny enough, the dessert list doesn’t wow me…

    but oh well, have yet to try but will swing by one of these days.

    H.C.´s last blog post..Friday Quickies #62: Tacos, Beer, Crabs and… David Hasselhoff?

  • http://infinitefress.blogspot.com/ Steve

    Gjelina East’s menu, as it appears online, is idiotic. There’s not a single item that sounds interesting, and the cheese list is located near the top of the menu, not in its proper location just before desserts. I grant this is minor, but it just indicates to me that these people are stupid. Then you throw in the demographic disaster that is Silver Lake hipsterdom, and the evening is a guaranteed nightmare. I’m glad this place exists, if only to keep Silver Lake folk on the “East Side.”

    Steve´s last blog post..Beverly Soon Tofu

  • http://www.weezermonkey.com WeezerMonkey

    Who’s the best angry food blogger? You are!

    WeezerMonkey´s last blog post..The Age of Aquarius

  • http://dianatakesabite.blogspot.com/ Diana

    Nice “chop chop.” I especially enjoy the image of the wild boars wearing perfume. Mmmm chic sausage… exactly what girls from the Newps want between their buns.

    Diana´s last blog post..Ludobites: What the heck did we eat?

  • http://gastronomyblog.com/ Gastronomer

    Guts without the glory. Will site you the next time I use it.

    Gastronomer´s last blog post..Berry and Meringue Layer Cake

  • http://gastronomyblog.com/ Gastronomer

    *cite ;-)

    Gastronomer´s last blog post..Berry and Meringue Layer Cake

  • craig

    i am right there with you, we went and spent about 120$ pretty much had the same experience, the sweetbreads are a nice idea but since they come in such small pieces its like you are eating breading as opposed to sweetbreads, the rest of the stuff was just eh, what i dont understand is how many places it seems have the same menus in this city. i feel like everywhere i go i run into the same menu at these types of places. anyways yeah totally right there with you, i think that basically any place that opens in silverlake is going to have the hipster following and will get amazing reviews beause the people eating the food dont actually “eat” food, they go to say they have gone even if they dont actually taste.

  • http://youhavebeenheresometime.blogspot.com/ youhavebeenheresometime

    wow! i had a totally different experience than you. we split a bottle of yumm croatian wine, had about 7 small plates, dessert, for 88 dollars. left totally full! great service, friendly, and fun vibe.

    maybe if i spent 150 dollars i would have felt shortchanged, but for 88 dollars, i thought it was great.

    youhavebeenheresometime´s last blog post..

  • iHateHippies

    No one seems to have mentioned how bloody noisy the place gets when it’s not empty. My wife and I were sitting at a small table and had to lean close to one another and quite literally shout to be heard. This is in addition to the food being uniformly unremarkable (except for the extremely effective miniaturizing process it goes through in the kitchen) while being remarkably overpriced.

  • http://moonlightingfooditor.blogspot.com becky olmeda

    Thanks for the heads up. I had been putting off a visit to Barbrix because I felt like it was hyped up so much. I wanted to wait until they really got into a groove of consistently delivering not good food but great food. I may wait a little longer now.

    becky olmeda´s last blog post..Heaven’s Kitchen at Gordon Ramsay

  • http://la.metblogs.com/author/queequeg queequeg

    Ditto to Becky’s comment – also was thinking about hitting up Barbrix the next time I’m up in Silver Lake, but I think I’ll keep putting it off. And yes on the bar menu at Tavern (and Lucques, for that matter).

    queequeg´s last blog post..Last-Minute Notice for VNV Nation Record Release Tonight

  • http://www.foodshethought.blogspot.com foodshethought

    Sinosoul, sinosoul, sinosoul. No one can say you are easy to please, but I always trust your discerning opinion. And FYI: I always have wine. I am whining right now.

    foodshethought´s last blog post..This is No Time for a Parade

  • Chaz

    I had a bad experience at Barbrix also. The food was forgettable, badly proportioned and over priced. What a drag!

  • Truth

    I have to agree and disagree with you. I live and eat mostly on the east side because of my schedule. Barbrix is still a good addition to the neighborhood despite it’s flaws. The sweetbreads were not my favorite preparation, I think they were trying to make them not sweetbready for fear people wouldn’t like them, but I love sweetbreads and was sorely disappointed. The sausage I loved, it was served to me with an apple relish on the side that really completed the dish. The monkfish I had was perfectly cooked a little tough but in a pleasant monkfishy way and the sauce was great, clean and simple. The deviled eggs were great as were the cheeses, salads etc. Dinner for two including drinks was $100. Not cheap but not outrageous and our server was attentive and knowledgable. I’ll be back more for just snacks and wine, not really another full dinner for a while.


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