LAReview
photo credit: Stan Lee
71Above
Included In
When you decide what to eat at night, you consider the obvious: What kind of food do you want? That’s important. But what’s more important to your decision is the “why.” Are you on the way home and have no desire for detours? Are you already stoned on your couch watching The Voice and need something hand delivered to your lap? Probably. And that’s why decent restaurants with plenty of reasons to eat at them make it into our weekly rotation, and really good restaurants with fewer reasons to go often don’t. As for 71Above, it’s definitely the latter.
Perched on top of the US Bank Tower downtown, 71Above is as visually impressive a restaurant as you’ll find in LA. You don’t need to wait in line at Soarin’ Over California to know we don’t have many tall buildings in this town, let alone ones with 360-degree-view restaurants on top. And for that reason alone, 71Above is unlike anything else.
As for the food? Delicious. Yes, the $70 three-course choose-your-own-pre-fixe adventure at dinner is a little fussy, but the reality is the menu is solid as a rock. The agnolotti (with black truffle and ricotta) is outstanding and the scallop curry situation will stay in your mind for days. So what’s the holdup? 9.0 game-changing blockbuster, right? Well, it all goes back to the “why.”
photo credit: Stan Lee
Outside of the fancy corporate lunch/dinner, there are frankly just not many situations we could see ourselves at 71Above. The views are obviously great and the main dining hall looks like a mid-century art installation, but the vibe inside is not much of anything. There’ll be a few guys drinking quietly at the bar and some tables filled with uptight financial people talking about stock consultation, but that’s hardly the atmosphere we would want to have a big date night or show off the city to friends in.
So take 71Above for what it is: a good-looking, well-executed shrine to the corporate power stage and a great place to see what Century City looks like at 4pm. You’ll probably find a time and place for 71Above, it just won’t come around very often.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Stan Lee
Steak Tartare
photo credit: Stan Lee
Tomato Tart
photo credit: Stan Lee
Scallop
photo credit: Stan Lee
Suckling Pig
Agnolotti
photo credit: Stan Lee