LAReview
photo credit: Justin Chung
Lulu
Included In
Are you someone who shops at Williams-Sonoma and adores farm-to-table cooking? Do you own a copy of the Chez Panisse cookbook? Did you just spend the last four hours enriching your beautiful little mind with beautiful little images at The Hammer museum, and are in need of a snack? Or, are you currently a student or faculty member at The University of California, Los Angeles?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you will love Lulu—it was made for you. For those who said no, there’s no need to rush over.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Lulu is everything you could want in a museum restaurant. Most of the dining room is set outside, in a breezy, romantic courtyard space attached to The Hammer that looks like it was produced when an architectural design firm and a farm fell in love. There’s a long, wooden table out front lined with ceramic bowls of seasonal produce. Benches are lined with olive-green cushions and warmly lit pendant lamps hang from trees. There will be women wearing shawls and reading glasses attached to a string of beads. Expect to see museumgoers looking for a place to rest and UCLA students with their parents.
The menu is designed, in part, by the legendary Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley (although the kitchen is led by Bay Area cookbook author David Tanis). Which explains the seasonally rotating menu, words like “regenerative food sourcing” and “organic agriculture” that pop up on their website, and the overall focus on California cuisine. Although there are prix-fixe menus at both lunch and dinner, we prefer to use Lulu as a snack break, a nice place to eat Weiser Farm melons draped in prosciutto, handfuls of toasted almonds, or a big ol’ hunk of parmesan cheese. Because while larger dishes, like rigatoni and squash blossoms or a steak brushed with tomato-y Romesco sauce, aren’t bad, they can be a bit snoozy.
Which is fine, particularly if you're dropping by for a light, low-stakes lunch in Westwood. We like Lulu for what it is: a wonderful museum restaurant, and then some. Eating a salumi plate while a warm breeze billows across your face can make you feel like the best version of yourself.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Dates, Almonds, and Parmesan
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Baked Goat Cheese
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Pasta
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Stemple Creek Ranch Steak
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Pound Cake