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Pasjoli is a fancy French restaurant with all the baggage that comes with the genre. A palm-sized onion tart costs $25. Polished servers make you feel proper via osmosis. Butter is mandated by law.
These details might point to an outdated Santa Monica restaurant robbing people who are too rich to care about wine bottle markups. But eat the pressed duck for two, drink a 2016 Bordeaux, and the proof is in the (duck leg bread) pudding. Pasjoli backs up the traditional French schtick with technique and care. A night here is the best indulgence money can buy on the Westside.
photo credit: Jakob Layman
photo credit: Jakob Layman
photo credit: Jakob Layman
photo credit: Jakob Layman
The most French thing about this menu—apart from the fact that substitutions are politely declined—is its lineup of animal fat. Ingredients sway traditional, but the execution makes things like chicken liver mousse suddenly seem sexy. Circles of this rich spread sit inside slices of brioche-like keyholes. In the steak tartare, dry-aged beef is cut with nasturtium pesto and sharp horseradish. What appears to be a plump, fatty sausage is really a deboned quail brightened up with blackberry jus. But nothing on the menu compares to Pasjoli's pressed duck.
The demolition of this duck carcass tells you everything you need to know about Pasjoli's food as a whole. It's elaborate, showy, and genuinely delightful. For roughly $200, you and another person split a multi-course celebration of all things quack. First, the chef invites you to the kitchen pass to watch him squeeze Daffy in what looks like a medieval torture device. Then he uses the juices to create cognac gravy right in front of you, like a Costco food demo with a Marvel budget. Once you return to your seats, you're served a simple but perfect pile of lettuce topped with the bird's crispy skin, and a plate of duck leg meat baked into a bread pudding. Somehow you'll be expected to go home and continue living every day knowing that meals this spectacular are by no means the norm.
As deluxe as the duck press may be, Pasjoli's space is otherwise unremarkable. The brick-walled dining room blurs in the background, neither adding to nor detracting from the experience in any way. There's no valet service. Instead, you'll hunt for a parking meter on Main Street Santa Monica as tipsy UCLA students walk into an Irish pub. Rest assured, servers still wear uniforms and take their jobs seriously. Courses fade in and out before you have time to pick out the duck skin between your teeth. Each dish comes with a little TED Talk on what's in front of you or maybe why the kitchen uses a wooden stick (not a metal one) to bake a hole in the brioche before stuffing it with chicken liver mousse. We're talking fancy, not gaudy. That's the energy here.
Unless you come for a cocktail and a bathroom break, you're not leaving Pasjoli without spending at least $100 per person, and more if you get the duck. But we’d happily dish out our own, non-professional money here for a special occasion. When done right, there will always be a place for buttery, showy French food. No need to reinvent the wheel every time.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Foie De Poulet À La Strasbourgeoise
Tartare
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Tarte Aux Oignons
Bœuf
Caille
photo credit: Jakob Layman
Canard À La Rouennaise À La Presse
photo credit: Jakob Layman