{"id":332,"date":"2012-09-07T14:34:18","date_gmt":"2012-09-07T21:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pascual.co\/ActiveE\/?p=332"},"modified":"2012-09-07T14:34:18","modified_gmt":"2012-09-07T21:34:18","slug":"charge-it-great-food-near-public-chargers-5-in-an-ongoing-series-mateo-street-east-side-of-downtown-los-angeles-ca-arts-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/pascual.co\/ActiveE\/charge-it\/charge-it-great-food-near-public-chargers-5-in-an-ongoing-series-mateo-street-east-side-of-downtown-los-angeles-ca-arts-district\/","title":{"rendered":"Charge It! \u2013 Great food near public chargers #5 in an ongoing series \u2013 Mateo Street \u2013 East side of Downtown Los Angeles, CA (Arts District)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This update on Charge It! is a case of great food and Leaf\/MiEV – CHAdeMO\u00a0– Level 3 (L3) envy…<\/p>\n

Huh?<\/p>\n

Well, I love my ActiveE. \u00a0It gets me almost everywhere. \u00a0However, since the J1772 Level 3 standard is yet to be published, BMW released the car with Level 1 and Level 2 charging capability. \u00a0Level 3 gets most L3 capable cars to 80% state of charge (SOC) in 30 minutes. \u00a0Yes, you read correctly, you get up to 80% of your range in 30 minutes. \u00a0Mitsubishi and Nissan support a Japanese standard called CHAdeMO. \u00a0BMW, GM and others all decided to go with extending the J1772 format for L3 and that is not quite done yet.<\/p>\n

Lucky for you that the food at\u00a0Church and State<\/a>\u00a0is SO<\/strong> great and the wine selection is SO<\/strong> good that you want<\/strong> to stick around for several hours ANYWAY<\/strong> to wait for the L2 charger to finish.<\/p>\n

So, what makes it Great! It’s definitely the food in one of the best French Bistro’s in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

We started our meal with the Beef Marrow and Bread. It was AWESOME.<\/p>\n

\"Moelle<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Moelle<\/a><\/p>\n

You get some of the marrow and spread it on your bread and munch. No need for the butter, also as you can tell, it’s definitely carnivore food for that course!<\/p>\n

To go with the Moelle de Boeuf, I went with the Tarte Flambee and it was a very good flat bread.<\/p>\n

\"Tarte<\/a><\/p>\n

Since we were dining in the summer and it was a nice, hot day, figured a Riesling was in order and the one recommended by the Sommelier was very refreshing.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

For our Mains we went with Scallops and Pork, the other white meat. Both were exquisite! I ordered the Pork, but swapped meals with the better half!…<\/p>\n

\"Scallops,<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Roasted<\/a><\/p>\n

The scallop was tender and plump. It went well with the wine that we chose as well the asparagus on the plate. The Better half let me take a bite of her, formerly my, pork dish and that was great! The Figs and Pork made great accompaniment with each other.<\/p>\n

The dessert was scrumptious. We chose a nice, sweet chocolate tarte and paired it with a glass of the 2005 Prieure D\u2019Arche Pugneau Sauternes that was on the menu.<\/p>\n

\"Tarte<\/a><\/p>\n

I would say that Church and State rivals another of my favorite French Bistros in Southern California and gives Bouchon in Beverly Hills a run for its money.<\/p>\n

Now the negatives, the Sommelier was very good and helpful, however, our server was not as interested in taking care of us. \u00a0The restaurant had a lot of people, however, the restaurant also had adequate staff to cover all tables. Our server had a disinterested demeanor about her when she did get around to following up with us. Luckily, it’s a French bistro, so such behavior makes me think of other bistros I have been to in Paris… \u00a0Wait, that’s not right, I’ve had better, attentive service in Paris.<\/p>\n

However, the biggest negative for me is really the location. It’s on the scary Arts District on the way East side of Downtown Los Angeles. Fine in the summer, really dark in the Fall\/Winter. The neighborhood directly between the restaurant and charging station parking lot is well lit, but the rest is really dodgy.<\/p>\n

Here is the Google Map to the restaurant<\/p>\n