Gjelina

This weekend I was in LA visiting my sister and it inspired me to write this blog.  I went to Gjelina Restaurant in Venice Beach, CA.  It was really interesting, beautiful, and jaw dropping for me.  I have been in so many restaurants this is hard to do these days.  But there is something about this place that was really worth talking about.  It's not super new, but for sure hasn't been there forever.  It is warm, sexy, trendy, and hipster if you will....but in all the right ways.  It is good enough to be whatever it wants in my opinion.  The food was great.  Pizza crust droopy only at the very tip....the rest was cracker crisp which is exactly how I like my pizza to hang.  Our peach salad was salty, refreshing, and savory.  It was incredible and a memorable part of the meal, but for me, the thing that really makes this place special is the design.  The walls are dark with a delicate inlay in the plaster...(the carving wasn't my favorite pattern but I think it fit).  The dramatic very unpretentious light fixture is very attractive, different, and sort of lazy looking....this light fixture isn't trying to be anything but a light fixture which I like, a lot; simple piping with drooped bulb fixtures hanging all over it.  The communal is centered over the cold expo station, and the back patio was just right.  The lighting is sexy day and night.  The vibe is hip, loud, and fast.  The ceiling is low and covered in plank wood, but not too reclaimed looking (because we are all tiring of that), the host station is simple and efficient.  The exterior eye image is brilliant, graphic and sort of offensive for a restaurant to put it there but I dig...a lot.  The whole thing if you couldn't tell.