Upstairs 2

Came here for DineLA on a Friday night with a party of 5. Location is very strange, out of the way and RIGHT by the freeway entrance. They do have complimentary valet, so go up the ramp and hopefully the lot isn't too packed.

Service is slow, we had to wait a while to get our waters after being seated and we had to flag waiters down every time we needed something. (They didn't have a napkin for one of my friends)

Food:
- Lobster bisque - visually, not very appealing because the creme fraiche looks like a piece of poop floating in your soup but my friends said it was very good and there were chunks of real lobster in it.
- Lamb and mascarpone ravioli - you get two largish ravioli and the taste isn't bad, but it is a bit gamey.
- Roasted duck with sticky rice and gai lan - difficult to eat! The duck was still on the bone and the gai lan was left in the whole stalk form. I hate fruit on my protein so I didn't like the berry sauce underneath the duck.
- Steak - All of my friends got this. They don't ask you how you want your steak cooked but they all came out medium rare. Steak is already sliced for you and comes with a small bowl of spinach & cheese dip looking thing and roasted potatoes.
- Chocolate torte - rich
- Fig gelato - DELICIOUS
- Blackberry cabernet sorbet - tastes just like wine!
- Pistachio gelato - icy! sadness.

I was unimpressed by Upstairs 2. The crowd is definitely older, except the people sitting at the bar. Service was oh so slowwww. The only part I liked was when the owner? (nice blonde woman) came around at the end of our meal to chat with us.

I've only been here once but it's definitely on my list to come back and try again.  I'm not a big wine person so we didn't do any wine pairing but the food here is excellent and since the tapas style allows you to choose a lot of different choices.  I hear that their menu is seasonal so some of my recommendations might be outdated.  The location seems a bit questionable but let the food work its magic and it wont even matter.

Recommended:  
Duck ravioli - I don't see this on their current online menu.
Duck confit
Lobster BLT Brioche
Short ribs

Decent:
Dungeness Crab Cucumber Roll

I've walked by countless times on my way to wine and liquor heaven, but never had the chance to stop in and eat.  DineLA is a great excuse, so we took it.  Wife and I got a 9:15 reservation.  Surprisingly busy for so late on a Saturday, but they cleared us a table and we were off.  We would have brought a nice Wine House bottle with us (we have plenty), as I hear it's $10 corkage, and $15 if not bought at the Wine House.  But we wanted to try the flight with dinner, and some cocktails.

I did not expect much from their cocktails.  Not their specialty.  But let's go for it, since it's one of those kinds of nights.  I got a lavender sidecar, and wife got a grapefruit cocktail (on the rocks).

The lavender sidecar was the best cocktail I've ever had.  Literally.  Not an exaggeration.  Go, try it, be amazed.  Had all the typical sidecar ingredients, but elevated.  With a cognac base, it was much more smooth.  I was worried with the sugar on the rim; it really just let you decide how sweet or sour you want it.  Perfectly balanced, and I didn't feel ripped off like when you get a 2.5oz pour at the lame "Prohibtion era bars" and they charge $18.  Nope, full nearly to the top (it's a big glass), with room for the sugar so it didn't get in.  Don't get me wrong, the wife had a heluva grapefruit drink, though it would have helped to have a sugar rim on that too.

We got the DineLA menu, and coordinated so we each had different plates.  Also went for the wine pairing..

First course was a Viognier wine, ravioli, and lobster bisque.  Viognier was nice.  Wife liked the ravioli, but I generally don't find ravioli remarkable.  This was much the same.  On the contrary, I liked the lobster bisque, but she thought it was too heavy on the tomato and not enough small lobster chunks (she's from New England, so she knows).

Second course, we had flat iron steak, roast duck, and a Syrah.  I don't know why anyone likes Syrah, and this one was very okay like every Syrah.  The steak had a Cab sauce but I like it raw with some salt.  This needed a lot of sauce.  Came with some good potatoes and creamed spinach (this was really excellent).  The duck had perfectly crispy skin, and perfectly cooked meat.  It also had a sweet sauce that it didn't need, but it was fun to have the two distinct flavors (with sauce and without).  Came with rice, not the typical long grain, and it went well with the sauce.

For dessert we had the flourless chocolate torte and two gelatos, plus an Orange Muscat.  I really liked the chocolate, but we did not find the gelato interesting.  We had a fig and a pistachio gelato, but they tasted nearly identical and melted immediately.  The orange muscat was really sweet, but it was the perfect complement to the semisweet chocolate torte.  The torte was dry as expected, but in a good way; it had a cream on top, very nice.

I think we'll stop in again some time, maybe for a little taste.  And maybe we'll bring some wine.