New (Original) French Commerson

(Gerry Furth-Sides) Now is the time to visit Commerson, open for indoor and outdoor dining. Usually fully booked on week-ends, we were delighted to be welcomed by the original executive chef who created the menu concept, Executive Chef Sascha Lyon, and his wife who designed the muscular restaurant interior.

It took a glass of wine to choose our dishes. The wine: a Happy Hour Special 2019 Proverb Pinot Noir from the Central Coast, a choice that took us through a meal of seafood and beef.

The best of French bistro fare and fresh tastes and ingredients started with Seafood ceviche with special Kumiai oysters from Baja.

The Garnish Olives alone reflect Chef Sascha’s mastery of complex ingredients were prepared with a variety of Glossy picholine, Castelvetrano, Kalamata, Capers, Cornichons AND Nicoise. olives The rich combination was dressed with a blend of garlic, tomato confit, an oil blend, rosemary, thyme, bay leaves, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, star anise and cinnamon stick.

The perfectly prepared, wood, grilled Creekstone Farms hangar “Bar Steak” followed – known to be “the steak challenge. It arrived with a pile of crisped garlic fried and herb butter. Flank steak is one of the healthiest beef cuts. Ounce for ounce, the very lean, very flavorful flank steak cut has fewer calories and more protein than a ribeye or porterhouse. The trick that Chef Lyon has mastered with this very lean cut is not to overcook it and know how to slice it (across the grain).

A slightly lighter dish was the sublimely wood-grilled, dry-aged, Half-pound burger layered with grand pasando, aioli, mizuna and caramelized onion. The chef sources all his ingredients carefully, also using his own firsthand experience with farm to table cooking practices.

Commerson restaurant was named after a French explorer by the husband-wife team to honor the original French cuisine. Their partner remains the young, tech genius, Raymond Eng from Hong Kong.

Add unexpected genuine hospitality to the food and come up with a memorable dining experience that instills lingering good feelings.  So don’t miss this hidden treasure practically slid under a brand new loft high-rise in the midst of the Metro Purple Line Extension construction that we’ve driven right by so many times.

Other dish options include a Garlic Shrimp Caesar with all-natural bacon for $12; a Grilled Paillard ofChicken with frisbee and upland watercress dressed in a mustard vinaigrette, confit of tomatoes, jus natural and grand pasando, and a Bar Steak we ordered for $24.

Who would think that this cavernous space with such a muscular feel with white walls, blonde wood simple chairs  and metal tables would encourage such happy dining.  The room when we were there was filled with groups of ladies, couples, single customers at the bar and families with children of all ages.

Nancy Silverton and Mark Peel’s Campanile revived the La Brea Street restaurant row a generation ago, long replaced with the booming Republique.   Commerson Restaurant book-ends the neighborhoo’s trendy, boutique-filled long street.  788 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, (323)813-3000.