Animal, LA

Foie Gras Loco Moco

On my last night in LA, I went with my friend Dan to Animal for a full tilt offal feast. When we first arrived, it reminded me of Au Pied De Cochon with its casual atmosphere combined with a truly indulgent menu.
As a penance for the prior few days and for the meal to come, we started with a vegetarian course: a salad of shredded baby kale, pecorino cheese, lemon chili vinaigrette, and breadcrumbs.

Our secord course was recommneded by the ladies of Lindy & Grundy butchers, friends of Dan. When we had visited their shop, they wrote up a list of their favorites from Animal on a piece of paper. We had the hamachi tostada. It had an Asian flavor to it as it was sprinkled with peanuts and a fish sauce vinaigrette.

Our next course was pig tail segments cooked "bufffalo wing style" with Ranch dressing. The skin was crispy while the tail meat was tender and delicious.

Fourth course was on special for the day: pork head cheese with fried corn bread threads, & mustard sauce. The head cheese was beautiful, and fatty.
We followed with crispy pig ear with chili and lime served underneath a sunny side up fried egg. It had flavors reminiscent of Mexican cuisine, very fresh tasting.

The sixth course was a roasted marrow bone topped with chimchurri sauce and caramelized onions. The chimchurri was an inspired replacement to the traditional parsley salad I've had before.

Our 7th item was Animal's well known foie gras loco moco (see top). It consisted of a bed of rice, a hamburger patty topped with Spam, then a piece of foie gras, smothered in a beef gravy, finally capped with a fried sunny side up quail egg. This decadent take of the Hawaiian classic was one of my favorite things I've eaten this year.

I was still reeling from the last course to recall what Dan had for dessert. I think it was a carrot cake with root beer foam. I opted for just a few bites of the tres leches cake as my finish.
Animal is a spectacular restaurant. In some ways though, I'm glad I don't live near a place like it as I would get into serious trouble with my waistline and cholesterol levels.





435 North Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
(323) 782-9225