Le Great Outdoor Review - Santa Monica - Los Angeles - The Infatuation
"Farmers market vegetables. Sunny patios. Floral prints. Yoga pants. These stereotypes of LA come to life at Le Great Outdoor. And yet, this entirely outdoor spot in Bergamot Station's parking lot offers something more than West Coast clichés: a combination of produce just plucked from the ground, good wine, and a casual setting where the kitchen is just a couple of grills and the dining room has nothing but picnic tables. Try and think of another LA restaurant with all that. You can’t. Your initial visit to LGO may be disorienting. During the day, art gallery goers come to this industrial zone off the 10 to charge their Teslas and take pottery classes. At night, the space is reserved for the restaurant (making parking so easy it feels illegal). Friends drink nebbiolo and talk frequent flyer mile strategies, dogs and babies run free, and families pass around giant platters of goat cheese-topped tartines and blistered lamb chops. When you book a table at Le Great Outdoor, you’re basically signing up for a backyard barbecue—only this one has people who know what they’re doing at the grill. photo credit: Jessie Clapp photo credit: Jessie Clapp photo credit: Jessie Clapp photo credit: Jessie Clapp photo credit: Jessie Clapp A meal is less about a single great dish than the cumulative effect of olive-oil-slicked produce charred mere feet from your table, like bok choy with sumac and whole branzino that was probably caught before you went to work this morning—all delivered to your table on shared trays. Flavors blend harmoniously. Stalks of roasted broccolini in miso vinaigrette brush up against lemony asparagus garnished with a wedding procession's worth of edible flowers. Ears of grilled elote sop up chimichurri from neighboring burnt peppers. Whatever the combination is on your plate, it’s gonna be good. After a while, you'll stop looking at your fork before taking a bite. There may even come a point towards the end of dinner when you forget you’re still at a restaurant and not a friend’s garden party. You know that winding-down moment when everyone’s back to drinking wine and talking about how they feel like they’re on vacation. If that’s the LA restaurant stereotype, so be it. We’ll be at Le Great Outdoor every chance we can get. Or whenever the sun’s out. Which, stereotypically speaking, is quite a bit. @infatuation_la Alternate name: Le Great Friend's Garden Party With People Who Can Actually Grill #infatuationla #summer25 #santamonica #losangeles #larestaurants #EEEEEATS ♬ original sound - Infatuation LA Keep scrolling for the food rundown Food Rundown photo credit: Jessie Clapp Albacore Stuffed Peppers If only every meal at a restaurant could start with these sweet, and oily peppers filled with tuna. Considering there are eight per plate, this starter snack is easily divisible among your hungry table. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Tartines Save for a side of white rice, these little toasts are the lone carbs at Le Great Outdoor and thus a great appetizer to orrrder on the table before the meats and veggies arrive. There are three varieties—hummus, anchovy, and goat cheese—and while all three are good, the sweet honey-drizzled goat cheese is the runaway winner. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Vegetables We’re grouping the vegetables together because, at Le Great Outdoor, they’re essentially a unified dish. Whether you order the soft garlicky mushrooms, blistered potato wedges, or scored za’tar-covered zucchini, everything arrives together on a tray covered in an almost-silly amount of edible flowers. Also, each one is about $11-13, meaning you can order a few of them and it’ll be about the same price as a regular entree at other restaurants. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Skewers The chicken and shrimp skewers won’t be what everyone is talking about on the drive home, but if you’re with more than four people, definitely get them. They’re easy to pass around the table and the savory peanut sauce on the chicken is a nice flavor break from the smoky vegetables. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Lamb Chops The thing we love about Le Great Outdoor’s lamb chops is how simple they are. Perfectly charred with rosemary and garlic, this dish will be the one everyone’s talking about on the way home. photo credit: Jessie Clapp Branzino No two ways around it, this baby is a stunner. Looks: 10. The flaky, juicy, meaty interior: 11." - Brant Cox
