While newer museums like the Broad at LACMA are stealing all the art headlines, the voluminous Getty Museum atop LA's Sepulveda Pass is enjoying its second decade of museum life. While only open for daily lunch and Friday and Saturday dinner, recent trains ride and meander through the Master's Gallery ended in a impromptu lunch. An efficient hostess desk ushers guests into the Richard Meier-designed dining room surrounded in those ubiquitous white walls and glass. Clean four-top tables and metal-accented chairs line an L-shaped dining room that sometimes seems segregated between well-dressed locals and nametag emblazoned tourists. The dining room overlooks the Santa Monica Mountains and LA's Westside stretching to the ocean, as well as views of the surrounding museum complex and Sepulveda basin.
The Food
The serene museum setting could easily go the route of simple banquet-style cuisine found at the Hollywood Bowl of LACMA. Instead, executive chef Mayet Cristobal debuts one of the most balanced and flavorful menus you’ll ever stumble upon without being prompted by Jonathon Gold or a two-column review in the LA Times. A perfect meal begins with a marvelously composed bred basket of olive, flatbread and not-sure-what-that-is variety. Delicate salads and appetizers include daily specials like a carrot and fennel soup perfectly roasted and pureed to a frothy perfection. A Mediterranean-inspired menu changes weekly, including straightforward Halibut and chicken dishes that seem to leave diners completely unprepared for the food bliss that awaits each perfectly cooked bite.
Last Word
One of LA’s to female chefs offers dazzling market-fresh menu atop the Getty Center.
