One of the rising stars of the LA cuisine scene, The Upper West opened in 2010 and quickly became a local favorite. A couple years later, Nick Shipp, the executive chef from Pete’s Café in downtown LA, came over and provided a menu that is out of this world. Pete’s Café, at least when I was living in downtown, was home to my absolute favorite late-night comfort food combo: Blue cheese fries and a Fransikaner hefe-weissbier.

Now, Nick is here at The Upper West and things are looking and tasting good. The overall design of the restaurant is SOHO lofty. The walls are just enough white to house pictures, and contrast to exposed beams giving it a touch of industrial. The walls are covered with local artwork, but not haphazardly plopped on the wall. They are displayed in a much more comfortable gallery feel. The seating area is spacious bistro with dark toned-wood. This gives is cohesive feel of deep casual with light airiness, aided by to the 15 foot glass walls framing the forward building along Pico Boulevard. Another interesting aspect of the restaurant, in contrast to most others, their private room is actually at the front is at the front of the restaurant and surrounded by glass. This allows a dual purpose for having it as open seating on days when it’s not needed as a private room, but also being able to close it off as a private room that has sunlight and city life exposed. I like this design. Too often, for big birthday parties, they put you in the back room and you feel like you’re in a cave. This setting up front, lets you feel like you’re enjoying the light and the liveliness like everyone else.

The food is fantastic. Anything that’s going to garner a Santa Monica Best Happy Hour vote has to be. Our first trip to The Upper West started off with happy hour, and of course I had to have the Bar Burger, and Nancy tried the Mini Mac & Cheese and Braised Brisket Tacos. And in  the process, I was introduced to the Allagash Curieux beer. The beer is quite interesting as it’s aged in bourbon barrels. Who ages beer? But this allows the Tripel to finish with a taste bourbon to it. Quite nice actually, glad someone actually thought of it. All of it was all an absolute hit.

After this tasting, we had to go back, and we did. Inviting friends for a couples night, we ventured to the entrée world. Nancy’s desire for Octopus was not to be denied here, and my lust for a good steak was equally satisfied. I am not an Octopus man, but I have to admit, this Octopus, had more flavor to it than Octopus to it. Quite tasty actually, and I was intrigued by the ever-present little suckers. Not a problem. And even though I enjoyed the Octopus, it was nowhere as good as my Sirloin. With a touch of Adobo glaze and steak fries dusted in Furikake powder,  the Furiake leaves a hint of seafood from a ponzu-greentea-seaweed blend, that is a nice twist on an old classic.

But I digress. I’ve skipped over our entry to dinner, the Curry Chicken salad that is as tasty as any I’ve had. So much so that I can’t seem to get enough, and I’m scraping the bowl for more. And this had happened only twice in my lifetime, and I can’t remember the last time.

The food is fantastic, meeting and exceeding the flavor expectations, but another added grace is the service. Our waiter, Robert La Croix, is excellent. I always get a kick out of the waiter taking the order without writing it down, and getting everything perfect on delivery. To round out the full effect of an Upper West restaurant, he checks in on us consistently, and we are never far from our requests being met.

And now, I have a new restaurant favorite, and look forward to exploring the rest of the menu.