The Hall Brasserie & Lounge at
Palihouse

The intimate dining room, which opens onto an interior courtyard, has marble-topped tables and fan-backed chairs like you'd find in any corner cafe in Paris. But the wood chandeliers look like earrings Goldie Hawn might have worn on "Laugh-In," writ large. Designer and developer Avi Brosh also chose a staghorn fern, which sprouts huge frisee-like fronds, and mounted four of them on boards in a delirious homage to taxidermy. It works, somehow. And on the plate, chef Stephanie O'Mary (formerly chef de cuisine at the Hollywood Roosevelt's Dakota restaurant) sends out salade frisee aux lardons topped with a poached egg, as well as croque madame, steak tartare and roast chicken with bread salad. It certainly elevates the hotel dining concept far above the pairing of the Holloway Hotel and IHOP across the street and refines this stretch of Holloway beyond the bar food offerings of Barney’s Beanery.

TIPS: The area around the hotel is permit parking only at night, so be mindful of the signs; it’s probably best to just spring for the valet. Be sure to take advantage of drink service in the lounge and the espresso bar open seven mornings a week.