SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA | ARTS & CULTURE

Finding restaurants near cultural venues in L.A. and Orange County

If you're looking to blend a night of arts and culture with a Cornish game hen or a Dungeness crab salad, your options are growing.

By Valli Herman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
10:13 AM PDT, October 07, 2008

It's long been a logistical nightmare trying to partner dinner and a movie or any kind of cultural event in one evening in Southern California. Yet a burgeoning sophistication about the importance of good food to accompany good culture is spreading across the region. If you're hungry for art, music or theater along with a well-prepared Caesar salad or risotto with black truffles, it's now within reach, if you know where to go.

Check out these suggestions:

1. The Walt Disney Concert Hall is not only home to the chef and restaurant mogul Joachim Splichal's famed flagship, Patina, but his Patina Restaurant Group (www.patinagroup.com) also operates a cafe in the concert hall that bustles with musicians and concertgoers before the performances.

2. After the ballet, opera or a play at the Los Angeles Music Center, it's time to stop into Kendall’s Brasserie, where you can often spot instrument cases and sheet music bags cluttered around tables, while performers swap tales of the night's performance.

3. The downtown location of Pacific Dining Car has been a favorite pre- and post-event tradition since the steakhouse opened in 1921, and not just because it's open 24 hours. The rambling 6th Street restaurant also offers a shuttle to the nearby Staples Center, Music Center, Disney Concert Hall and Nokia Theatre.

4. Whether you're clubbing in Hollywood or taking in a show at the Pantages Theatre, if you want to grab a quick and affordable bite, Katsuya in Hollywood is running a ninth-hour special, where select menu items and cocktails served at the bar are $9, from 5 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.

5. If you're catching a performance at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, a visit to nearby South Coast Plaza yields a wide selection of restaurants, including the well-regarded Marche Modern.

6. If in doubt, check out the offerings from the Patina Restaurant Group, the dominant player catering to hungry museum and performing arts fans. At last count, the company provides food service in or restaurants near cultural venues in Orange County, downtown Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley.

Where am I?

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