I found my favorite restaurant in Los Angeles and I just need to talk about it
This post is not sponsored. I’d be flattered if it was, but it’s not. Just a girl expressing her love for her new favorite restaurant in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area.
Nic’s on Beverly has been on my radar for a while. One day, in the depths of a YouTube black hole, I happened upon a Claudia Sulewski ‘What I Eat in a Day.’ Recognizing her from my teen years, I decided to watch out of curiosity. For dinner, she showed a spread of takeout containers filled to the brim with a variety of dishes: Mexican corn, gnocchi in red sauce, thick-cut gratin fries with what looked like a spicy aioli dipping sauce, and one of the most appetizing, New York-esque Sicilian pizzas I’d ever seen. She didn’t elaborate much on the restaurant, only saying it was from a place called Nic’s on Beverly.
Being the restaurant-obsessed-foodie I am, I immediately opened a new tab and searched the place. To my surprise, the first words to come up were “Vegan Restaurant.” Music to my dairy-free ears! I looked to the website for more details and learned that the restaurant is entirely plant-based. Before even glancing at the menu, I’d already seen enough for it to get the top spot on my never-ending “LA RESTAURANTS TO TRY” notes document.
To ensure I wouldn’t forget the restaurant’s existence, I proceeded to follow its Instagram page (thanks to my boyfriend’s second account — if you don’t know what I’m talking about, I will kindly direct you here). Whoever runs that account knows exactly what they’re doing. Every day I’d wake up and see new posts and stories of food that absolutely blew my mind: falafel burgers with truffle tahini sauce, crispy rice stacked high with fresh avocado and citrus, and an absolutely mesmerizing chinois salad that I wanted to physically dive into. My mouth would water as I scrolled through the page, and I’d dream of the day I got to dine there for myself.
When we were still in Westwood, the hike to Nic’s was just far enough to be an annoying Friday night trek. I tried weekend after weekend to convince my boyfriend to make the trip through Beverly Hills, but we would always succumb to our laziness and settle for our favorite Westwood-based spots on Postmates.
The day we picked up the keys to our new apartment, we were driving back to Westwood and suddenly happened upon a neon sign that read “PLANT-BASED KITCHEN” not far from our new place. One Google search later, and I realized it was the same ‘plant-based kitchen’ of THE Nic’s on Beverly. Makes sense, since we were driving down Beverly.
Realizing we had serendipitously moved closer to my top must-go restaurant, I took to OpenTable (which has recently become my new favorite app) and made a reservation for my boyfriend, my parents, and me for graduation weekend. By the skin of my teeth, I got the last open spot for the night.
Before confirming the reservation, I sent my dad the menu. My dad is both a big meat eater and a dairy lover, so I knew there would be some apprehension of a restaurant without both of those food groups. To my surprise, he quickly replied “Looks good.” Upon walking into the restaurant the day of, I learned he didn’t actually read the menu and was unaware of the vegan-ness of the situation. Nevertheless, the dinner commenced.
The first thing I noticed about the restaurant was the ambiance. Between the beautiful, dimly-but-still-brightly-lit patio with the massive tree in the center and all of the surrounding foliage, the wait staff in their matching floral Hawaiian shirts, and the plush and open-but-intimate booth we were sat in, I was immediately sold. Our waitress was your classic LA chiller, and from the get-go she knew this outing was my operation. I automatically took the reins on the appetizer front and ordered every single thing from my mental list of must-try dishes that had been running from when I first discovered the place.
Without further anticipation, here is the meal that allows me to confidently declare that Nic’s on Beverly is my favorite restaurant in LA.
My parents, my boyfriend, and I shared six dishes, each had a main course, and ended with a shared dessert. To say I was full after the meal is an understatement, but I don’t think a stuffed stomach has ever been more worth it.
I loved the way we were served appetizers. The first three dishes came out basically one at a time, and being four people we could easily split everything and get little tastings, kind of like a cocktail hour situation (which happens to be one of my favorite settings in which to consume food). I loved that they were coming out as-ready, each in their freshest state. This setup kept me excited for what was to come later on in the meal.
The first thing we were served was the Kennebec Potato Gratin Fries. What a way to start. They were thick rectangles of layered potato, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. You could distinctly see the layers when you bit into them, and the creamy harissa sauce served with it complimented the crispness of the fries without being overly spicy. One fry was enough for each of us to get our fix, and before we knew it the next dish was in front of us.
The fries were followed by the Tempura Avocado Tacos, then the Avocado Crispy Rice. What I thought had the potential to be avocado-overload ended up being a great combination of dishes that were completely different from one another. The tacos were crunchy and sturdy, but not overly heavy. The avocado was warm and crispy, but the lettuce and the flour tortilla underneath the avocado itself added a layer of freshness to it. The cilantro salsa verde (served on the side because my mom, unfortunately, possesses the cilantro-tastes-like-soap gene) was the perfect topping to round it all out. Getting the crispy rice immediately after was like tasting the tacos’ polar opposite: instead of crispy avocado, it was crispy rice, instead of fresh tortillas, it was fresh avocado, instead of being balanced by a cilantro-forward salsa verde, a piece of citrus placed on top and a ponzu sauce poured underneath brought the whole thing together.
For our second “course,” we shared two salads and a pizza. In hindsight, I’d probably only get one salad just for amount-of-food reasons, but I couldn’t leave without trying both. We had the Chinois on Beverly Salad and the Tomato & Strawberry Salad, and then the Balsamic Ricotta Pizza, for good measure. All three were served at the same time, and our sharing dishes became little tasting plates complete with bits of each option. Between the two salads, the Chinois has my heart. It was so refreshing and bright and felt like a much-needed dose of veggies after many fried and crispy appetizers. The Tomato & Strawberry Salad was the perfect combination of crunchy, creamy, sweet, and tart, but something about the gingery yuzu dressing on the Chinois had me continually going back for more.
The dish I still can’t quite wrap my head around is the pizza. Specifically, the Balsamic Ricotta pizza with confit-style balsamic garlic cloves and arugula. The crust was the perfect combination of crispy and soft, in true New York Sicilian fashion. A garlicky parm-but-not-actually-parm crumble situation sprinkled on top added the most wonderful contrast to the creamy almond ricotta. It was probably one of the best pizzas I’ve had in LA. I know that might not be saying much, as California in general is notorious for its sad excuses for pizza, but my taste buds and I have made the rounds to a few beloved spots, and this one easily takes first place.
This post-appetizer-pre-entree course of salads and pizza was a great way to bring in the main dishes. All of us were at a bit of a loss with what to get for our entrees. Between the different types of cuisine and the creativity of them all, everything sounded appetizing and intriguing. We all ended up landing on burgers. I got the Falafel Burger, my mom the Nic’s (which we concluded is their play on a Big Mac), and my dad and my boyfriend the Truffle. Each burger came with a mountain of fries, and they kindly cut them all in half to make them more manageable. The Falafel Burger had a truffle tahini sauce and a tomato relish that complimented the burger so well, offering brightness and balance to the classic falafel flavor. While the Falafel Burger was wonderful on its own, after trying a bite of my mom’s Nic’s Burger, I know that that’s the one I would go for next time. Something about that sauce was so addicting, and the romaine added some very necessary freshness to it all.
If our previous courses weren’t taking up well-earned space in my stomach, I could’ve taken down the whole burger easily. Instead, I settled for half. But don’t worry, it made for a wonderful lunch the next day.
You must know by now that I wasn’t about to leave this dinner without having some sort of dessert. I’m a sucker for sweets in general, but my lack of dairy has limited me in the range of desserts I can enjoy. The dessert menu included many of my all-time favorites, and the fact that they were all sans dairy made me want to try them even more. Root beer floats, butterscotch pudding, a banana split — my head was spinning with the possibilities. I finally landed on the shortcake, complete with a buttermilk biscuit, fresh berries, and vanilla chantilly. It was the shortcake of my dreams. Creamy, comforting, not too sweet, and every time I finished a bite I needed to go back for more. It was a great way to end the meal and balance out the savory umami all of our burgers had previously left on our tongues.
When the night was done, I left full, satisfied, and glowing with happiness. It was one of the most enjoyable and exciting dining experiences I’ve ever had in LA, and maybe in general. While it may sound like the four of us ate the entire menu, there are still so many other dishes I want to try — which is exactly why I already made a reservation for my birthday dinner next month.
