Alma at The Standard

I was recommended to this place by a friend and I have to say this was the finest dining experience I’ve ever had hands down. Cocktails were ridiculously creative and tasty. The food was very ‘el bully’ style but also very down to earth, from the frozen fois gras to the grilled octopus to the onion chips to the pork ribs… then the dessert… I’m dying just thinking about it. Definitely a special place.

Tried this little pop-​up on a Wednesday night at 9 pm, when they were still packed! Luckily we had a reservation. When we arrived, the hostess seated us at the counter, but when we asked, let us wait a few extra minutes for a booth table instead.
We started with cocktails — in all, we ended up having the the goody goody (very good, strong thyme scent and cardamom rim), the upstate (refreshing & summery), and nightmare on fig street (less figgy than I expected).
Snacks:
–Chickpea fries with pickled chile ($ 6) — kind of a weird texture, dry and grainy, and a little bit flavorless. My least favorite of the items we sampled
–English muffins, uni, burrata & caviar ($ 15) — very delicious, but very tiny. Obviously high quality of uni and caviar, freshly baked tiny muffins. About the size of an amuse bouche
–Fried brussel sprouts with gribiche ($ 8) — perfectly crispy and flavorful. Best of the snack items we tried
First:
–Hamachi, oyster, celery & daikon ($ 15) — served at room temperature /​hand warmed with oyster emulsion. Make sure to try it plain first, and then with the oyster emulsion and celery juice
–Frozen foie gras with smoked maple, coffee granola & carrots ($ 16) — unavailable due to frozen nitrous tank
Second:
–Dry aged New York steak, sunchoke, pickled chanterelle, brown butter béarnaise ($ 34) — 4 tiny pieces of steak, very lightly seared with raw centers, just the way I like it. Tender and flavorful
I would definitely come back again to try more items! Be sure to make the trip before it closes!
**DIsclaimer: our meal was comp’d for slow service /​kitchen delay and because the frozen foie gras was unavailable**

My boyfriend and I had a beyond-​amazing experience here during a stay in LA. I’d been dying to try the original (and sadly now closed) Alma for years, and was so excited to hear that they had re-​opened at The Standard. We went all-​out and split the beignets, gem salad, hamachi, smoked trout, roasted carrots and maitake, grilled octopus, and a mezcal/​prickly pear cocktail, and each dish was even better than the last. The creativity and flavor complexity of each dish is very satisfying, and the plating is incredibly thoughtful and adds so much to the experience. Big props to chef Ari Taymor. The décor at The Standard is amazing, too, and feels like a high-​end ‘60s surf shack, with lots of cacti/​succulents and macramé lights.

I had one of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had here. Everything was prepared exquisitely. I don’t think I will ever forget the taste of the roasted carrots. I used to think that the key to a good meal was in how the food was seasoned, but the chef’s master of his craft goes well beyond just seasoning. I found myself enjoying foods that I’ve never liked before (like brussels sprouts) because he knew what other foods to mix them with, and how to cook them, and probably a lot of other details that I wasn’t even aware of. It’s well worth checking out.

The other week I took a friend who was staying at the Standard to dinner here in the hopes of a pleasant meal. The place looked great and the staff seemed friendly enough but the dinner was a total bummer. The chickpea fries tasted weirdly like sticky mud and I had to struggle to even eat two of them, the chowder they made a big deal out of pouring into the bowl was super salty and resembled pea soup more than anything else, the cod was overcooked and its accompanying orange sauce with bland tasting leeks seemed random and incongruous, and the Hamachi was soggy and fishy tasting. The only enjoyable part of the meal was the brussel sprouts! And I am the least fussy eater you will ever meet! How can an 80 dollar dinner for two (without even ordering drinks) be this disappointing?

If you go to the dictionary and look up the word «Perfection», it would have a picture of Alma. As I told anyone there last night, every single aspect of our party of seven was outstanding. The food is inventive, delicious, but not at all foo foo. We literally ordered the entire menu, with two orders of their chicken, and all of the courses were insanely wonderful. The presentation of each dish is a work of art, and the tastes explode on the palate like nothing I have ever experienced. Our waitress should also win a service award, because not only was she outstanding, she made us feel like it was her pleasure to keep us happy throughout our entire meal. At the end of a good meal, I always tell the owners/​chef/​hostess how much I appreciated my experience, and I could see they sincerely were pleased how much their hard work had paid off for all of my party. Single best out of home dining experience of my life.

Everything is amazing. Every plate we tried was incredible. Stand outs include the chick pea fries and the steak. Thanks for an awesome meal!