GJelina

We ventured out (no way!) on a Saturday night to our lovely friend Marnie's birthday party at GJelina. This is a newish hipster spot on hipster Abbot Kinney in hipster Venice. I used to live there (when I was cooler), so I'm totally intimidated. Just mostly intimidated.

Because it was a nice party of ten, we got to sample lots of the menu. Above was my favorite: lamb sausage pizza with brocollini and asiago cheese. The crust was thin and crackery but with a bit of chew and the toppings were balanced. And it WAS pizza after all, so how bad could it be?

Other pizzas I did not try: mushroom, arugula and a standard mozza pie is what I'm seeing.

Frites were good if you like super crunchy with not much potato feeling. Addictive, like all fries are, but did not inspire a binge.

Lamb shank I did not try (I know it looks really weird, it's the flash which I had to use because they had the very dark and sexy vibe going). Husband and I were going to order it but they lost us on the spices. It wasn't bad, just not memorable.

Duck cassoulet. Beans were undercooked, the rest tasted fine. Not $24 fine, but there you go.

Overall...we won't be back. The decor is beautiful and we were in a comfy private-ish room in the back so we could hear ourselves think, but the food was kinda bland. If I'm going to pay a lot for a meal, I want the flavors to sing. This meal was mute. And if we were in the main dining area, we would have been deaf as well. Super loud, which I hate, because I'm old now.