Valentine's Dinner at Drago

We wanted to try a new place and we wanted a place close by (traffic in LA on Valentine's Day is just a little bit more unmanageable than normal) so we chose Drago on Wilshire in Santa Monica. I'd heard good things about it on the food blogosphere so there we landed.  Pardon the dark pictures, it was, um, dark and romantical for V day.

The dining room was quite cramped and they had too many servers who watched your every move so as to clear your plates and get you the heck out of there as soon as humanly possible. I felt like I had an audience while I was eating which is a total deal breaker for me. I'm the voyeur, not you.

Tomato and bread soup. It was lovely; simple, clean flavor of tomato and basil with a rich pesto sauce floating in the middle.

Caesar with Parmesan panacotta. The panacotta could have been the best part of the entire meal. It was an icy moment that quickly slipped away into creamy delight. I took small slivers with a spoon and dipped it into the soup and it was delectable.

Quail with sausage stuffing on grilled polenta. Solid. Quail was cooked nicely, the stuffing reminded me of my mom's (which is a very good thing) and the polenta, while plain, was fine because it soaked up the wine sauce.

Homemade pasta with a venison and morel ragout. Sauce rocked. Pasta was kinda gummy and heavy. And looked like worms.

Overall, the food was good but I will never go back because of the weird, stalky service and bad seating.  And bad 80's decor.  And dirty bathrooms. Next.