The Hungry Cat
100 W. Channel Rd.. Santa Monica Canyon • (310) 459-3337
The Hungry Cat opened here almost two years ago at the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and West Channel Road. A simple entrance on Channel Road takes guests past the kitchen to the hostess station and into the restaurant itself, with its long “raw bar” and array of booths against the wall.
The menu is simple, with selections from the raw bar in one elongated box and sandwiches such as a fried Ipswich clam sandwich roll in another. Both are neatly separated from the starters and entrée listings.
My daughter and I enjoyed the sampling from the raw bar, with its cherrystone clams on the half shell, peel-and-eat shrimp and green-lip mussels. This iced platter of fresh seafood came with a zesty cocktail sauce, fragrant ponzu sauce and tasty mignonette sauce for dipping each succulent clam or cooked and chilled mussel. The crisp and delicious cocktail shrimp had a pungent horseradish dip.
From the half-dozen starters listed, we tried the excellent steamed buns filled with crispy pork belly, succulent fried oysters and zesty Sriracha (Thai hot sauce) aioli. This dish ($14) was recommended by our server, for which I was most grateful. Other starters include arctic char ($13), a simple salad of market lettuces with egg, avocado, shallot, pecorino and lemon ($10), a Dungeness crab salad ($15) and citrus-marinated hamachi (Japanese yellowtail) or seafood chowder, each of which is $14.
Barramundi ($27), a mild-flavored sea bass from New Zealand, came with lemons and a delightful carrot purée, creamy ricotta gnocchi, baby broccoli, sections of blood orange and a subtly flavored pistachio vinaigrette. This was a fine entrée.
House-made chorizo (coarsely ground pork sausage) with manila clams, flavorful sofrito sauce, black-eyed peas and cavolo nero (cabbage) along with grilled bread and aioli is $22. This sophisticated dish is filled with divergent flavors that are intense and seductive.
Other entrées include steamed mussels ($20), black cod with dashi and shrimp dumplings ($28) and grilled scallops ($28).
A Meyer lemon parfait dessert is served with a butter cookie that makes a perfect ending to dinner. Both this dessert and the chocolate bread-and-butter pudding are $8. If you wish, there are liquid desserts like “the roaring 20’s” with turkey rye, 1921 tequila cream, double imperial stout reduction and espresso ($13). There is also a platter of assorted cheeses served with Marcona almonds and honeycomb.
We also enjoyed one of the house specialty cocktails made with fresh grapefruit and kumquat juices. As a note, The Hungry Cat offers full bar service.
The restaurant opens at 5 p.m. for Happy Hour in the bar. Dinner service is from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., except on Sunday when it begins at 5 p.m. Valet parking is $8.
St. Patrick’s Day Celebrations
The Golden Bull in Santa Monica Canyon is offering its annual corned beef and cabbage dinner for $17.95. Chez Mimi in the Highlands will be serving corned beef and cabbage on Friday, Saturday and on Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day. Tortilla Republic in West Hollywood will throw a festive fiesta with a live DJ and a special Shamrock margarita ($7) all day long on the 17th. And, at Tam O’Shanter, at 2980 Los Feliz Blvd., the festivities will go on all day from 10 a.m., with green beer, Irish drinking songs and more.
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