Small bites: Celebrating Bastille Day and the World Cup
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Enjoy a French celebration without having to go to the Champs-Élysées.
Comme Ça, is celebrating French Independence day July 14 with a special Bastille Day dinner menu. For $45 per person you get a first-course heirloom tomato salad with triple crème cheese, cucumbers and avocado; followed by California halibut with Dungeness crab, asparagus and black trumpet mushrooms and finishing with a cherry clafoutis with basil sorbet. If you want, you can include their wine pairing, which gets you a different French wine for each dish for an additional $15. Also exclusively for this day of independence, they’re serving two specialty cocktails: La Fête Nationale made with Cognac, lemon, and Pernod wash, and Le Quatorze Juillet made with Cognac, Calvados, Green Chartreuse and orange bitters. 8479 Melrose Ave. West Hollywood, (323)782-1104; www.commecarestaurant.com
Or you can enjoy the same holiday with a different menu at Le Saint Amour in Culver City. For $52, you’ll get lobster ravioli with lemongrass seafood jus or marinated scallops and salmon carpaccio, then cod over warm potato salad or lamb tenderloin with sweet onion puree, and finish with assorted pastries. 9725 Culver Blvd., Culver City, (310) 842-8155; www.lesaintamour.com
Even though the U.S. is out of the World Cup running, that’s no reason to give up drinking. Casey’s Irish Pub downtown is offering a World Cup early morning menu to keep the celebration going. Until the final match, July 11, Casey’s features an array of Irish breakfast items, including: eggs, bacon, sausage, baked beans and grilled tomatoes or Irish toast (soda bread battered and fried). If you don’t want coffee, wash it down with a Guinness. Kick start your early morning with a full bar service, stocked with a large array of Irish whiskies and their special Bloody Molly made with Jameson’s. 613 South Grand Ave., Downtown Los Angeles, (213) 629-2358; www.caseysirishpub.com
--Amanda Gottesman
(Photo of Bastille Day at the Arc de Triomphe by Gareth Watkins/Reuters)