Located in Downtown Los Angeles in the Old Bank District is a new restaurant called Blacksmiths. Currently open for Brunch, Dinner, Happy Hour, and Late Nights. The restaurant offers an enclosed patio which allows diners to either sit at normal table inside, or a high top outdoors. The industrial vibe of the restaurant has so much character. Whoever designed this restaurant did an amazing job. Concrete posts, shiny brass & gold accents, beautiful chandeliers, and tufted  bench seating.

For starters we ordered the Wagyu Meatballs, served with a Marinara Sauce, as well as their grilled peach Salad. The Wagyu Meatballs were served with two slices of a charred sourdough. The meatball itself was very tender, the sauce was simple and light. Flavors were good but nothing extraordinary. The Grilled Peach salad was very light, this came with shaved fennel, oranges, arugula, goat cheese, caramelized walnuts, and a passion fruit dressing.

Once again this dish was simple and light, we had asked for light dressing and the kitchen followed through. To be honest I really didn’t taste the passion fruit dressing, however everything on this dish was very fresh. I think the dish could’ve been better had they had ripe peaches as these did not have much flavor to them. Also I did notice the dishes was a bit small, not to the size of tapas so we did order extra items to fill up.

For our main we went with the Braised Bone in Short Rib, Black Truffle Saffron Fettuccine, and The Scallops. I noticed they had garlic parmesan fries so that was a must order obviously =P. The braised short rib was cooked to perfect, fork tender, juicy, melt in your mouth texture. The butternut squash puree was very light, the flavor was nearly absent. Although the short rib was cooked perfect, the flavors weren’t prominent enough. The scallops were seared perfect with just the right amount of prosciutto wrapped around giving that salty bite. This was served with a roasted carrots, asparagus, a pea salsa verde, and Amarillo sauce. I really enjoyed this dish, however I would not advise this as a main course as there was a starch missing to this.

You will not get full off of this dish, if anything I would’ve suggested a larger portion with a starch at a higher price tag. The last dish is the dish we were looking forward to most was the Black Truffle Saffron Fettuccine. We looked at photos online and the image of it looked so promising, unfortunately this dish did not deliver. The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, however the dish itself was extremely oily. The flavors of the saffron and black truffles were not there, they were completely lacking. I believe the chef had a very light hand as I mentioned all of the dishes were cooked perfectly, just the flavors were underwhelming.

The best dish of the night to be honest was the garlic parmesan fries. They were shoestring fries, cooked to a perfect crisp on the outside yet still having that light creamy potato texture inside. Generous amounts of garlic and parmesan added with a side of ketchup.

Blacksmiths is still fairly new, they have only been open a few months, however there is a lot of potential. With just the right tweaks this could become a very popular restaurant. Service I have to mention was great; servers were on top of everything, constantly refilling our waters, being very attentive and asking how dishes were and if we needed anything additional. If they can fix the menu by tweaking the flavors, then I would definitely return.

Let me know if you decide to try Blacksmiths and how your experience is.

Restaurant – Blacksmiths

Location – 117 Winston Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013

Contact – 213.628.3847

Website – www.blacksmithsla.com