Gold Dig #34

Cassia is one of the few Santa Monica spots on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list. I’ve been pretty excited that one of the most talked about hot LA restaurants in the last couple years is in my backyard. Every time I pass by, I see a lot of happy-looking people eating and drinking in the adorable light-strung patio area. This is a place I’ve been dying to go to.

Inside is a big high-ceilinged space with a cocktail bar on one end, an oyster bar on the side, and a mix of small group tables and large communal tables in the middle. Lots of natural light comes in through the big windows behind the bars, and they have these big birdcages hanging from the ceiling. I like the airiness and the slightly funky decor.

The Dish

Cassia does Southeast Asian food with a French twist. A lot of the menu items sound like familiar Asian dishes, but come out more delicately executed with high quality ingredients they source locally. There were several dishes that went to nearby tables which I want to go back to try.

Blood Orange Rome with a View

Cassia has a fair-size cocktail menu, which many people seemed to be partaking from. So I thought I should too 🙂 I tried the Blood Orange Rome with a View, which was not too strong and just a touch sweet – my kind of drink.

Clay Oven Bread with Chopped Escargot

Jonathan Gold said the flatbread may be “the best thing you can eat at Cassia”. We got it with the chopped escargot. The bread is light, with nice wood oven charred spots. You spoon lemongrass buttery bits of escargot and bacon onto bread pieces, then top with some more Thai basil for good measure. They didn’t skimp on the escargot – we were spooning that buttery goodness pretty heavily, and found ourselves actually wishing for a bit more bread.

Kon Loh Mee

Kon Loh Mee is a dish of egg noodles, ground pork, BBQ pork belly, and Chinese broccoli. You stir it all together to combine the flavors of the meat, sauce, and herbs. Here again they are generous with the meat. It’s not the kind of noodle dish where you’re picking around trying to find the meaty tidbits.

Vietnamese Pot Au Feu

The Vietnamese Pot Au Feu is how I’d heard about Cassia, and the reason I had to go. Jonathan Gold goes on and on about it. It’s the ultimate in Asian French fusion – the traditional French beef stew, only with a broth that has distinctly Vietnamese pho flavors. There is also a large marrow bone sticking up in the center. The thing I liked best about this dish was eating the thick toasted bread, smeared with marrow and the spicy green spread, topped with some pickled onions, and dipped into the cinnamon-y broth.

Vietnamese Coffee Pudding

The Vietnamese Coffee Pudding is the Cassia dessert everyone talks about. I love the rich sweetness of Vietnamese coffee, so naturally I was happy to try it in pudding form. It didn’t disappoint. The pudding also came with little coffee flavored cookies. I wished they were bigger, or that there were more of them. Apparently they switch up the cookies they serve with the coffee pudding, but I’m glad these were the chewy morsels of deliciousness that were the accompaniment they day we were there.