Though its name derives from the regulatory organization (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) that oversees France's local wines and cheeses, few restaurants are more quintessentially Los Angeles than super-chic A.O.C. (It's even too hip for a full name.) Highly regarded chef-and sommelier team Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne have helped pioneer the American small plates movement since opening their critically acclaimed La Brea hotspot in 2002, introducing European gourmand luxuries that have subsequently become the local standard of haute cuisine. From the charcuterie bar and the intensely flavored tapas to more than 50 wines by the glass and one of the finest cheese menus around, a meal at A.O.C. provides an exceptional sensory rollercoaster from start to finish. A beautiful setting for beautiful people to enjoy beautiful meals: What's more L.A. than that? Full bar. Serving dinner nightly.
Where The Locals Eat rating
Top 100 Restaurant, Los Angeles
"A meal at A.O.C., in La Brea, is a must."
—Travel + Leisure
"Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne's wine bar and small-plates venture has a festive vibe and glorious food. ... Scads of good wines by the glass."
—Los Angeles magazine
"It's the kind of place where a perfect stranger seated next to you at the bar might insist on giving you the last of his prosciutto. Why? Because it's the best he's ever had in this country. And he happens to live in Rome."
—Los Angeles Times
"Goin is so good that the timid follow her into unfamiliar culinary waters, certain that her dead-on palate won't leave them adrift. ... She is, by the way, the town's best vegetable cook and salad maker. Period."
—Gourmet magazine
"Each dish, in fact, is a kind of small, intense study, a meditation on a subject."
—Los Angeles Weekly
How others rate A.O.C.
Zagat 2008
26 Food Rating (Extraordinary to Perfection)
Los Angeles Times
*** (Excellent)
Los Angeles magazine
No. 28 on the 75 Best Restaurants list, 2008
** (Distinctive and assured)
Los Angeles Weekly
Gold 99, 2005-2007
Mobil Travel Guide
** (Fresh Food, Clean Setting, Efficient Service)