What You See is What You Eat.

The steak:

Everything about this was meaty. The steak was like hamburger ground meat meaty, not in texture but in taste. This was a little surprising, but not offputting. The salsa verde was a nice, clean add to the steak; a little sweet, a little tangy, it toned down the meatiness of the steak. The fries were steak fries, properly thick and seasoned simply with a good amount of salt. I love herb-tossed fries as much as the next person, but sometimes you want simpler fish to fry.

The chicken:

We were talking and she interrupted herself to say, “Oh, the mashed potatoes are so good.” Sentencing-breaking comments like these usually are right. The mashed potatoes were indeed delicious! I wish I could make mashed potatoes like these – smooth, milky, creamy, potato-ey. The chicken itself was a little on the dry side, but god, it was braised in bacon. BACON. My co-worked once said, “I could just be wrapped in bacon and would be happy.” My sentiments exactly. Sometimes you can go wrong with chicken, but you can rarely go wrong with bacon (except maybe if it is a bacon doughnut at Nickel Diner, which sounds horrifically gross, but hey, you never know).

Dessert was a pot de creme ($8.25), which was a chocolate pudding-slash-mousse-like cup topped with whipped cream, itself topped with cinnamon and sugar, and strawberries. Whomever thought of sifting cinnamon and sugar atop whipped cream – genius. Tasty, cold in a refreshing way – a good dessert after somewhat heavy meals.

Service was a little slow, as always has been in my experience, but this is not a big deal if you happen to talk a lot. Which we do, so it worked out great.

I have been to Luna Park a few times over the last 3 or 4 years, and have noticed that its menu, while good, always reads to me like a Each of the Meats list. It’s basically the static; the only things that change is the noise: there is the chicken, this time it is braised in bacon instead of being slow roasted on a pit. There is the steak, except it is a flat iron and not a flank (but still topped with the salsa verde) (which is good, because the salsa verde is great). There is the salmon; this time it is grilled instead of poached. The prices probably are the most that they should be, given the amount of good food you get. Yeah, you can make this at home, but if you can’t or don’t want to, these prices are on the high end of being about right.

Essentially, this is all comfort food, but unlike The Kitchen in Silverlake, it is (comfort) food, as if the noise, with its fancy setting and hipsterish appetizers like goat cheese fondue with apples and desserts like Make Your Own S’Mores, is trying its hardest to obscure the static. This is where Luna Park-the-Restaurant intersects with its past life as Luna-Park-the-Amusement-Park. You have to be in the mood to eat relatively normal food at a dark, often service-challenged place like this, much like you have to be in the mood to put up with the lines and the kids at an amusement park. Amusement parks can do their best to distract you with their (oddly) autograph-happy oversized characters and Mickey Mouse-shapen lollis, but really, you’re there for the ride. You know what you’re getting with Splash Mountain (you are getting: boring, boring, boring, boring, big drop, water, exit), but that is why you keep going back. So goes for Luna Park. Just keep it under $20, Luna Park. At least for Southern California residents with picture ID.

Luna Park
672 S. La Brea (right off of Wilshire)
M-Thu 11:30-10:30
Fri-Sa 5:30-11:30
Su 5:30-10:00