The Curious Palate — Restaurant in Santa Monica

The Curious Palate easily takes our top spot for best food in Santa Monica. It's located at a sunny, breezy spot at the top of the Santa Monica Place shopping center - and the restaurant's open design makes you feel like you're in a summer villa by the beach. The staff from the servers to the chefs to the owners are all extremely friendly and knowledgeable - you can feel how tight-knit and passionate they are about the food they serve. Now, about the food. It's hard to put a single label on what cusine they serve, spanning from the safe veggie wrap the the southern shrimp po'boy to the east Asian Banh Mi, the menu at once has it all and yet is quite short, with each item clearly crafted by an expert chef with love. I'm told that every ingredient is locally sourced and then made in-house, which would be an incredible feat. We ourselves started with the "nachos," and I can say that, for the first time, I can honestly say I found nachos "tasty." House-made chips were light with a satisfying crunch, incredibly fresh pico de gallo and guac lighten up the pork chili, and the combination of havarti and aged-cheddar just wrapped everything together perfectly (needless to say, we finished every bite). We then moved on to the entree, where we had the baja style fish tacos and the squash blossom. The fish tacos were, as you would expect, fresh and perfectly fried. However, the squash blossoms were particularly interesting. This consisted of light, flavorful goat cheese stuffed into squash blossoms (something I've never had before), lightly breaded, and fried. The result is this decadent, fun, and a little messy taco that we won't soon forget. For dessert, they have a variety of ice creams that they make in-house every day with fresh ingredients. We also got to try a number of their beers, hard ciders, and hard/soft kombuchas on tap. These were all locally sourced from California and amazing complements to the meal. We particularly liked the Local Roots hard kombucha, made from organic strawberry mint mojito, which had a light and refreshing body with only a small sour aftertaste from the fermentation. There is so much more we wish we could have tried at the Curious Palate, but, alas, our stomaches could only fit so much (we considered extending our trip an extra day just to eat here more!) If you've read to this point, what are you waiting for? Make your way over to The Curious Palate - you won't be...

My fiancee and I were visiting the LA area for vacation, and while going to visit the Santa Monica Pier, we parked at the nearby mall and noticed an ad in the garage for The Curious Palate. Something in particular called out to me about this place, and so I googled it, noticed it had a very unique and diverse menu, and thought the story of their founding was charming and heartfelt.

For lunch, we tried the broccolini with kumquats and a light chili oil marinade, along with swordfish tacos with sweet mango salsa. Both were delicious - the kumquats pared surprisingly well with the broccolini, and I really appreciate that the food had a bit of spicy kick to it. Everything tasted very fresh, made to order, using high-quality produce.

When you're in a place like LA, delicious food abounds. So, to go back the next day for a late lunch/early dinner before driving down to San Diego, says something about how much we enjoyed it. That day, we tried the satay tacos and the Kung Pao Chicken bowl. While the Kung Pao Chicken bowl is a bit different from what you may be used to with takeout American Chinese, this particular dish was still absolutely incredible. Flavorful, crispy, with the cilantro and peanuts giving it a refreshing taste. It came with numerous dipping sauces, like a spicy harissa and a hoisin sauce, both I believe home-made. Even the ketchup for the (cripsy and delicious) fries we had as a side was home-made.

The Curious Palate also carries a varied selection of mostly-local craft beer, too. As a beer enthusiast, this is very appreciated. The wait staff was very friendly and attentive (talking to us about our trip), decor was charming and casual, with paintings and posters adorning the walls. Don't let the fact that it's in a shopping mall deceive you, this definitely is a unique, homespun restaurant, with an expansive and creative menu. I just wish they'd open up a satellite branch over...

Edit 8/8/22: Wow! Go here! I stopped by with 3 friends and family to have a nice get together meal. Everyone was super impressed with their food and had a great time. The atmosphere was great, the food was amazing, and the server and owner were friendly as well. The owner stopped by again to tell us about where he gets all his ingredients and how everything is prepared. Super sweet people working there, and an awesome experience overall. I'll be stopping here every time I'm in Santa Monica.

We stopped by without looking into the reviews on our visit to the pier - and wow, am I glad we did!

The atmosphere is cozy and it wasn't busy or crowded at all (around 7pm on a weekday). The server was friendly and attentive, and the owner (I think he was the owner at least) also stopped by to check in on us, and was clearly involved with the everyday running of the restaurant.

The menu was unique without being too over the top, and everything we ordered was delicious. I ordered a kids meal PBJ to get a smaller portion size and it was perfect for me and only $9, and they cut the crust off which I thought was adorable. The full size portions are reasonable (not too much and not too little) and the prices are more than fair for how tasty everything was. The kids meal comes with standard heinz ketchup, but if you order the "adult" meal they give you ketchup that they make in-house. I was offered the homemade ketchup to swap if I wanted, since I am not a kid, which was nice of them to consider.

I got a blackberry basil spritzer, which was a bit on the pricey side (I think $4 or $5) but it was delicious and a good non-alcoholic drink choice, which is often hard to find.

Attached a few photos of my dinner (Blackberry PBJ kids meal and Blackberry Basil Spritzer) so you can get an idea of...