AK Restaurant + Bar

Space is fantastic, an obscure front entrance opens into a thoughtfully planned, airy dining room/​bar area that’s perfect for a dressy-​casual, cocktail start to an evening out. Service is superior to most other restaurants on Abbott Kinney. The main dishes are consistently well prepared, whereas the starters can be hit and miss.
If you go for a large group dinner, you may be seated upstairs where the behind-​the-​scenes live-​video of what’s happening in the kitchen is projected… cool video art.

A+ for service and the space — pretty, airy, light twinkling off glasses, etc. The quintessential Venice interior, not as heavy as Beechwood, not as hippy dippy kitschy as other places.
Food…mostly OK. A cute little radish appetizer, served with sea salt and unsalted butter, very crisp. Octopus appetizer, OK. I liked it because I grew up with that taste, but you may think it’s too dark.
Fish was v. good, my friend loved it and so did I, and the burgers are legit. Do not under any circumstances order the beef chuck — I have no idea why I did, was feeling an iron deficiency coming on I guess, but it was gristly and inedible. I know better, probably not their fault, but why even serve it? The potatoes were delicious tho.
Good wine list, great drinks at the bar — excellent bartender. She is adorable and will make you anything you ask for from scratch or dream something up for you, and the drinks are not as treacly as at Copa D’Oro.
Our waiter was lovely. Oh, and they took off my steak without me even saying anything, just because I left most of it on the plate and they figured I didn’t like it. C-​lassy. With a capital C.
I’ll go back, and order something other than the beef chuck. OK, OK, I know I’m an idiot.

Chic and Fashion Forward, describes this trendy eatery. The design is cool with a retro flavor. Speaking of flavor, our first courses were excellent. Terrific flavor combinations executed perfectly. Our dessert [The Bing Cherry Soup] was equally delightful. As for the main course, I had the Halibut, my partner had the Salmon. Both were beautifully presented with brilliant flavor combinations but both fish were over done and very dry; I let the chef to prepare the Halibut as he would but my partner asked for medium rare on his Salmon. I believe AK deserves another look and will consider it for the future. Reservations by Open Table available.

Went to dinner on a Saturday night, and although I am a fan of anything Venice, I have to say honestly– I do love this place. The décor is very sleek with huge windows surrounding the main area. Although the restaurant is small, it feels very alive. The drinks were great (cocktails and wine both stellar) and our waitress was consistent and friendly. The busboys were ridiculously nice, loved them!
Menu wise, we had the artichoke (awesome, comes with 3 dipping sauces) and we shared the pork schnitzel and meatballs (comes with creamy and light mashed potatoes). I must say the meatballs were my absolute favorite but my guy friend LOVED the schnitzel. Side dish we had mac and cheese and it was rich and steaming, just perfect for sharing in my opinion. Dessert, no room for it but maybe next time!
Yes, the restaurant is loud. That means you can’t be lame and if you want the quietness of a library then get the hell out! Turn up your hearing aids folks, don’t bring your elderly grandparents here, stick to the early bird special. To that old man next to me who gave me a dirty look when I laughed out loud at something my friend said, get over it :)
One bad thing, we had made rezzies through open table and when we got there they had nothing in our name (could have been operator error, so fair enough) and we did have to wait a bit but no more than 15 – 20 minutes, nothing terrible and we hung out at the bar and had a cocktail– almost like it was meant to be!

This place is good. Don’t listen to the naysayers!
The salmon gravlax is nice and refreshing, but the «espresso honey mustard» sauce that comes with it really takes it to the next level. The AK herrings are similarly nice and refreshing… when you take a bite of herring, sour cream, green onion, and swedish cheese at the same time? MMM!
The smoked salmon loin /​lambs lettuce salad /​panko crusted fried organic egg dish is insane. When it’s all combined together, it may have been the dish of the night, I think. That unique salmon fattiness, with the gooiness AND crunchiness of that miraculous egg, calmed down just a tad by the lettuce? This was a masterpiece, I think.
Onto the entrees! The schnitzel dish is, unfortunately, not perfect. I mean, it IS cooked perfectly. One of the most tender and juicy pork cutlets that have ever existed. It’s pretty big, too. But the complement ingredients drizzled on top are too sparse. I wish there was something more exciting going on, you know? Maybe if you ordered a side along with it, it would help.
The ribeye with bearnaise is great. Every bite, I couldn’t believe how good it was. Easily better than the steak at most steakhouses.
On the subject of wine, the list is expansive and has a lot of variety. The pinot noir was insane. It smelled so good! I also tried the sangiovese, which wasn’t as mindblowing but still great.
I don’t normally get dessert, but I got a good feeling this time. So we went with the banana beignet. It came with a chocolate dipping sauce, mini coconut malt shake and pineapple carpaccio. Holy Santa Claus shit, this dessert was good. A bite out of the beignet dipped in chocolate, the pineapple carpaccio was SOMEHOW spicy (in a good way), then a spoonful of the godlike shake to calm down the heat. Wow.

After reading the LA Times review, I decided to check this place out with a foodie friend of mine. She was wowed by their wine menu. I was wowed by how packed it was on a Tuesday night and in this economic climate. I guess we Angelenos eat when we’re depressed huh?
We got the tasting menu, and we were impressed by most of it. The salmon gravlax, the grilled artichoke, the duck breast and the mini berry cobbler are worth returning for. The Swedish items, which I expected to be the highlights, were just okay.
It’s pretty loud in there, somehow amplified by the walls, so expect to shout a little for the conversation, or you could do what I did and just get drunk and gorge.

The ambiance is great, the food is nothing incredible, but it’s good. The chef adds some interesting Swedish flair (like lingonberry accents and delicious herring). Overall it’s solid.
One word of caution — thier white wine is stored in thier cellar, and not as cold as it should be when served. It just means you have to wait for it to get a little colder.

I live right down the street from AK and love this place. They seem to have taken their time playing with the menu, chalkboard specials, etc. to make it as appealing to its customers as possible. My boyfriend and I went in the first week it opened and dined in the regular dining room and had a great experience in spite of some small glitches – it was way too warm on one side of the table – he was sweating and we actually had to switch chairs. However, the food and service were impeccable which gave us both a lasting impression. Since then, i often find a seat at the bar and order up small plates which are more than filling and offer a range of tastes. Devin, the bar manager, is the nicest man to have ever served me drinks, and make everyone feel welcome. I go back knowing that the food is fresh, exceptionally crafted, and my experience is always looked after.

My dear friends took me to this lovely restaurant for my birthday and I loved it. The place is warm and stylish, there are tall big tables and short ones creating a funky contrast between low heads and high heads. Food was great, I had the flank steak and it almost melt in my mouth, the chocolate mousse was divine. The only thing i did not like its the noise, it is very hard to have a conversation with your friends.
I will go back anytime.

This Cal-​Swedish restaurant was hopping last Friday night when I checked it out. We had a reservation so we could sit in the front room, the back/​bar room is communal tables for walk-​ins.
Standout were the smoked salmon apps. One was grav lax, quite tasty and nicely presented. The salad with a poached egg fried in panko, with some smoked salmon underneath was also wonderful.
Entrees were enjoyable but not as good as the apps. The duck entrée however was delicious and I would order it again. The Bif dish from the Scandinavian section of the menu was like a hamburger with a fried egg on top, sitting in a nice tick sauce with diced potatoes and veggies. A bit pricey at $ 24. I would rather have just had a burger or a steak at that point, so not something to recommend.
But I will return. The wines by the glass were reasonably priced and very generously poured.

Was my second time at AK and was once again extremely happy. Great service, cool atmosphere and great food!
Hope these guys are around for a long time!

After reading the review in the LA times I was super excited to try out AK. Since I’m out of town for Valentines, I decided to take the lady to an early Valentines day dinner. The restaurant itself is absolutely gorgeous and the service was seamless and spot on. I thought I had totally hit it out of the park with this place. However like that extremely hot woman you see at a bar, it had major flaws brewing underneath the surface. For one, the chic looking fireplace did a poor job of keeping my date warm. She kept her coat on the entire night and I even got a little chilly in my jeans and long collared shirt. Then there was the acoustics of the place. We sat next to a rather bellicose foursome with British accents going off about their latest sexual conquest. Probably not the best ambient noise for our pseudo-​Valentines dinner.
After reading Irene S’s review, I was really looking forward to trying out Scandinavian food. I won’t lie, I think it’s because of Stephan kicking ass on Top Chef. However on Sunday night, the meatballs were unavailable. Also I was looking forward to trying the baby frizee with the fried poached egg on top but I didn’t see it anywhere on the menu. In fact, the only salmon I recall being on the menu was grilled which didn’t seem appealing.
We both opted for the 3 course Sunday dinner prix fixe. The food was good, but nothing earth shattering. The tomato bisque was too tart for my date and I’m just as happy with the stuff I get out of the carton at Trader Joes. The small salad with citrus wedges was just that, small and only had two pieces of fruit. The brisket entrée also came with the tiniest scoop of mashed potatoes leaving me really needing more starch on the plate. And finally the crème brûlée was ok, but the wafer that came with it had the consistency of a hockey puck. Also in retrospect, their website said we’d have a choice between two entrees but the option was never offered. Plus, I don’t recall the waitress ever pointing out any specials or offering any advice on the menu.
My date, «could still eat» after the four courses and we debated hitting up Titos Tacos on the way home. All in all, I’d say AK probably has good food, they just weren’t putting their best food forward with the recession special Sunday night prix fixe, which in this economy is probably understandable. I just figure for a $ 100 meal for two, stick to Animal or Cobras Y Matadores.

So, I’ve been «free riding» on Unilocal for ages, reading reviews but not contributing. And, I usually find the Unilocal reviews to be insightful and accurate. But, my experience AK two weeks ago finally motivated me to add my 2 cents. I really wanted to like this place, and I’m happy to pay $$$ for fine food and ambiance, but AK is severely lacking on several fronts.
First off, the space is beautiful but poorly designed. When your enormous front door is so non-​functional that you have to leave it open in spite of cold weather, prompting you to use patio heaters INSIDE, you should sue your architect/​designer
Second, when glasses of wine start at $ 12 and entrees range from $ 24 and up — before you start adding the $ 9 sides — then I hope for great food, or at least really good. Alas, it was not to be. The skirt steak, gnocchi, artichokes, and onion soup were all just «meh». Brussel sprouts rose to the level of «pretty good» but that’s not enough to justify a $ 100 tab.
Finally, the service was beyond SLOW. Apps came out at a decent time but the wait for entrees was interminable. For an 8:15 reservation the entrees didn’t hit the table until just after 10:00 pm, on a Thursday night, at which point we were one of only three tables still trying to eat. Really? Why? Waitress was apologetic, but there’s just no excuse for that.
Sigh. So, so disappointing.

I came to AK with my girlfriend and her mom this week so we could check out this new restaurant on Abbot Kinney. I’m a fan of a lot of the restaurants lining the street and I’m happy to say that AK is a great new addition, adding high end and delicious food to Venice. The décor is a very cool update of 1960’s modern design. The staff was friendly and attentive. Our waitress was sweet and took care of us without being annoying. The food came out quickly, and damn was it good.
The meal started with hot and crusty herb bread and butter. My first check mark for a good restaurant is the quality of the bread, and AK passed this with flying colors. After we ordered we were brought an amuse to start with: seabass and scallop ceviche in mint jelly: wow. Perfect palate cleanser and an unexpected combination of flavors.
For appetizers we shared the mushroom toast, which was really good, but my girlfriend wished it was a bigger portion. We also had the artichokes 3 ways: I loved the choke and parmesan salad, liked the fritter, but wasn’t a fan of the choke potage. The flavor was fine, but I don’t like cold soups so i’m biased. My gf on the other hand thought it was great. Entrees: I had the short ribs, cooked for 72 hours, and put over truffle mash and whole small onions. It was a fantastic dish, perfectly cooked to soft and meat-​sweet deliciousness, and put a «heavenly» smile on my face according to the gf. She had the arctic char and she loved it. I sampled it and agree that it was delicious. Her mom had the shnitzel that we all loved. I usually don’t like shnitzel, but this piece of pork was thick and juicy and breaded just the right amount. By the way, let me add that the food was presented beautifully. Each plate was placed in front of us at the same time, and looked gorgeous.
We were stuffed at the end of our meals so we all shared some blood orange sorbet for desert. It was served on a layer of crumbled cookie, awesome! And to top it all off, the waitress brought us a complimentary desert of chocolate covered cashews with homemade marshmallows! We ate it so quickly that the waitress brought us a second plate without even asking :).
My only regret is not ordering the swedish meatballs & gravlax because I never see Scandinavian food on menus and they sound amazing.
I’m looking forward to coming back for dinner, but they also just started serving weekend brunch so I’ll have to check that out too.

The food was excellent which is what often happens when and an award winning chef uses fresh, organic ingredients. The presentation like the décor was modern elegance without any pomp. We shared a couple of Swedish dishes and a few sides for the table, sharing our food family style, fun!
There were the Swedish meatballs, whipped potatoes and lingonberry preserves.
Aquavit cured salmon gravlax, crisp salmon skin, espresso honey mustard– my photography does not do the presentation justice here.
The sides were so good; I could have made a meal of them. Green beans, toasted pine nuts, shallots, black olive salt.
Amazing crispy Vidalia onions with warm Roquefort cream on the side.
And the spaetzle. yum!
On the far right of the cheese plate are the oven roasted grapes, a great touch! The upside down cheesecake was a great way to end the meal.
Here’s the thing: food and presentation together were better than the service and noise level. The server was kind, she just didn’t know the menu all that well. She probably was new, like the restaurant. Oh, the noise! Conversation was difficult in the main dining room. Next time I’ll try the room upstairs, the hostess said it was quieter up there.
And one more thing: there’s this bench on the back wall in the main dining room. People who are seated there (like I was) sit a few inches higher than all of the chairs in the dining room making the people not sitting on the bench look, well. kinda small. It was an odd, annoying detail, incongruent with the rest of the place.

The food at AK is quite solid and a bit more upscale than the other new kid on the block, GJelina. Seek out the European and Scandinavian dishes — herring, gravlax, spaetzle, and the like. Very easy to make a tapas style meal of appetizers. Two large communal tables if you’re just a walk in or looking for something quick.

When you are actually at the restaurant sitting in the window as they change the health code rating from B to A, though it causes a bit of disturbance, it is technically a good thing. There was a moment of silence however; a moment when time stopped and no one dared to breathe or speak as they took down the B in fear that a C would come up in its place.
Part of my hesitation over the changing of the letter came because I wasn’t too thrilled with the food or the service. There are some major kinks to be worked out on this new restaurant. My opinion is that all the pieces are there; good ingredients, well thought menu, great concept, and some great staff members. I think management are using tools purchased at Ikea rather than Home Depot and things aren’t as strong as they should be.
First off, our waiter was in a suit rather than the uniform of the others so I am assuming he is a manager. He didn’t really have the time to schmooze us. All of the bus boys and other waiters seemed to be so sweet and attentive.
The artichoke 3 ways was a great concept but the «soup» section had the consistency of cool whip and not the best flavor either. The fritter one was delicious and so was the salad with pecorino and truffle oil. The lamb sirloin was our most anticipated and most unfortunate dish. The slices of lamb sirloin were sadly over cooked and luke warm which clearly meant the dish was sitting out — and obviously so because we waited about 30 minutes. There was great potential on the dish though but none of which could help the over cooked meat. It has a spice rub of dukka which is an excellent under used spice. And on the plate was a trace amount of coriander saffron sauce that was excellent but I needed much more. To boot, there was no medjool dates as mentioned on the menu and that was one of our selling points to order.
For side dish we had butternut squash gnocchi. The dumplings were nice and dense but the dish lacked an acid or salt. We also had what resembled a falafal ball that was made of spinach with a small amount of goat cheese on the inside. The ball had a lot of coriander — seed and leaf — taste to it. It didn’t knock my socks off.
Wine list is small but satisfactory. I really liked my Rhone blend. Desserts were simple and tasty. The décor is great and the restaurant will serve as a great addition to Venice especially once the kinks are worked out in the kitchen.

Bottom line…
Delicious food, great wine, great service.
The atmosphere was lovely. The wait service was top notch. The food was perfect. We had a squash soup, a salad with endive, blue cheese, nuts, apples, etc. Steak, fish, a cheese plate that was to DIE for and amazing homemade ice cream and bread pudding. The pudding was so buttery and delicious that one could be convinced to roll around in it naked.
Really a great meal, a fab place and a lovely experience.
Yum. Enjoy

I went here for the first time on Saturday. The place is pretty cool… there’s an outdoor patio, a bar area, and then an upstairs for diners with a tv projecting what’s going on in the kitchen. The food was good, the service was great, and there was a relaxing and cool vibe going on.
To start, we received an amuse bouche. Ever since I saw the Top Chef premire two seasons back, I’m pretty obsessed with any place that offers an amuse bouche. It was a pureed sweet potato. Perfect. As an appetizer, my boyfriend and I shared an artichoke cooked three ways (fried, shaved with baby arugula and shaved parm, and some other exotic way that was pureed or something). I have to say I had trouble picking an appetizer because they all sounded so great.
For entrée, I had the cod with these tomatoes cooked so sweet and yummy. My boyfriend had the kompachi, again with some sweet delish tomatoes, and then a ginger pickled cabbage. We shared a side, spinach and goat cheese balls that was served with some tomato sauce (they must love tomatoes). It was so good… it sorta tasted like a spinach, goat cheese, falafal. Since we had some wine left over, we had some cheese for dessert… came with some crispy warm grilled bread, nuts, and jam.
I was a satisfied girl when I left, so I’ll be going back.

Jeepers ‘n javlar — what a scene!
To get to AK, Pig walks up a wood– panel-​edged sidewalk into a milling, two-​story, hipster cube with glass walls, and front bamboo-​walled patio — a Danish Modern box with flickering video upstairs, an al fresco flame wall downstairs, and pooled yellow lights that remind Pig of Palm Springs by Frank Gehry. This end of Abbott Kinney has already gotten so cool it’s practically frigid, and now this blast of Scandinavian glacee is the icing on the fashionable cake. Pig notes that the sound system is playing The Dining Rooms, for hip’s sake. What’s next, Laura Veirs?
With sleekly gorgeous blonde/​brunette cocktail waitresses, more Nordic dudes in slicks, and an enchante Asian-​American bartender who actually seems to like people — well, Pig had no belief the food would be anything other than mild to middling okay — you can’t be hip, gorgeous AND substantive, not even Laura Veirs is all that. (See her hairdo now?) And the bathroom sink has rocks in it. That’s too cool.
And yet, when the odd, Mondrian-​shaped platings came out, the saliva shot out of Pig’s nose and mouth, and his tongue darted out, lizard-​like, around six carlsbad luna oysters, on a bed of near dry ice. Pig chased ‘em down with a cucumber black pepper kaffir lime — horseradish– meyer lemon confit that had top notes of supergood. Next, fisting the equally odd dinnerware, Pig stabbed at dinner. and pretty much died of joy from cuisine that rocked so hard it made the milled wood flooring seem cushiony.
Maaalrkrjlekjs snoort.
Swedish for eat it. Eat it good.
Conny Andersson, the former chef at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons, shoots top foodie bits out of his televised kitchen (images are beamed to the flat screen in the upstairs party box room, so no chef in the kitchen sous line can wipe French brioche toast over his pudenda ‘to taste’). Emerging from the white kitchen via the Artillery of Gustavus comes cannonades of starters llike Scandinavian aquavit cured salmon gravlax.
Next, Party Girl gets steamed blue mussels, along with duck sausage, piquillio peppers, pistachio parsley pesto.
Le Girl gets –shazam! — a young frisée salad, smoked salmon loin on poached, breaded/​fried organic egg. Are you kidding with the inventiveness, chef? No. Swedes never kid.
Party Girl now gets her entrée on — a scottish organic cod saltimbocca, duck prosciutto, crispy saged. Pig orders braised beef short ribs bourguignonne, with truffle mash. The meat, cooked for 72 hours, is the best plat du short ribs Pig’s ever had — that includes L’Medieve in Pay-​ree. Bar none.
Bar One! At the crowded bar with its Bau Haus Swedish modern design touches of blond wood, Pig spots, amidst the picklepacked Hollywood trendies… omigod… it’s novelist Robert freakin’ Stone! Pig hasn’t seen a hipster like this since Pig’s mis-​en-​scene Venice began to mis-​en-​scene. Stone! Robert Stone! The great novelist of the metaphorical sixties, the Godfather of Rosseauian Soul, Riding the zeitgiest from ’50’s Cassady to 60’s M-16’s and Electric Keseyians — Robert Stone!
He’s sipping something cool that looks like the clientele.
The clientele (trendies and celebrity– packed) makes Pig scream with happiness.
Pig is extremely shallow.
Le Girl burps langorously and orders a preserved caper remoulade, tempura avocado, five sprout salad. Pig is too stuffed to steal her food, but it lights up her big brown eyes.
Bevies of bar hotties are cooling down in the recesses of the mint green Mondrian box bar by sipping Duval Leroy Blanc de Blanc. There are also leggy, lippy comelies scattered like wedding petals up the steps to the second floor. This place is so packed– on a Thursday! Pig can barely move. You gotta be faux brutal here to shamble to the pissoir, the downstairs bar crowd is milling cheek to millineried chic, my fellow puercos. Why, it’s like the Nouvelle Depression hasn’t even happened!
So, this answers the question — how good is AK going to be?
Um. Real good.
AK is clearly le tout monde’s new scene — but here’s the good news — the trendies can’t ruin the food.
Party Girl and Le Girl have a Donald Russell dessert (Russell was lately of the Four Seasons Beverly Hills, as was Chef Conny.) PIg grabs some of Donald’s double baked bourbon whiskey crème brulee, and oatmeal tuille (Frog for cookie) — sweet mother of St. Monica and Todd Haynes, it’s darned good, with a skin of caramel that crunches into melting vanilla depth.
So come for the glacee chic crowd, but stay for the Viking Chef’s provender. That’s what Pig did.
See Venice and die.
Conny Andersson has paddled his long boat of gustatory genius to anchor at the hippest end of this former lagoon of Dogtown.
Top chef! In the hottest box in town. You might want to go while they’re still friendly and not snooty. Food this good could bring Garbo attitude. But not yet…
For now, Garbo is still smiling — and you might find her doppelgänger, cool and beautiful, at the ba