It is rare that a restaurant so completely transports you from your surroundings that you forget you’re on a charming little street in a suburb of LA called Montrose. Three Drunken Goats successfully takes diners on a journey to Spain with an impressive and well-edited menu and a relaxed ambience. The pace of the service isn’t slow, but might be a much-needed reminder that each dish should be savored and that the delightfully dim booths are meant to be lingered in. This tapas and wine bar is suitable for meandering through a variety of small dishes like charcuterie, cheese, and other great small bites, or a full dinner with the tapas as just the prelude to an equally fantastic main course.
With about twenty small tapas style plates to choose from, the decision is tough because each one sounds more delicious than the next. Must haves include the golden beet salad with herbed goat cheese and arugula and the piquillo stuffed with idiazabal, a dish our waitress explains is a sweet and spicy pepper stuffed with a cheese a little like Gouda. She’s got great suggestions and is very helpful when having to choose. For the more adventurous eaters, give the grilled octopus with fingerling potato salad with chorizo a try. Every dish here is an excellent mix of flavors and textures that never disappoints.
While there are larger dinner plates, nothing here is enormous, and that’s all the better. With so many small plates you can try a little of everything, and at their reasonable prices you won’t break the bank on your culinary adventure. The braised short ribs are tender and served over a “smashed potato,” a baked potato that’s been flattened to create a perch for the small, but flavorful, meat among the rich stew-like vegetable sauce. Other hits include the skirt steak, and the scallops wrapped in jamon Serrano.
For those craving true tastes of Spain, order the paella, at some of the most reasonable prices ever seen in LA. And for those that haven’t had a taste of jamon Serrano, prepare to be amazed by some of the most amazing ham to hit the States. Pair it with a great cheese, a good glass of wine, and you could have an entire meal right there. To top the meal off, get the churros for dessert. Forget everything you thought you knew about churros from Dodger Stadium and Disneyland; these are the real deal. Light and airy, tossed in cinnamon and sugar, the churros come with a chocolate sauce for dipping, a cup of thick, bittersweet, rich, rich chocolate. It’s perfection, and just they way they serve in Spain too.
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