Abode Restaurant and Lounge

So one day I get an email from DailyCandy telling me that there's a little place called Abode that opened recently (recently as in March or April this year) that has a tasty prix fixe brunch. Apparently, this little prix fixe includes three courses plus a glass of booze. Booze? Sold.

April and I got a reservation for two (completely unnecessary but more on that later) for 11am on a Saturday. It was quite an ordeal trying to find the place, I had driven around the block a few times and we still couldn't see the place, although we had sort of approximated the location. Turns out, I had obtained some silly address that had told me it was on 2nd street when in truth it's on Ocean...plus the restaurant is set waaay back from the street, so whether you'd be able to see it whilst driving on Ocean is debatable. It's right in between Il Fornaio and some Japanese place, just in case you were wondering.

When we got there it was completely empty. So much for reservations. April said that it seemed like they had just opened, which is probably true. Anyhow, the two of us ended up with a very romantic circular booth flanked by sheer panels of fabric. The decor is very earthy modern.

We both got the prix fixe brunch with mimosas and April ordered coffee. When you order coffee, they bring you a french press and leave it at your table for you to pour at your leisure.

Before they brought out the first course they started us off with some bread: a croissant, a couple slices of chocolate chip muffin, and two teensy little blueberry scones plus some butter. The croissant was a standard croissant, good but nothing special. The muffin slices and scones were delicious!

For the first course of our brunches we had both chosen the blueberry lemon pancakes. What we got were three little blueberry pancakes with lemon curd (plus the requisite butter and syrup) on the side. These pancakes were fantastic. Instead of being dotted with blueberries, the pancakes were all filled with what tasted like blueberry jam. I used butter and lemon curd on mine and quite sorry when I had finished them.

For the second course I had chosen eggs benedict while April opted for an omelet. My eggs came with piles of what I think was prosciutto and a pile of salad with a tasty vinaigrette, which complemented the eggs and meat nicely. The eggs themselves were average, but the inclusion of the salad saved the whole dish from mediocrity.

The last course was a dessert course. April decided to get fruit since she wanted something lighter and I got the sorbet trio because I'm a pig. What ended up happening was I got three tiny scoops of sorbet while her fresh fruit ended up being a huge portion of blueberries and sliced strawberries that she couldn't really finish.

I had three flavors of sorbet: coconut, chocolate, and I want to say kiwi but in all honesty I kind of forgot (that's what happens when you let too much time pass). I don't care so much for coconut milk, but the fruit sorbet was good (refreshing) and the chocolate was absolutely decadent. Very chocolaty and not overly sweet or creamy. I'm a fan of dark chocolate and this is definitely my idea of a good chocolate sorbet.

In conclusion, I would say this place is worth a revisit and I think I would definitely want to check out its dinner menu one of these days. Has anyone else tried this place? I'd like to know what it's like on, say, a Saturday night.

Dress Code: Kind of a trendy, upscale place. Don't come in your pajamas.

Price: I didn't look at anything aside from the prix fixe menu hence the $20-$40 guesstimate (the prix fixe was $28).

Location:

Abode Restaurant and Lounge
1541 Ocean Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90401