About a week ago Eric and Phil went to Royal Claytons which recently "soft opened" in their neighborhood at the Toy Factory Lofts. When Eric and I were trodding around Downtown 2 weeks ago that's all he could talk about. I knew immediately that I had to get my little butt there ASAP. Especially when he said they held out trying the crab cake appetizer until I joined them. Me being a Maryland girl (Maryland is for Crabs) and all...
So in honor of Phil's birthday we went there for dinner tonight. The restaurant will be having an official opening night party on Thursday complete with civil dignitaries and the press so don't be surprised when you start to hear more about this place in the coming weeks.
It occupies the ground floor of the Toy Factory Lofts in the heart of the Warehouse District? Industrial District? Downtown. When you enter there is a decent sized dining area to the right and lounge area with pool table and plasma screen TV's to the left. The ambiance is warm and inviting complete with dim lighting and lots of candles. We sat at a table with a window view of the soon to be converted National Biscuit Company Lofts and immediately ordered drinks and the crab cake appetizer while we debated our main course options.
Between the 3 of us there was hardly a spec of food left when all was said and done. I opted for the Sea Bass (Fennel Encrusted), Eric had the Tempura Battered Fish & Chips and Phil had Chicken and Veggies. For dessert we moved to the bar area for a change of scenery and had some sort of dreamy orange cheesecake and chocolate explosion cake.
My area of expertise is not writing about food so I'll leave that uber breakdown to the Chowhound people and Pat at Eating L.A. I know that I loved every single piece of food that touched my lips.
A big thank you to the owners for opening a restaurant up in that part of town. Eric and Phil are ecstatic to be able to actually walk to a nice restaurant in their neighborhood. Once the Nabisco Lofts open and the misplaced Mill Street thing goes up that little block will be a vibrant slice of Downtown life for those who have taken up residence in the area.
By the way....Sweet Freedom Developments, the people who run this restaurant, will be opening Dietrichs below the Hellman building later this year. It will feature 1920's decor, a cigar bar, smoking room and have space for live musical acts...13,000 square feet of space, not 1,300 square feet as recently reported by the Downtown News.
Pictures from this evening's adventures can bee seen here. Enjoy!
x
I'm sad Steve and I haven't had a chance to go yet! Hopefully soon. Thanks for the heads up.
Posted by: Rick | September 27, 2006 at 03:37 PM
Sha;
Thank you for comming in for dinner at Royal Claytons. As one of the owners of Sweet Freedom and a reader of your blog it was cool to see that you enjoyed our place. We really wanted to bring a neighborhood taven to this area, a place you might find in NYC or London, a place to meet friends, play pool and make you own. And if the greater City finds us, all the better. Next time you are in make sure you find Brian Lenzo, another Sweet Feedom owner, we always want to be nice to people who like what we do. We are now open for lunch and hopefully will serve breakfast by the end of the month. Thanks again.
Posted by: George Kelly | October 02, 2006 at 04:16 AM
I love the restaurant too! I'm hosting a great party there this Sat Oct 7th from 10pm to 2am for all you downtown dwellers.
There will be $2 drink specials on Cosmos and Apple Martinis from 10 to 11pm. So come early and stay for the night!
www.myspace.com/akanoel
Posted by: Noel | October 02, 2006 at 07:09 PM
Looks like a really neat place - hopefully I can join you next time... great pics hot momma!!
Posted by: Lisa | October 05, 2006 at 02:43 PM
I also enjoy this place and think its only going to get better and better the more downtown's developing moves along.
Posted by: david bullock | October 21, 2006 at 07:54 PM