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I’ve heard the accolades for Mark Gold’s latest, Eva Restaurant, time and again. But with so much hype, I was skeptical — Was it actually good? There was no time like Dine L.A.’s Restaurant Week to find out, so a couple of weeks ago a group of fellow food lovers and I went for dinner. And yes, it was actually that good, even for a prix fixe meal.

My fellow diners — Lindsay of LAist, Esther of e*starLA, Caroline of Caroline on Crack, H.C. of L.A. and O.C. Foodventures, and Natalie of The Liquid Muse — managed to order one of everything on the Dine L.A. menu, so none of us missed out. I had the carrot soup with candied ginger to start, and it was a great way to begin a meal. Creamy with a hint of spiciness really hit the spot. The chestnut agnolotti, or little ravioli, were buttery, and the hamachi dish was light and fresh. All winners.

Carrot soup

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L.A.’s Restaurant Week is starting back up this weekend (Jan. 24 to Jan. 29, and Jan. 31 to Feb. 5), and to kick off the event, which comes just about three months after the last incarnation wrapped up, Dine L.A. (the city’s food arm of its tourism board, L.A. INC.) threw a party at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Lots of chefs were there, some wearing their chef jackets (Ben Ford, Joachim Splichal) and others not (Ludovic Lefebvre, Marcel Vigneron), as was Mayor Villaraigosa, but what event hasn’t he shown up to? Anyway, the party was catered by the hotel’s Dakota Chop House, 25 Degrees and Library Bar. Here are some of my favorites.

By far the standout food items at the event were the drinks. The arugula gimlet, made with gin, lime, agave and micro arugula, was not only gorgeous but also very, very tasty — and I don’t like gin.

This photo was taken after I had been drinking it for a while; the micro arugula was originally sitting on top

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