Wood Spoon - Los Angeles

We loved this place. The location is small but instead of feeling cramped it felt homey and warm. I loved the design of the restaurant from the artwork on...

4+ full disclosure: went here a few years ago and putting this up for posterity reasons. They've been temporarily closed for a while now and not sure if...

I circled once and was lucky to find metered parking a block away, easy for a Wednesday night. Saw this restaurant on Infatuation, TimeOut, and Eater and...

In a small room in downtown LA, Wood Spoon is a decent place for lunch or dinner. I tried several different things after a few trips. The sandwiches are very good and delicious. The grilled specialities could leave large eaters a little hungry, but the different meats I tried were juicy and tasty, like the plentiful sides that come with them. The appetizers are pretty good, but a little pricy for how much you get – my favorite is something like shrimp dumplings. Prices are very reasonable, not over $15. Parking at night is also quite easy to find.

In the past, when I went to any kind of Brazilian restaurant, it was churascarria that is a Brazilian BBQ restaurant. There were other Brazilian restaurants out there, right? Well, there is and one goes under the name Wood Spoon. Before I even come to dinner, I really need to mention their unique signage. While the words “Wood Spoon” were placed discretely on the restaurant windows, the actual sign above the restaurant entrance was a painting of a wooden spoon. Sweet, what? When I entered Wood Spoon, I liked the room. While minimalist, the simple walls were broken by two colorful paintings. With the yellow seats, yellow flowers on the tables and sunflowers on the windows, it felt really bright and airy inside. So let's talk about food now. I started my meal with fresh lemonade and it was really fresh. They had made a game just before we all put on order. While my personal preference would like to drink the lemonade a bit more, it was still a very refreshing drink. I started my meal with two different appetizers. We had the Pastel Portuguese and the Coxhina. The Pastel Portuguese was basically a deep-fried “dumpling” filled with shrimps boiled in coconut sauce and cilantro and came with a very addictive mayonnaise. What I liked about the Pastel Portuguese is that, although it was deep-fried, it had a lightness and tenderness for it that was surprising. The bread crumbs were pretty good and one could say that they did not overwhelm the emptying to death. The shrimps had a beautiful texture and the e-sweet of the shrimps and coconut sauce went well with the “greener” bite of the Zilantro. I think the drop-shaped Coxhina uses the same dough components as the Pastel Portuguese and the chicken filling in the Coxhina was great. The shredded chicken filling was moist, tender and tasty with or without the Mayonaisse. I have actually added a little of this Brazilian chili pepper sauce to the chicken and loved the kick he gave me to my taste buds. For my leading actor, I chose the Brazilian Chicken Pot Pie. My, oh my, that was the best chicken pancake I ever had. When the court first arrived, I couldn't believe how big it was. I took half of it home. Apart from the size that caught my attention, I also thought it looked beautiful. The outside of the cake was golden brown and it had a large wooden spoon accent on the top of the cake. The cake crust was also amazing flaky and the filling made from chicken with heart of palm, potato, olives and roasted maize was absolutely delicious. I liked the addition of olives. It only added the correct amount of saltiness without overwhelming. I also liked how the corn added a beautiful juicy pop in your mouth when eaten with the other ingredients. Overall, this cake was stellar and a must try. I wanted to try the Pork Burger and the Yam Fritten, I actually shared an order with someone else in the group, not to see how big the chicken pot would be cake. But the Pork Burger was also quite large, even only half. I took a few bites to taste and take the rest home with the other half of my chicken pancake. Even with just these few bites I can see why it's such a popular dish at Wood Spoon. It was moist and had a lot of taste. Look only the burger in half, you can definitely see the variety of spices they put in the meat. I also loved roasted cabbage and onions that surround the burger. The roasted onions added a beautiful little sweetness due to their caramelization. When the meal was over, I was pretty crowded, but I tried a Bricadeiro the waiter called Brazilian chocolate truffles. I think of everything I tried this afternoon, this Brazilian chocolate truffle is not much for me. It had a chewing, potty texture that was not to my taste. When the meal was wounded, the owner, Nathalia, came to say "Hello" to the group was really nice of her and to see how everything went and how we liked the food. I'd have to say she got a lot of us, too. Wood Spoon is definitely a welcome addition to the restaurant scene. The service was great, the waiting staff was really friendly and the food was great. I really enjoyed my culinary experience there and encourage everyone to try. You won't regret it.