so there's this french maid serving sushi in an art gallery

Haha... you think I'm joking.

I wholeheartedly believe that if you can think up some business idea, no matter how extravagant, you can probably find some manifestation of it here in Los Angeles. And if its not already in existence here, LA is probably one of the few places where your crazy idea might actually fly. Yesterday, my mom came up from San Diego (home to beautiful beaches but lackluster restaurants) to visit for the day. I decided I wanted to give her a memorable taste of LA. Lucky for me, her trip coincided perfectly with DineLA's restaurant week, where over 100 top notch restaurants in the area participate by providing delicious three course meals at set (and decently affordable) prices. I'd spent a good amount of time researching restaurants online, so before she arrived, I picked out an intriguing cafe from the list called Royal/T Cafe. Its located near downtown Culver City in the art district. When we arrived, we realized just how well it was suited for its locale.


The first thing I laid eyes on when I walked in the door was a enormous white dog (think the Victoria's Secret pooch the size of a baby elephant and made of plastic). This and many other Japanese influenced art pieces sat behind a wall of glass. The simple gallery space was dotted with colorful pieces of all different media, and there was a store so you could take home your very own memorabilia. We made our way to the back of the room where we were greeted by a rosy cheeked hostess in a French maid outfit. No joke. I read up on it a little and found out that this is somewhat of a commonality in some high profile restaurants in Japan. French maids serving you coffee and milk tea... Who knew? We took our seats and ordered from a Japanese/French inspired menu ( my appetizer was bruschetta, main course: spicy tuna tar tar). Our meal was deeeelicious. And it looked good too. Of course, I'm one of those people who think presentation deserves a large percentage of the score (I'm going to be decorating cupcakes for a living, remember?). There was art everywhere to make for good conversation as well. All in all, my mom and I had a fabulous meal and a quite unique dining experience. Only in LA, I say. The next restaurant on my wish list: Opaque, where your tire meal is consumed in utter darkness! Stay tuned =).