Ink is one of my favorite go-to restaurants in Los Angeles. One of my closest friends was in town for the weekend, so I looked into making a Saturday night reservation the day before. There weren’t a lot of options in the 7-8:30pm time frame, so I was pleasantly surprised when Ink was available for a prime 8:00pm reservation. I nabbed it immediately.

The atmosphere was exactly what I expected and wanted for the evening. The space was dimly lit, and the crowd was young, friendly, and very much into the food. The overall feel was trendy, but a casual sort of trendy that made us feel totally at ease. All of our small plate style dishes were delicious, and the service was excellent, making for a terrific evening of dining. Below are the dishes that we had:

Little gems. Burrata, anchovy cracker, lemon dressing. The little gem lettuce was crunchy and nicely seasoned with lemon dressing. The burrata, which is hiding below the lettuce in this picture, was creamy and refreshing. I even enjoyed the anchovy cracker, which reminded me of the shrimp-flavored chips my mom used to fry when I was little.

Corn. Housemade ranch “foritos”, nori, green onion. The corn, which was seasoned with green onion, was creamy and sweet. I especially enjoyed the “foritos” chips, which tasted like Doritos chips except less salty and more spicy.

Egg yolk gnocchi. Mushroom brown butter, hen of the woods. This was one of my favorite plates from the last time I was at Ink, and it was just as good as I remembered this time around. The egg yolk inside the buttery gnocchi oozed out seductively with each bite. The mushroom was a nice complement, adding extra pops of woodsy flavor.

Octopus. Ink, shells, young fennel, pimenton. The octopus was a bit saltier than I would have preferred, so it was actually the squid ink pasta that impressed me the most about this dish. The shells were mildly infused with squid flavoring and had the perfect amount of tenderness. The fennel added a nice touch of crunchiness to the dish.

Lamb belly. Braised lettuce, mushroom hay, yogurt curds. At this point, we were getting full. The lamb belly was very rich and fatty, but we kept on eating because it was tender and well-cooked. The yogurt curds provided a nice contrast to the richness of the lamb.

Overall, I was very satisfied with our dinner experience at Ink and would happily visit again. The food was creative and tasty, and the service was friendly. The host came over to ask us if we would leave our table for seats at the counter after we had been at our table for over 2 hours. Normally I would have been peeved, but he asked so nicely that we obliged without begrudging the service. (We were offered a free dessert wine each to compensate us for our troubles.) Our excellent night continued on in a cozy corner of the restaurant over wine and tea, and thinking about Ink now conjures up delightful memories of our dinner.

Ink, 8360 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90069