The Review: Whist at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica

Whist, the restaurant in Santa Monica's excruciatingly trendy Viceroy Hotel, opened with a bang in 2002. That was when Tim Goodell (Aubergine, Red Pearl) was doing the food, and it was startlingly good for a hotel restaurant. I remember pork belly filigreed with chile-laced caramel, skate wing with baby artichokes barigoule, potatoes au gratin for two and especially the desserts. If you ordered trifle, you got a whole bowl for the table, apricot pie, an entire pie. But foodies and a raucous bar scene didn't mix.

By S. Irene Virbila

December 23, 2009