HOME   o   REVIEWS   o   PICTURE GALLERY   o   MENU   o   FEATURING   o   CONTACT US

 

Dining with Dills - The Rack

By Elmer Dills

- The new interesting place for entertainment and creative dining is The Rack in Woodland Hills in the Westfield Promenade.

Their motto is "where fine dining and entertainment collide" and it generally lives up to this claim.

It's a family operation. Owner Yossi Kviatkovsky has an interesting background including raising coffee in Nicaragua, manufacturing pool tables, and opening a chain of restaurants. His wife Robin is the CFO of the company. One son, Rami, is the general manager. The other son, Elon, is in charge of the kitchen. Here are some of the dishes he personally recommends.

For starters - the sweet onion soup in a rich beef and port wine broth topped with lots of smoked gruyere cheese. It costs $5.95.

He also recommends the crock of rack mac, a crock with mac and cheese topped with parmesan crusted panko bread crumbs. It's very filling and costs $6.95.

Another recommended appetizer - your choice of beef, chicken or shrimp satay served with lemon grass ginger and sweet chili sauces. It costs $10.95 for chicken or beef and $12.95 for shrimp.

Their version of pizza is called tortizza. You can try it with shrimp for $13.95.

Of course there's also the signature dish of the rack, a rack of baby pork ribs simmered in beer and garlic, smothered in a coconut BBQ sauce with onion rings and slaw. It costs $9.95 for the half rack and $16.95 for the full rack.

There's also a thick cut pork chop, butterflied and marinated, then oven roasted. It's glazed with a maple bourbon reduction with corn bread stuffing, sautéed garlic cream spinach and house made apple sauce and a good bet at $16.95.

You could also try the rack meatloaf topped with their coconut pineapple BBQ sauce with smashed potatoes and creamed garlic shrimp. It costs $16.95.

For seafood lovers there's butterflied farm raised trout for $17.95.

Should you still have room, by all means try the cinnamon apple and walnut bread pudding with a maple bourbon cream sauce and of course with a scoop of ice cream.

If you have a favorite bottle of wine at home, bring it in here and pay a $10 corkage charge.

Now how about the entertainment? There's 17 tables in a room with a bar and large televisions with sports events.

Are you a pool shark? You'll be happy here.

But if you're like me and a pool klutz, don't despair. Owner Yossi will be happy to spend a few minutes teaching you the high points. And no charge, of course.

I think you'll like the dining room. It's away from the pool tables and a more relaxed feeling. There's a fire pit you can sit around to meet old or new friends.

There's also a retractable roof imported from Italy. Weather permitting, it will be open. Not many Los Angeles restaurants offer this feature.

The bottom line - a restaurant with pool tables. Not a pool room with a restaurant. The eclectic menu matches the concept. Prices are reasonable and it should be a success.

 

Elmer Dills

Eyewitness News Team

Elmer Dills

 

Sidebar:

The Rack
6100 Topanga Canyon Boulevard
Westfield Promenade
Woodland Hills
Lunch and dinner 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily
Health Department rating: A
(818) 716-0123