Abode Restaurant and Lounge

Dominique Crenn Abode Restaurant & Lounge, Santa Monica, California The three reasons you should go to Abode are that Crenn is very talented, very French, and very attractive. Her outsize creativity is inspired by an insistence on organic and artisanal ingredients, a hallmark best appreciated by sampling an array of small-plate dishes -- pear-and-parsnip "cappuccino" soup with truffles and coffee, perhaps, or her surprisingly satisfying eight-course vegetarian tasting menu. Large plates succeed, too, especially the jaw-dropping osso buco slowly cooked in apple cider.