Wilshire   

2454 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90403
310-586-1707
www.wilshirerestaurant.com

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Conceived by Thomas Schoos (designer of Koi's outdoor space), Wilshire has one room with overgrown lanterns that feel like props out of the "incredibly shrinking" films, while the bar area has so many orange votives, they take an hour just to light. In the outdoor space in back, angular tree branches toss their claws about, while the sunken bar is illuminated with a ridiculously cool prop that feels like a construct of Tim Burton's imagination. Food-wise, the New American cuisine is an excellent blend of seasonal ingredients, changing daily at the whim of farmers and resident chef/co-owner Christopher Blobaum. Your nightly selection of starters may include the big, fat, soft sweet seared Maine diver scallops or an inimitable calamari and watermelon salad. Entrees could include organic pork chop, lemon snapper sitting atop a sweet and sour eggplant or roasted halibut wrapped in Serrano ham. Even though these dishes come relatively small, they are exquisitely prepared as though they were contemporary works of art. Like the menu, Wilshire's crowd has a full range of diversity, from the mature to the young and hip.