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Christophe Èmè—former executive chef at L'Orangerie—revealed a twisted sense of humor when he named his restaurant Ortolan, after the rare European songbird and delicacy. Until the French government outlawed the practice in 1999, gourmands would cage, blind, force feed, and drown the birds in Armagnac before roasting and eating them whole. Granted, the menu is free of such controversial delights (well, the foie gras notwithstanding) but Èmè's exquisite cuisine is unquestionably French while keeping a lighter L.A.-appropriate hand on the heavy cream and butter. And while there's enough fine wine on the menu to drown a flock of birds, here it is only used to drown sorrows and inhibitions.

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Beverly / 3rd District restaurants, West Hollywood restaurants, French restaurants