Lucky Devils - Hollywood

Do you remember this Diet Coke commercial from the early 90s? Do you ever wonder what happened to the hunky model that starred in it? Well, his name is Lucky Vanous and he opened a restaurant in Hollywood that bears his name. Lucky Devils has been on Hollywood Blvd. for five years slinging what can best be described as "man food" in a fun and casual environment. A few weeks ago, I was invited to sample many of their offerings.

To get the evening started. We had glasses of The Jug, Mercury Geyserville and of Eccelstone, Tangent 2007. Both were light and fruity on the palate in each of their wine ways. The Jug in particular paired well with many of the foods we tried.



You can order The Jug by the glass or by the bottle. We agreed, the bottle is so cute.



Right off the bat, we noticed that almost all of the dishes had some sort of spice to them. The sweet potato fries come with an addictive pasilla garlic aioli.



The jalapeno hummus is served with the restaurant's house-made flat bread. The bread is done every day and grilled to give it a smoky flavor. You can also get the bread as part of the Flaming Goat. I'm not the biggest fan of goat cheese, but I love when it is transformed with a few herbs. I almost didn't mind the bell peppers on top of it too since the goat cheese was so good.





We sampled two of Lucky Devils most famous burgers, The Diablo and the Bacon Bleu. The Diablo is topped with white cheddar, double smoked bacon, avocado, arugula, 1000 Island sauce, and lucky devil hot sauce. It's a mouthful to say the least, but so good and of course spicy. I actually preferred the Bacon Bleu burger better with the sweet caramelized onions and bleu cheese providing a nice contrast to the bacon.



The white pizza is topped with herbed ricotta, mozzarella, grana padano, Parmesan, portabello mushrooms and wild arugula. By the time we got to it, the pizza was a bit cold and the arugula had wilted to the point of sadness, but we could see how it would have been better if we hadn't waited so long.



The hickory smoked baby back ribs arrive on a plate with fries. They have that signature Lucky Devils sweet and smoky flavor. This is certainly "stick to your ribs" food. Not pictured are the BBQ Chicken sliders with almost indiscernible "spicy" and "sweet" sauces. They both tasted spicy AND sweet to me. Also not pictured is the Lucky Pig sandwich with beer braised pork and spicy pickled vegetables on the side. I expected this to be spicy and sweet like the other meaty dishes, but it has a lovely smoky flavor with none of the sweetness. It was really good the next day and the pickled vegetables helped cut through the smokiness.



I should have been a good blogger like HC and written down the names of all the beers we tried, but I can tell you, my favorite was the Belgian Pale Ale. With it's medium body and fruity notes, I could have sipped it all evening long if it weren't for all that food.



Chili cheese fries and rosemary fries to soak up some of the beer. I could only manage a bite of the chili cheese fries because at this point all of the meat items were starting to taste the same to me, but I became addicted to the rosemary garlic fries. The rosemary was strong, but not overpowering and I think by now, we all know that I am a garlic fanatic. I loved them. Another picture I didn't get was the onion rings...beer battered of course and paired with a habenero ranch sauce. These onion rings were way better than the ones we tried at Nic's just a couple of weeks before and were well seasoned with that great oniony flavor.



 

By this point, I was unsure as to how I would fit more food in, but we were then presented with the Liege Sundae. This was a bit too rich for me and the waffle had a funky texture, but I really enjoyed the vanilla custard with the Belgian chocolate sauce and salted caramel beer sauce which helped cut through the sweetness of the waffle.



So. Much. Food.



We left the restaurant loaded down with bags of leftovers. The bacon and bleu burger made an excellent breakfast the next morning. In an ideal world, I would have a work schedule that would let me attend happy hours and I would certainly suggest Lucky Devils. Though the wine selection is limited, they have some interesting craft beers and the food can be easily shared with a group. Despite the nightmare parking in the area, I would go back and sit on the patio to sip some brews. I'm looking forward to checking out the restaurant again after the remodel.


*All food and drinks were comped. Opinions are my own

Lucky Devils
6613 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 465-8259
Website