Gjelina

First time at Gjelina. I know, I know — it's been on Abbot Kinney forever and I'm late. Had reasons to avoid it mostly involving the wait times and the kind of crowd that treats Venice like a personality.

Went on a Saturday, which was probably my first mistake, but I wanted to see how they handle volume. Short answer: fine. Not impressive, fine. The host was efficient in the way that reads as barely tolerating you, which is very on-brand for this stretch of the boulevard.

Ordered the roasted carrots, the mushroom toast, a pizza — the one with the egg on it — and the grilled broccolini. Split everything with two people.

The carrots were the best thing on the table. Some kind of yogurt situation underneath, harissa on top, good char. Whoever is working that station knows what they're doing with heat. The broccolini was almost identical in execution — high heat, good bitterness, nothing revolutionary but technically correct.

The mushroom toast I wanted to love more than I did. Bread was excellent, the mushrooms tasted like they'd been sitting. That's a prep or timing issue. A dish like that lives or dies on whether it goes straight from pan to plate and I don't think mine did.

Pizza crust had real structure — thin but not crackers-thin, good leoparding on the bottom. The egg was slightly overcooked for what I think they were going for.

First visit impressions are just noise to me. I noticed three things that could go either way depending on the day: the mushrooms, the egg timing, the service attitude. All correctable. All possibly flukes.

Coming back twice more before I decide what this place actually is.