Rate-A-Restaurant, #41 in a series

Restaurant: A.O.C.

Location:8022 West 3rd Street (Fairfax district), Los Angeles

Type of restaurant: Mediterranean-style tapas and wine bar

They stipulated: Make reservations -- waaaaay in advance.

What we ordered: Cheese plate: Fleur du Maquis Corsica (France; sheep's milk) ($5); avocado, schaner farm citrus and green olive salad ($8); albacore, fava beans, spring onion and mint ($12); grilled skirt steak with green garlic aioli ($14); artichokes, blood oranges and house-smoked ricotta ($9) and wild mushrooms persillade ($12)

High point: The albacore and skirt steak were indeed delicious; but the cheese was a nice surprise (mild, yet different) and we were really pleased with the artichoke/orange/ricotta combo. And this being a wine bar, the list was extensive -- including the selections by the glass.

Low point: I had read in Los Angeles mag, which in January named AOC one of its ten best new restaurants, that AOC poured half-glasses of wine -- giving you a chance to try several choices. Our waiter said that wasn't true.

Overall impression: Maria and I like tapas (hence our excitement for the soon-to-open Silver Lake branch of Cobras & Matadors), so I thought AOC (short for Appellation d'Origine Controlee) would be a perfect place to take her for a birthday dinner. It succeeded. Not only was she impressed with the choice, but the plates we chose were a fine cross-section of what the restaurant had to offer.

Meanwhile, the decor is Pottery Barn chic, and we got a table smack plum in the middle of the dining room, perfect for people watching. To one side of us, David Alan Grier was out on either a business dinner, date or both (the two were chatting about talk shows and the syndication biz the entire evening, yet seemed to get cozy at the end of dinner). Grier has a pretty out-there persona when it comes to his guest spots on "Jimmy Kimmel" or "Kevin & Bean" but was all business and no laughs at dinner. To the other side of us was someone we dubbed Ms. High Maintenance. Ms. Maintenance wound up with a free dessert after passive aggressively telling the waiter that, oh, she didn't mind that none of the fish dishes I want were available tonight.

Chance we will go back: AOC is obviously a special occasion or business dinner kind of place. But I'd love to try more of their plates.

For a complete archive of our Rate-A-Restaurant reviews, check out our companion ratearestaurant.blogspot.com website.