Le Magnifique is the place to be.
From the moment I stepped inside Le Magnifique, a renovated French restaurant rooted in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, I could already sense that the food would be phenomenal. Vibrant interior designs--fitting for Instagram stories-- furnished the walls of muted tones, each complementing one other perfectly, while the restaurant met all other aesthetic requirements. I felt like I was being changed as a being when the chill vibes and good energy of the restaurant filled up my chakras; I truly felt zen. Just when you are left thinking, “how could there be anything better on the face of this planet,” the staff of the restaurant bless us with their quintessential choice of music.
Music is critical in the eating experience; it delights the ears while the food particles excite the tips of my taste buds sensing every flavor of the dish. Without this harmony, one’s dining experience is ruined. At Le Magnifique, every bristle of my ear was satisfied. Coming from a sophisticated Valley Girl upbringing, my taste in music is slightly harder to please than the norm--but Le Magnifique exceeded expectations. Mac Demarco was playing, as well as some other truly evoking and wondrous artists, like Billie Eilish and Rex Orange County.
In addition, because of the moderate line of shoe-tapping twenty-year-olds with their heads down, sunglasses perched up on the bridges of their noses, and Lululemon yoga pants, I knew I was at a restaurant with the right group of people -- the cool, seemingly* care-free kind -- which, coincidentally, I consider myself to be too. The lighting that crossed my Google Pixel New Macro Dual Aperture lens when taking photos was stunning. The jaw-dropping view of downtown Los Angeles outside the window, and the number of times I heard a camera shutter go off even inside the restaurant reaffirmed my thoughts that this restaurant was an outstanding one, in fact, I think some YouTubers were there too. Nevertheless, my being here would get my friends and followers surely abuzz.
As for what I actually ordered and tried, though I doubt that many of you are interested in my dietary choices… Alright, I’ll confess. After contemplating for a while, because I am: lactose-intolerant, gluten-free, dairy-free, meat-free, sugar-free, preservative-free and organic, I ordered the banana muffin with a green tea. This cost me a meager $16 altogether, bon marché! For its extremely affordable prices, appealing interior, customer demographics, chill vibes, and “I’m-only-slightly-an-angsty-teen-with-headphones-in” type of music, Le Magnifique serves more than justice.
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* - When I say “seemingly care-free”, an emphasis on “seemingly” must be noted because in reality, these people are far from being care-free. In fact, they try to appear care-free because they know others are judging their every move, thus making it completely irrational to say that they are care-free (and truly quite ironic); they merely strive to be care-free. However, when someone is too care-free, these people care a lot, and judge. When really, no one cares.
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About the Critic
Annie Son (@LAfoodie1111) is a merited food critic with over 25k followers on her social media account, where she passionately critiques all the different menus of hundreds of restaurants, cafes, bars… you name it. Her high-quality photos of food--and the occasional photo of views of the beach from her 5-star hotel room, a modest selfie, or a shot of her adorable mini poodle--(highly saturated, VSCO-filtered, and with slight grain) often make it to the Explore page, which is the epitome and defining moment of success, get an average of ten likes per second, at least one thousand saves. Son is friends with all the other food critics as well, including ones located in New York City, Tokyo, London, Paris, and Seoul. When they get together, chefs, owners, and managers tremble, but do not fear--for their use of expressive emojis are bound to leave only positive effects on their millennial audience.