Sona, N La Cienega, LA.

Some great cooking but in the most absurdly pretentious environment. Anally-retentive and ludicrously self-important staff, over-written menu, pretentious wine list. The knives on every table were laid at 45 degrees to the rest of the cutlery. Why? "That's what we do here, it's our signature." Sure enough, every time I moved the knife a flunkey appeared and moved it back into the fixed position until the appropriate course arrived.

This is the kind of place that makes nice people behave badly, just because.