We stopped in at the Commissary atop the Line Hotel yesterday for a fresh lunch in a fanciful atmosphere – an airy greenhouse on the rooftop just two floors above Wilshire Boulevard. The site is absolutely lovely and the food by chef Roy Choi was farmhouse fresh with unique takes on simple dishes.
Shutters built into the greenhouse glass ceiling cut the glare and give the restaurant a dappled glow, with potted plants hanging from rafters and long wooden ‘family style’ tables, some small tables and long bar seating on the edges. There are plenty of additional tables outside on the patio, and being two floors above Wilshire and buffeted by greenery, the patio (and pool area) puts you enough above the city din to feel relaxing.
The menu is so simple it’s difficult to figure out – diagrams of carrots and eggplants and fish and meat cuts grouped in price, but with no description of how the dish will be prepared, though our waiter was helpful in explaining the system. Turns out you order an item, perhaps the $8 plate of lettuce (greens and radiccio grilled to perfection with bits of avocado and a delicious dressing) or a $10 plate of  tomatoes ( stewed with nectarines and habanero peppers) or a $20 plate of fish. The dishes  were tantalizingly good – though not knowing exactly what would be in the dishes made for an interesting surprise when they showed up at the table. There are basics too – burgers and fish, pasta and steak ($20 plates so it can get pricey for lunch) – but the focus is on vegetables. Some are of which are grown on the north side of the hotel in the second floor terrace vegetable garden you can snoop around and find.