Dining details: Jar

Jar

Rating: ***

Location: 8225 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles; (323) 655-6566; www.thejar.com

Ambience: Sleek contemporary chophouse with a crowd in attendance more for the smart cooking than any scene

Service: Amiable and attentive

Price: Appetizers, $7 to $15; main courses, $14 to $39; desserts, $5 to $7

Best dishes: Tomato and sweet onion salad, butter lettuce and breakfast radishes, fried Ipswich clams, black mussels with lobster bearnaise, pot roast, char sui pork chop, dry-aged steaks, French fries, pea tendrils, chocolate pudding, ice cream sundae, banana cream pie

Wine list: Safe and unexciting. Corkage, $15.

Best table: A corner booth

Special features: Sunday brunch and fish market Tuesdays

Details: Open Tuesday through Saturday from 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m., Sunday for brunch from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and for dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Mondays. Full bar. Valet parking, $4.50.

Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory.