Sunset Diner Offers Updated Childhood Favorites

Ketchup, a contemporary American diner, joins the Dolce Group’s roster of stylish restaurants and lounges (which already includes Dolce, Bella, Geisha House, and Les Deux). On the second floor of the Sunset Millennium complex, just east of Sunset Plaza, the restaurant looks out over the Strip and, perhaps ironically, the historic Mel’s Drive-In. But Ketchup is everything Mel’s isn’t: Fresh tomatoes fill glass vases on the tables, tomatolike red globe light fixtures line the ceiling, and the restaurant’s namesake condiment is everywhere—in paintings on the walls, along the tables, and in a wine rack. It’s just the right splash of color in an otherwise all-white space. The menu features fun childhood favorites with a twist: Kobe-beef mini chili dogs, homemade sweet potato tater tots, seven kinds of ketchup, and cocktails made with Tang, Kool-Aid, and Yoo-hoo. Of course, if you want to drop $70 on a steak for two, there’s that, too. A separate lounge seats 30, and the dining room seats 130. —Lesley Balla
Posted 04.02.07
Photo: Sterling Davis