There’s nothing funny about the Sunset Strip nightspot, Hyde Sunset Kitchen + Cocktails, or Executive Chef Chris Crary’s elevated new menu. And it’s definitely no laughing matter that the Who’s Who of Hollywood fills the club-like spaces for date nights and private awards season parties. But every other Tuesday night, the place has become a bona fide laugh riot now that the Raw Material dinner and comedy show has launched.
While Top Chef star Crary and staff cook up a special three-course $30 prix fixe menu, LA’s best comics and surprise guests take the mic for stand-up sets starting at 8 p.m. twice a month. The second edition of Raw Material is coming up on Tuesday, August 18 starring the lovely and dirty-minded Natasha Leggero (Chelsea Lately, Comedy Central’s Justin Bieber Roast), Neal Brennan (co-creator of Chappelle’s Show), and Moshe Kasher (co-host of The Champs and one of Variety’s “Ten Comics to Watch”). Host with the most will be James Davis (Chelsea Lately, BET’s Real Husbands of Hollywood), arguably one of LA’s hottest funny guys.
The best seats in the house can be reserved with a $50 food and drink minimum, but if you made the mistake of eating earlier, there’s standing room for a $20 cover charge, including a cocktail. Your loss though, because Crary doesn’t serve sub-standard club food. His scrumptious dinner options include fried chicken sliders with herb buttermilk biscuits (the same ones he says he plans to eat for his final meal on Earth), heirloom tomato salad with olive oil crouton and pickled shallot, smoky grilled cauliflower, torchio Bolognese, and black cod with kumquat and puffed rice.
Signature cocktails include the Kaffir Cana-Kazi (with Fleur de Cana rum, Sugar Skull coconut rum, lime juice, and muddled kaffir lime leaves), and the Mezcal Penicillin (El Silencio Mezcal, lemon juice, clover honey syrup, and house-made spicy ginger syrup) which sounds like something we wish our doctor would prescribe. In fact, I think I'll take two and call Hyde for reservations in the morning.
