Food & Drink
The Heatmap has existed for nearly two decades to answer the age-old question: “What’s new and notable in Los Angeles?” Though the local dining scene has endured tremendous challenges over the past few years, the city’s spirit of breaking ground and exploring new cuisines continues with every month of openings.
Mr. T Cafe is in partnership with one of the world’s most accomplished French pastry chefs, Francois Daubinet, whose resume includes Paris’s Hôtel de Crillon, three-Michelin-starred Plaza Athénee, two-Michelin-starred Le Taillevent, and famed patisserie Fauchon.
Cantonese food specialist Johnny Lee, who was previously chef-owner of Pearl River Deli in Chinatown, has partnered with Last Word Hospitality’s Holly Fox and Adam Weisblatt to open a Malaysian and Southeast Asian restaurant in Historic Filipinotown.
The namesake dish permeates all sections of the menu: served with golden grains of fried rice, submerged in soup or herbaceous green curry, studded with bright chiles and basil leaves, and nestled alongside jade noodles and sauces.
That strategy might’ve proved too ambitious, as the company announced the closure of five Los Angeles-area stores, including Culver City, Silver Lake, Koreatown, Bunker Hill, and Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park, reports Nation’s Restaurant News.
Baik worked for years in New York City in lauded fine dining institutions like Eleven Madison Park and Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare and apprenticed under Nozomu Abe of Sushi Noz before moving back to Los Angeles to help at Kobawoo.
For Ávila, who dodged health department enforcement as a street vendor, dealt with flat tires as a food truck operator, and was the unofficial plumber at Angry Egret Dinette, he’s elated that the Alta California cuisine he helped build is entering its next phase.