Food & Drink
Chef Aaron Zimmer, previously of the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, assembles a ranchero-style menu of steaks, butterflied fish, beans, crudo, and grilled little gem greens with approachable California ingredients to please the suburban crowd.
Previously the executive chef of Michael’s, Yoon made a name selling craft beer and burgers at Father’s Office, eventually landing to a top spot on the Los Angeles Times 101 with his Southeast Asian restaurant Lukshon (which has remained dormant since the pandemic).
Executive chef Nanor Harboyan, a veteran of Destroyer and large-scale operations at Disney World, oversees all the prepared foods and savory items, while head baker Jacob Fraijo manages breads and pastries.
All its locations feature churro-making displayed front and center, which allows guests waiting in line to peer through large windows to watch workers fry, cut, and dust the fritters with sugar to order.
Barman Devin Espinosa, a frequent collaborator with the Houston brothers, has shaped a thoughtful cocktail menu including the likes of the Yes Lawd!, which mixes pomegranate vodka, Grand Marnier, and lime, or the Suede, shaken with Ilegal mezcal, amaro nonino, and Rosso vermouth.
Now tucked inside a space cordoned off like the Jerusalem Temple’s Holy-of-Holies, Mélisse has a Hi-Fi stereo system that plays classic rock records while the tables are arranged so that every diner has a prime view into the intimate kitchen.
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.
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 entrees, the Ruby Murray chicken curry, smoked lamb shoulder with scratch-made flatbread, and chile-topped stracciatella pulled in-house with togarashi all feel like they’d be perfectly appropriate on a hip London menu.
The Eater LA 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.