n/naka 3455 Overland Ave Los Angeles, CA 90034 Dining date: 7/15/14 n/naka opened three years ago in a quiet corner of Palms on the westside. The restaurant and its modern take on the Japanese kaiseki meal, has focused on creating a very precise multi-course meal with seasonal ingredients. Many of those ingredients are grown by chef Niki…
The Royce The Langham Huntington 1401 S Oak Knoll Ave Pasadena, CA 91106 Dining date: 7/10/14 The Langham Pasadena’s main restaurant has gone through a number of changes since I first dined on Craig Strong’s food at The Dining Room. Since then, Michael Voltaggio and David Feau have taken the helm for relatively short-lived chef-driven…
Tokyo Fried Chicken Co. 122 S Atlantic Blvd Monterey Park, CA 91754 Dining date: 4/11/14 Tokyo Fried Chicken Co. garnered plenty of attention when it first opened (almost a year ago) for its fried chicken and Japanese-accented side dishes. Long waits for its no-reservation tables kept me away at first; like most restaurants, the initial…
Kali Dining Various Locations Dining date: 6/8/14 Kali Dining is one of the more well-known of the underground dinners in Los Angeles having been around for a couple of years now. Kevin Meehan is the chef behind the concept, who spent time in the kitchens of L’Orangerie and Bastide and most recently served as Executive…
POT The Line Hotel 3515 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90010 Dining date: 4/30/14 So far, Roy Choi’s restaurants have represented a number of cuisines/concepts from Korean-Mexican fusion to Caribbean to Asian rice bowl-centric Chego, but POT is his first deep dive into Korean cuisine. POT is one of a few concepts Choi is in…
Guerrilla Tacos 826 E 3rd St Los Angeles, CA 90013 Dining dates: 7/12/13, 5/2/14, 5/3/14 Guerrilla Tacos began almost two years ago and has consistently generated positive attention for its unique approach to tacos. There are so many taquerias in Los Angeles it’s difficult to stand out, but Guerrilla Tacos has done it with its upscale, modern approach to…
Choco Chicken 403 W 12th St Los Angeles, CA 90015 Dining date: 5/28/14 At first, chocolate and fried chicken sounded like an odd pairing. When I thought about it some more, I was intrigued and really wanted to try it. I imagine chicken & waffles smothered in a syrup elicited the same initial response, but…
smoke.oil.salt 7274 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90046 Dining date: 4/27/14 Spanish cuisine has gotten a lot of attention on the global scene in recent years; as diverse as Los Angeles is, we haven’t seen a lot of new Spanish eateries open up. Except for, of course, the megahit Bazaar; opened almost six years ago,…