Hakkasan Beverly Hills 233 N. Beverly Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90210 Dining date: 9/28/13 Hakkasan’s Beverly Hills location opened last week, the latest of three West Coast openings in the past 10 months. This location didn’t open with nearly the splash as the last one (club/lounge/restaurant in Las Vegas), but with the same standards in…
Connie and Ted’s 8171 Santa Monica Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90046 Dining date: 8/4/13 Connie & Ted’s was one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in LA this year, opened in June. Having made a name for himself at downtown’s Water Grill and his Michelin two-starred Providence, Michael Cimarusti’s name has become synonymous with high-quality…
Maru 12400 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90025 Dining date: 8/15/13 Maru opened a couple months ago in Santa Monica (on the border of Brentwood), a relocation of a restaurant in Valencia. The man behind the food is chef Jason Park, who mixes the Japanese/Korean influences of his childhood into his classically trained cooking background. A wide…
Shibucho 3114 Beverly Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90057 Dining date: 7/24/13 My friend and I decided to get dinner together with two particular stipulations: that it be sushi-centric and that it be a place neither of us had been to. Finding it difficult to find the ideal restaurant that fit these needs, we turned to…
ink. 8360 Melrose Ave Los Angeles, CA 90069 Dining date: 8/7/13 Michael Voltaggio’s ink. was one of the biggest restaurant openings in 2011; I visited the restaurant twice on its opening weekend but it took almost two years to make my next visit (not counting my visit for the 5×5 collaborative dinner last year). While the restaurant’s…
Ramen Burger Pop-Up Osawa 77 N Raymond Ave Pasadena, CA 91101 Dining date: 9/8/13 Keizo Shimamoto’s Ramen Burger is America’s latest food mania since debuting just over a month ago. Shimamoto has served his burger a few times at Brooklyn’s Smorgasburg, generating extremely long lines comparable to the cronut. Already, it’s inspired other restaurants across…
Searsucker 611 5th Ave San Diego, CA 92101 Dining date: 7/27/13 In three years, Brian Malarkey’s gotten a strong hold of the San Diego dining scene. His first restaurant was this one in the heart of the gaslamp quarter, opened in the summer of 2010. Three years later, he has five different concepts in the…
The Taste 2013: Field to Fork Paramount Pictures Studios 5555 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90038 Dining date: 8/31/13 LA Times’ The Taste was held this past Labor Day weekend, completing the largest tandem of LA food festivals in back-to-back weeks (with LA Food & Wine). This is the third year of The Taste in…