Hatfields to open new restaurant Odys & Penelope on La Brea

Quinn and Karen Hatfield of Hatfield’s and Sycamore Kitchen are planning to open a third restaurant. Odys & Penelope will be located just a few doors from their bakery-cafe Sycamore Kitchen on La Brea Avenue, and is expected to open in the fall.

“It started with loving what we were doing at Sycamore and the space,” Karen Hatfield says, “and this has a similar feel in that it’s an old warehouse with brick walls and wood-beamed ceiling. It comes from a concept we’ve been thinking about for a long time that’s more how we cook and eat on a regular basis. Sycamore represents that in a breakfast/lunch sense. This is more what dinner looks like”

The restaurant is “sort of a modern take on a grill concept,” incorporating a custom live-fire grill as a centerpiece along with a churrasco and a smoker, which inform the main styles of cooking.

“I think it will be somewhat of a meat-centric restaurant but definitely not a steakhouse,” Karen Hatfield says. It’s not about expensive filet mignons, and it’s not fancy, she says. There will be a bigger focus on vegetables and “intricate, fun” appetizers.

It’s about Quinn Hatfield’s latest obsessions -- grilling and smoking. “We have a new smoker at the house, we’re getting a new grill made for us, with a makeshift churrasco at the moment,” Karen Hatfield says. “Every week it’s what else can he come up with and fine tune.”

The 3,800-square-foot restaurant with an expected 80 seats also will have a full bar. A designer has not yet been chosen, but the grill, churrasco and smoker are meant to be a main focal point.

The name Odys & Penelope, a reference to the ancient Greek king in Homer’s “Odyssey” and his wife, was partly inspired by the Corinthian columns in front of the brick building that will house the restaurant. “That’s what got me thinking about the famous couple,” Karen Hatfield says. “I’m sure there’s some deeper metaphor there.”

127 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles.

ALSO:

Faith & Flower to open downtown next week

Craft distillers to gather at first Spirits Expo in May

Repeal of food safety glove law clears state committee