Newsletter: Tasting menus and tiki time
As the summer heats up, the pleasures of Southern California farmers markets intensify, especially if you head out early in the morning when the farmers — and your neighbors — are in a conversational mood. So we have our weekly market report, in which we consider the joys of zucchini and summer squash. We also have recipes for brownies, because you might have kids at home (or need something for them to do), and 13 grilled chicken recipes and a catalog of grilled vegetable recipes, maybe for dinner on the patio.
After all that shopping and cooking: restaurants. So this week, Jonathan Gold reviews Kato, the much-lauded Taiwanese-Japanese, seafood-focused tasting menu restaurant in Sawtelle. In other stories, we talk to a Southern food expert (“It is a good time to be eating Southern food in Southern California”), consider a cocktail inspired by some TV binge-watching, get an SOS recipe and check in on a few new restaurants.
KATO IS KICKING
Named for a Green Hornet character, chef-owner Jonathan Yao’s restaurant is in a Sawtelle mini-mall and serves only tasting menus. In other words, Jonathan finds Kato to be very of-the-moment, as are the gorgeous, Instagram-ready dishes. For example, a recent menu included a dish of three-cup octopus cooked with soy, oil and rice wine in the manner of Taiwanese three-cup chicken.
TALKING ABOUT SOUTHERN FOOD
Food writer Tien Nguyen interviews John T. Edge, the cookbook author and writer-editor-director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, about his new book, “The Potlikker Papers,” which is about the history of Southern food. She caught up with him on his book tour recently to ask him about the book, Southern food and its influence on what we’re eating in L.A. at the moment.
TIKI TIME
Deputy Food editor Jenn Harris goes behind the bar at Lono, a new tiki bar on Hollywood Boulevard, just down the street from the original Don the Beachcomber. There she finds a cocktail called the King Kamehameha, which was inspired by some recent binge-watching of “Magnum P.I.” She got the back story — and the recipe.
SHADOWS AND WHISPERS
In her latest Restaurant News column, Jenn checks in on Vespertine, Destroyer chef Jordan Kahn’s new Culver City restaurant, which he describes as a place of “shadows and whispers,” and which comes with its own trailer. And chef Ricardo Zarate’s new restaurant Rosaliné has opened (Peruvian food, named for Zarate’s mother), in the former Comme Ça space (i.e. right across the street from Lucques).
CULINARY SOS
At a reader’s request, Test Kitchen Director Noelle Carter gets the recipe for a red wine-braised tri-tip pot roast from Mistral, the French bistro in Sherman Oaks that’s long been a San Fernando Valley favorite. Just the thing to pair with all that market zucchini! (Got a request? Let us know. We love asking chefs for recipes; what a surprise.)
Goldbot: You can talk to Jonathan Gold any time you want — or at least the robot version of him that lives on Facebook Messenger. You can ask Goldbot for a personal restaurant recommendation based on location, type of food or price. The bot will also deliver Jonathan Gold’s latest reviews straight to your device.
The Daily Meal, the food and drink website under the editorial direction of Colman Andrews, is now one of our partners. Check out their 101 best pizzas in America and other stories, recipes and videos.
Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers and now features his 2016 Best Restaurants. If you didn’t get a copy of the booklet, you can order one online here.
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