Two New York icons open in L.A. with cocktails, pizza and legendary chocolate chip cookies
Dante Beverly Hills
A century-old Italian restaurant with a globally lauded cocktail program just touched down in Los Angeles, expanding beyond New York City for the first time. Dante, which opened in 1915 in Greenwich Village, now also operates in Beverly Hills atop the Maybourne Hotel with views of L.A., a pianist, a wood-fired oven and pizza, crudo, martinis, pasta and house-made limoncello.
The original cafe is a casual space for aperitivi, pizza and pasta. Its sibling New York concept, Dante West Village, entirely offers food cooked on a wood-fired grill. The Beverly Hills location combines aspects of both, plus unique items and touches. “We're not a cookie-cutter concept,” said co-owner Linden Pride, who purchased Dante in 2015 with his wife, Nathalie Hudson. “We wanted to kind of adapt the concept to the [L.A.] produce and the way that consumers behave in that kind of environment, and not kind of make it a direct implant from New York.”
The dining room seats roughly 120 spread across the main room, bar, a quasi-outdoor counter overlooking the oven, and a patio, with Hudson overseeing the design. In addition to the other locations’ most iconic drinks — including the Garibaldi, with “whipped” squeezed-to-order orange or pineapple juice, and a range of martinis and negronis — L.A.'s Dante uniquely offers more tequila-based drinks, such as a new celery Paloma. In New York, the original Caffe Dante offers negroni happy hours; here in L.A., there’s a martini version with $10 martinis, with $1 from every drink donated to L.A.-based nonprofit Project Angel Food.
The food program also offers new items, with about two-thirds of its dishes unique to the Beverly Hills Dante. There are more light, shared salads such as cannellini beans with shallots and feta, or octopus with fingerling potatoes and wild fennel, along with wood-fired pizzas, including: squash blossoms with zucchini, stracciatella and pesto; mortadella with pistachio and rosemary; and whipped ricotta with honey and thyme. Dante is also operating a poolside menu, which includes snackier fare such as a fruit salad with mint and white wine, a fried fish sandwich, or a double smash burger with Calabrian chile aioli.
“Simple is so hard because you've got to find great produce and you have to handle it properly, in the right way, and there's nothing to hide behind,” Pride said. “That's what we really aspire towards: doing simple, well.” Dante is open in Beverly Hills 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
225 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, dantebeverlyhills.com
Levain Bakery
An iconic New York bakery known for its gooey, thick cookies and lines out the door just opened its first location in L.A. Levain Bakery began in 1995 when friends Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald launched their first bakery together, and although they initially focused on bread, their most popular item would be created soon after: when they devised a dense cookie that would replenish their energy for competing in triathlons. The freshly baked 6-ounce cookies took off. The bakery’s signature chocolate chip walnut flavor is available both in a classic and a vegan, gluten free form, with other cookies such as dark chocolate peanut butter chip, coconut caramel chocolate chip, and a seasonal Rocky Road. Other items include chocolate chip brioche, blueberry muffins, sour cream coffee cake loaves, raisin sticky buns, lemon pound cake, and savory breads such as country boules and whole-grain loaves. A full coffee program features beans from local roastery and cafe Canyon Coffee. On opening day of the L.A. location, the first guest lined up at 4:30 a.m., with others tailgating in chairs and waiting for hours. Levain Bakery Larchmont is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily and is also available on multiple takeout and delivery platforms.
227 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 576-5895, levainbakery.com
Perilla
After years of running Perilla as a pandemic-spurred pop-up, chef Jihee Kim recently debuted her concept for quick-service banchan, kimbap and other Korean specialties from within a new bungalow court in Chinatown. Perilla, along with a first storefront for coffee roaster Heavy Water, is one of what will be a handful of food concepts to open just off Alpine and Centennial streets. Kim’s labor-intensive, hyper-seasonal dishes take the form of dosirak with chicken or cod; dupbap with spicy beef or galbi-marinated mushrooms; a la carte banchan or rice combos; and kimbap filled with egg, pickles, garlic chives and more. Kim, a Rustic Canyon vet, had wanted to open her own restaurant “from the beginning” and sees Perilla’s offerings as an extension of how she likes to eat: vegetable-forward, with plenty of options to mix and match.
Upon moving to the U.S. from Korea she found that a number of ingredients weren’t as readily available, inspiring dishes that feel like uniquely L.A. spins on Korean classics: green bean salad that’s tossed in confit-garlic purée and powdered sesame; soy-marinated mushrooms with diced serrano peppers; and yuba mixed with yuzu marmalade and local tomatoes, relying on local purveyors such as Yasutomi Farms, Tamai Family Farms, Milliken Family Farms and Evergreen Farms. The new storefront also sells beer and wine, along with bottles of Korean green-plum syrup that Kim fermented throughout the last year (what will become next year’s batch can be seen on shelves in the restaurant in large glass jars); the syrup can also be found in Kim’s recipes to sweeten dishes. Perilla offers patio seating and takeout, and is open 11 a.m to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, with expanded days and hours of operation to follow. Eventually, Kim hopes to grow her banchan into a wholesale operation, delivering items for sale at other local shops.
1027 Alpine St., Building E, Los Angeles, perillala.com
Plant Food + Wine Four Seasons
Celebrity chef and figurehead of vegan cuisine Matthew Kenney closed his Venice flagship, Plant Food + Wine, in spring. This month, it’s slated to reopen — this time at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. The new Plant Food + Wine will be on the hotel's fourth floor alongside the pool and will serve an updated menu that will feature plant-based breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as an evening-only tasting menu. Expect smoked-tofu Benedict with tomatoes, spinach and turmeric hollandaise; Vadouvan taquitos with refried chickpeas, coconut-and-coriander salsa and tamarind; kimchi wraps; a raw lasagna with heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, pistachio pesto and macadamia ricotta; butternut-and-cashew fundido with blue corn tostada; saffron arancini with tomato jam; and stone fruit creamsicles with vanilla gelato. Plant Food + Wine opens in the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills on July 20, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
300 Doheny Drive, Los Angeles, (310) 273-2222, matthewkenneycuisine.com/plant-food-wine
NiteThyme Wine Bar
A new wine bar has opened within a Koreatown coffee shop, flipping the space from daytime lattes, loose-leaf teas and pastries to evening wines, charcuterie boards and conservas. NiteThyme Wine Bar, from former Alinea sommelier Fahara Zamorano and her husband, Daniel Adomian, is a partnership with 3 Thyme Coffee and Tea, which operates in the space during the day. The cafe’s care for sourcing and preparation partially inspired Zamorano and Adomian to open their wine bar within the space. “I was like, it makes sense to do the type of wine bar that I have a vision for here because their program is amazing, but it's not pretentious, which I love,” Zamorano said.
Wines are available by the glass and bottle, and a private-sellers’ list is composed of roughly 30 bottles of rare or otherwise difficult-to-obtain options compiled by friends and wine collectors. Zamorano also plans to offer a sake selection and nonalcoholic options, plus soju, cider and beer. The sommelier — who also worked at Faith & Flower, Terrine and Gwen — is honoring her Chilean heritage and upbringing by featuring Chilean wine in addition to Californian, European, Georgian and Armenian wines, among others. But the focus is less on regionality or varietal than on the quality of the wine and the winemakers themselves, she says.
“The farming is what matters to me: farming-forward, regenerative farming, organic practices, biodynamic practices,” Zamorano said, “and then good people, whether it's a big company or just a couple that does this on the side while they still have their day jobs to pay for their passion.”
The space, previously intended as a sushi bar, features a large counter in addition to lounge-style seating both indoors and outdoors. The wine bar’s food menu is brief but includes cheese and charcuterie plates that feature items such as porcini-and-leek-ash cured sausage, soft goat cheese and honey, plus a selection of conservas. Future food pop-ups and food trucks are also planned for the concept. NiteThyme Wine Bar is open from 8 p.m. Monday and Thursday to Saturday to midnight , and from 6 p.m. to midnight Sunday. A grand-opening party on July 14 will feature a French-inspired food pop-up with steak frites and other dishes for Bastille Day.
600 S. Harvard Blvd., Suite 100, Los Angeles, instagram.com/nitethymewine
Shirubē
After years of pandemic-related delays, a popular Tokyo-founded izakaya chain is now open in Santa Monica. Shirubē, from the Raku Corp., was initially slated to launch in summer of 2019; now it’s serving sashimi, karaage, blue crab chawanmushi and udon in the former Musha Restaurant space. Owners — and brothers — Kodai and Yudai Uno are expanding the izakaya first opened by their father, Takashi, with the brand’s first U.S. location, which serves items such as grilled duck breast with yuzu soy jus; braised pork belly tacos; corn ribs slathered with shoyu butter; chile miso onigiri; mentaiko udon; their signature flame-seared mackerel; and desserts like hojicha crème brûlée from behind a long counter with a view of the culinary action. Sake and Japanese beer are also on offer. Shirubē is open 5 to 11 p.m. daily.
424 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, (310) 393-2533, raku-co.com
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
