Every Friday, our editors compile a trusty list of recommendations to answer the most pressing of questions: “Where should I eat?“ Here are four places to check out this weekend in Los Angeles. And if you need some ideas on where to drink, here’s our list of the hottest
places to get cocktails in town.
For ultra-luxe tea service on a garden rooftop: Monsieur Dior by Dominique Crenn in Beverly Hills
Famous chefs partnering with high-end brands is no new phenomenon, but it always pleases more when the collaboration yields something that feels actually special. That’s the experience at Monsieur Dior by Dominique Crenn, a posh restaurant and tea parlor in Beverly Hills whose menu has been curated by the legendary French chef: the first female chef to attain three Michelin stars in the U.S. at her namesake Atelier Crenn. While Monsieur Dior opens for lunch and dinner, its new afternoon tea service ($155), which launched two weeks ago, gives even more reason for the fashion set or teaphiles to visit. This may be one of the most beautiful tea services in Los Angeles — less surprising at a restaurant whose dishes get final visual approval from a storied couturier in Paris. The main tea menu features pristine tarts (a gluten-free alternative may be a flower-shaped polenta cake sheathed with lacquered red pepper); classic tea sandwiches (cucumber, smoked salmon) and more daring ones (a funky mushroom bite); and desserts such as a yuzu matcha éclair or purse-like mochi with a glass-thin, petal-printed skin. Everything in the room feels arranged with aesthetic beauty in mind; it’s no surprise that the add-on caviar course ($175) uses caviar in a houndstooth pattern alongside a blooming basket of speckled buckwheat madeleines. If you can swing it, get the caviar: it makes the meal fuller and the egg bavarois beneath it is unforgettable. Puducherry-sourced teas (the butterfly pea version makes a striking blue in your white Dior teacup) complete the picture. 323 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. — Nicole Fellah, Eater editorial manager
For steak frites and wine: Josephine in Silver Lake
Sometimes you just want to feel a little bit European — and by that I mean post up at an outdoor table with a few friends (or a date), order slightly too much wine, gossip to your heart’s content, and dig into a massive plate of juicy steak and duck-fat fries dunked in aioli. That’s exactly what I did last week at Josephine, the cozy new bistro tucked inside a Silver Lake bungalow. The menu is still evolving — co-owner Anthony Dragotto told me it’s been changing week by week — but the steak frites feel like an early bullseye and a dish I’d be shocked not to see become a permanent fixture. Order it for the table while you debate whether to have a third glass of rose. (Go for it; it’s late summer.) 4156 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90029 — Hilary Pollack, deputy editor, Eater
For soju and bulgogi risotto: Jilli in Koreatown
Justin Min, formerly of modern Korean restaurant Hanchic, has taken over the kitchen at Koreatown’s neon-drenched sool jib, Jilli. In the evening, the tight restaurant off Sixth Street thrums with music as tables split plates of rigatoni tossed in a kimchi vodka sauce and piles of golden fried chicken from sister restaurant Chimmelier. Min has also brought a handful of new dishes to the menu, including a delicate fish en papillote and bulgogi risotto crowned with sliced steak, the latter a reference to a dish he used to serve at Hanchic. Jilli is the type of place that works for a range of gatherings, whether you’re looking for a full sit-down dinner or just cocktails and snacks before heading onto your next destination. 3905 West Sixth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020. — Rebecca Roland, deputy editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
For a mountain of pork bone soup for hot soup summer: Bangkok Broth House in Alhambra
Bangkok Broth House, a new restaurant in Alhambra that has an original location in Fountain Valley, is a celebration of all things hot soup in the Thai culinary canon. And as my colleague Rebecca has said, it’s a hot soup summer. I love hot soup at any time of year and I especially love having access to leng saap, or spicy pork bone soup, a mere 20 minutes away from home. Leng saap remains one of the dishes I miss most from Thailand; it typically features meaty pork spines stacked atop each other in a bubbling cauldron of lime- and chile-doused bone broth. The version at Bangkok Broth House lives up to my expectations — the pork slips off the bones easily while the soup permeates with the sweetness of a bone broth that’s been simmered for hours. In addition to leng saap, find boat noodles, khao soi, tom yum noodle soup, and more (it is, afterall, a temple to Thai broths). I ordered my dishes medium on my recent visit and felt everything needed 20 percent more heat, so next time I will definitely get everything spicy. 150 East Main Street, Suite 100, Alhambra, CA 91801. — Kat Thompson, audience editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
