4 Restaurants to Try This Weekend in Los Angeles: May 23
As food prices continue to rise, getting an affordable but satiating meal is at the top of many people's minds. Cue Combo A, a longtime Echo Park Chinese restaurant that stuffs takeout containers to the brim with chow fun, orange chicken, and beef and broccoli. It's easy to walk out of here with enough food to spread over multiple meals for well under $20, and the quality is far beyond what would be found at a fast food chain. The orange chicken is tossed in a well-seasoned sauce and remains crispy even after cooling down, while the barbecue pork is tender and flavorful. You can even go half and half on combinations of fried rice, chow fun, steamed rice, and chow mein. Add in sides of cream cheese-stuffed wontons, egg rolls, fried chicken, or pot stickers, and wash it all down with boba. 1411 Echo Park Avenue, Suite 101, Los Angeles, CA 90026. — Rebecca Roland, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest For a group gathering with fantastic bites and sips: BLVD MRKT
Getting a group of friends together with varying tastes can be challenging, but not if you know where to go. To make sure there is something for everyone, head to BLVD MRKT, a Montebello food hall made out of shipping containers. BLVD's got a unique charm to it and an even more uncommon model that mentors and showcases new businesses next to more established ones. At the center of the dining courtyard are community picnic tables covered by umbrellas. Star by taking a lap to see what's appealing — in the complex you'll find pupusas from Vchos, a Oaxacan mocha from Cafe Santo, chilaquiles verdes via Los Taquero Mucho, or bites from Cold Pizza (it's served hot), For the Win, and a Mexican Lollipop cider that actually tastes like watermelon candy. Once everything is prepared, sit at a table and let the joy take over. BLVD has excellent programming happening every week, and on Memorial Day Bluey (the animated cartoon series) will be at a meet and greet that kids will adore, along with fruity and creamy paletas with face painting. It's an excellent plan on any weekday or weekend, so start inviting. 520 Whittier Boulevard, Montebello, CA, 90640. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest For an elegant Memorial Day dinner in Chinatown: Firstborn
For a few weeks after it opened in late March, Chinatown's Firstborn was the talk of the food world, drawing curiosity, excitement, and some eyebrow raises given its location and price. The latter point will probably continue to be in contention, but for now, expect some of the most innovative modern Chinese cuisine in Los Angeles right now. Chef Anthony Wang is treating this like his first feature film and creativity abounds from the plate to the space (FYI, his sister is filmmaker Lulu Wang). Some dishes are brilliant, like steak tartare over soft tofu and tofu gnudi with artichokes. Barbecue cabbage is a show-stopper, scorched like burnt marshmallows but exuding an unnatural sweetness. Combined with the heady leek vinaigrette, it's easily one of the most creative dishes I've had in awhile. Cumin lamb saddle carries traditional Sichuan flavors in a luxurious form with a woven bundle of shredded potato elegant enough for a Michelin-starred restaurant. It's like a reimagined Chinese steak frites with the tenderness and gentle gaminess of lamb that's frankly superior to beef (there, I said it). Order more dishes than you think, as portions are on the smaller side, and expect to pay over $120 per person with a drink or two. If Wang can continue to draw the artsy/well-heeled crowd, I expect Firstborn to gain some major eyeballs come awards season (consider this a culinary 'For Your Consideration'). 978 N. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest For an underrated seafood gem in Melrose's 'Michelin Mile': Koast
While Kevin Meehan's tasting menu restaurant Kali is under the knife, his new seafood spot down the street should be your Larchmont/Melrose dinner reservation of choice. Speaking to Meehan prior to opening, he considered Koast his ode to the East Coast seafood restaurant, with much nicer touches and some LA style. Raw bites are inventive and well-portioned, like local bluefin with vadouvan or sea bream sashimi with ponzu, shiso, and wasabi good enough to be served at Nobu. Grilled prawns in thyme butter offer the succulence of a backyard barbecue with the sweet, tender complexity of the best shellfish from New Caledonia. The lobster manicotti could be the most fun dish on the menu, properly spotted with finely chopped chives that wouldn't make sense at a red sauce joint. The cheesy, gooey mess studded with lobster chunks is the ideal counterpoint to the raw fish. A syrupy salted caramel brown butter cake topped with whipped cream awaits those who must get dessert. 6623 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
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Eater
an hour ago
- Eater
A Sneak Peek at the Stunning Dishes Debuting at the Happy Crane
is the regional editor for Eater's Northern California/Pacific Northwest sites, writing about restaurant and bar trends, upcoming openings, and pop-ups for the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, Seattle, and Denver. Chef James Yeun Leong Parry is opening his highly anticipated modern Cantonese restaurant the Happy Crane on Friday, August 8. This is the crowning achievement of his culinary career thus far, which spans Michelin-starred restaurants in Hong Kong (Bo Innovation), Japan (Nihonryori RyuGin), and the United States (Benu). For the last year or so, he's been touring the Happy Crane around San Francisco as a pop-up. Fittingly, he's found a home in the location of Benu chef Corey Lee's former restaurant, Monsieur Benjamin, in the busy Gough Street corridor. His vision is 'to represent something that feels authentic, that is rooted in traditional flavors,' he says, but given its San Francisco location, the Happy Crane will also be taking advantage of local seasonal produce with a mashup of traditional and modern cooking techniques. 'What I hoped to represent is food that doesn't look overly complicated, but actually in the back end, that's where the work is,' Parry says. 'The real hard work is in the preparation and the techniques.' Read on for the inspiration and details behind four dishes on the Happy Crane menu. XO Little Fry King Jeremy Chiu Parry calls the XO Little Fry King, 'a wok dish that's super flavorful, very umami-forward.' It's a street food made in dai pai dongs, or food stalls in Hong Kong, incorporating vegetables and dried seafood, like shrimp and fish. In Parry's version, he focuses more on folding in fresh seafood. Cantonese food is highly seafood-focused, and that's something that he is passionate about. Parry will change this dish with the seafood 'seasons'; at the restaurant launch, the dish stars abalone, but he hopes to swap in shrimp or firefly squid when it's the right time of year. Parry works around the chewy qualities of the abalone through Japanese knife techniques, tenderizing it with thin knife cuts before lightly steaming the meat. This gives the abalone, as Parry puts it, 'the right amount of bite, but it's not overly chewy and still showcases the freshness of the ingredient.' The abalone is then stir-fried with bay shrimp, salted duck leg in place of the more traditional Jinhua ham, Chinese chive flowers, Jimmy Nardello peppers, bean sprouts, and cashew nuts. It offers different textures with the chewiness of the abalone, the crunch of the vegetables, and the umami notes of the XO sauce. 'It looks simple, but actually there's real tension and thought behind it — and it's tasty,' Parry says. The XO sauce is worthy of its own write-up. As Parry explains, 'It's a labor of love in that there's just a lot of steps, then the yield is quite small.' As Jinhua ham is not allowed into the United States, he is instead making a duck ham, air drying it in the walk-in and adding it to his XO recipe, along with dried scallop and shrimp, raw and dried chiles, garlic, and shallots. The sauce then marinates for six days before it's used in this stir-fry dish. Eventually the team will scale up the amount of XO they make, but for now, this is the only dish it stars in. 'Truthfully, the reason for that is, I'm really stingy about it,' Parry says, laughing. 'It's so labor-intensive.' Crab rice roll Jeremy Chiu Parry admits that cheung fan, or rice rolls, are more of a dim sum brunch dish, 'but I wanted to serve it as a dinner item, almost like a noodle, where we freshly mill the rice ourselves,' he says. He does not include any flour in his batter; instead, the bouncy, chewy gelatinous texture is achieved through soaked jasmine rice ground on a stone, then steamed. Parry's rice roll is a nod to another dish, similar to a hor fun with gravy — a less common dish at restaurants, he says — so his version comes with a sauce made of crab butter made of crab shells, chicken stock, and Shaoxing wine. The rice rolls are then dressed in this sauce and topped with Dungeness crab, Chinese celery, and yellow chives. Brent Wolfe quail Jeremy Chiu Parry admits he is also very passionate about Cantonese roast meats, and from the start, his team makes its own char siu, or Chinese barbecue pork; siu yuk, a Cantonese roast pork belly; and quail (with plans to expand the offerings down the line). He uses quails from Brent Wolfe, whom Parry calls one of the best quail purveyors in the country. For this dish, Parry takes Cantonese roast duck cooking methods and applies them to this smaller bird, dry-aging it up to six days for a crisp skin. The duck is marinated in their house-made five spice, along with ginger and fresh and dried spices, along with a glaze. The dish requires a three-step preparation: First, he cooks it at a low temperature before tossing it over a charcoal yakitori grill. It's then finished at a high temperature 'fry' where hot oil is ladled over the bird to crisp up the skin at the end. The bird is then served, bone-in, claw and all, with a side of Sichuan pepper-salt and fresh lime, plus salted, pickled Tokyo turnips to reset the palate. Mochi Rocher Jeremy Chiu Ferrero Rocher chocolates are a favorite gift to give family and friends around Chinese New Year, Parry says, and it serves as the inspiration for his dessert jian dui, or fried sesame dumplings. Traditionally filled with red bean paste or lotus seed, his version is instead filled with dark chocolate ganache and a candied, salted hazelnut, plus a chopped hazelnut exterior. Parry makes his dough with both rice flour and glutinous rice flour. The dark chocolate ganache is then portioned out with the candied hazelnut at the center, and frozen, before it's wrapped in the dough. The dumplings are then rolled in those toasted hazelnuts, rather than the usual sesame seeds, then fried to order. The result is a still-warm dumpling with a runny chocolate center; to complete the look, it's presented in a Ferrero Rocher-like wrapper. 'It's just a fun, fun way to end dinner, that's not too sweet,' Parry says. The Happy Crane (451 Gough Street) debuts Friday, August 8, and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Reservations can be made via OpenTable. Jeremy Chiu Jeremy Chiu Eater SF All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Eater
5 hours ago
- Eater
Why You Need to Order the New Tea Pairing at Emeril's
Henna Bakshi is the Regional Editor, South at Eater and an award-winning food and wine journalist with a WSET (Wine and Spirits Education Trust) Level 3 degree. She oversees coverage in Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, the Carolinas, and Nashville. On a Saturday night, wrapping up dinner at Emeril's, Jason Burse's eyes lit up when I asked for hot tea to finish the meal. 'I've got just the thing,' he said. Out came two glass tea pots on warmers lit with tea lights, accompanied by the most beautiful bone china tea cups and saucers, wrapped in painted florals and gold trim. The first pour was a vintage Emperor's private reserve pu-erh tea infused with truffle and gold, and the second a Gyokoro green tea. Burse, the captain at Emeril's, enthusiastically spoke of age on the pu-erh, a fermented Chinese tea, asking me to smell the cup. It was scented with deep notes of cedar, nuts, and truffle. Emeril's, the lauded restaurant by namesake chef Emeril Lagasse in New Orleans, isn't done surprising its diners. The restaurant has introduced a new tea service, meticulously paired with its tasting menu, or served a la carte at the bar. And it's not just any old sweet tea. These are treasures Burse and wine director Aaron Benjamin have sourced from Rare Tea Cellar, a purveyor of fine teas and other specialty ingredients. Banana cream pie is served with an aged 2010 pu-erh called Caramel Dream. Henna Bakshi 'My first experience with tea was in Chicago in 2017, while I was working at Band of Bohemia. It was a 1979 pu-erh,' Burse says of the time he knew tea was a special calling. 'The tea was gifted to me by a mentor of mine who wanted me to stay focused during service, and I was hooked after that.' Emeril's chef and co-owner, E.J. Lagasse, is on board. 'We're having a lot of fun with it,' says Lagasse, who had his first specialty tea tasting at three-Michelin-starred SingleThread Farm Restaurant in California. 'It was phenomenal,' he recalls. Lagasse is recreating some of what he experienced, working with individual courses and matching their taste profiles with equally heavy-hitter teas. 'Hojicha tastes like nori, it's got a seaweed thing going on, so we tried it with the trout. We've got the Fulsome for the oyster stew with fennel pollen in the tea.' Cold tea is served in a wine glass to preserve aromas. Randy Schmidt Tea preparations go through cocktail-like mixing. Randy Schmidt With the beef course, the team is serving warm beef tallow in the tea, much like a consomme. With fish and caviar, the teas are chilled; for another course a genmaicha tea is cold-steeped for 48 hours and served at room temperature, and a lobster mushroom tea is served hot. 'The mouthfeel of it is incredible,' says Lagasse. Cold teas are served in wine glasses to help collect aromas, and hot ones are served in fine china of different shapes. 'Hojicha tastes like nori, it's got a seaweed thing going on, so we tried it with the trout.' — E.J. Lagasse, chef and co-owner, Emeril's 'Thinking that wine is the only avenue for pairing and luxury should really be a thought of the past,' says Benjamin, who directs a weighty wine list. Both Burse and Benjamin are working with Lagasse to pair the teas with the different courses. The pairing can be purchased as a $100 add-on to the tasting menu ($225) or ordered by the cup for $8 to $20. 'We also make our own iced tea,' says Benjamin. The food at Emeril's has a linear focus on local ingredients — the boudin, seafood, takes on po' boys and sno-balls, are all quintessential New Orleans. When it comes to tea, Lagasse hopes to steep some NOLA into that, too. The tea blends are worked like cocktails, with different steep times and even fat-washed with tallow. Lagasse says the team is working on a tea that tastes like a Sazerac. Related Best Dishes Eater Editors Ate in New Orleans This Week 'Will we find the chicory of the tea world?' asks Lagasse. 'We'll find more sense of place in tea.' As for now, I'd tuck into a warm cup at the end of a meal here. To finish, banana cream pie is served with an aged 2010 pu-erh called Caramel Dream. It's a dainty thing, with depth and honey, a gentle lullaby to pie. And how can you say no to that? Eater New Orleans All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Eater
5 hours ago
- Eater
San Francisco's Buzziest Bakers Collab on Exclusive Cookie Drop
is the associate editor for the Northern California and Pacific Northwest region writing about restaurant and bar trends, coffee and cafes, and pop-ups. An old-school San Francisco chocolatier is working with four trendy confectioners for one week this August. In honor of National Cookie Day on Monday, August 4, Ghirardelli linked with Tano, StaySweetSF, Sixth Course, and the French Spot for their own riffs on chocolate chip cookies. At Sixth Course, it's a milk and cookies gelato pop, for instance, and at the French Spot there's a hazelnut mocha cookie. The spread of treats is available until Sunday, August 10. The partnership marks a keen sense of spotting buzzy bakers by the longtime San Francisco-founded chocolate company. Tano, one of the city's most line-inducing bakeries this year, is serving Guamanian-inspired coconut candy dark chocolate chip cookies. StaySweetSF — a fine dining pastry chef's love letter to the city — is serving hojicha-infused cookies at Shoji on Saturday, August 9 and Commis on Sunday, August 10. Mister Jiu's brings back banquet menus The country's only Michelin-star-holding Chinese restaurant Mister Jiu's is ditching its tasting menu. As of Wednesday, August 6 the a la carte menu is back in action in addition to a Chinatown-inspired banquet meal for $125 built around its famous Peking duck. The San Francisco Chronicle reports chef Brandon Jew felt the tasting menu wasn't quite the right vibe, but he's still not sure how the math maths going forward; the tasting menu pivot was to try and keep the checkbook balanced in the first place. Bulldog-inspired wine bar hits SF The now-closed Turkish restaurant Tuba is set to flip into Frenchie by the end of August. It's helmed by former La Mar Cocina Peruana wine director Joel Arias and is a nod to Arias's French bulldog Dolcetto. Wines grown by the cycles of the moon and organic fare alike star on the menu. The San Francisco Standard reports there'll even be an on-site dog walker for fellow pup lovers. Famous winery opens books for 2026 The Robert Mondavi Winery, one of California's most famous wineries and closed since 2023, is now taking reservations for its official grand reopening in spring 2026, lining up with the Oakville property's 60th anniversary. Three packages are available, ranging from $55 to $125 with various levels of engagement on the estate (and increasing amounts of wine drinking) scaling throughout the options. Reservations, sure to be snatched up quick, can be made through Tock. Eater SF All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
