The Best Dishes Eater Editors Ate This Week: June 16
The editors at Eater LA dine out several times a week, if not per day, which means we're always encountering standout dishes that deserve time in the limelight. Here's the very best of everything the team has eaten this week.
It's hard to fathom the unspeakable devastation that the community of Altadena experienced from the Eaton Fire, but a brief drive around the neighborhood shows many plots of land cleared and hopefully ready to rebuild. This is a community that needs a response from Los Angeles at large, and it seems some people have heard the call. On a recent Sunday, I stopped in to this charming and rather excellent Thai restaurant from seasoned operator David Tewasart (Sticky Rice), which offers a sleek front dining room and a faux-weathered back dining room that feels plucked right out of a stylish Bangkok back alley. The fare is fantastic and incredibly well-portioned: crab fried rice came studded with big chunks of sweet, tender crab while the fluffy rice gains an even fry from the wok. I took about three-fourths of the rest home and enjoyed it over a few days. By the time my son and I were done with lunch, the place was positively packed with people, a sign that this community is ready to bounce back. 2470 Lake Avenue, Altadena, CA. — Matthew Kang, lead editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
Santa Monica's Pasjoli is back in a big way. Chef Dave Beran's French restaurant recently hit pause for two weeks to update its dining room and transform its menu from prix fixe to a la carte. Now, the restaurant feels less geared to only special occasions and more like a neighborhood bistro with popular dishes borrowed from the bar menu, like the burger, alongside approachable classics like steak frites, roast chicken, and a baguette topped with ham and cheese. The French onion souplette, a miniature version of the iconic dish, is an indulgent iteration with more cheese than soup. A thick, bubbly, floater of cheese sits on top, obscuring the sweet braised onions immersed in a rich vegetable broth just beneath. Instead of the bread being baked into the soup, two tiny breadsticks sit on the side for dipping. The soup comes in a small ceramic pot, which comes out hot to the touch. Beran has curated the ideal lineup of tiny vessels for the restaurant, whether it be a tiny soup pot or a small glass chalice for the chicken cordon bleu wings. Save room for the excellent sundae, drizzled with a sweet and salty duck fat caramel. 2732 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90405. — Rebecca Roland, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
Throughout the summer, Budonoki is doing a collaboration series with Los Angeles restaurants. First up was Pijja Palace, which was quite a way to kick off the series. The creative cooking of the two restaurants just made sense together, especially in dishes like the saag paneer katsu curry, and, of course, a malai take on the famous Budo-gnocchi. The katsu came on a bed of rich green saag, with slices of paneer breaded and fried until crispy. It's upsetting that the dish was only available for a night — it is something I will crave regularly. While sometimes collaborations fall short of the original menu, Budonoki seems to have the method down. Previously, the restaurant has welcomed Soban, Mini Kabob, and H.Woo into its kitchen. I'm looking forward to seeing what the team does next. 654 Virgil Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90004. — Rebecca Roland, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest
When I heard that Koreatown restaurant Here's Looking at You would close permanently on June 13, I booked a reservation to dine there immediately, only to later find out that our entire team booked a table for weeks after what was supposed to be my goodbye meal. HLAY's departure is one of those Los Angeles losses that will tug on my heartstrings for a while because of what it meant as a true community restaurant in a highly competitive market. Over the years, I've spoken to operators who believe that a 50-person room is the ideal headcount for a restaurant, and I agree. The intimacy that you get with a tight group of servers, bartenders, and expediters is palpable. But with the kitchen, you get specialty dishes that evoke joy, like the deep-fried frog legs. Perhaps founders Lien Ta and chef Jonathan Whitener (R.I.P.) had this in mind when opening HLAY a decade ago, but it certainly delivered. My tender frog legs were beautifully battered before landing in the fryer, flavored with HLAY's wonderful salsa negra, scallions, lime, and chiles. It's a dish I'll eternally miss, along with the pink grapefruit tart and heirloom tomato bagna cauda salad with lap cheong Chinese sausage. These dishes feel comfortable and easy in a city like LA. And we won't forget them. 3901 West Sixth Street, Los Angeles, CA, 90020. — Mona Holmes, editor, Eater Southern California/Southwest See More:
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