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Newsletter: Counter: Big plates, small plates, smaller coffee cups

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If you’re spending the weekend watching Wimbledon, it might be a good time to take a break and think about where you’re eating dinner. If you’ve been watching the news, you’re going to need something less insanely depressing to think about, if only for a moment. We can help with that, or try to.

This week, Jonathan Gold reviews a new restaurant from two veterans of both white tablecloth restaurants and the pop-up food scene. Lots of pretty plates, “arranged with the precision of a Zen garden.” And meringue gelato for dessert! We also consider ibrik coffee, the gloriously strong pots of coffee that are sometimes called Turkish or Arabic coffee. Because we cannot live by flat whites alone. In other news: where to get sashimi in Koreatown, a new O.C. brewery tasting room and a new Sawtelle ramen shop.

Amy Scattergood

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More fun with French-California locavore dining

Not-at-all small plates of food served are at Kali Restaurant.
Not-at-all small plates of food served are at Kali Restaurant.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )

Jonathan takes a look at Kali Restaurant, the swank place near the Paramount lot from chef Kevin Meehan and wine guy Drew Langley — both alums of some of L.A.’s finest fine-dining restaurants. At Kali, which is the restaurant version of their pop-up project Kali Dining, there’s detailed, produce-driven plates — and a pig’s head to greet you when you come in.

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Where to get ibrik coffee

Stan Mayzalis makes jazzve-style coffee on a bed of hot sand at Doma Kitchen in Manhattan Beach.
Stan Mayzalis makes jazzve-style coffee on a bed of hot sand at Doma Kitchen in Manhattan Beach.
(Christina House / For The Times )

Tired of cortados? Try ibrik coffee (which also goes by Turkish, Arabic, Armenian, Lebanese and other names, depending on region of origin and where you’re ordering it). While you can make this gloriously strong coffee yourself at home, food writer Tien Nguyen finds five excellent places to get it made for you.

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Koreatown sashimi

Young Kang, an executive at Vernon-based Pacific American Fish Co., is shown with the company's containers of live fish.
(Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. has a wealth of Japanese sashimi restaurants, and Korean BBQ restaurants — but how about Korean sashimi places? Food writer Lara Rabinovitch explores what it takes to get the live fish from sea to tank to plate, and a few excellent restaurants where you’re dinner is still swimming when you walk in the door.

Sour beer alert

Beer writer John Verive gets the details on Bruery Terreux, the tasting room from the folks who brought you the Bruery, the wildly popular O.C. brewery. Terreux is the eagerly anticipated new Anaheim tasting room devoted largely to sour beers, and other funky brews.

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Chicken tonkotsu? Yep.

Because sometimes you may want to take a break from the relentless pork-driven version of ramen that dominates L.A.’s ramen scene, food writer Peter Cheng reports on Tentenyu. It’s a new Sawtelle ramen-ya, though the first shop in Japan dates to 1971. Or: where to go if the lines at Tsujita are too long.

The Taste is coming: Our annual Labor Day food weekend, Sept. 2-4, will be here before you know it, and tickets are already available.

Jonathan Gold’s 101

Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers.

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