French cooking on the Sunset Strip, Indonesian food in Little Tokyo

March 9, 2019 8 AM PT

Good morning. After another week of cold rainy weather, it’s an excellent time to consider the comfort of French charcuterie plates and fiery Indonesian sambals. To that end, our intrepid restaurant reviewers have been hitting the tables of a newish French restaurant on the Sunset Strip and an Indonesian place in Little Tokyo. Because there’s nothing quite like a vanilla souffle with ice cream dots to up your happiness quotient.

In restaurant news, the Michelin Guide is finally returning to Los Angeles, in the form of a new California publication, after an absence of almost a decade. Meanwhile, Mario Batali has finally departed from his many restaurants, including the five he shared in Los Angeles. On the cooking front, we have a story about pantry-friendly dishes that you can make with just a few staple ingredients.

We also have a piece about where to get classic Chicano breakfast dishes in East L.A., as well as a DIY shop in Los Feliz where you can get whole grain ground while you wait. In other news, there’s a new restaurant at the Hammer Museum, and Baroo, the tiny fermentation-intensive restaurant, returns with a take-out and delivery service. Enjoy your weekend.

— Amy Scattergood

TESSE TEASER

Bill Addison checks out Tesse, a French-style restaurant on the Sunset Strip that’s restaurateur Bill Chait’s latest project. The chef is Raphael Francois and the food is French bistro fare — Saucisse de Lyon, duck terrine, blue crab simplissime and vanilla souffle.

AN ODE TO SAMBAL

Patricia Escárcega reviews Kasih, a shrine to fiery Indonesian sambals, curries and meats in Little Tokyo. “A sort of sambal sommelier will linger over the table to describe the particular spice profile and flavor notes of each dip on the table,” writes Patricia.

MICHELIN RETURNS

Andrea Chang has news of the return of the Michelin Guide to California, after it left L.A. almost a decade ago. “The people in Los Angeles are not real foodies,” then-director Jean-Luc Naret said when the L.A. publication stopped. “They are not too interested in eating well.” The new California guide will also include San Francisco, which has had its own publication.

5 OR FEWER

Maria Zizka gives recipes for four quick dishes that only require five or fewer ingredients. “You’ll want to set yourself up for success by keeping some essentials in your kitchen,” but with those, you can easily accomplish midnight pasta and za’atar farro with fried eggs, plus other easy recipes.

GOODBYE, MARIO

Andrea Chang reports on the departure of chef Mario Batali from his 16 restaurants, a year after the sexual misconduct allegations against him. Batali no longer has a stake in any of his restaurants, which included the Mozza group in Los Angeles. His stake was bought out by members of the Bastianich family.

BREAKFAST IN EAST L.A.

Gustavo Arellano has the Chicano classic breakfast huevos divorciados at La Carreta in East L.A. Though La Carreta has enchiladas, burritos and “a fine beef-tongue plate,” it is the egg breakfast that you’re here for.

Food Bowl 2019 is coming. Our annual monthlong food festival is happening again this May. We hope you’ll join us for #31daysoffood. If you’d like to hold an event at your bar, café, hotel or restaurant; have breakfast in a kitchen garden or cocktails on a rooftop; host a charity bake sale or market tour, let us know at lafoodbowl.com.

Our 101 Restaurants We Love list for 2018 is out. The list incorporates restaurants and trucks from around Los Angeles and Orange County, in alphabetical order (no rankings this year). Plus, this year, there’s a bonus list of 10 classic restaurants.

Check us out on Instagram at @latimesfood.

And don’t forget the thousands of recipes in our California Cookbook recipe database.

Feedback? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at food@latimes.com.