Mooi to open in Echo Park

A raw, vegan and organic restaurant called Mooi is being built in the corner space of the Jensen Rec Center at Sunset Boulevard and Logan Street in Echo Park. Party promoter Stephen Hauptfuhr began a raw, vegan catering company after hosting dinner parties and realizing that his talents were in demand. It wasn’t long before he began contemplating opening a restaurant. Mooi is set to open by the holidays. The ground floor and main dining room (there will be private dining on the mezzanine) will be designed to resemble an old-time ice cream parlor, with a vintage cooler, an old-fashioned dessert bar with vintage stools and antique ice cream parlor chairs. Desserts are one of Hauptfuhr’s specialties, and he’ll be offering a variety of cakes and pies alongside his well-loved “snickrz” bars and about 11 flavors of raw-vegan ice cream.

1700 Sunset Blvd.; www.mooifood.com.

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The Gorbals

debuts -- again

After opening in August only to be shut down nearly a week later because of a citation for an equipment violation involving the boiler system, the Gorbals, “Top Chef” Ilan Hall’s downtown restaurant, reopened Saturday. “After an arduous permit journey, the Gorbals finally has every single one signed, sealed and delivered -- double-checked this past Friday,” a restaurant representative said. Hall says he has “some fun stuff planned,” such as Scotch pairing dinners and Hanukkah dishes. “Guess what’s going in the latkes!”

501 S. Spring St., Los Angeles; (213) 488-3408; www.thegorbalsla.com.

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‘EAT: Los Angeles’

for 2010

“EAT: Los Angeles 2010” is headed for stores Dec. 1. The second issue of the guide has more than 1,200 listings, from food trucks to fancy restaurants all over the city, with 250 new listings. “I really was surprised that we had more new places than had closed,” editor Colleen Dunn Bates said. The 2010 guide also has a new section of a dozen tours of top food-loving neighborhoods such as Little India, Abbot Kinney Boulevard and Boyle Heights. Contributors include Linda Burum, an expert on international foods who writes for The Times; Amelia Saltsman, author of the “Santa Monica Farmers Market Cookbook”; and Pat Saperstein of Eating L.A.

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Jessica Gelt and Mary MacVean