Counter: Big plates, small plates, smaller coffee cups

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The yellowtail with radish, tomato and lemon with mustard greens, almond and preserved lemon at Kali Restaurant in Los Angeles.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

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Restaurant patrons dine at Kali. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times )

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The exterior of Kali in Los Angeles.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

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The beet tartar with mustard greens, almond and preserved lemon at Kali Restaurant. (Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times )

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

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Server Theodore Harb polishes wine glasses on the bar at Kali.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

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Arthur Rieman, left, Gary Barr, Ruth Gilliland and Joy Barr dine at Kali.

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

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Trees made of wire line a windowsill at Kali.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

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Kevin Meehan, chef and co-owner, at Kali Restaurant.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

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Duck breast with carrots, honey and lavender is one of the dishes on the menu at Kali.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

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Some of the wine offerings at Kali Restaurant.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

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Risotto with black garlic and toasted cheese at Kali.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

July 9, 2016 12:05 AM PT

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

More fun with French-California locavore dining

Not-at-all small plates of food served are at Kali Restaurant.

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.

Where to get ibrik coffee

Stan Mayzalis makes jazzve-style coffee on a bed of hot sand at Doma Kitchen in Manhattan Beach.

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.

Koreatown sashimi

Young Kang, an executive at Vernon-based Pacific American Fish Co., is shown with the company's containers of live fish.

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.

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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