Newsletter: What’s cooking at new restaurants from high profile out-of-towners

While next weekend might be focused on football and the week after that on sourcing chocolates for Valentine’s Day (although some of us this do this year-round), this weekend we have what might be a bit of a respite. It’s a good time to bake (try Lodge Bread’s date cake), to head to the farmers markets (radishes!), to make a few grilled cheese sandwiches. It’s also a pretty terrific time to try some new restaurants, as we’re in the midst of a slew of openings from some pretty well-known out-of-town chefs.

Jonathan Gold’s latest review is of the Hearth & Hound, the new restaurant from chef April Bloomfield, of Spotted Pig fame. Another New York-based chef to open here recently is Dominique Ansel, and we go behind the doors of his remarkable pastry kitchen at the Grove. Momofuku’s David Chang and Christina Tosi are both in town too — Chang opened his first L.A. restaurant on Tuesday, while Tosi is opening a Milk Bar in April. Australian chef Curtis Stone, however, has been here for a few years now; he’s lately reworked his Beverly Hills restaurant, Maude. Where else to go when you’re not in your own kitchen? Maybe a new Hainan chicken rice joint in Pasadena. There is, happily, a lot on the table.

— Amy Scattergood

NOT A GASTROPUB

Cabbage with oyster emulsion and meat drippings at the Hearth & Hound.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times )

This week, Jonathan considers the Hearth & Hound, the new restaurant from chef April Bloomfield, which opened last month in the former Cat & Fiddle space on Sunset Boulevard. Bloomfield and her restaurant have been in the news lately, and not just for the chef’s vegetable-forward menu, but for the alleged misconduct of her business partner Ken Friedman. Asks our restaurant critic: “If you had built an empire through your imagination and sweat, would a partner’s alleged misbehavior cause you to dissolve it?”

DOMINIQUE ANSEL’S DESSERT LAB

Dominique Ansel’s Gingerbread Pinecone, at his new L.A. bakery at the Grove.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times )

Food writer Heather Platt goes behind the pastry kitchen doors at the Dominique Ansel Bakery, the first floor of Ansel’s two-story complex at the Grove. Ansel recently opened his first L.A. location, and his first full-service restaurant. Though the folks who routinely line up hours before the place opens are often there for the Cronut, Ansel has a laboratory of innovative desserts — and a story to go with them.

MORE FUN WITH SUGAR

L.A.’s dessert scene is getting a serious dose of sugar. In addition to the opening of Ansel’s bakery and restaurant, pastry chef Christina Tosi is installing a Milk Bar (part of the Momofuku Restaurant Group) here in April. I sat down with Tosi recently, to chat about her new shop, what she thinks of this town’s pastry cases, and what’s on her upcoming menu.

MAJORDOMO ALERT

Speaking of Momofuku, David Chang, the chef behind the Momofuku restaurants, the late, lamented Lucky Peach publication — and the guy who will be an NBC special correspondent for next month’s Olympics in Pyeongchang — has just opened a restaurant in L.A. After much anticipation. In Chinatown. With a patio. It’s called Majordomo, and it opened its doors on Monday.

MAUDE UPS ITS DRINKING GAME

While Bloomfield, Ansel, Tosi and Chang have all lately come to L.A. from New York to open their restaurants, Australian chef Curtis Stone has been here for a while now. Stone opened his first restaurant Maude in 2014 (he has a second restaurant, Gwen), and as Deputy Food Editor Jenn Harris reports, recently recalibrated it, from a monthly focus on one seasonal ingredient to tasting menus propelled by wine regions around the world. First up? Rioja, Spain.

Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers featuring his 2017 Best Restaurants. If you don’t have a copy of the booklet, you can order one online here.

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