Jessica Koslow

There are quite a few things that stand out about Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen. It offers a zero-proof beverage program and a 100% halal (complying with Islamic dietary laws) menu. It is the first-ever Michelin-recognized Pakistani restaurant in Southern California and has received a Michelin Bib Gourmand every year since opening its first location in 2020 in Fullerton.

On July 16, chef-partner Imran Ali Mookhi opened the third location, following the second in Hawaiian Gardens, on Santa Monica Boulevard at 1st Street. It was formerly Tumbi Craft Indian Kitchen, and because the space was occupied by a restaurant, it only took about three to four months to transform it into Khan Saab Desi Craft Kitchen.

On the food menu are shareable, street-inspired dishes such as Pani Puri, goat cheese Kulcha with butter tomato sauce and the signature Sloppy Khan, a riff on a Sloppy Joe, filled with grass-fed wagyu beef. The beverage menu, curated by mixologist Ahmad Hosseini, offers refreshing mocktails such as the Basanti Ecstasy with lavender-infused molasses and lime and Devil’s Kiss with passion fruit, lime and jalapeño. . . .

Read the entire article in The Argonaut.

The nearly century-old yacht that hosted Sir Winston Churchill and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, appeared in the Netflix series “Griselda” about a Colombian cartel leader and possibly evacuated hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk during Operation Dynamo in 1940 is now open to the public for dining, cocktails and music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at California Yacht Club’s (CYC) F-100 Dock in Marina del Rey.

Named Northwind, the 135-foot yacht has a storied past. Last year, its former owner, cinematographer and entrepreneur Tom Jones, shared the rich details in a profile for Boat International.

The short story of Northwind starts in Wisconsin in May 1930 at the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, which only built two yachts — the bulk of its output being commercial vessels. It has room for eight guests and 12 crew members. Over the years, Churchill supposedly painted landscapes on the aft deck and Onassis joined Greek shipping family magnate Marcos Nomikos on holiday in June 1961. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

This summer has been spectacular for Chef Jon Yao and Kato, the Downtown LA Taiwanese American restaurant co-owned by its wine director, Ryan Bailey. Kato has been named the winner of the 2026 James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program, marking its second consecutive James Beard Foundation Award after Yao received the Best Chef: California award in 2025.

Kato also received its second Michelin star, becoming one of only four two-star restaurants in Los Angeles. It received its first in 2019, three years after opening in its original location in West LA.

“I think it’s always been a personal goal of ours to take a fine-dining restaurant to that level of accolade,” said Yao. “But at the end of the day, we stay open and are open because of our diners and the people that support us. It’s a great validation for our staff and the hard work and the intensity they put into their day-to-day and their passion, but it’s also for our diners who have stuck with us for so long. I’ve met so many incredible people and friends throughout the decade we’ve been operating.” . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

What a difference a year (or a little more) makes. Since March 2025, Westchester’s beloved Californian farm-to-table restaurant Tomat was added to the California Michelin Guide, received a 2026 Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence and was named one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America and added to the LA Times 101 Best Restaurants list.

It is almost too good to be true — but not when the chef is Harry Posner, who is of Persian heritage and has worked at The Clove Club in London and INUA in Tokyo, and your general manager is Miley Aryucharoen, who was named one of Punch’s Best New Bartenders of 2026. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

Summer at Artelice Patisserie is special. Its three locations — West LA, Burbank and Studio City — are now serving mini fruit pastries and fruit Pavlovas made with produce sourced from farmers markets. Think peach, mango and strawberry — or peanut and pistachio.

Although the summer brings seasonal sweets, the pastry case at Artelice Patisserie is a sight to behold all year. 

“In our culture, whenever anything happens — you have a child, you go to anybody’s house, you buy a car, you marry someone — it’s a cultural thing that you buy pastries,” said Artelice co-owner Farid Azarang. “It has to visually look great, and it also has to taste great.” . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.