Jessica Koslow

Herringbone Photo by: Marie Buck

What could be better than slurping oysters by the sea? The notorious aphrodisiac pairs perfectly with an evening out on the Westside. Here are four scenic spots to eat oysters aplenty on the cheap.

Herringbone
Herringbone is huge — like “hard to find your friend” huge. There’s the restaurant on the left side, and to the right a bar, patio, lounge, couches and the Salt & Brine bar. It’s here on the right that Happy Hour happens from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Oysters are just $1 each on the abbreviated menu, which also includes small bites and drink specials. And now there’s a lunchtime happy hour with $1 oysters from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on weekdays. The oysters aren’t all that’s delicious here — try the grilled pork belly with braised lentils, charred scallion and maple mustard, as well as the chicken ‘wangs’ with truffle soy ginger glaze or buffalo style. Because of Herringbone’s size, intimacy can get tossed aside. For parties of two or three, the best bet is saddling right up to the Salt & Brine bar.
1755 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica | (310) 971-4460 | herringboneeats.com

The Anchor
The Anchor has been buzzing since the day it opened in September 2014. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Photo by Alen Lin

Nighthawk reinvents the most important meal of the day with breakfast burgers, drunken French toast and spiked cereal milk

Venice residents circa the late ‘70s and early ‘80s may remember strolling down the boardwalk toward the red, white and blue sign of Lafayette Coffee Shop. Heading to this favorite breakfast spot was a daily ritual for some and a weekend treat for families. It was a hang for just about every colorful character who called this eclectic community home.

Jeremy Fall may not remember the Lafayette, but he’s the mastermind behind a new beachside diner — this one focused more on evenings out than early mornings: Nighthawk Breakfast Bar.

Serving a.m.-inspired grub until after midnight every day of the week, Nighthawk set up on Washington Boulevard (in the spot where Le Cellier once offered Gallic-Southeast Asian fare) on Aug. 11 after a run in Hollywood that ended in May.

“We had this location on our horizons before we closed,” says Fall, who lived in the Venice Canals 15 years ago, before it was hip. “I always wanted to open by the beach. This concept feels very California to me: a laidback, cool, comfort-food experience. Venice screamed the epitome of that California culture I was trying to capture.” …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

David Kuo has been anything but idle these last few years. He’s welcomed two sons into the world and opened his restaurant, Status Kuo, twice.

Running a restaurant had been a lifelong dream for Kuo. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he sharpened his chef skills at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pasadena. After graduation, he spent time working under Charlie Palmer at Hotel Bel-Air and at Jean-Georges in New York. Picking up techniques and tricks at every turn, Kuo returned to L.A. with a plan: save money and open his own place.

His first attempt to make his dream a reality came on July 4, 2011, when he signed a lease on what is now the Vietnamese restaurant East Borough in Culver City. But construction was slow and more than a year slipped by. He almost walked away, but at the urging of his wife, he kept looking.

And then La Petite Crêperie shut its doors on Grand View Boulevard in Mar Vista, right in front of the popular Sunday farmers market, and Kuo seized his chance. The first time he opened Status Kuo (a play on his last name, pronounced “Ko”) was in December 2014. The space was small, the investors few (just Kuo and his wife) and the alcohol absent.

“We learned a lot,” he says definitively, glancing around his newly opened restaurant that’s now double its original size. “It was casual, fun, mom-and-pop. But we’re
better, leaner, stronger.” …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Photo by Umit Kaygusuz

“Cooking is an art, but you eat it too,” Italian cookbook writer Marcella Hazan once said.

That’s what makes it, perhaps, the finest art of all.

Nestled in the curves of Admiralty Way, it can be easy to miss Cast & Plow at The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey. But there, around the grand winding driveway and straight back through the front doors of the luxury hotel, executive chef Umit Kaygusuz cooks and plates dishes so artistic they could be on display at a museum or hanging in a gallery. His culinary masterpieces are colorful and emphasize seasonal flavors: spice-rubbed duck with plum salad, for example, or an avocado toast with grilled corn, cotija cheese and pea tendrils.

The son of architects, Kaygusuz was bred with a flair for presentation and even studied architecture for two years before shifting into the culinary arts.

“I grew up in a family always looking at things from a different perspective — not seeing a building as a building, or a yacht as a yacht, or a lawn as a lawn,” he says. “Whatever you do — the way you dress, the way you put pots and pans together in your home, how you arrange your office — affects the way you look at things.

Kaygusuz draws from international influences in equal measure. His father is Turkish, his mother is Dutch South African, and he’s worked in kitchens around the world: Dubai, Singapore, London, New York City and Cape Town, to name a few.

From street food in Asia to spices from Africa to whatever’s fresh at Santa Monica’s Wednesday farmers market, Kaygusuz mixes it all up to create dishes that make jaws drop and mouths drool. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Photo by Courtnay Robbins Bragagnolo

Ask Monique Yamaguchi — little sister to celebrity chef Roy Yamaguchi — why she picked Playa Vista as the home for her first restaurant and her eyes light up, her mouth twists and turns, as she tells you that this is the last place she lived with her parents.

“My parents had me later in life,” she shares. “When I was in high school, I told them, ‘You guys will never have to live alone. I’ll take care of you guys.’ I didn’t know how much time I had with them.”

In 2008, the family moved to the area after her father was diagnosed with cancer, and for eight years she lived just a few blocks away from the boxy lawn and play area bordering Pacific Promenade, which her new Asian fusion restaurant Wellfed looks directly out on.

When her father died six years ago, Yamaguchi felt she had to do something to honor his memory.

Taking a cue from her much older middle brother Roy, who owns more than 30 restaurants in the U.S., hosted a TV series, published cookbooks and actually gave Monique her name (“I was one of the first examples of his love for fusing cultures: Japanese and French”), she decided to pour her blood, sweat and tears — into opening a restaurant. …

Read the full article at Playa Vista Direct.

Photo Credit: Maria Martin

Move over, Mitsuwa. Interesting restaurants have been popping up all along Venice Boulevard in Mar Vista, but the best may be yet to come.

Once a place where bartenders in tight-fitting nurse getups slung stiff cocktails for live rock band audiences, former nightclub The Good Hurt at 12249 Venice Blvd. is undergoing a transformation to reopen this fall as The Mar Vista — the first “for the public” restaurant for local chefs D. Brandon Walker (who goes by Chef D.) and Jill Davie.

“The neighborhood is changing so rapidly, and we want to be a part of it,” says Davie, who has had ties to Rockenwagner, Josie and Venice Beach Wines and made TV appearances on the Food Network, “The Next Iron Chef” and “Shopping with Chefs.”

For now, a square chunk of storefront on the north side of the block between Centinela Avenue and Grandview Boulevard is boarded up. But in short order, designer Greg Swanson explains, The Mar Vista’s finished space will feature natural wood and natural light — all the better to showcase progressive Los Angeles cuisine, says Chef D.

And, perhaps most importantly, The Mar Vista is a concept driven by a commitment to give back to the community. …

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Courtesy of A Real Treat

Vanessa Hughes loves candy. Hers is the sort of passion that can make someone search out a sweet shop while honeymooning in Barcelona, which she did. Her obsession was sparked by her father, and she has since passed it on to her 7-year-old daughter, Bailey.

“I have a lot of childhood memories with candy,” Hughes says. “But when my daughter began eating my candy, I started thinking more about what it was made with.”

Hughes and her husband began to look around for “better” candy options, mainly those made with no corn syrup or artificial colors. To their surprise, they found limited options — although they were really good — and they mostly were available online only. So Hughes, who had a bowl of candy on every desk when she worked in daytime television and healthcare marketing communications, suggested to her husband that they open a pop-up candy store that stocked goodies free of artificial flavors and colors, dyes, refined sugars and many common allergens. …

Read the full article at LA Weekly.

Courtesy of Cake and Cork

At the second annual L.A. Cookie Con and Sweets Show this weekend — the West Coast’s largest event of its kind — all sorts of cookie bakers, both amateur and professional, will be showing off their goods in hopes of snagging a production deal with a big-name company. Think American Idol but with baked goods. You’ll find no shortage of follow-your-dreams stories here: One sweets enthusiast left her six-figure job to create beautiful cookies; another tossed away one obsession, sports, to start selling raw edible cookie dough; another floated her idea for a brownie and cookie combination past the entrepreneurs on Shark Tank; and another banked on a rebellious culinary school business plan. At Cookie Con, they’ll all be showcasing their sugary creations — and their culinary dreams.

Here are four dessert makers who charmed us with their stories and their sweets. …

Read the full article at LA Weekly.