Welcome to Friday’s Weekend Eats Newsletter from L.A. TACO’s Hadley Tomicki, a look at some of the newest and most exciting food-and-drink finds and culinary throw-downs in L.A., made just for members of L.A. TACO. You get this every week in your inbox when you become a member of L.A. TACO.
For previous Weekend Eats collections, look here and here.
CARNAL SANCHEZ ~ HOLLYWOOD
You know Colonel Sanders. Now, meet Carnal Sanchez, a spicy fried chicken stand with housemade chile honeys and thinly-sliced cottage fries, popping up tonight and every Friday at Hollywood’s 101 Night Market.
The business sells beef tallow-fried, bone-in drumsticks, whole wings, tenders, chicken sandwiches, nuggets, sliders, and nugget-topped fries, which they call “Southern Poutine.”
It is also making eyes weep with its hot honeys that dial the heat all the way up, made variously with real habanero, Bhut Jolokia, and Carolina Reaper chiles. Even if you don’t go, watching foos get lit up by the heat on Instagram is entertaining AF.
The concept comes from chef Ian Torres and designer and contractor Jose Thomas, an alumni of USC and SCI-Arc. Torres worked under chef Michael Cimarusti and was the executive chef at Chloe in Playa Del Rey and chef de cuisine at Piccolo in Venice, and has staged at Le Bernardin, Cafe Boulud at Maison Barnes, A Voce, and Cafe Gray.
Thomas tells L.A. TACO that Carnal Sanchez is “focused on bringing our Angeleno experiences in fine dining, art, and design to a fried chicken brand that speaks to all walks of life.” He also notes he’s been an L.A. TACO fan for over a decade!
Fridays, 5-11 p.m., 6000 Hollywood Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90028
PARS GRILL ~ BEVERLY GROVE
Pars Grill is a new, family-owned Iranian restaurant on Fairfax. Pars, or Fars, is an ancient name used for the people of Persia.
The menu here adheres to the traditional, offering beef, lamb, and chicken koobideh, along with mahicheh centered on large, braised legs of lamb.
There’s also fesenjoon; ghormeh sabzi-topped tahdig; shirazi salad; rice with cooked sour cherries (albaloo polo); marinated Cornish game hen; beef and chicken kebab; salmon skewers; and housemade baklava for dessert. At lunch, Pars offers filling $15 specials, too.
435 N. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90036
DA PRATO RISTORANTE ~ DOWNTOWN
Elisa Da Prato, the self-taught chef lauded for her work at Elisa Barga in Italy and at New York’s now-closed Etrusca, has permanently opened her own restaurant, Da Prato Ristorante, in Downtown L.A.
Da Prato’s menu reads like no other Italian menu in town, driven by what she calls the “botanically driven, cosmically inspired” medieval mountain cooking of Lucca, Tuscany. Hell yeah.
This means whole grilled rabbit with wild spring onions; salted honeycomb and lemon carpaccio with bronze fennel; fermented Italian fish sauce-rubbed, grilled double cut lamb chops; fire-grilled pork ribs from Peads & Barnett, stewed with tripe and olives; handmade pastas like spaghetti trabaccolara with rockfish, capers, and Calabrian chile, and al limone with rose and geranium.
Dessert includes a rustic butter cake from the 14th century, served with Tuscan candies and market fruits. Again, like nothing we’ve seen before from an L.A. Italian restaurant.
108 W. 2nd St. Los Angeles, CA 90012
CHEF EVELYN YAP @ THE AIRLINER ~ LINCOLN HEIGHTS
Singaporean chef Evelyn Yap, a veteran of Bangkok’s Michelin-starred Cadence by Dan Bark, has created her own menu for The Airliner in Lincoln Heights.
Dishes include chicken liver pate served with strawberry sambal and paratha; short rib rendang with coconut crema, peanut sauce on a tostada; Trat-style rockfish and chips with lotus root, lemongrass, and fish sauce caramel; and crispy Thai wings with zaab chile lime seasoning. The menu will be served through September.
2419 N. Broadway Los Angeles, CA 90031
