Spot Check! Welcome to L.A. TACO's weekly food column, where we bring you the latest and most exciting openings, pop-ups, food events, and finds from around Los Angeles to check out this weekend.
Lou'Mar, a new Venezuelan-Korean restaurant from Caracas-born chef Marcos Spaziani and L.A.-raised chef Louis Huh, is now open in Beverly Hills, in the upstairs dining room at Nerano restaurant. Chef Marcos Spaziani and Chef Louis Hu's menu includes an upside-down tostada with red snapper ceviche and aji amarillo, kimchi Manchego lollipops, arepas borrachas with slow-cooked brisket and gochujang aioli, and kimchi seafood paella with pork belly. Cocktails include the George Michael with peanut butter whiskey, espresso, irish cream, bourbon, and Cointreau. Spaziani's career has found him cooking for President Obama and Michael Jordan, among others, while Huh worked his way from a dishwasher to head chef at Taste of Melrose, where the duo met.
9960 S. Santa Monica Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90212. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 4 - “Santa Monica/Century Park East”, Bus Lines 20 or 720 - "Wilshire/Santa Monica", or Bus Line 28 - "Santa Monica/Avenue of the Stars."
Knock L.A.'s Jon Peltz points us to Lazzat, which is serving dishes from Uzbekistan and other former Soviet areas of Central Asia from a converted bus in Hollywood. The menu includes the meat-stuffed turnovers known as chebureki, manty dumplings, laghman noodles, shrupa, samsa, and of course, the national dish of plov, aka pilaf, with tender beef. Oh, and chicken tenders. Cuz' a kid's gotta eat too.
7257 W. Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90046. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 2 - “Sunset/Poinsettia” or Bus Line 212 - "La Brea/Sunset."
Aunt Yvette's Kitchen opened in Pasadena in September for Ethiopian cooking. Menu items include kifto, doro wat, pan-fried crispy beef loin tibs, brisket tibs, whole crispy trout served with senafich sauce, and salmon tibs. And for vegetarians, shiro wat with chickpeas, suf fitfit, misir wat, and tofu tibs. Dessert presents an agonizing choice between banana splits and burnt Basque cheesecake.
1743 Colorado Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90041. Closest Metro line and stop: Bus Line 180 - “Colorado/Mount Royal.”
L.A. Discada is appearing Sundays at Patata Street in Cudahy. The family-owned business tells L.A. TACO it's putting a lot of love and passion into its servings of Northern Mexico-style discadas, in which mixed meats and ingredients are griddled together on a flat, circular, steel plow plate. The menu includes tacos and quesadillas filled with a mix of disco-grilled asada, pork, and sausage. Sun. 9am-2:30PM, 4982-4998 Patata St. Cudahy, CA 90201. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 260 or 611 - “Atlantic/Patata.”
Brentwood's Teleferic Barcelona is celebrating this week's National Taco Day by making Basque tacos through this Sunday, 8. Each taco is stuffed with Spanish chorizo, smoked in tomato sauce, and topped with pickled peppers.
11930 San Vicente Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 20 or 720 - “Wilshire/Barrington.”
Smorgasburg-veteran Lei'd Cookies grand-opens its brick-and-mortar tomorrow in Culver City, serving small-batch Hawaiian cookies made in a three-day process, and filled with flavors like brown butter chocolate chip, halo halo, mango sticky rice, guava goat cheese, pistachio cannoli, and "Mayan," with spicy chocolate and cinnamon.
8588 Washington Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Line 33 - “Venice/Cattaraugus” or Metro E Line and Bus Line 617 - "Culver City Station."
Aria Kitchen opened at the end of August in Irvine, melding Persian and Mexican cuisines on one Halal menu. The concept comes from Mahta and Anahita Ariarad, the sisters/owners behind Irvine Grill. Mahta's menu includes beef-and-barberry empanadas, chicken flautas served with feta, za'atar pico de gallo, and labneh, and burritos bursting with slow-cooked lamb shank birria. There's also an eight-strong taco flight, with mesquite-grilled rib-eye, lamb, and fish, both, grilled or fried, among the options. Plus, you'll brunch on the weekends here over chilaquiles made with house-made tortilla chips, labneh, avocado, and salsa verde, and Persian breakfast platters for two with hardboiled eggs, sujuk sausage, labneh and honey, olives, and more.
2626 Dupont Dr. Irvine, CA 92612
DTLA Italian restaurant Per L'Ora serves orecchiette birria with short rib guajillo chile ragu, cilantro, manchego cheese, and onion foam. Just thought you should know. In case you didn't get to our Birriamania event last week and get to taste Barrio Cantina chef Ulises Pineda-Alfaro's birria lasanga.
649 S. Olive St. Los Angeles, CA 90014. Closest Metro lines and stop: Bus Lines 14, 51, 70, 76, and 78 - “Olive/7th” or Metro A, B, D, E, or J (910/950) Lines - "7th Street/Metro Center Station."
Kokua Restaurant & Hospitality Fund's "Aid MAUI Hospitality Workers' Chefs Dinner" is going down at Drago Centro this Sunday, Oct. 8 at 6pm. Following a cocktail reception, a five-course dinner will be served, prepared by chefs Celestino Drago, Hawaiian food legend Roy Yamaguchi, Maui's Peter Merriman, and the crew at LA Prime from The Bonaventure Hotel LA.
Dine LA's Fall Restaurant Week starts today, stretching through October 20, with pre-set menus offered from almost 400 restaurants across 73 different L.A. neighborhoods. Participating friends of L.A. TACO's include Homegirl Cafe, Carnitas El Artista, El Barrio Cantina, and Durango Cantina.
