One among L.A.’s — and Korea’s — hottest Korean barbecue chains simply returned to Koreatown after a yr and a half of closure. Now Baekjeong is again in a brand new location, its tabletop grills charring galbi, thinly sliced brisket, beef stomach, tripe, pork jowl and past, each inch of desk area crammed with banchan, dumplings or stews in a eating room meant to copy the colourful, neon-lit streets of Seoul.
Baekjeong’s Korean barbecue and array of banchan return with a extra colourful Koreatown location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Instances)
“It’s designed to make you feel like you’re sitting outside having barbecue,” mentioned Samuel Kim, the senior director of operations. “In Korea there’s a lot of little neighborhoods where the restaurants will set up grills and people will just be eating and drinking all night outside in the street.”
Along with its extra colourful design, the return to Koreatown additionally entails plans for an in-house dry-aging program for its vary of meats, and an enlargement that takes over your entire constructing with two personal eating rooms, lounge seating for a ready space, and a brand new cocktail bar specializing in Korean spirits.
TV persona and former wrestler Kang Ho Dong based the chain in Korea in 2003, and it will definitely unfold by means of the U.S. — touchdown in Los Angeles in 2012. At the beginning of 2024, when Baekjeong closed in Chapman Plaza after greater than a decade in operation, the house owners hoped to return to Koreatown finally. The tip of that area additionally marked the top of its run as a franchise; the chain’s dad or mum firm, Kijung Hospitality Group, now owns it outright.
“We would have loved to have been able to stay in Chapman Plaza, because that turned into a little bit of the heart of K-town, but unfortunately we couldn’t hold on to that spot,” mentioned Kim. “So when we were looking for a new spot, we just wanted something that would allow us to expand what we were offering, a spot that was bigger and had ample parking because parking is always an issue in Koreatown.”
On eighth Road they discovered ample area for a eating room that seats roughly 150 (akin to its former Chapman Plaza residence), plus a parking zone the place they now supply valet service under $5.
Contemporary handmade, fried dumplings at Baekjeong’s new Koreatown location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Instances)
Development is underway on the rest of the constructing, and the bar is anticipated to open by mid-summer, which Kim mentioned will characteristic Korean-made spirits and natural and non-GMO substances corresponding to fruit, with no corn syrups or synthetic sweeteners. Maybe, he added, there’ll even be a menu of bar bites for individuals who aren’t in search of a full grill meal.
The workforce can be readying a brand new lunch menu, which can supply a la carte Korean dishes corresponding to one-pound pork cutlets and one-pound tri-tip steaks with garlic fried rice and banchan, all priced underneath $20. There’s additionally a brand new give attention to house-made desserts, which not too long ago rolled out in Baekjeong’s Temple Metropolis and Torrance areas (with others to observe), however had been made particularly with the Koreatown relaunch in thoughts.
Baekjeong is open in Koreatown Monday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. to midnight, and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight.
3429 W. eighth St., Los Angeles, (213) 668-6328, baekjeongkbbq.com
Cento Uncooked Bar options an all-white textured inside.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Instances)
Cento Uncooked Bar
One of many metropolis’s pasta authorities not too long ago expanded his West Adams restaurant with a dreamy, immersive uncooked bar and cocktail den subsequent door. Cento Uncooked Bar is chef Avner Levi’s new followup to Cento Pasta Bar, the place the Bestia and Sotto alum gave his Mignon pasta pop-up its personal location and a broader menu.
A 3-tier seafood tower at Cento Uncooked Bar in West Adams.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Instances)
In Levi’s new 2,000-square-foot seafood-centric idea, diners are noshing on aesthetically composed seafood towers, fruit-laced crudos and different small plates inside what seems like a mermaid’s den.
Artistic director Brandon Miradi (who has labored with Vespertine and LACMA) oversaw Cento Uncooked Bar’s design, which incorporates an all-white inside, recent flowers resting atop ice on the bar, candlesticks, colourful customized plateware, and flower vases made by Miradi. The cocktails — served in glasses sourced from the Museum of Trendy Artwork — embrace piña coladas, traditional martinis, jalapeño margaritas, a Sunny Delight spin on the screwdriver, nonalcoholic concoctions and extra.
Levi’s meals menu entails rotating small plates corresponding to uncooked oysters; ikura-topped smoked fish dip; hamachi crudo with cherries and jalapeño; chilled uni pasta with crab; lobster-melt sliders; two- and three-level seafood towers sporting lobster claws, citrus-topped scallops, prawns and past; and non-seafood dishes like deviled eggs piped with caramelized onions. Cento Uncooked Bar is walk-in solely, and is open Wednesday to Sunday from 5 to 11 p.m.
4919 West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, instagram.com/centorawbar
Deviled eggs, crudités with fried-pickle dip and cocktails at Bar Benjamin.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Instances)
Bar Benjamin
A brand new cocktail-forward sibling spot to certainly one of L.A.’s greatest bars is now open, pouring creative concoctions involving the likes of mole oil, miso-washed rye, nori mist, clarified pineapple and strawberry daiquiri ice cubes.
The Benjamin — not too long ago dubbed by the L.A. Instances as one of many metropolis’s greatest locations to seize a drink — serves traditional minded cocktails, an array of martinis, caviar-topped baked potatoes, one of many buzziest burgers within the metropolis and different upscale Americana on the nook of Melrose and Formosa avenues. In Could house owners Ben Shenassafar (alias: Ben Tons of, of streetwear model the Tons of), Kate Burr and Jared Meisler unveiled Bar Benjamin, an upstairs bar filling the previous residence of Meisler’s the Moon Room.
The Inherent Vice cocktail at Bar Benjamin is a piña colada variant made with aged rum, clarified pineapple, coconut, allspice and a strawberry-daiquiri ice dice.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Instances)
Whereas the setting of Bar Benjamin feels tandem to its older sibling, its beverage program is totally separate. Jason Lee (previously of n/soto and Baroo) and Chad Austin (previously of the Mulholland and Bootlegger Tiki) constructed a brand new and impressive cocktail program with drinks separated into classes of wealthy, savory, sudden, vivid and boozy, with solely two holdovers from the Benjamin: the “dirtier” martini, and Shenassafar’s martini.
Some cocktails lean wholly authentic whereas others veer off from classics, such because the everything-bagel-infused Gibson, the margarita made with Sichuan-washed mezcal, or the negroni made with tomato gin and rhubarb-infused vermouth. The Tommy Boy tops coconut rum, purple curry and fermented mushroom inexperienced tea with coconut foam, whereas the Paddington — a nod to the world’s favourite England-by-way-of-Peru bear — makes use of gin, pisco, orange marmalade and a burnt-toast cordial.
To eat, search for shrimp rolls, deviled eggs, crudités with fried-pickle dip and extra. Bar Benjamin is open Tuesday and Wednesday from 6 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m.
7174 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 500-1122, barbenjamin.com
The wraparound sushi bar at Saijo.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Instances)
Saijo Hand Roll Bar
A brand new hand roll bar from the founding father of the ramen chain Jinya is serving temaki and kushiyaki at a 24-seat sushi bar in Culver Metropolis.
Shrimp and beef kushiyaki at Saijo in Culver Metropolis.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Instances)
Tomo Takahashi’s Saijo Hand Roll Bar makes a speciality of hand rolls — which come a la carte; in two-, three- or four-piece units; or as lunch specials — crammed with the likes of toro, lobster, grilled sea bass, unagi, salmon, and wagyu. Seaweed is toasted to order, and the restaurant’s signature hand roll comes filled with blue crab, shrimp, salmon stomach and cucumber.
In a nod to the affect of his household’s robatayaki restaurant in Ehime, Japan, Takahashi’s new hand roll bar additionally serves a spread of grilled skewers, together with pork stomach chasu, tsukune, ginkgo nuts, greens, and shrimp with garlic butter. Sake, beer and wine are additionally accessible. Saijo Hand Roll Bar is open Sunday and Tuesday to Thursday from midday to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 9:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from midday to 2:30 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m.
12473 Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, 424-479-7977, saijohandroll.com
The signature merchandise at Marathon Burger is a double Wagyu smash burger topped with cheese, house-made pickles, grilled onions and pickled Fresno peppers.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Instances)
Marathon Burger Venice
Nipsey Hussle’s marathon continues in Venice with the launch of a Marathon Burger outpost proper on the boardwalk.
The culinary offshoot of the late rapper’s way of life model, Marathon, debuted earlier this yr alongside Melrose with Hussle’s brother and enterprise accomplice — Samiel “Blacc Sam” Asghedom — main the cost. Now Asghedom and the Marathon workforce are serving a pared-down Marathon Burger menu that features the signature Wagyu smash burgers and scorching wings, breakfast sandwiches, fries and drinks at a walk-up window throughout from Muscle Seashore.
Marathon Burger is open in Venice day by day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., with late-night supply accessible from 10 p.m. to three a.m.
1827 Ocean Entrance Stroll, Venice, marathonburger.com
