Waste not
Ine, best Palm Springs restaurants, Jacaranda, Laurel Canyon real estate, Crossroads Kitchen, Dandelion, MORE
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WORK • Thursday Routine
Paper jam
SARAH LEWITINN PATTERSON • co-owner & guest relations • Jacaranda
Neighborhood you work & live in: Hancock Park
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I start the morning waking up next to the chef of Jacaranda, Daniel Patterson, who also happens to be my husband and the co-owner. He gets up by 6a every day, and I wake up a little (or a lot) after. When I’m ready for my morning coffee, I send him a text that says “good morning! I love you!” and it suddenly appears on my bedside table. I spend the next few minutes looking at my stock portfolio and realizing that POTUS has said something wild to make it tank. Once I collect my wits, I get to my work emails and do any press that our publicist, Khuong Phan, sets up for me. Daniel is often foraging or at the farmers’ market shortly after I get my coffee.
Sometime later, like between 10a and 2p, I head to the restaurant, which is just a three-minute drive from my bed and which just opened to the public earlier this month. I get most of my calories in the morning from matcha lattes, which I get from Starbucks, because sometimes I’m a basic b like that, and like consistency, and don’t feel like spending $10 on the drink at someplace down the street where the employees are kind of dicks. I then do some social media promotion, correspond with our guests directly on OpenTable, Instagram, or via text (many of them have my phone number), and answer emails from people who email hello@jacaranda.la. I then do some last-minute graphic design work and curse at my laptop when InDesign shits the bed. I then end up dealing with loose ends at Jacaranda, which usually means fixing the printer.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Today I’m working on our reservations and re\doing the beverage menu. In theory, I should be developing a membership system for our restaurant for TheThirdPlace.is, but that hasn’t happened because I spent about an hour yelling expletives at the printer. I’m also getting distracted by a million things and hoping to take a moment to recharge my social battery before service. I really love interacting with our guests. It’s my absolute favorite part of the job and the reason I’m the happiest I’ve been in about 20 years. Oh, and I sneak kisses to the chef (kiss the cook?) whenever I can. He makes me the happiest person I know.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
So one thing I’ve learned is that there’s no such thing as a social life when you decide to open a restaurant. The restaurant is my social life, which is okay because I mostly only hung out with my husband anyway, and at least now I socialize with other people at the restaurant. I’ve lost about five pounds this past month because I have no time to eat (I keep missing staff meal!). I’m so hungry, but my stomach is also in such knots from opening this joint.
When I do go out — usually on a Tuesday night because on Mondays I’m dead to the world — Daniel and I go to either Jones on Santa Monica and sit at the bar where I get to eat a massive bowl of pasta, or Crossroads Kitchen, where I sit at the bar and get overfed by our friend Tal Ronnen (the chef and owner). I do a lot of sitting and eating at bars.
In an ideal world, I would be getting stoned and watching a lot of TV every night. I’ve read a lot of the responses from other restaurateurs on FOUND, and I have no idea how they have enough free time to go out. I hope they can teach me.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I can’t stress enough how much I love watching TV. I will watch TV like it’s my birthright. I will watch any show that utilizes the Sherlock Holmes trope, or science fiction, or every true crime documentary about scam artists. That is my culture. For my leisure, I do a fuckton of arts and crafts activities. I like to make my own clothes, and I’ll often wear my creations in the dining room. I make the paper we use for our menus using discarded bills or accidental printouts. Waste not, want not. I also made the coasters on our dining tables and tried to make our napkins and bathroom linens, but as it turns out, I find cutting and sewing in a straight line to be challenging.
Any weekend getaways?
First of all, I don’t like leaving the house unless I have to. When we had money (aka before we put all of our money into the restaurant because we don’t have investors), Daniel would sometimes take me on little trips to Santa Barbara, San Diego, or San Francisco. We don’t exclusively go to places that begin with “San” on purpose.
As often as she can, my mom will fly me out to New Jersey to hang out with her. I try to take her to nice restaurants (she loved Eleven Madison Park), where I can name-drop Daniel so we get better service. This makes him cringe, but I like to flex for my mom. In addition to nice restaurants, my mom will take me to her favorite stores like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods.
What was your last great vacation?
Oh my goodness! Daniel and I recently went to Paris! I went over the summer with my entire family and left him at home, but going with the love of my life was a delight! We went to Paris in 2022 immediately after our wedding in Copenhagen, but we managed to catch norovirus (along with half of our wedding guests — the other half caught COVID), so I spent that whole honeymoon trip showing my husband my true, unadulterated self, that I never ever wanted him to see or hear.
Anyway, I digress. We went to Paris a few months ago and had the most delicious time. We ate at Astrance, Prevele, Mokonuts, Dandelion, and eme. It was great to meet the owners of eme since they’re also a husband and wife team. We also stayed in the Marais and went window shopping a lot. I hate spending money on stuff, but I did buy a new Star of David necklace for $75 at some point. We also went to Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme, which was lovely and also heavily guarded.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
To be honest, the most recent big-ticket purchase I made was a freaking restaurant. I can’t stress enough how expensive opening a restaurant with your own money can be. I guess before that, I spent the very last of my remaining money on getting 80 units of Botox from my neck up. I asked the nurse to “freeze my fucking face and neck.” Thankfully, that was still good by the time we did our press photos.
Where are you donating your time or money?
Daniel and Chef Keith Corbin (of Alta Adams) have a nonprofit organization together called Alta Community (which is changing its name to LocoL Community), a nonprofit dedicated to empowering communities through food and vocational training.
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: The LACMA Erewhon cafe recently opened to all visitors • New European bistro Josephine debuts in former Bowery Bungalow space • Silver Lake’s charming Blair’s introduces lasagna Wednesday specials • Why Kith’s Ronnie Fieg is now slinging (in-store) sandwiches.
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Bistro izakaya
The Skinny: Opened late last year on a quieter stretch of York in Highland Park, self-proclaimed “Japanese brunch bistro” Ine is a polished, attentive izakaya, with modern touches and some restrained fusion from chef Sang Tae.