Oh baby
Best florists, restaurant of the summer, Baby Bistro, The Hollywood Bowl, Silver Lake listings, Manou, Three Birds, Lilo, best butchers & fishmongers, MORE
ASK FOUND
A bunch of responses to last week’s PROMPTS. First up, subscribers tell us their favorite florists:
Viola Floral is the best flower shop on the west side.
I’m pretty much a loyalist to the Floral Art by Mia in Los Feliz when it comes to getting a nice bouquet.
Then, what’s your Restaurant of the Summer?
The restaurant of the summer? Hard to say objectively, but I know I’ll be rotating between patio seats at Zizou and L+E Oyster Bar almost exclusively.
Baby Bistro, without question — it’s the LA restaurant opening of the year so far.
Another subscriber emails with a follow-up REQUEST:
I’m curious if you or anyone else in the community has any good recs for someone who can make a custom men’s blazer. Ideally, someone that can do something on the more casual side that you can wear out to dinner!
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundla.com.
RESTAURANTS • First Person
House call
It’s easy to see why our table wasn’t ready the moment we arrived at Baby Bistro: it’s the kind of place one lingers. We didn’t mind, sipping a glass of wine on the front terrace and sharing a plate of house-baked sourdough and rustic country terrine.
At the edge of Echo Park and Chinatown, Baby Bistro — opened in early May — occupies a century-old Victorian bungalow originally built as a private home and still maintains a lived-in feel. There’s no signage to guide you. Walk around the Alpine Courtyard complex until you stumble upon it; getting a little lost is part of the charm.
After checking in with the host, you’ll pass through a candlelit dining room and the open kitchen. There are two small dining rooms, but the best seat in the house is a quiet deck in the back, tucked under an awning, surrounded by banana trees and bougainvillea.
Chef Miles Thompson keeps the menu short and thoughtful (the font is his own handwriting). We started with a cold dish of pickled turnips, soft meiji tofu, halved raspberries, crushed pistachios, and nigella seeds. Next came squid batonettes tossed with smashed cucumbers, torn shiso, and yuzu kosho. For mains, striped bass with carrot purée and bordelaise sauce, as well as a beef coulotte with celery. We finished with a pine nut cookie piped with cucumber crémeux and dotted with candied rhubarb.
My advice? Treat it like a tasting menu: take a leap of faith and order everything. For $140 pre-tax and tip, it’s a steal for this level of cooking in LA. The wine list, curated by business partner Andy Schwartz, is short and smart, featuring a daily-changing selection of natural bottles from California and Europe. A full pairing is $50 for four generous pours, plus a little extra.
Baby Bistro is the kind of spot you might call perfect for date night — but who cares. Make a reservation for any reason whatsoever. –Victoire Loup
→ Baby Bistro (Chinatown) • 1027 B Alpine St • Tue-Sat 530-930p • Reserve.
RESTAURANTS • Intel
BOWLED OVER: For the 10th year, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne head the food and beverage offerings at The Hollywood Bowl. This year, in addition to a new kiosk serving burritos (instead of tacos, because they're easier to eat), they’ve debuted four new three-course picnic boxes, including slow-roasted salmon and jeweled rice. For the supper-in-your-box-seats menu, there’s a new Surf and Turf for Two — a 32oz tomahawk and butter-poached lobster tail with béarnaise, with wine pairings. Pre-order box seats supper and picnic boxes by 6p night before. –Heather Platt
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: Keep that Downtown restaurant reservation • In East LA, these kids are taking over the taco stand to keep their parents safe • Inside the two-week sprint to flip Pasjoli into a casual restaurant • Does California have the best restaurants in the country? • Screw it, give me the martini with four straws.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three properties for sale in Silver Lake that have come to market in the past 21 days.
→ 1986 Lucile Ave (Silver Lake) • 2BR/3BA, 1544 SF • Ask: $2.549M • midcentury house designed by architect Ray Otero as his personal residence • Annual taxes: $28,314 • Days on market: 20 • Agents: Justin Feil & Christopher Feil, Berkshire Hathaway.
→ 2240 Ewing St (Silver Lake) • 4BR/3.2BA, 3345 SF • Ask: $3.9M • skyline views from modern residence with pool and ADU • Annual taxes: $44,330 • Days on market: 17 • Agents: Cameron Samimi & Ryan Versfelt, Lyon Stahl.
→ 955 Micheltorena St (Silver Lake, above) • 6BR/6.2BA, 3336 SF • Ask: $5.5M • modernist residence with backyard pool, jacuzzi, and firepit, plus ADU • Annual taxes: $18,732 • Days on market: 6 • Agents: Eva Berges & Tracy Do, Coldwell Banker.
WORK & PLAY LINKS: Nearly six months after fires, final evacuation order lifted in Palisades • Altadena residents can use approved blueprints to rebuild homes • Funding restored for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House • With Amex Platinum revamp coming, is the $1k annual fee upon us? (Chase Sapphire just bumped to $795).
WORK • Thursday Routine
Protein shakers
BEN SZILAGYI & CHRISTA BLUMENTHAL • co-founders • Manou
Neighborhood you work & live in: Venice
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Workplace and home are one and the same, a welcome change after an hour-plus morning commute before founding Manou protein bars. Checking for the latest order updates serves as a quick dopamine hit before rolling out of bed.
If it isn’t overcast first thing in Venice (rare), we’re stepping out for some sun before making a fresh pour-over with Canyon Coffee beans. Being just about six months into launching our brand means a hodgepodge of activities. Fulfilling orders, followed by virtual meetings with potential distributors and retail partners curious to engage us, a veteran-owned company making clean ingredient, high protein bars. Getting all that out of the way early allows for a late morning outdoor workout (followed by a Manou bar, of course) and an afternoon of right-brained creative brand and packaging conversations.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Using our beloved vintage Minolta X-700 film camera passed down from my dad to get some new product shots. Our brand aesthetic is earthy, through and through, with ourselves and our core customer base being active, outdoors enthusiasts. While we haven’t been able to revisit our favorite west side hiking spot, Temescal Canyon, since the fires, Torrey Pines is well worth the jaunt and a good excuse to see friends in the area.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Ever since goop Kitchen opened a quick walk away, it’s become our go-to take-out routine on a weeknight. Guilt-free with seasonally rotating menu items means it never gets old, and the herb-roasted salmon and jammy eggs always hit. This weekend, we’re skipping up the street to Mar Vista’s newest Cal-Italian restaurant Beethoven Market for housemade pasta and skin contact wine.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Hyperlocal leisure usually looks like playing tennis at Ocean View Park and hopping in a hot dry sauna at Open. Crossing the 405 to Elysian Park for some hiking followed by breakfast at Honey Hi on a Saturday morning before the traffic gets too heavy is usually the move.
Any weekend getaways?
Ojai is our go-to weekend getaway, in no small part for the wine club pick-up parties at The Naturalist once a season. Talented local artists performing live, the friendliest folks, and snacks to nosh on while tasting the newest wines — can’t say enough great things about the place and, equally important, that their natural and organic wines never leave us hungover. Three Birds is a new-ish spot that has quickly become a favorite for a pre-hike breakfast alongside our tried and true Rory’s Other Place.
What was your last great vacation?
A high-velocity trip to South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. We really enjoyed staying at the Figo in Sheung Wan, eating grilled octopus and imbibing on orange wine at Call Me Al down the street, and catching the stunning cityscape and tropical island vista from Victoria Peak. In contrast to Hong Kong’s highly developed and bustling nature, staying at the family-run Scenic Garden Villa by Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan, in the jungle surrounded by fields of Camellia sinensis tea, was a truly enchanting experience. Just bring your mosquito spray!
Where are you donating your time or money?
With kitten season in full swing, we’ve been fostering when we’re in town for a few volunteer-run organizations in west LA. It’s incredibly rewarding. We’ve also donated money and time volunteering for Pasadena Humane Society, most recently participating in their annual 5K. Worth crossing the city to help PHS as they offer free board for animals whose owners were impacted by the fires in addition to their adoption and other services year round.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Rhyme time
Post Malone • SoFi Stadium (Inglewood) • tonight @ 730p • Section B3, $238 per
Pixies • Hollywood Palladium (Hollywood) • Fri @ 7p • GA, $65 per
Barenaked Ladies • Greek Theatre (Los Feliz) • Sun @ 7p • Section A, $93 per
GETAWAYS • Carlsbad
Carlsbad’s crown
The Skinny: 22-seat Lilo is the culmination of chef Eric Bost and restaurateur John Resnick's transformation of a sleepy Southern California surf town into a culinary mecca. The duo now operates four restaurants (Wildland, Jeune et Jolie, and Campfire) within walking distance of one another on State Street. Lilo, which opened last month, is the quartet’s fine dining entry, and allows Bost to flex like he hasn’t been able to since closing Auburn in Los Angeles during the pandemic.
The Vibe: Start with welcome drinks and bite-sized snacks in a zen outdoor garden. Inside, 14 counter seats and two four-tops surround an open kitchen. Large jars of pickles and preserves line the shelves above wine glasses. Chefs serve guests, presenting plates with tableside flourishes, offering a precisely described narrative of the dishes’ preparations. You’ll end up back outside in the heated garden for mignardise and tea, with a natural, comfortable flow to the evening.
The Food: Bost spent nearly a decade working with Guy Savoy, and his French sensibilities — including a dedication to local purveyors like Chino Farm — are readily evident. He also has a knack for using finishing oils in unexpected ways, marrying flavors and adding texture without weighing down his dishes. For example, a few drops of roasted coffee oil with Wild Brittany turbot adds depth and contrast to Pineau de Charentes sabayon, and almond oil is freshly pressed daily to balance the juxtaposition of ossetra caviar atop orgeat ice cream, with an umami accent of smoked celery root bushi shaved on top. Pastry chef Maddie Biehl is a gem, and her desserts equal Bost’s savory dishes in their complexity.
The Drink: There are three drink pairing options, and a robust selection of cocktails and wines by the glass. Choose from an alcoholic pairing, a non-alcoholic pairing, or a “Goldilocks” mix of both. Wine director Savannah Riedler is pouring Caraccioli Cellars sparkling wine from nearby Monterey County by the magnum, and it’s as good as Champagne.
Why It’s FOUND: Bost and chef de cuisine Dušan Todić are cool and collected mentors for an enthusiastic, young team of top-tier talent who are putting the Carlsbad dining scene in lights. –Amber Gibson
→ Lilo (Carlsbad) • 2571 Roosevelt St • Tue-Sat 5-10p • Reserve.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Makeover planned for Tahoe’s Sugar Bowl Resort • Kilauea is erupting, so why can’t you see anything? • A game-changing alternative to Global Entry launches across 8 airports • Belmond’s storied Splendito reopens in Portofino following elaborate makeover • Next big thing in luxury travel: family therapists.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Butchers & fishmongers
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of LA’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundla.com. For the full archives, click here.
McCall's Meat & Fish Co. (Los Feliz & Santa Monica, above), top-notch meat, fish, and seasonal produce, plus pantry provisions