Roy Choi’s desert post; Coni’Seafood expands Breakfast up
From pescado zarandeado on the Westside to chef Roy Choi opening in Las Vegas, here’s what’s happening in the food and drink world.
Look who’s in Vegas
Roy Choi, the man who started a food truck revolution with Kogi BBQ, and the chef behind the restaurants Pot and Commissary in Koreatown, Chego!, A-Frame and Locol with chef Daniel Patterson, is opening his first restaurant in Las Vegas. He doesn’t have a name for the new restaurant yet, but says the around 9,000-squarefoot space is scheduled to open sometime this fall at the new Park MGM, near Las Vegas’ upcoming Eataly. “I want to create, like, a Koreatown — the feeling of Koreatown and the food,” said Choi. The chef said he will most likely pull inspiration from all of his restaurants, but that his current mood board draws from the area of Koreatown where the Line hotel (home of Pot and Commissary) acts as the center of inspiration. He also said he’s looking forward to exploring different, more highend ingredients. “I’ve always focused on affordability, but now with this, I’m trying to search for a way where I can actually use caviar,” said Choi. “I can use A5 [steak]. I can explore different things and ball out a little bit.” Choi is still working on the design but said he plans on having DJ equipment in the restaurant and subwoofers. There will also be a large open kitchen; possible menu items include Korean BBQ and hot pots. “The one thing I noticed on casino floors is you can’t smell the restaurants,” said Choi. “I want to do the exact opposite. I want people to walk out smelling like BBQ.”
Park MGM: 3782 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas.
Westside digs
If you’ve been following restaurant critic Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, then you’ve heard of Coni’Seafood. Or maybe you’ve visited the Inglewood seafood restaurant and are just as obsessed with the Nayarit-style pescado zarandeado as Gold is — a slowly roasted whole snook cooked with citrus and mayonnaise. Either way, you’ll be happy to learn the restaurant has a new location in Del Rey. The new Coni’Seafood is in the old Mariscos Chente, which was run by Coni’Seafood owner Connie Cossio’s mother, Magdalena Garcia. Cossio said she had been wanting to expand for a couple of years but never found the right location. “When mom decided to retire, I went ahead and took over her restaurant and remodeled it,” said Cossio. The menu is mostly the same as the one in Inglewood, and Cossio is adding a few new dishes to both locations, including a pescado zarandeado made with an achiote chile marinade and sea bream instead of the traditional snook. The Del Rey Coni’Seafood is about the same size as the Inglewood restaurant but does not have a patio.
Coni’Seafood: 4532 S. Centinela Ave., Los Angeles, coniseafood .com.
Tyler Wells, who founded Handsome Roasters and Blacktop espresso bar in the Arts District, has opened All Time, his first restaurant, in Los Feliz. All Time is located in the space formerly occupied by husband-and-wife chef team Nathan McCall and Karen Yoo’s Twenty40 cafe. The restaurant is open for coffee, breakfast and lunch, and eventually plans to add dinner service, beer and wine. Chef Jake Cohen, who has cooked at Mélisse, is making cheesy eggs on toast; avocado toast; delicata squash and farro salad; and sandwiches. Ashley Ragovin is curating the restaurant’s beer and wine program.
All Time: 2040 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 660-3868, www.all timelosangeles.com.
Dinner and a show
If you’re in need of some French food from the Patina restaurant group before your next show at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, you’re in luck. Chef Joachim Splichal’s Leatherby’s Café Rouge recently reopened at the center , after closing briefly during the holidays for a physical remodel and a menu reboot. Chef Greg Stillman is still helming the kitchen and will offer a limited number of new menu items, with the full new menu available starting Jan. 18. So before you watch a musical tribute to Leonard Bernstein or “Jersey Boys,” you can order the new foie gras torchon with grilled fig; duck breast with honey lavender jus; or a Wagyu rib-eye.
Leatherby’s Café Rouge: 615 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, (714) 429-7640, www.patinagroup.com/ leatherbys-cafe-rouge.