Critics’ choice: Wine bars of distinction
Lasita Los Angeles
The “lodestar” for modern Filipino cooking in L.A. is gone, but its replacement is a special place in its own right, said Bill Addison in the Los Angeles Times. Lasa, which opened in Chinatown in 2017 and survived for a year during Covid, was transformed last year into Lasita, a natural-wine bar and Filipino rotisserie that has a narrower menu but feels “exactly right for the moment.” Chad Valencia had been Lasa’s chef. His brother and partner, Chase, runs Lasita and turned its focus to specialties such as inasal na manok—rotisserie chicken stained orange in a marinade of ginger, lemongrass, vinegar, garlic, achiote seeds, and calamansi juice. His lechon, another signature, is pork belly rolled like porchetta around a similar mix of spices and herbs. Natural wines pair well with such offerings, especially the highacid whites and chilled reds Chase favors. Lasita has indoor tables, but “most of the action happens alfresco,” where diners linger over shared plates and bottles of chenin blanc. “The scene has all the makings of a new community hub.” 727 N. Broadway, Unit 120, (213) 443-6163
Kaia Wine Bar New York City
Though Suzaan Hauptfleisch never made it on Broadway, Manhattan’s culinary scene is “all the better for it,” said David Kortava in The New Yorker. Had the South African expat become a star of the stage, New York would be without its only South African restaurant and wine bar. Kaia has become, over the past decade, “an Upper East Side institution,” pouring $7 million worth of South African wine, mostly by the glass. The food is South African–inspired. Because wild game such springbok, kudu, and ostrich are impossible to procure, Kaia serves elk— seasoned with coriander and toasted blackmustard seed, sliced thin, and brought in with homemade mustard on the side. Kaia’s version of bobotie, South Africa’s casserolelike