Back to the future
Vespertine, Ludo teases Brentwood project, Spring Restaurant Rush, MISE, Bel Air, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Sleep no more
On a cloudy, cool evening last week, a sense of eerie anticipation came over me as I approached Vespertine, chef Jordan Kahn’s restaurant inside the striking Waffle building in Culver City. Had I ever felt this way in the lead-up to dinner? I don’t think so. But I’m not sure there’s ever been a restaurant quite like Vespertine.
Reputed to be as much a multisensory experience as fine-dining destination, the restaurant reopened after a four-year break on Tuesday. In its time away, Vespertine became one of the great mysteries of the L.A. restaurant scene: What, exactly, is Kahn building in there?
Outside Verspertine’s unmarked entrance, three servers in ninja-like uniforms appeared and (doing nothing to dissipate my anxiety) escorted us inside and up through an elevator. When the doors opened to a glass-walled kitchen, we were handed a glass of birch water, and Kahn and his cohort of cooks greeted us.
And then, all at once, I felt calm. Perhaps it was Kahn’s surprisingly warm demeanor. Or the sun setting over Culver City through the glass. Or the immersive soundtrack of field recordings (composed by Icelandic musician Jónsi Birgisson, of Sigur Rós).
The feeling carried over into the dining room, situated on the purgatorial second floor, designed sparingly with glass semicircular tables and angular black booths. We drank Champagne in light-as-air Zalto stemware, the floral aroma teetering on seductive. The water vessels felt ultra-soft, like an ocean-sanded rock in my hand. Soon, courses began to flow, some with juice pairings made of tree barks, ancient red corn, and kiwi. What was this strange and alluring world I had stepped into?
When “Vernal,” a dish redolent of earthy pesto consisting of wild onion-and-almond custard, pea miso, and a bouquet of tiny flowers and greens, landed on our table, we were told, “Chef Jordan forages these every morning.” (When I asked from where, they cited the on-site garden. Okay!) Scooping into an inky, iridescent puddle of cream of smoked mussel, topped with a concentrated mussel gelée — called “Obsidian Mirror” — felt almost wrong, like I was hurting someone.
Not all dishes were as emotional. My favorites were a seared scarlet snapper served with a silky, tingly paste made of caramelized papaya, wild beach roses, and timur pepper; sliced quail breast dipped in an emulsion of egg yolk, fermented mushroom, and smoked butter; and a slinky-shaped purple dessert called “Layers,” which tasted like the utmost grown-up version of peanut butter and jelly. The latter was served in “The Gallery” downstairs, accompanied by a Douglas fir tea ceremony.
But the dish that stuck with me most was raw deep sea prawns with quince juice, plum vinegar, aji panca chile, and red gooseberries. Deeply saline, slightly smoky, and shockingly intense, it tasted exactly like “Deep Ocean,” its name.
I don’t know that I liked it, but it did something. Awoke my senses, maybe. And brought me almost all the way back to that feeling I had before I walked through the door. Vespertine is back, and very much on the edge of fine dining. –Emily Wilson
→ Vespertine (Culver City) • 3599 Hayden Ave • Tues-Sat 6-830p • Reserve.
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: Is famed NYC restaurateur Keith McNally plotting a restaurant in LA? • Angler chef Josh Skenes makes wood-fired return in former La Brea Bakery space • How Gwyneth’s Goop Kitchen mini-empire is taking over this town • Are two olives bad luck?
WORK • Thursday Routine
Petit pursuits
LUDO LEFEBVRE • chef • Petit Trois
Neighborhood you live in: Encino
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
I get up at 5:30 a.m. every morning. First, I let my dog Jedi out in the garden, and pick up the New York Times while the coffee brews. I write a gratitude list and meditate. I wake up my wife and kids and make them breakfast — usually burritos, smoothies, and store-bought croissants. Then I start working, answer emails, and prepare a to-do list for the day. My wife uses the office in our house, so I work from our dining room, surrounded by more than 2000 cookbooks.
What’s on the agenda for today?
In the late morning, I go to either L’Original Petit Trois or Petit Trois Le Valley. We work on recipe development and specials for the day. Then I check on my staff, make sure they’re okay. I stay through lunch, cook with my staff, and greet my customers. Then I dedicate time to working on my new project in Brentwood, an elegant restaurant inspired by Nicoise food. I stay at the restaurant for the beginning of dinner service and try to get home around 8 p.m. to see my family.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
My kids Luca and Rêve love it when we take them to The Brothers Sushi in Woodland Hills, and Katsu-Ya in Studio City.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Most weekends we travel for my kids’ hockey competitions: Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, Dallas, Vancouver… It allows me to try new restaurants, and I’m introducing them to Asian food. I wasn’t introduced to different food cultures when I was growing up in France, and I want to open their minds.
Any weekend getaways?
We travel often to Mammoth and Colorado because we ski a lot as a family. I have a restaurant in Denver called Chez Maggy, and I love going to see rodeos when I’m there. Next year I would love to go to Jackson Hole in the winter and Yellowstone in the summer.
What was your last great vacation?
It’s not because I’m French, but my last great vacation was in Saint-Malo in Brittany. The weather was amazing, we rented an old house on the beach, and we ate mussels and crepes every day. I highly recommend the restaurant Breizh Café and a visit to the Bordier butter shop, as well as windsurfing and the Mont-Saint-Michel.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Why Joshua Tree’s real estate market is coming back down to earth • After four year hiatus, Pebble Beach Food & Wine Festival returns this weekend • Big Sur landslide fallout: calls to halt new tourist lodgings • Delta cutting some LAX domestic routes, adding Detroit • Hilton takes majority stake in NoMad Hotels parent company, plans up to 100 new NoMads • Netflix founder Reed Hastings privatizing part of Utah’s Powder Mountain.
REAL ESTATE • Sold
Tax shelters
Monday marked the one-year anniversary of the so-called mansion tax, which levies a 4% charge on all Los Angeles real estate transactions above $5M, and a 5.5% charge on deals over $10M. Critics cautioned that the tax would slow luxury home sales. One year later, what does the data say?
LA tallied 366 sales of single-family homes above $5M from April 2022-March 2023, but only 166 in the past year, a drop of 54.6%, according to the LA Times. Of course, the past year was a slow real estate market everywhere, but the comps from nearby towns are illuminating: single-family sales only dropped 24% in Beverly Hills, 28% in Malibu, and 29% in Santa Monica, again per the LA Times.
One oddity of the mansion tax, which we’ve noted before, is the impact it’s had on specific pricing right at the $5M and $10M levels; $4.99M and $9.99M have never done so much work. Here, three recent Bel Air transactions at, and in one case, above, that $5M line:
→ 960 Chantilly Rd (Bel Air) • 4BR/5BA, 4600 SF • restored midcentury home with pool, gym, and sauna • Listed: 2/12/24 for $5.395M, sold: 3/29/24 for $5.59M • Listing agents: Jill Epstein and Adam Sires, Nourmand & Associates.
→ 1641 Stradella Rd (Bel Air, above) • 4BR/6BA, 5450 SF • house built 1964 with pool and canyon views • Listed: 9/6/23 for $4.99M, sold: 1/30/24 for $4.75M • Listing agent: Sherel Levi, Beverly and Company.
→ 2727 Casiano Rd (Bel Air) • 4BR/5BA, 3054 SF • recently remodeled one-story modern traditional • Listed: 11/10/23 for $4.495M, sold: 3/13/24 • Sold price: $4.375M • Listing agent: Pavel Blyumkin, Rodeo Realty.
LA WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Owners of Television City scale back plans to enlarge and modernize studio • Historic Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City may be demolished for new apartment complex • Parking at the Hollywood Bowl is about to get a lot harder • Downtown LA office tower in default sells for another huge loss • Investors and developers remain bullish on LA office-to-residential conversions • Crafting a DIY plant wonderland in Highland Park.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop
Made in Japan
Situated inside Little Tokyo’s Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, MISE stocks the finest handcrafted kitchen tools and tablewares from Japan. Currently, metalworks from Tsubame-Sanjo — a city 200 miles north of Tokyo — are on display, but eventually, they’ll be rotated out to make room for crafts from other prefectures.
Among the things you never knew you needed are kitchen knives of all sizes made by third- or fourth-generation craftsmen, a curved grater that fits perfectly over the edge of your hand, and a bendable metal spatula for seamless burger-flipping. Metals aside, the shop also carries chopstick holders made from old Suntory whisky barrels and gorgeous, lacquered sake cups.
The space is minimalist and subdued, the items are meticulously organized and displayed, and the shopkeepers are ready to guide you through each item — much like shopping in Japan. –Fiona Chandra
→ MISE 店 (Little Tokyo) • 244 San Pedro St • Fri-Sat 11a-6p.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Spirits in the Night
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, The Kia Forum (Inglewood), Sat @ 730p, section 107, $745 per
Nate Bargatze, Honda Center (Anaheim), Sat @ 7p, section 107, $208 per
Lauryn Hill, Toyota Arena (Ontario), Fri @ 830p, section F2, $176 per
ASK FOUND
A few FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we are seeking intel:
Who makes the best martinis in town (besides Musso & Frank)?
Which tailors can I place my trust in?
What’s your favorite restaurant in LA (if you haven’t told us already)?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundla.com.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Spring Restaurant Rush
Nine restaurants to reserve now:
Vespertine (Culver City), the return of chef Jordan Kahn’s otherworldly fine dining