Horses & Frogs
MidEast Tacos, Horses NYC progeny, Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival, penny loafers, Altadena, wine country hotels, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Silver Lake gold
Fans of Mini Kabob know Armen Martirosyan as the affable host and adept grill cook behind the exceptional Armenian takeaway spot in Glendale. Alongside his parents, he’s won over the hearts and taste buds of many Angelenos, myself included. Nowadays, you’ll more likely find him in Silver Lake, manning the flames at MidEast Tacos, the Mexican fusion spinoff he opened late last month.
MidEast Tacos has been heralded as an only-in-LA spot, two cuisines melded to novel effect. This is true. The menu is essentially Mini Kabob(s) wrapped into burritos, folded into tacos, and pressed as quesadillas. Moist and crispy falafel (the best in town) come on a corn tortilla with avocado salsa, Thai basil, and toum árbol. The chicken burrito, consisting of kebab and seasoned long-grain rice, tastes like a kabob plate at Mini Kabob. And the cottage fries, sprinkled with Aleppo pepper and paired with Mexican-Armenian aioli, are dangerously good.
Situated on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Maltman Ave (the former home of cool-kid Israeli restaurant Mh Zh), MidEast Tacos is a counter-service shop with a bare-bones interior. Takeout is welcome, even advised, although some sidewalk seating means you can eat your burrito while it’s still hot.
All in all, the food, the homespun Martirosyan-helmed counter service, the building, the gestalt: it works, all the time, if not as something particularly well-suited to late-night (especially post-drinks) eating. Fittingly, it’s open daily from 11a through 10p, a generous operating schedule for today’s Los Angeles, of which MidEast is otherwise unmistakably of, and primed to thrive in. –Emily Wilson
→ MidEast Tacos (Silver Lake) • 1356 Allison Ave. • Daily, 11a-10p.
GIVEAWAYS • Partner
Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival tickets
The inaugural Los Angeles Wine & Food Festival is March 1-3, and we’ve got two free tickets to give away. The event will celebrate the best of LA’s food scene over three days in Santa Monica. All-inclusive tickets include unlimited food from 90+ chefs, free-flowing drinks, and immersive entertainment all weekend long.
To enter, simply hit reply (or email found@itsfoundla.com) with your name and favorite food. You must be 21+ years of age to enter. The winner will receive 2 GA Weekend Passes to attend the festival with a friend.
May the odds be ever in your flavor. And even if you don’t win, you can join in the fun by using the discount code FOUNDLA for 30% off your all-inclusive tickets.
RESTAURANTS • Intel
HORSES > FROGS: The fallout from last spring’s Horses scandal made it all the way to NYC, where the opening of a sister restaurant was delayed — seemingly indefinitely. Then, earlier this month, chef/owner Liz Johnson dropped a 12-minute video which included the revelation that the new restaurant, known as Frog Club, was open to the public. Our sister publication, FOUND NY, filed two reports from operatives who separately gained entry for dinner at what is sure to be NYC’s most talked-about restaurant opening.
Mandatory stickers to cover phone cameras? $1000 to ‘Kiss the Chef’? The Dirty Kermit? Read on at FOUND NY, or find our full report from inside Frog Club at the bottom of this email, for paid subscribers.
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: In Los Feliz, Quentin Tarantino’s coffee shop dedicated to Pam Grier is now open • How Black chefs in Los Angeles made the taco their own • How shaved ice took over the dessert menu at places like Yess • The wine aeration industrial complex will not rest.
REAL ESTATE • Sold
The right amount of removed
After espying Pasadena’s real estate doings in last week’s issue, our interest turns north, to the quaint, tranquil, beautiful, somewhat confounding neighborhood of Altadena. Yes, there are historic mansions to be found, but also equestrian facilities, due to the neighborhood’s location in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. With houses trading at a median sale price of $1.375M, per Redfin, it’s a more expensive place than Pasadena (median sale price $1.175M), and somehow qualifies as hipper (and significantly more rugged).
Despite the relatively modest median sale price, the higher end of the Altadena market doesn’t lack for activity. Here, three sales so far this year that have closed at or above $3M:
→ 1717 E Mendocino St. (Altadena) • 5BR/5.1BA, 4506 SF • 1923 Spanish revival estate with mountain views • Listed: 11/10/23 for $3.895M, sold: 1/24/24 • Sold price: $4.025M • Listing brokers: Teresa Fuller and Lori Schlachter, Compass.
→ 2001 Mendocino Ln. (Altadena, above) • 5BR/5BA, 3663 SF • Spanish-style house in a lush setting with pool • Listed: 12/8/23 for $3.7M, sold: 1/2/24 • Sold price: $3.84M • Listing broker: Carey Haynes, Compass.
→ 1661 E Mendocino St. (Altadena) • 6BR/5BA, 4723 SF • Spanish revival property in need of some love • Listed: 7/19/23 for $3.58M, sold: 1/29/24 • Sold price: $3M • Listing broker: Rita Whitney, The Agency.
LA WORK AND PLAY LINKS: Mushroom vertical farming company Smallhold files for bankruptcy • Following Marina del Rey opening, REI closing in Santa Monica at end of this month • Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verde closes following land shifts • Jason Reitman buys the iconic Village Theater in Westwood • Inside Double Barrel & the Whisky Shoppe, an elegantly rustic enclave in Beverly Hills.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Object
Soft like butter
As a former wardrobe stylist, Jamie Haller’s loafers caught my eye for a myriad of reasons, but most of all, for their simplicity and quality — no logos, no hardware, no flashy colors, just the good stuff. Made in Italy in an old Dior atelier, Haller’s signature penny loafers are butter-soft and go with everything. The only drawback? New drops sell out in minutes. Haller, a Los Angeles native, posts updates on her Instagram page, so that’s a good place to start. –Isabel White
→ Shop: The Penny Loafer (Jamie Haller), $525-575.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Multitudes
Anajak Thai x Arnaud Lambert Wine Dinner, Anajak Thai (Sherman Oaks), Thurs @ 730p, $328 per
Olivia Rodrigo with Chappell Roan, Acrisure Arena (Thousand Palms), Fri @ 730p, section 107, $437 per
Feist: Multitudes Finale Tour, The Belasco (Downtown), Sat @ 7p, GA, $65 per
GETAWAYS • The Nines
Hotels, Napa Valley
Meadowood (St. Helena), serene estate w/ private club, wine center, pool & spa, acclaimed dining, $1225
Bardessono Hotel And Spa (Yountville), villas and spa suites w/ floor-to-ceiling windows & marble bathrooms, $1350
Alila Napa Valley (St. Helena), adults-only property w/ farmhouse restaurant & vineyard views, $965
The Ink House (St. Helena), four-room Italianate manor known, once home to Elvis Presley, $4500 (entire home)
Wine Country Inn (St. Helena), charming cottages include fireplaces, $485
Harvest Inn (St. Helena), eight-acre resort amidst Redwood groves, $540
Hotel Yountville (Yountville), rustic Tuscan-inspired property, $630
North Block (Yountville), boutique hotel w/ grape-infused spa treatments, $825
The Estate Yountville (Yountville), multi-bedroom residence nearby The French Laundry, $699
All rates winter weekend, one night king. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundla.com.
ASK FOUND
A few FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we are seeking intel:
What florists or subscription flower services should I consider?
You published the best women’s boutiques, but what about men’s boutiques?
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.
LOST & FOUND • Behind the Paywall
Dispatches from the frontline, from FOUND subscribers for FOUND subscribers:
→ A handful of favorite restaurants from new subscribers: Yahir (Mar Vista)• Ichijiku Sushi (Highland Park) • La Dolce Vita (Beverly Hills)• Queen St. (Eagle Rock) • Milo & Olive (Santa Monica)• Endless Color (Topanga) • Little Dom’s (Los Feliz) • Majordōmo (Chinatown) • Joseon (Silver Lake).
RESTAURANTS • New York
Inside Frog Club
Horses progeny Frog Club is not yet findable on Resy, and its website (above) directs interested diners to email a request for a reservation. But today, the door is peeking open. Here, those two reports from inside: