Reading the tea leaves
Bar Sawa, Rustic Canyon, beauty trio, best plant nurseries, Will Rogers State Park, San Diego’s Addison, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Cocktails and chu-toro
Even on my third visit to Bar Sawa in Little Tokyo, I struggled to find the entrance. To enter Bar Sawa from the street — which you can avoid if you park in the building’s garage — ascend an unmarked stairwell up to the second floor of a nondescript office building. Then, head past the parking area to a lobby, and take the elevator down to the basement, where others waiting for their reservations will be gathered.
The journey’s worth it. An eight-seat omakase from the same team as (the highly lauded) Sushi Kaneyoshi next door, Bar Sawa, opened in 2022, has only gotten better with age. It’s slightly more affordable (at $185 per person) than its sister restaurant, and a little more playful, too. Its most distinguishing feature, to that end, is that they also serve Japanese-style cocktails.
Settling into your seat at the counter, the atmosphere will feel a bit subdued — all the better to enjoy your dinner theater. To the left, sushi chefs at work, and on the right, bartenders mixing cocktails like umeshu Negronis and hojicha old-fashioneds. Opt for the “pairing,” then pick three cocktails of your choice from the menu. (It’s not quite a pairing, but the staff will guide the night’s drinking to begin with lighter drinks.)
A few sips into that first drink, and you’ll get it. Then, bites of marinated chu-toro, monkfish liver alongside a sudachi (yuzu hybrid) sake-tini, and sous vide scallops. It’s traditional edomae sushi, but more free, more experimental, more (yes) fun. The final bite is Bar Sawa in a nutshell: a soy-infused cheesecake that somehow melds Basque cheesecake with tamago. Utterly distinct, and just as fantastic. –Fiona Chandra
→ Bar Sawa (Little Tokyo) • 111 S San Pedro St • Tues-Wed 6-930p, Thurs-Sun 5-930p • Reserve.
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: Jeremiah Tower: What makes a restaurant great? • Roy Choi goes deep on just-opened Tacos Por Vida in Palms: ‘like the early days of Kogi’ • Cal-Mex is having a moment in New York • LA has reached peak spicy rigatoni.
REAL ESTATE • Sold
From Rustic to Riviera
Tipping over from Santa Monica into the eastern side of Pacific Palisades, there’s a huge breadth of properties, not to mention quirky micro-neighborhoods with real estate climates of their own. In charming Rustic Canyon, for instance, the median sold price currently tallies $2.98M, per Redfin, while in country-club adjacent Riviera, it’s a considerably richer $8.62M. Here, three properties in three separate eastern Palisades micro-nabes that have traded this year:
→ 447 Sycamore Road (Rustic Canyon, above) • 2BR/3BA, 1529 SF • Indoor-outdoor living in renovated contemporary home • Listed: 1/24/24 for $2.99M, sold: 2/20/24 • Sold price: $2.98M • Listing agents: Trevor Levin, Nourmand & Associates, and Raymond Lyon, Compass.
→ 14401 Villa Woods Place (Will Rogers) • 4BR/4.1BA, 3578 SF • Fixer-upper, first time on market since 1976 adjacent to Will Rogers State Park • Listed: 11/11/23 for $5.7M, sold: 2/12/24 • Sold price: $4.52M • Listing agents: Kristi Turner, Pinnacle Estate Properties, and Elizabeth Keenan, Compass.
→ 807 Napoli Drive (Riviera) • 6BR/5.1BA, 5576 SF • Three-story contemporary with views over the trees • Listed: 11/6/23 for $8.9M, sold: 1/30/24 • Sold price: $8.6M • Listing agents: Liz Jones and Fran Flanagan, Compass.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Beauty
Beauty in vogue
Los Angeles is a town that celebrates beauty (on many levels), but beauty trends move fast. Here, three of the most currently sought-after services, including a celeb-approved facial and a series of skincare master classes.
Facile Masterclasses for the Skin-Obsessed: If you’ve ever lost sleep over facial symmetry or melasma, celebrity derm Dr. Nancy Samolitis is sharing her wisdom through a series of master classes at her Melrose Place HQ. For $65, you can dive deep into focused sessions like “Reverse Aging Sans Injectables” and “Pregnancy + Your Skin” alongside bagels by Courage and Erewhon drinks, then walk away with $250 worth of Facile product.
→ Book: Facile Masterclass (West Hollywood) • $65.
The Celeb-Approved “Minsta Facial”: “Dr. D” (Dr. Jason Diamont), cosmetic king to some of the world’s most famous faces, is offering a buzzy new service for those who want one of his famous $4500 “Instafacials,” but don’t want the downtime (or the price tag). Perfect as a pre-event glow-up.
→ Book: Minsta Facial (Beverly Hills) • $1500.
Joanna Czech Finds an LA Home: Kim Kardashian's favorite facialist Joanna Czech finally has an LA studio, inside the L’Ermitage. The skincare pro also splits time between New York and Dallas, so availability is limited. Her customized facial will leave you depuffed, sculpted, and all-around radiant. –Zoe Schaeffer
→ Book: Ultimate Facial with Joanna (Beverly Hills) • $1250.
LA WORK AND PLAY LINKS: After six years off, Topanga Farmers Market returns on Fridays • The simple vision that inspired Galerie Half in Melrose Arts District • Why Community Goods in Beverly Grove became the ultimate Gen Z hang • The squatters of Beverly Hills.
WORK • Thursday Routine
Learning day
STEVE SCHWARTZ • CEO • Art of Tea
Neighborhood you live in: Pico-Robertson
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
My day starts at 6am. Before I head to our headquarters in Monterey Park, I ground myself with group meditation and prayer, followed by an intense workout. Every morning is different, but if I'm tasting teas or blends we’re working on, I try to do so before breakfast or lunch when my palate’s clear and my senses are more enlivened. On another day, I might be visiting one of the gardens we work with for the botanicals that we incorporate into our blends, or checking on one of the facilities that dries our tea leaves to see how they have withered since the evening based on humidity.
What’s on the agenda for today?
To give the highest possible effort, I schedule my week so I have specific areas of focus each day and can be fully present on the tasks at hand. It's not perfect, but my goal is to structure my week on customer-facing days, team meeting days, and days of learning.
Although all of these are blended at times, I aim to focus my Thursdays on learning and education. Training is a foundational service we offer — I trained the first U.S. tea sommelier at Caesar's Palace in Vegas — and this is something I love to do for our new hospitality partners. Today, I'm visiting Huntington Gardens, a long-time collaborator that offers a tremendous afternoon tea experience in the Rose Garden Tea Room.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
My wife and I have planned a delightful walking date, a little tradition we cherish. Depending on the time, we'll either stop by Bianca in Culver City for some tea and a treat, or enjoy a cocktail at South Beverly Grill. It's a perfect blend of relaxation, conversation, and enjoying some of our favorite spots in the city.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I love hiking. SoCal is filled with great trails and herbal foraging. I take my dog with me on Sundays and get out and move. I love Carbon Beach and Corral Canyon in Malibu, where there's access to all the incredible native flora and fauna such as wild sage, cowboy cologne, anise. Getting into nature often inspires blends we craft at Art of Tea.
Any weekend getaways?
Our weekend plans consist of turning phones and computers off and having a digital detox from Friday night to Saturday night. This helps recharge our internal batteries, and I'm able to really enjoy time with my wife and kids without distraction.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Get Loud
Rolling Loud, Hollywood Park Grounds (Inglewood), 3-day VIP, Fri-Sun + Thurs opening party, $699 per
BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells Tennis Garden (Indian Wells), Sat @ 1p, section 104, $884 per
Bad Bunny, Crypto.com Arena (Downtown), Fri @ 8p, section 102, $610 per
GOODS & SERVICES • The Nines
Plant nurseries
The Tropics, Inc. (Hollywood), specialists in exotic plants and rare trees, by appointment only
Flora Grubb Gardens (Marina del Rey), haven for climate-friendly California plants
Plant Material (Silver Lake & Glassell Park), co-owned by the founder of in-demand landscaper Terremoto
California Nursery Specialities Cactus Ranch (Reseda), cash-only wonderland for cacti and succulents
Inner Gardens (Culver City & Malibu, above), globally sourced home & garden showroom
Merrihew's Sunset Gardens (Santa Monica), well-stocked with fruit trees and pottery
Nuccio's Nurseries (Altadena), grower and seller of camellias and azaleas, exclusively
Logan’s Gardens (Silver Lake), chef’s favorite for heirloom and edible plants, by appointment only
Hashimoto Nursery (Sawtelle), run by three generations of Hashimoto, established c. 1928
Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundla.com.
GETAWAYS • San Diego
Golden State gastronomy
Grandeur awaits those entering Addison, a bucket list fine dining destination in San Diego. Set inside a hacienda, the restaurant boasts wooden ceilings, floor-to-ceiling arched windows, marble pillars, and wrought iron double doors. Inside the main dining room, a dozen tables covered in white linen, a spacious wine room encased in glass.
A recent dinner began with a glass of Krug from 2006, the year of Addison’s inception. A ten-course tasting ensued, the work of chef William Bradley, a San Diego native whose cuisine incorporates Mexican nods (chicken liver churros) and Japanese influences (shellfish chawanmushi). Most marvelous of all was the modestly named “Eggs and Rice” starring caviar, koshihikari rice, smoked sabayon, and toasted sesame. Here, the notion of California gastronomy transcends traditional ideas about seasonal and ingredient-driven work to honor the different cultures (and their respective cuisines) that have put down roots in the Golden State.
The service is extraordinary. Should you go for the wine pairing, Kyle South, Addison’s, 26-year-old sommelier, offers three options that draw from the restaurant’s 10,000-bottle collection.
Securing a reservation can be tough — Addison is the only Michelin three-star restaurant in Southern California — though OpenTable shows some availability about a month out. If that doesn’t work, a tip: each month, the restaurant releases additional tables via its email newsletter. Consider subscribing, and when it hits your inbox, act fast. –Victoire Loup
→ Addison (San Diego) • 5200 Grand Del Mar Way • Tues-Sat 5-11p • Reserve.
GETAWAYS LINKS: United adding new international nonstops from LAX to China, Europe • SF chef Mourad Lahlou opening casual counter spot Moo at Oxbow Market in Napa next week • Look inside just-opened Soho House Portland • Aman launching first cruise ship in 2027 • Airlines are coming for your carry-ons.
ASK FOUND
A few FOUND subscriber PROMPTS for which we are seeking intel:
I’m heading to Palm Springs this spring. Where should I eat?
What are the best butchers and fishmongers in town?
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.