Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022 - 18

Where to Eat &
Drink now in LA
It's 2022; the pulse of LA's restaurant scene, like the pulse of the
city, even the country, has been irregular, to say the least. Our list
of wine-focused favorites in 2022 feels a little safer than in years
past, a little more comforting, offering shelter from a very
unpredictable world. From the Arts District to Venice Beach, here
are 25 places you won't want to miss in LA.
Reported by ALISSA BICA and PATRICK J. COMISKEY
AGNES
1
Go to Agnes for the
cheese: More than sixty
varieties greet you in a brightly
lit glass case, representing a full
range of animals, countries of
origin, ages and textures. Vanessa
Tilaka Kalb is the cheesemonger;
her husband, Thomas,
is the executive chef. Tilaka
Kalb's cheese boards arrive on
rustic wooden plates garnished
with fruit jams and decadent
Tuscan butter. Much of the rest
of the menu is homey and comforting-pot
roast; sprouted
cauliflower with pistachio hummus;
a cornbread éclair filled
with chicken liver mousse. Beverage
director Liz Kelso focuses
on minimal-intervention wines
produced in small quantities,
both traditional-a Château
Meyre Haut-Médoc-and offthe-beaten-path,
like the Slovenian
skin-contact Rebula
from Kabaj. -AlissA BicA
40 West Green Street, Pasadena;
(626) 389-3839, agnesla.com
ALL TIME
Tyler and Ashley Wells
opened this indoor-out2
door
Los Feliz hangout in 2018,
a café that morphs into a humming,
improvisational restaurant
after dark. COViD forced
them to pump the brakes in
2020, but, for now, dining is
back, and the patios are full.
It's still the place where you can
get a Good Ass Salad, a Whole
Dang Fish or some Pork Action,
details of which depend on
whatever inspires chef Tyler at
the market; Ashley's wine list is
fiercely personal, with natural
inclinations; she handwrites and
annotates the list almost daily.
It's where you can find rarities
like Dani Rozman's tiny production
La Onda wines from
North Yuba, when they're available.
-PAtrick J. cOmiskey
2040 Hillhurst Ave.,
Los Angeles; (323) 660-3868,
alltimelosangeles.com
ALTA
3
18
WINE & SPIR IT S
Keith Corbin and San
Francisco chef Daniel Patterson
opened this West Adams
S PR ING 202 2
restaurant in 2018, one of the
first high-end establishments in
the neighborhood. The menu
leans southern, with AfricanAmerican
and Caribbean specialties-shrimp
and grits,
oxtails and rice, and some of the
best fried chicken in town-all
enjoyed at a leisurely pace on
an expansive patio. During the
pandemic, while the restaurant
was shuttered, the adjacent
café was pressed into service
as a bottle shop, run by Ruben
Morancy, Patterson's former
sommelier at Coi. Morancy's
shop infused Alta's wine program
with its energy, diversity
and creativity; sadly, Morancy
died in September, but the program
is being maintained by the
staff whom he trained. -P.J.c.
5359 West Adams Blvd.,
Los Angeles; (323) 571-4999,
altaadams.com
A.O.C .
4
The Lucques Group
made many changes during
the cOViD times, starting
with its namesake restaurant
Lucques, a West Hollywood
institution, which quietly shuttered
last year. They closed the
Tavern as well and repurposed
its Brentwood location into a
second A.O.C., the groundbreaking
wine-themed restaurant
they established in 2002. A.O.C.
Brentwood is a bright, lively
cross between café and bistro,
filled with color and light. Both
this outpost and A.O.C. Central,
on Third Street, feature Suzanne
Goin's Mediterranean menu,
inspired by southern French
and northern Italian cuisines,
with California accents. Caroline
Styne's wine programs aren't
modish, focused instead on delicious
wines-often produced
by the many winemaker friends
she's made in her long career-
full of character and nerve, like
the savory Hocus Pocus Santa
Barbara Syrah that Peter Hunken
makes with his wife, Amy
Christine, Styne's former floor
sommelier at A.O.C. -P.J.c.
8700 W. Third St., Los Angeles;
(310) 859-9859, aocwinebar.com
ANA JAK THAI
5
Ricky Pichetrungsi
founded this San Fernando
Valley restaurant in 1981,
back when interest in Thai cuisine
was blowing up. His son
Justin, now 35, left the family
business to pursue a career
in entertainment at Disney,
but returned when his father
became ill about three years ago
and has stayed. The food nods
to the classics-curries, stirfries,
a spectacular whole fish,
dry-aged at the seafood market
The Joint and served with
nam jim dipping sauce. Justin's
wine program features wines
in the natural camp, like Quentin
Bourse's edition of La Boutanche,
a cidery Grolleau rosé,
alongside Mosel rieslings from
Vollenweider and Schmitges.
He's keen to highlight wineries
that mirror his and his family's
story-independent and multigenerational,
like Sébastian
Dauvissat's St. Pierre Chablis or
Pete Stolpman's GTG Gamay
from Ballard Canyon. -P.J.c.
14704 Ventura Blvd.,
Sherman Oaks; (818) 501-4201,
anajakthai.com
BAR AUGUSTINE
It's probably not an accident
that you feel like
6
you're walking back in time
in this dark San Fernando Valley
bar, with worn books lining
the shelves and an old-time
telephone perched on a vintage
upright piano. Old wine,
well priced, is the theme here.
The day's specials are scrawled
on a wood-framed chalkboard
illuminated by a single lamp.
Owners Dustin Lancaster and
David Gibbs search out older
bottles, so you can order a 1990
Château Vannières Bandol by
the glass one night and a 1982
Louis Martini Pinot Noir the
next. A mix of classics, like a
2016 Margaux de Brane, and
oddities-a 2019 Masseria Li
Veli Susumaniello-keep the
list fresh. The food is comforting
and friendly-think tater
tots, Brussels sprouts and steak
PHOTOGRAPH BY CARMEN CHAN
http://www.altaadams.com http://www.anajakthai.com http://www.alltimelosangeles.com http://www.agnesla.com http://www.aocwinebar.com
Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022

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