Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022 - 21

lin's biodynamic Neuberg riesling.
A second dining room with
a prix-fixe menu will debut on
the floor above in 2022. -P.J.C.
9575 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles;
(424) 500-9575, bicyclettela.com
BIRDIE g'S
Chef Jeremy Fox of the
Rustic Canyon Family
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group opened this Santa Monica
restaurant housed in the historic
Bergamot Station with
family in mind. Named after
his youngest daughter, Birdie,
and grandma Gladys, Fox's concept
combines contemporary
design-lofty ceilings and iron
beams-with a nostalgic cafeteria
setting, spare wooden tables
and chairs in a clean line, awaiting
blue-rimmed diner plates
heaped with corned beef short
ribs or Jeremiah's Chicken. For
dessert, there's a twist on the
Jell-O mold with their " worldfamous "
rose-petal pie. Wine
director Kathryn Weil Coker's
list is filled with asides: " I do
love Merlot, " she confesses on
one page. On another, she lets
diners in on " What the kids are
drinking " (skin-contact whites,
apparently). Her Old and New
World selections don't take
themselves too seriously, unless
you want to spring for that bottle
of 2000 Cheval Blanc. -A.B.
2421 Michigan Avenue,
Santa Monica; (310) 310-3616,
birdiegsla.com
CARLITOS gARDEL
The pandemic has pushed
the dining at Carlitos
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Gardel out of its plush room-
think dark paneling and red
leather banquettes-into a
thoroughly homey shack in the
back, paneled with wood slats
and strung with patio lights.
The steakhouse is now a bistro,
noisy and boisterous. It's
still LA's most steadfast source
for the great Argentine steak
tradition, with ribeyes, tenderloins,
short-ribs, lengua, parillada
Argentina-all sumptuous,
high-grade cuts, all swimming
in tangy chimichurri. Max
Bozoghlian maintains the finest
selection of Argentine wine
on the West Coast; you go here
for verticals of Achaval Ferrer,
Cheval des Andes, the gamut
from Catena Zapata's Adrianna
Vineyard, and an entire page of
offerings from Hubert Weber
and Bodegas Weinert. -P.J.C.
7963 Melrose Ave.,
Los Angeles; (323) 655-0891,
carlitosgardel.com
gIRL & THE gOAT
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Chef Stephanie Izard
found her restaurant's Los
Angeles home in the Arts District,
where the brick storefronts
and industrial setting reminded
her of Girl & the Goat's Randolph
Street neighborhood in
Chicago. Izard's food is all about
textures-a beet salad dressed
in yuzu kosho isn't complete
without a Marcona almond and
sunflower seed crunch. When
goat is on the menu, it might be
slices of confited belly topped
with pecans, or in a pungent
curry topped with pickled vegetables.
Beverage director Kristinah
Kim's list builds on what
her predecessor Ken Fredrickson
created; she's added a small
farmer's page, devoted to a
single grower-producer-currently,
that's Johan Vineyards,
in Oregon's Van Duzer Corridor.
Other wines skew locally to California,
like Cruse Wine Company's
Monkey Jack Valdiguié, or
Heitz Cellars' Grignolino, grown
on the Napa Valley property for
more than six decades. -A.B.
555-3 Mateo St.,
Los Angeles; (213) 799-4628,
girlandthegoat.com/losangeles
gJELINA
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Gjelina remains the
fiercely beating heart
of Abbot Kinney Boulevard,
itself the life's blood of Venice
Beach's culinary scene. It's the
sort of place where surfers and
crypto-capitalists sit shoulder
to shoulder at the bar or on the
patio, where an all-day menu
caters to both. Chef Juan Hernandez's
produce game is especially
strong-locally sourced
salad greens and oven-roasted
vegetable plates complement
such main courses as pork belly
on Oaxacan grits. Henry Beylin
manages a list that resists
categorization, drawing from
France, Italy, and, increasingly,
the continent-he leans heavily
on Austria, the Czech Republic,
Slovenia and Georgia, including
many wines he direct-imports
for the restaurant group's exclusive
use, like Petra Bredova's
Moldovian Rysak, a bracing
white-and-red blend of MüllerThurgau
and St. Laurent. -P.J.C.
1429 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice;
(310) 450-1429, gjelina.com/la
HATCHET HALL
Hatchet Hall has taken
over its own parking lot
during the pandemic; the cavernous
feel of the " hall " is now
replicated in a heated tent, and
wood smoke from the kitchen's
cookfires has a bit farther to
waft to reach your table. No
matter-Wes Whitsell's menu is
still the same Southern-tinged
fare, modern and antique at
once, like collard greens braised
with turkey tails and topped
with pickled green garlic; meatloaf
and mash with a smoked
tomato glaze; or a Peads & Barnetts
pork chop with roasted
apples. Wine director Duncan
Mischko has divided his
list under headings like " Keep
Hatchet Weird " -and he does,
with tangy selections from
Georgia, Slovakia, the Czech
Republic and, closer to home,
El Sandweech from Scotty Boy,
a co-ferment of Santa Barbara
County pinot and chardonnay
from Scott Sampler. -P.J.C.
12517 W. Washington Blvd.,
Los Angeles; (310) 391-4222,
hatchethallla.com
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JON & VINNY'S
Jon & Vinny's is now
a franchise, having
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branched from its first Fairfax
District location to other
sites in Los Angeles including
its newest, on Slauson, just off
La Brea, south of the Baldwin
Hills in burgeoning South LA.
The concept is simple: impeccably
prepared old-school Italian
American food-homemade
pastas, pizzas, meatballs, parS
PR IN g 202 2
migianas, heaping chopped salads-with
portions big enough
to set a table creaking. Tucked
away in all three venues is
Helen's, wine director Helen
Johannessen's wine shop the
size of a shoe closet, with floorto-ceiling
slots reserved for
bottles. The wine shop doubles
as a wine list that completely
overdelivers for its pizza-joint
locale. Why not? On Slauson,
this amounts to one of the most
interesting wine selections in
the neighborhood, whether taking
out or eating in. -P.J.C.
4400 W. Slauson Ave.,
Los Angeles; (323) 609-4688,
jonandvinnys.com
MAJORDOMO
Majordomo is David
Chang's island of gentility
north of downtown. Set in
the midst of a warren of warehouses
between Chinatown
and Lincoln Heights, the restaurant
may be hard to find-if
you think you've gone too far,
you're probably almost there.
Inside, the warm wood-paneled
room hums with a quiet energy;
in COVID times, most dining is
pushed out under the low lights
of the patio. Jude Parra-Sickels
designs the menu with plenty
of Chang favorites, like wholeplate
short ribs and bo ssäm,
but the smaller plates might
also astound you, like mushroom
crispy fried rice, or king
crab fusilli with breadcrumbs
and ginger, both brimming with
umami. Alyssa Shepherd took
over the wine program nine
months ago and it still bears the
mark of her predecessors, Richard
Hargreave and Ken Howell;
she often has a handful of rarities
open, like Jacques-Frédéric
Mugnier's Nuits, Clos de la
Maréchale from 2016. -P.J.C.
1725 Naud St., Los Angeles;
(323) 545-4880, majordomo.la
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WINE & SPIR IT S
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PHOTOGRAPH OF MAJORDOMO BY CARMEN CHAN; OTHERS ARE COURTESY OF THE RESTAURANTS
http://www.bicyclettela.com http://www.carlitosgardel.com http://www.gjelina.com/la http://www.jonandvinnys.com http://www.birdiegsla.com http://www.girlandthegoat.com/losangeles http://www.hatchethallla.com http://www.majordomo.la
Wine & Spirits - Spring 2022

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