New Restaurants in Los Angeles: 11 Hot New Dining Choices

E.P. & L.P.

The Quick Pitch: Aussie Louis Tikaram heads up the kitchen at this biting encounter with Southeast Asian cooking along La Cienega’s Restaurant Row. The menu — ceviche, wood grilled tuna, crispy-skin chicken — careens from spicy to tart to funky and back again, fueled by lemongrass, black vinegar, chili and fresh coconut milk.

The Inside Dish: Key backers include EDM DJs and producers Alesso and Sebastian Ingrosso, formerly of Swedish House Mafia, which helps account for the music reference “extended play and long play” in the resto’s name.

603 N. La Cienega Blvd.
Asa Meza

The Quick Pitch: Lexington Social House on Vine has been flipped into Asa Meza, a nexus of Asian and Latin American comfort foods, with Taiwanese sausage and bok choy sharing the table with sea bass ceviche and chicharon de pescado. Request the book-lined alcove.

The Inside Dish: Top Chef season 11’s Brian Huskey (who helped open Ricardo Zarate’s acclaimed, departed Picca and Paiche) is consulting on the restaurant.

1718 Vine St.
Baltaire

The Quick Pitch: Baltaire throws back to last decade’s L.A. chophouse reign: dry-aging steaks for weeks, towering fruits de mer platters and a deep commitment to lobster mac and cheese — realized amid an updated midcentury mod decor (it formerly was a Cheesecake Factory). It’s a savvy mix primed for a Westside clientele of expense-accounters and young parent date-nighters. Don’t miss the bourbon croissant bread pudding.

The Inside Dish: Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann have been in to the dining room, which adjoins the Coral Tree Cafe, whose owners conceived of Baltaire.

11647 San Vicente Blvd.
Belcampo

The Quick Pitch: This NorCal-based humanely raised meat company, which first touched down last year with a stall at downtown’s Grand Central Market, has opened a full service Santa Monica restaurant with an expanded menu, including goat tartare, mutton chops and grilled beef hearts.

The Inside Dish: The location’s head chef, Maiki Le, previously was at the now-shuttered neighborhood stalwart Josie Restaurant.

1026 Wilshire Blvd.
Birch

The Quick Pitch: On March 10, Brendan Collins (of the late Waterloo & City) touched down along the club-kid Cahuenga corridor with this discordantly mature showing of ambitious chef-driven cuisine — a rarity in Hollywood proper. Order the rabbit baklava, whole fried snapper and asparagus with crispy duck.

The Inside Dish: Pink Taco’s Harry Morton previously tried — and failed — to launch a gourmet burger concept at the address.

1634 Cahuenga Blvd.
Forma

The Quick Pitch: Front-of-house honcho Mario Sabatini and kitchen vet Piero Topputo of Brentwood’s Pecorino have decamped further west to Santa Monica to open this bustling Italian spot with a focus on regional cheeses and house-made pastas. Take advantage of Sabatini’s adroitly paired wine list, and don’t miss the filet of sole with crispy artichokes.

The Inside Dish: Forma is backed by Rob Donnell, the founder of branded-content firm Brand Arc, whose signature effort has been weaving the Toyota Prius into storylines on such shows as Curb Your Enthusiasm and Modern Family.

1610 Montana Ave.
Jon & Vinny’s

The Quick Pitch: Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo (Animal, Son of a Gun) are doing for red sauce Italian basics — pizzas, pastas — what their Trois Mec partner Ludovic Lefebvre did for French bistro classics at Petit Trois last year: amp them up with top-shelf ingredients and finely calibrated technique. Chef director Jon Favreau, Kanye West and Discovery Channel’s Rich Ross already have dropped in.

The Inside Dish: The Little Nats pizza (pepperoni, tomato, oregano, Parmesan) is named after Shook’s 2-year-old daughter, Natalie, with actress Shiri Appleby.

412 Fairfax Ave.
Maradentro

The Quick Pitch: Jesse Gomez’s vision of clean-lined dining rooms and updated Mexican at his trio of Mercado restaurants from Santa Monica to Hollywood has been extended to this seafood-minded spot in Studio City, a poblano chile’s toss from CBS’ Radford lot. Emblematic order: the “crabiqueso” studded by housemade chorizo.

The Inside Dish: The space was most recently another modern Mexican concept, the short-lived La Ventura from Jeffrey Saad, a runner-up on The Next Food Network Star who went on to host Cooking Channel’s United Tastes of America.

11929 Ventura Blvd.
Ox & Son

The Quick Pitch: Santa Monica’s Montana Avenue, always on-trend but never fashion-forward, has fittingly welcomed the lively Ox & Son into the cresting wave of small plate, big-flavor restaurants around town. Must-order dishes: uni and soft scrambled eggs on black bread and oysters with kimchi granita.

The Inside Dish: Chef Brad Miller has cooked at Topanga Canyon’s echt Cali-organic redoubt The Inn of the Seventh Ray.

1534 Montana Ave.
Sambar

The Quick Pitch: Chef-owner Akasha Richmond has bowed a confidently irreverent modern Indian canteen a few doors down from her farm-to-table ode, Akasha, in Culver City. Sambar goes “New Wave Masala” with a lamb burger, chicken wings and a goat curry slow-braised in cumin, tomato and onion that’s a take on those found at provincial truck stops. House-made cookies run to turmeric poppy seed.

The Inside Dish: Richmond, whose investors include Steve Tisch, once was a private chef for Michael Jackson and Barbra Streisand.

9531 Culver Blvd.
Steak & Whisky

The Quick Pitch: The gentrification wave that years ago lapped luxury across neighboring Manhattan Beach is finally cresting southward into Hermosa Beach. This straightforward Americana concept just a few steps from the pier delivers dry aged beef and handcrafted cocktails to the flip-flop block in a room trimmed with de rigueur design fixings: a bow-truss wooden ceiling, red brick walls and distressed leather banquettes. Don’t miss the lamb pot pie with the peel-back crust.

The Inside Dish: The already-robust whiskey program (at about 80 selections, heavy on the international) has proved so popular in the initial weeks of operation that it’ll soon be expanded to 130-plus.

117 Pier Ave.

E.P. & L.P.

Asa Meza

Baltaire

Belcampo

Birch

Forma

Jon & Vinny’s

Maradentro

Ox & Son

Sambar

Steak & Whisky