Michael Mina's new oceanfront restaurant goes back to his Egyptian roots
Orla
At Michael Mina’s newest restaurant the meal begins with a wooden box, wherein nine spices provide a hint of what’s to come: At Orla, the celebrity chef’s interpretation of his Egyptian heritage weaves these and other aromatics into kebab platters, tableside baklava sundaes, charcoal-grilled octopus, caviar-topped fateer and chicken-stuffed dolmas with an ocean view in the Regent Santa Monica Beach hotel.
Mina, who now operates roughly 30 restaurants including Glendale’s Bourbon Steak, grew up in a house bustling with parents and aunts and uncles. Born in Egypt but raised in the U.S. since the age of 2, Mina always wanted to turn his culinary focus to this upbringing and the flavors of the Middle East and Mediterranean.
“It was always something in my mind and in my heart that I knew I was going to do: a concept that really went back to my roots,” Mina said. “My mom had such a big influence on my cooking — both why I enjoy cooking so much, and a lot of how I cook — but I also wanted to do it a little later in my career, when I had a little more depth.”
Roughly a decade ago he built a test kitchen for the Mina Group, and it was here that he and his team began dabbling; he was so reinvigorated that it set a cookbook in motion. “My Egypt: Cooking from My Roots” took seven years and debuted earlier this month, informing Orla as it went, with roughly 80% of the new restaurant’s dishes overlapping with recipes from the book. Six visits to Egypt in the writing process helped Mina better understand the country, beyond his family’s interpretations of classic dishes that he’d grown up eating in the U.S.
“What I had learned over my career was that Egyptian food had its staples, but then it had a lot of influence from different countries because of how much it had been invaded,” Mina said. “Probably the biggest influence was Greek cooking, at least for what I grew up eating … so much of what I thought growing up was Egyptian had a lot of Greek influence. It actually made it even more magical in a lot of ways.”
During the pandemic he focused heavily on the new cookbook and the concept of Orla. Earlier this year he opened the inaugural outpost in Las Vegas, then in October followed it with a location in Santa Monica, which boasts an expanded menu and executive chef Jacob Solomon (formerly of Chicago’s Testaccio). He’s serving his own spins on dishes that span cultures and family recipes. His mother’s falafel, studded with bell peppers and red onions, would slide into pocket bread; at Orla, Mina serves his version topped with urfa-dusted tuna crudo. His mom would only make the labor-intensive, layered-pastry fateer on weekends and top it with jam; Mina uses his as a vehicle for caviar.
Everything is available a la carte, with an additional prix-fixe express menu available at lunch and a larger family-style option at dinner. Michael Lay, the beverage director for Mina Group, incorporated much of the flavor from the savory menu into Orla’s cocktails, resulting in baharat-tinged rum with elderflower and pomegranate; melon-tea-infused gin with almond and lemon; and a cardamom-and-ginger negroni. He also compiled roughly 800 wines for Orla’s extensive and eclectic list, which ranges from affordable by-the-glass options to hard-to-find vintage bottles. Orla is open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for breakfast and lunch, and from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. for dinner, with the bar open throughout the day and night.
1700 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 899-4050, orlasantamonica.com
Ettore Vino e Cucina
A new Italian restaurant and wine bar is now open in the Original Farmers Market with fresh pastas, grilled meats, wine flights and a patio space. Filippo Cortivo, a sommelier and an owner of Larchmont’s Osteria Mamma, wanted to expand to the famous food landmark for years, checking in periodically about open storefronts. He began consulting for Mendocino-based, Italian-influenced winery Ettore, and now he and the brand have partnered for a new restaurant: Ettore Vino e Cucina, where Ettore's organic wines are offered by the glass and bottle and even used in some of the kitchen’s dishes. The menu, Cortivo said, is almost entirely a departure from the dishes found at Osteria Mamma.
“It's a little bit of everything here, with a few dishes from the north, a few dishes from the coast,” he said. “We just opened it up to everything we like. [Osteria] Mamma is more traditional, but here we want to have our traditional flavors in a more fun way.”
Chef Mònica Angelats Coll, formerly of Brera Ristorante and Flor y Solera, heads up a menu that includes rolled lasagna Bolognese, grilled octopus-and-sausage skewers, braised lamb shank, fried anchovies and more. The new restaurant and wine bar also sells limited pantry items, including imported dried pastas and Ettore’s house olive oil. Ettore Vino e Cucina is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
6333 W. 3rd St., Stall #120, Los Angeles, (628) 529-5616, instagram.com/ettorevinocucina
Flower's Finest
A new storefront by a small-batch tea retailer is offering tea service, weekend baked goods, vintage home items, tea blending classes and more. Flower’s Finest, by the team behind Flowerhead Tea, recently opened in Eagle Rock as a colorful place that owners hope will build community around tea, at every level.
“I respect so many tea makers and tea farmers around the world and I think there is this representation of it that feels very serious,” said founder Karina Vlastnik. “Even though I respect that so much, I wanted to have somewhere really fun, and not intimidating.”
She and her business partner, Kendall Brinkley, relocated their Bay Area headquarters to L.A. over the last two years, operating their tea service through a roving truck while they readied the space.
Now that they’re open, baker Emily Alben (Pinyon Ojai) is selling baked goods such as apple cider muffins and brûléed-fig scones, and Vlastnik and Brinkley are introducing hands-on tea workshops, book clubs, chess nights and more. Vintage cocktail glasses and tea sets from the 1930s perch on shelves alongside new tea strainers and other accessories, while boxes and bags of teas — plus other pantry items — add even more options in the colorful space. The collection of vintage items for sale includes knicknacks the team had been collecting for years.
“We were really excited for the opportunity to grow in a new place,” said Vlastnik. “We knew it was going to be really hard, but we were like, ‘If we can do it here [in L.A.], we can do it anywhere.' It’s kind of just been building up to this moment.”
Flower’s Finest is open Wednesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
4538 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles, flowersfinest.com
White Rice
A popular quick-and-casual Filipino restaurant from San Diego just touched down in the L.A. area. White Rice, from chef-owner and Momofuku vet Phillip Esteban, is the latest vendor in Montebello’s BLVD MRKT food hall. Esteban’s menu is geared toward silog, or rice bowls laden with garlic and egg, and here they can come topped with longanisa, crispy lechon, soy-braised pork, mushroom with tofu and more. Two varieties of lumpia — one vegetarian, one with pork and shrimp — are on offer, as are fresh ube sweet rolls with whipped ube butter, and calamansi iced tea. White Rice is open Tuesday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
520 Whittier Blvd., Montebello, ricebowlsforall.com
New York’s Chopped Cheese Mid-City
One of the East Coast’s favorite sandwiches is popping up around the city thanks in large part to Harlem’s own Anthony Arias. The founder of New York’s Chopped Cheese began appearing in L.A. in 2021 via a bright yellow food truck, serving fluffy loaves filled with griddled beef that’s chopped on the grill, plus American cheese, sweet onions, lettuce, tomato, ketchup and mayonnaise.
Last year he debuted a bodega-inspired bricks-and-mortar in Hollywood, and this month he added a new Mid-City location with ample seating and parking. New York’s Chopped Cheese serves the classic iteration of the sandwich as well as spins that include jalapeño poppers or barbecue sauce, while others are made with chopped chicken, mushrooms or vegan Impossible meat. Other New York-inspired classics — such as a bacon, egg and cheese or a chopped Italian sub — are available alongside the gooey, meaty namesake. New York’s Chopped Cheese is open in Mid-City on Sunday to Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to midnight.
5109 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, newyorkschoppedcheese.com
Luke’s Lobster
A prolific East Coast lobster-roll chain just made its way to Southern California. Luke’s Lobster specializes in wild-caught seafood, stuffing lobster, crab and shrimp into buttered buns — sometimes drizzled with flavored butter sauces such as truffle or hot honey. Founder and third-generation lobsterman Luke Holden began the company in 2009 and has opened outposts in Maine, New York City, Japan, Rhode Island, San Francisco, Singapore and beyond — including his latest, a 22-seat “lobster shack” in Santa Monica. Here you’ll find Maine lobster rolls; Jonah crab rolls in lemon butter; seafood grilled cheese; bowls of clam chowder; and local craft beer such as Crowns and Hops. L.A.’s first Luke’s Lobster also serves trios of lobster rolls and seafood rolls for a sampling, plus by-the-pound seafood and lobster roll kits for home assembly. Luke’s Lobster is open in Santa Monica daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
200 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, (424) 298-2080 , lukeslobster.com
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
