The stylish Silver Lake wine bar that drew hundreds to its opening night
On a late August night in Silver Lake, a crush of people filled the sidewalk just south of Sunset Junction. Guests have started bringing their own stools. Some tailgate in the backs of their trucks parked at the curb.
They’re there to get a taste of Barr Seco, the neighborhood’s newest wine bar. They spill out from the casual 25-seat dining room onto the few bistro tables and, in the case of opening night, down the block.
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“I think it was just word-of-mouth,” said chef David Potes, whose friend told him she’d overheard people discussing the opening at a nail salon. “It was corner to corner, it was such a vibe.”
The chef credits the bar’s lingering-encouraged ethos and a neighborhood need for Barr Seco’s instant popularity, as well as a see-and-be-seen aspect that feels almost intrinsic to some of L.A.’s new wine bars such as Stir Crazy and Café Triste.
He estimates between 500 and 600 people showed up for Barr Seco’s opening night, which coincided with the one-year anniversary of Santo, the same restaurant group’s adjacent sushi restaurant.
The Mexico City-based Santo group often weaves together Mexican and Japanese flavors, but at the new wine bar — opened in partnership with creative director Olivia Lopez — the menu also takes influences from broader Latin America, Portugal, Spain, the Mediterranean and, of course, California.
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Potes, formerly of Stir Crazy and New York’s Okonomi and Yuji Ramen, built the menu of small plates that pair with natural wines from small producers, curated by sommelier and writer Kae Whalen, who worked at Kismet.
Potes drizzles brown butter over hamachi crudo swimming in yuzu ponzu and lime zest. Pork for tostadas made with lagrima, or Ibérico rib meat, gets braised in multiple misos and chiles before it’s laid atop crème fraîche and crowned with cilantro. Burrata is showered in marinated ikura, shiso and lemon. Scallop crudo involves salsa macha, yuzu and avocado.
“I don't like using the word ‘fusion,’ I always say ‘freestyle,’ like ‘Mexican-Japanese freestyle,’ but it's not too wild,” Potes said. “Using two or three different chiles with miso blended into certain dishes can add such complexity and umami to the dish.”
He and his team use scant induction burners and a toaster oven to turn out a menu of tapas-style dishes, which he likens to compiling a mixtape or a zine — drawing on his years spent producing Hamburger Eyes, a photo zine with a cult following. The chef began his culinary career by taking photos of food, then helping in kitchens, then running them. Now, he splits his cooking time between L.A. and Thailand.
On Sept. 22, Barr Seco will launch its daytime menu serving tomato miso soup, bocadillos, matcha yogurt bowls, grain bowls and a range of coffees, teas and small-batch aguas frescas. Currently, Barr Seco is open Tuesday to Sunday from 5 to 11 p.m.
3820 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, barrseco.com
Moohan
One of Koreatown’s most prolific restaurant groups recently debuted its first entry into the all-you-can-eat space, with a buffet of banchan, a premium Wagyu tier and unlimited cuts of prime and marinated meat, plus grilled seafood, tartares and hand rolls. Moohan is the latest project from On6thAvenue, the hospitality group behind Quarters, Origin, Lasung House and more.
According to the group’s general manager, Joon Hwang, the all-you-can-eat format is making a comeback — especially in the Korean-barbecue scene. On6th wanted to try the format with a tiered pricing system, starting with a basic level and extending to a Wagyu omakase that features single-serving formats like herbed rib-eye, Wagyu nigiri, brisket, short rib and more. Every tier includes the offerings from lower tiers as well, with dinners priced from $34.99 to $89.99, and lunch priced even lower.
The salad bar includes not only banchan but also dishes such as fried rice, tempura, yakisoba and sweet-and-sour pork. Nearby there are also serve-yourself raw meats from the menu’s most basic or “essentials” tier, which features pork belly, prime beef brisket, curry chicken, bulgogi, beef intestine and more. The next tier, “elite,” introduces tiger shrimp, whole squid, rib-eye steak, miso yuzu top blade, bibimbap and other classics, while the top non-Wagyu tier, “prime,” adds beef tongue, marinated galbi, scallops, beef tartare, tuna hand rolls and more. To drink, Moohan offers a range of soju, wine, beer and soju cocktails.
Moohan was in the works for roughly a year, with the team completely renovating the former Gwang Yang BBQ space. This is On6thAvenue’s largest Korean barbecue restaurant yet, seating more than 250 people spread across a main dining room and multiple private rooms for larger groups. Moohan is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to midnight Saturday to Wednesday, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursday and Friday.
3435 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 123, Los Angeles, (213) 232-1136, moohankbbq.com
Civico 2064
The team behind a popular San Diego restaurant notable for its ample vegan offerings has expanded to Los Angeles, featuring plant-based Italian food. Calabrian-focused Civico 2064 is now open in Los Feliz, the sibling restaurant to San Diego’s Civico 1845, a nine-year-old Little Italy destination from Cosenza-born siblings Dario and Pietro Gallo that specializes in vegan and gluten-free versions of pastas, Milaneses, stuffed squash blossoms and other staples in addition to the dairy- and wheat-based classics. Many of these signatures made the jump to L.A., such as the meatless smoked-eggplant Milanese, the house-made vegan ricotta and the plant-based cannoli piped with chocolate-flecked almond cream. Non-vegan specialties include the pappardelle brasato, with fresh thick egg noodles in short-rib ragù, and the L.A.-exclusive linguine with clams and bottarga. Civico 2064 — named for its street address — also serves beer, wine and low-alcohol cocktails, and is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
2064 Hillhurst Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 284-8483, civico2064.com
Barbara Genes Soul Food Cafe
A new soul-food specialist is now open in Arlington Heights with a focus on family recipes and barbecue. Longtime private chef and caterer Eric Campbell’s new restaurant, Barbara Genes, is named for his grandmother, whose recipes can be found inspiring the “TexaCali fusion” menu of meat-and-sides combo plates, brisket burgers, collards with smoked turkey, racks of smoked St. Louis-style ribs, hot links, and apple bakes under a house caramel sauce. Look for some of Campbell’s more creative concoctions too, such as loaded fries topped with cheese, barbecue rub and choice of meat, or the Soul Roll, which fills a fried egg roll with mac and cheese, greens and brisket or smoked chicken. Barbara Genes Soul Food Cafe is open from noon to 7 p.m. Thursday to Sunday.
4053 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 732-8600, bgsoulfood.com
Oki-Dog closes
After a difficult year for restaurants in 2023, the rash of closures continues in 2024, shuttering some of L.A.’s most esteemed restaurants. Otium, Bicyclette, Son of a Gun, Yakitoriya, Otoño, Eagle Rock Brewery and other mainstays all have announced their closures, but none has hit L.A.’s punk scene and history fans so hard as the iconic World Famous Oki-Dog, which this week ended its decades-long run slinging pastrami fries and hot-dog-stuffed burritos. Sakae “Jimmy” Sueyoshi founded his cult-classic hot dog stand in the 1970s, naming it in ode to his home of Okinawa. Its original proximity to punk clubs and inexpensive offerings made it a late-night destination for generations of musicians and L.A. Times Food critic Jonathan Gold, who called it “a magnet for punks and hustlers, groupies and teen-age runaways, for everybody who was happy that a split $1.69 order of burrito-and-fries was enough to fill three bellies for a day. … TV shows featured it, hip magazines touted it, a thousand and one members of the purple-mohawk brigade sang its praises on beer-soaked stages.”
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After Sueyoshi’s death earlier this year, his family took the reins and hoped to reopen elsewhere in January, but those plans have fallen through (a Mid-Wilshire Oki’s Dog, which also sells the signature hot dog burrito, operates under separate ownership). The L.A. Times 404 team’s Tom Carroll produced a dive into the famous hot dog stand’s history — and current ownership’s hope to return in 2025, should they find a new location.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
