It started as a weekly dinner. Now, it is certainly one of LA’s buzziest new eating places

When Bar 109 debuted this summer time in LA’s Melrose Hill neighbourhood, it brought about a stir. However the buzzy watering gap was solely an amuse-bouche for the primary occasion, Hall 109, a brand new seafood restaurant from chef Brian Baik.

The restaurant traces its origins again to an in-the-know Monday night time dinner that Baik hosted at his household’s restaurant, Kobawoo Home, a Koreatown establishment since 1983. Now, Baik’s idea has a brick-and-mortar dwelling of its personal – and is swiftly turning into probably the most difficult reservations to snag on the town.

Wallpaper* dines at Hall 109, Los Angeles

The temper: non-public ceremonial dinner in Japan

To entry Hall 109, you first should go by way of Bar 109. A discreet facet door opens right into a curved vestibule. From there, you will uncover an intimate eating room centred across the kitchen, the place an L-shaped walnut counter delivers a transparent view of the culinary choreography. Designed by Montalba Architects, the area reads like refined dinner theatre: the workforce prepares, plates and serves every course straight, with company drawn into the rhythm of service.

Baik’s years-long assortment of Japanese pottery, serveware and utensils lastly has its second, lending depth and intention to the room. Hand-trowelled plaster partitions recall the brushwork of sumi-e, – Japanese ink portray – whereas blackened stainless-steel is designed to age, patina and soften over time.

The meals: pristine cuts of fish

Baik, who beforehand labored at Bouley and Eleven Madison Park in New York, works intently with a community of fishermen and seasonal purveyors, importing choose components straight from Japan. The result’s a chic 11-course seafood tasting that’s emphatically not sushi, nor omakase.

Anticipate distinctive horse mackerel on toasted house-made milk bread; miso-marinated Spanish mackerel with pickled chrysanthemum and yamaimo; and left-field highlights equivalent to charred shallots with pesto ginger spaghetti, flecked with wasabi and two translucent slices of skipjack tuna.

There’s additionally yellowtail with uni and clam sushi-rice risotto; Australian wagyu with oxtail jus and shiso; and, in the event you’re lucky, a bonus course of blowfish, dusted in potato starch, flippantly fried and completed with flaky salt and lemon. Dessert lands flippantly: pear ice cream with Champagne gelée.

The drinks listing presents sake by the glass for these avoiding a full bottle. Cocktails from Bar 109 can be found too, although finest saved for afterwards, ideally lingering into Tuesday night time, when the ‘Tuesday 10PM’ burger makes a late look.