When you think of America’s great food cities, Los Angeles is right up there with the best of them. LA’s location allows stellar access to California wines and produce, its multicultural population informs a wide range of culinary styles, and it’s home to a number of celebrity chefs. What many don’t realize is that it’s also home to a robust underground foodie scene. Numerous supper clubs, pop-ups, and even a well-concealed restaurant or two offer up unforgettable meals in equally unforgettable settings—but only for those in the know. Read on to get the insider scoop.
GUERILLA GOURMANDS: THE POP-UP
LA was a major breeding ground for the concept of pop-up restaurants, thanks in large part to Ludo Lefebvre, the French born chef and former co-host of ABC’s The Taste. LudoBites, his lauded series of multi-course meals staged in various restaurants throughout the city, became a sensation during its run from 2007-2012 and helped enter the word “pop-up” into the national foodie lexicon. Lefebvre originally opened LudoBites for a few months at a time in a bakery, having convinced the owner to let him utilize the space at night. The series allowed him to experiment—serving dishes like squid ink and Serrano ham croque monsieur—and to drum up reviews, buzz, and a loyal following without the expenditure of opening a restaurant.
As Lefebvre’s star rose alongside the numbers of eager eaters clamoring for tickets, the late 2000s saw a proliferation of similar ephemeral dining concepts that continues today. Chefs benefit from the low-cost exposure they provide, similar to the food-truck-as-starter-shop trend. Meanwhile, attendees enjoy feeling part of a special group on the front lines of the culinary scene, the beta testers of the hip and forward-thinking food world who can say, “I was there when….”
LA’s pop-up scene is booming these days. This summer, Mexican chef Octavio Olivas is reviving his Ceviche Project in collaboration with Skybar at the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood, where diners can feast on citrusy seafood at monthly dinners. LA golden boy Roy Choi, whose food-truck-to-riches story inspired Jon Favreau’s movie Chef, teams up with Favreau himself to host occasional pop-ups every few months at fellow rock star restaurateurs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo’s Animal on Fairfax. Named “El Jefe” after the food truck in the film, each iteration takes on a different theme, from Cuban to Austin BBQ to New Orleans. Tickets for the sit-down dinners run about $75, while select to-go items are available to passersby on the street.
Meanwhile, coffee lovers can follow around not one but two (heck, there are definitely more) wandering cafés throughout the city: Shreeb’s Coffee is set to pop up every weekend at furniture store HD Buttercup in Culver City, and Kian Abedini of coffee roaster Compelling & Rich appears temporarily in various dessert shops, having recently installed himself under the name “Frequency Coffee” in Downtown’s Gelateria Uli earlier this spring.
The pop-up ethos is so entrenched in LA that it has even spawned the bizarre subgenre of pet-themed events. The pun-tastic “Pup-Up” hit DTLA in January, serving Grounds & Hounds coffee while showcasing adoptable pooches. Dog lovers will have another chance to experience the concept when the permanent establishment, The Dog Café, opens later this year. For those feline favorers, Catfé (get it?) has now popped up twice in LA, apparently emulating a concept already popular in Asia where patrons can sip beverages while cats lounge around waiting to be pet.
Of course, there are many other pop-up series and one-offs constantly arising in LA. Because of their exploding popularity over the last few years, tickets can sell out in a matter of minutes, so it’s important to pounce as soon as they are made available. To keep abreast of the scene, follow active LA chefs and frequent hosts like Roy Choi, Vinny Dotolo, or Samuel Monsour on Twitter, and check Eater LA and the L.A. Weekly’s “Squid Ink” Food & Wine section for announcements.
SELECTIVE SEATINGS: THE SUPPER CLUB
Another foodie trend with a strong foothold in LA is the supper club, a close relative of the pop-up restaurant. While the latter is usually a one-off or infrequent series in which a chef generates buzz by fully taking over a space—often repurposing an existing eatery—the clubs tend to be more like common interest groups, offering members programs featuring a rotating cast of chefs or organized outings. They range in exclusivity from invite-only to paid memberships to whoever-buys-a-ticket-fastest, but what they all have in common is that you need to know where to look.
DinnerLab is a higher profile club thanks to its rocketing national presence—it’s now active in over thirty U.S. cities. Its LA operation got started in 2013 and maintains a full schedule of dinners designed by guest chefs, each taking place in an unusual, non-restaurant location that isn’t disclosed until the day before the meal. This results in highly Instagrammable evenings, as one might find oneself seated in a graffiti-covered, Edison bulb-lit warehouse near Downtown’s Arts District, or chatting with a tablemate over a specialty cocktail on a repurposed church bench. Anyone can join by purchasing a $175 yearly membership, which gives diners the opportunity to then purchase meal tickets at average prices of $60-80 a pop.
PlaceInvaders adheres to a similar concept, but meals are more likely to take place in private homes, and members must sign up on a sparse landing page in order to gain access to ticket links. New to the city after being initiated in Brooklyn by culinary agitators Hagan Blout and Katie Smith-Adair, PlaceInvaders has already held a couple of private meals in LA’s Koreatown and Downtown neighborhoods. Similarly, chef Craig Thornton’s Wolvesmouth supper club and its newest offshoot concept, the seafood-focused Sharksteeth, are on the secretive side. Hopeful diners must sign up for the email list online, and are presumably admitted if they have something good enough to say. Kevin Meehan’s Kali Dining is of the same ilk, with a sign up feature on his website.
Chicks With Knives, aka Rachael Narins & Suzanne Griwold, also offer frequent cooking classes and are more open with their dinner club events, posting invitations on the group’s Facebook page. On the stricter end of the spectrum, cocktail-focused The Whaling Club is an invite-only party with bites tailored to match inventive libations.
Some caterers also run supper clubs as a means to test new recipes on open-minded customers in a relaxed, social environment. Taste of Pace’s Pace Webb is one such chef who runs a recurring, invite-only club, while RoomForty’s tickets can be accessed directly from the company’s site.
Though less of a proper club, the Dîner en Blanc flash-mob dining concept pioneered in Paris, in which invited guests assemble for an open air picnic dressed in all white, makes occasional appearances in LA. Currently, Hand Made Events carries the torch for these white out events, and tickets to the next LA iteration in September are already on sale. While the meals are BYO-food, the aesthetic setting and infrequency of the events make for a memorable evening.
Another non-traditional food club concept is The Secret Fork: a secret pop-up market where a low entry fee grants members access to local artisan products and tastings.
PASSWORD PLEASE: THE SECRET RESTAURANT
There are a few permanent hidden gems tucked away amongst LA’s fading strip malls and unassuming neighborhoods. And by hidden, we mean legitimately concealed. Trois Mec, the lovechild of aforementioned rock star chefs Ludo Lefebvre, Jon Shook, and Vinny Dotolo, doesn’t classify as a real secret—after all, it was a finalist for Bon Appétit’s Best New Restaurants in 2014 and has gotten lots of love from the press. But diners must log in to purchase tickets to the French-based tasting menu at the right time of day two weeks in advance, and then must find the thing in a Hollywood strip mall where the intimate, comfortably modern restaurant lurks behind a completely incongruous old sign for Raffallo’s Pizza.
But then there’s Totoraku, the mother of all secret spots. A hole-in-the-wall joint in the truest sense, chef Kaz Oyama’s tiny private heaven of melt-in-your-mouth beef dishes is similarly hidden behind an outdated, shabby façade. Not that the interior is purportedly much nicer, but it is said that the food and intimate, convivial atmosphere more than make up for it. However, one must first obtain an invitation, an infamously difficult task involving personal recommendations, a deliberately off-putting reservation line, and expensive bottles of Bordeaux with which to win the chef’s favor. Many a Yelper have recounted their tales of frustration rewarded by gustatory bliss, and writer Jeff Bercovici’s account is especially revelatory.
HOW TO STAY IN THE KNOW
A’s large and forward-thinking culinary community is constantly evolving, and its underground scene moves right along with it. Stay up to date by following publications like the L.A. Times and JustLuxe LA City Guide, and of course the Twitterverse, where both up-and-coming and established chefs promote their activities. If you have connections to any of the more exclusive eats, try to work them in advance of your LA visit. You never know when that friend-of-a-friend might be able to get a group into the best meal of your life.
