Nice Barry. I’m going next month. Did you do the wine pairing or ?
No, I’m a light drinker, BYOed a 375 Krug 168 that was outstanding. The rumor that Krug isn’t good in halves definitely wasn’t true for this batch (18 bottles from 2 sources upon release).
I don’t know that the wine pairing would work for me anyway as it included some California wine.
Does anyone know if Pizzeria Sei allows BYOB these days?
EDIT: I called. They allow BYOB with $25 corkage for the 1st bottle and $30 for the second.
Deal of the century!
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Pizzeria Sei is great! Really great, if simple, service, and excellent pizza. We had the mushroom pizza and the potato pizza. Hard to pick a favorite. The mushroom was bursting with umami and paired great with the Burgundy we brought for $25, while the potato was wonderfully decadent with kind of a scalloped potatoes vibe going on. The crust is pretty perfect to me and the use of a lot of fresh herbs elevates everything.
Love that place and now with $25 corkage, love it even more.
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I don’t think I have seen Bar Chelou has been mentioned here. Eater picked it as one of the top 10 new restaurants of the year. Anyone been? @CFu
It’s really good. Unusual combinations of ingredients that mostly work very well. Talented chef and the best GM in the biz. I think you’ll like it. I believe corkage is $30 but they have a good list, I.e. Altaber.
you holding out on us?? 
never been! Might have to try it someday.
i am surprised that’s Matthew kang’s selection to best new restaurant. I thought he would have picked sushi sonagi based on his prior reviews.
Slacker!
Bar Chelou was great. A really fun, unpretentious place with good to very good food. The hospitality and service excellent. I give them extra credit for the playlist. The wine list is small and natural. We started off with a Marto riesling which is one of my favorite natural rieslings and it was zippy and refreshing, just what I needed fresh off a plane. We brought wine and they were very cool about opening 4 bottles. Stated corkage is $30 we share wine with the staff and I did not look at the bill but I don’t think we were charged or at least not for every bottle. Great place to go with a group. We tried almost the entire menu.
I have to say the photos of the their food concerned me a bit but in reality the dishes looked and most importantly tasted much better than they appeared in the restaurants photos.
I would definitely go back.
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Great to hear - we have reservations for right after Thanksgiving.
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In today’s EaterLA:
Shop Kato’s wine cellar
Attention, holiday shoppers. Michelin-starred Kato is opening up its wine cellar to the public on Sunday, November 19. Sommelier Ryan Bailey is curating a selection of “exceptional, aged, and limited” wines available for purchase. Also for sale are vintage tableware, wine glasses, spirits, a special batch cocktail, and a variety of pantry goods.
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They have an exceptional wine list. I’d probably check out the sale if I was closer and/or the 10 didnt burn down.
So sad to see that Kinn is closing. It was such a special place and one that is needed in LA. It is so hard to put out that level of food in a small space so I am not surprised.
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Robert with the breaking news.
I was going to say I’m a bit surprised as it was packed when I went, but then I saw it’s due to the owner/chef needing to look out for his mental and physical well being. I liked but didnt love Kinn, but it’s a shame to see it close.
I am not surprised because this type of model can never make money. I fall in love with these small chef run places and so many of them go out of business. It is sad. It is just hard to make money at that scale.
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This is what’s so impressive with Philip Franklin Lee’s Scratch restaurants. He found a way to greatly scale intimate fine dining restaurants while, so far, from what I (and Michelin) can tell, maintaining the high quality. Shame about Kinn and other restaurants that strive to provide the best dining experience but cant make it work financially.
Maybe not the best comparison. Don’t all of PFL’s restaurants charge a lot more then Kinn? Also, I lost count of the number of restaurants he is associated with. Kinn is/was a passion project. It is also in a somewhat high rent location. I think Kinn would have operated better as a pop-up or even a food truck (like Del Mar Ostioneria-which is fantastic). I applaud the effort, but like Robert said, most do not survive.
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