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The Cronut inventor opened his first full-service restaurant at The Grove in November 2017. Guests can enjoy the excellent food and dessert menus in a beautifully-designed space. Dominique has taken inspiration from L.A. for several of his menu items, such as the ice cream avocado toast sandwich and a street corn elote. The pastry case has a sweet “California roll” with avocado mousse and honey gelee. www.dominiqueansella.com

APL Steakhouse (Hollywood) – Adam Perry Lang has debuted his first Los Angeles restaurant, a Hollywood steakhouse with a downstairs dry-aging room, hand-forged knives and upscale ambiance which Lang prefers to liken to a neighbourhood restaurant. The menu focuses on red meat, but also offers French classics, pasta and seafood along with lots of wine. www.aplrestaurant.com

Badmaash (Mid-City) – On the heels of its fifth anniversary in Downtown L.A., the Mahendro brothers and their father are hard at work opening the second location of Badmaash to bring a taste of modern Indian food to Fairfax, which can be identified as one of the hippest streets in L.A. Badmaash will be in good company with Jon & Vinny’s, Canter’s and Supreme. www.badmaashla.com

Bavel (Arts District) – Bestia chef-owner Ori Menashe started a new Italian movement when he opened his Arts District restaurant in 2012. However, as much as he’s known for his take on Italian food, Menashe has been talking about opening a Middle Eastern restaurant in DTLA since 2013. Five years later, Menashe and his wife, pastry chef and Bestia co-owner Genevieve Gergis, opened Bavel, a Middle Eastern restaurant, located one mile from Bestia. The name is a reference to the story of Babel in the Old Testament. The menu is a mix of flat breads and spreads, cured meats, small plates featuring salads, veggies and larger meat and fish dishes. www.baveldtla.com

Best Girl (Downtown L.A.) – Michael Cimarusti, owner and chef of one of L.A.’s best seafood restaurants, Providence, has recently opened neighbourhood bistro Best Girl inside of Ace Hotel, taking over the former LA Chapter space. The menu at Best Girl goes beyond his usual seafood-focused dishes and offers seasonal veggies and meats along with delicious pastries and desserts from Michael’s wife, Crisi Echiverri. The name “Best Girl” comes from the movie “My Best Girl,” the first film shown in the adjacent Theatre at Ace Hotel, which opened on Halloween, 1927. www.bestgirldtla.com

Cal Mare (Beverly Grove) – The first big reveal of the next Beverly Center era is Cal Mare. The restaurant is an homage to the coast of Italy and Southern California from chef/partner Adam Sobel in collaboration with Michael Mina and MINA Group. The restaurant celebrates the best of coastal Italian cuisine while featuring seasonal fruits and vegetables from local farmers markets. The menu highlights seafood from both the Mediterranean and Pacific Ocean, as well as fresh handmade pastas and brick oven pizzas. Cal Mare’s beverage program focuses on the wines of southern Sicily and other regions in Italy, Limoncelli, light and refreshing, craft cocktails and house-made Italian sodas. www.michaelmina.net/restaurants/southern-california/calmare

Dialogue (Santa Monica) – The 21-course tasting menu with a handful of seats hidden deep inside a food court on Third Street Promenade is from former Alinea and Next Chef Dave Beran. Reservations are purchased in advance, with ‘tickets’ provided to diners. During the meal, diners will get a front row seat to dinner service and learn from the chefs about the thinking behind every course on the season-themed meal. www.dialoguerestaurant.com

Employees Only (West Hollywood) – One of America’s best bars, Employees Only, officially opened its doors in April. Employees Only is the work of Midnight Hospitality’s Steven B. Weisburd and Tom Sopit, though the prominence of the name belongs largely to co-founder Dushan Zaric. This time Dushan is teaming up with chef Sacha Lyon (Commerson, Daniel, Balthazar) to craft a full-on dinner destination that doubles the size of the original Employees Only in New York City. www.employeesonlynyc.com

Felix (Venice) – Latin for “happy” or “lucky,” Felix is inspired by the deeply rooted culinary traditions of regional Italy and enriched with ingredients grown by California’s greatest family farms. Evan Funke of Bucato and Janet Zuccarini bring the best of Italy to Abbot Kinney. www.felixla.com

Freedman’s (Silver Lake) – This space is a sit-down restaurant serving fantastic Jewish deli-type dishes. The reuben sandwich and potato latke are must tries and the smoked fish plate is a favourite of diners. The restaurant is the work of Jonah Freedman, co-owner sister Amanda Freeman, and Nicholas Papadatos, with chef Liz Johnson (NYC’s MIMI) at the helm. The space, located in a corner strip mall, is decorated with retro wallpaper, small tables, booths and a bar. www.freedmansla.com

Guerilla Tacos (Arts District) – From humble beginnings as a food cart to truck to brick and mortar, chef Wes Avila is preparing to open his first proper restaurant. On the menu, tacos, as well as drinks and more. www.guerrillatacos.com

Inko Nito (Arts District) – Inko Nito is a sizzling new restaurant in Downtown L.A.’s Arts District. Chef Hamish Brown uses Japanese open-fire cooking to showcase Korean flavors. Inko Nito is part of Rainer Becker’s Azumi Ltd., best known for its glittery Zuma restaurants around the world. www.inkonitorestaurant.com

Jon & Vinny (Brentwood) – Jon & Vinny’s, the casual Italian spot on Fairfax, will be adding a second location to the westside neighbourhood of Brentwood, with plans to bring the same big plates of meatballs and pizza. Likely opening of the restaurant is expected sometime in the late summer or fall 2018 at the earliest. www.jonandvinnys.com

Majordomo

Majordomo (Chinatown) – Chef David Chang’s first Los Angeles restaurant, Majordomo, opened at the end of January 2018 in an industrial section on the northeast corner of Chinatown. In an effort to do something different, Chang opted to build his restaurant in a former warehouse and off the beaten path. The menu features a mash up of dishes that have a lot in common with Korean food, such as bing bread, a yeasted and griddled flatbread served in a bowl with fermented chickpeas and uni, spicy lamb, soft-boiled effs with potato chips and smoked salmon roe. Other items include fried butterball potatoes, puffed rice, tempura-fried peppers stuffed with Benton’s sack sausage. Along with fermented products, Chang will be incorporating local produce into the menu. www.majordomo.la

Nightshade (Arts District) – After years of anticipation, star chef Mei Lin, is ready to reveal her next project this summer: Nightshade, an expansive space in the Arts District that will feature a pan-Asian menu infused with modern touches and California sensibilities.

Oriel (Chinatown) – As Far East Plaza in Chinatown continues to evolve, so do the tenants. The latest opening is Oriel, a French-style bistro offering classics (cheese and charcuterie boards, frisee salads, croque monsieurs, etc.) a low-lit ambiance and hard to find wines. The new spot comes from Dustin Lancaster, who’s responsible for stylish places like Bar Covell and Augustine and was designed by Sally Breer, L.A.-based designer responsible for Hotel Covell in Los Feliz and many others.
www.orielchinatown.com

Partido (Highland Park) – Newcomer to the ever-changing Highland Park neighbourhood is Partido, a French/Filipino weekend pop-up from Chef Lynne Tolentino and a trio of developers from CODA Equities. Before Partido, Tolentino was with Superba Food & Bread, as the chef de cuisine. Prior to that, she spent time in the kitchens of Providence and Patina. The pop-up will eventually become a diner-only eatery with a full bar. www.instagram.com/p…

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Petit Trois (Sherman Oaks) – Opened at the end of April, this new Valley destination is adorned with pastel banquettes, a marble bar, curved ceilings and tall front windows. This restaurant is chef Ludo’s largest restaurant to date and he plans on executing some French finery not previously seen in his restaurants. Diners can expect daily service from breakfast through dinner. www.petittrois.com

Pollen (Echo Park) – Pollen is the latest Australian-owned and mostly-outdoor café to open in L.A. Diners can come here for laid-back brunch on the patio with breakfast options that skew Australian such as avocados, eggs, thick salty bacon, halloumi cheese and lemon-poppy pancakes. Dinner service is forthcoming. www.pollenlosangeles.com

Simone (Arts District) – Jessica Largey from Manresa is finalising her expansive Arts District restaurant, which will offer up a lively atmosphere in the main dining room, a six-seat chef’s bar, and Duello, a fine cocktail bar inside. www.simoneartsdistrict.com

Triniti (Echo Park) – Echo Park’s emerging dominance as an Eastside dining force continues with the opening of the new, high-end coffee and small plates restaurant, Triniti. The shop is co-owner’s Joseph Geiskopt’s first venue outside of working at some very notable restaurants including his position as sous chef at Jordan Kahn’s Red Medicine and Destroyer, personal chef for Apple’s Tim Cook and chef de partie at Copenhagen’s two-Michelin-star restaurant Noma. The space is self-described as European café and espresso bar. Triniti sources beans from the Bay Area’s Tartine Manufactory and offers small seasonal plates. www.triniti.la