Newsletter: Counter: Sonora-style tortillas and restaurant service

It’s been a week of doors opening and closing — in a larger sense, but also in terms of the L.A. food scene. Kato, a new strip-mall tasting-menu restaurant, opened near Little Osaka; over in Hollywood, Curtis Stone’s new restaurant, Gwen, whose butcher shop opened two weeks ago, opened for tasting-menu dinners. There’s a new Taco Bell on the Vegas Strip coming soon, and beer-tasting rooms are opening in downtown Los Angeles.

And then there’s Salazar, a newish restaurant that’s the subject of Jonathan Gold’s new review, which doesn’t really have doors at all. So you sit under the sky and some trees and order Sonora-style barbecue, tacos and drinks while folks sip Micheladas in a giant patio. You’d think there would be lots of outdoor dining options in this town, but there aren’t. Maybe it’s one reason why we’re so fond of food trucks.

– Amy Scattergood

Where to eat in Frogtown

Catch of the day: Freshwater trout from Idaho at Salazar.

(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times )

Jonathan considers Salazar, chef Esdras Ochoa’s new restaurant in the Elysian Valley, otherwise known as Frogtown. Ochoa, whose other restaurant, Mexicali Taco & Co., is a 101 stalwart, is cooking barbecue and tacos, with handmade flour tortillas and some pretty great drinks to accompany it all.

Your XLB update

Juicy pork dumplings can be found at the Din Tai Fung in the Americana Mall in Glendale.

(Annie Wells / Los Angeles Times )

If you love the Chinese soup dumplings called xiao long bao, or XLB, you’ve probably logged a lot of hours at the original Din Tai Fung in Arcadia. Jonathan visits the dumpling house in its last days (it’s closing for a remodel) and then heads to the brand new flagship, in Westfield Santa Anita mall.

The brave new world of restaurant service

Donato Poto manages Connie & Ted’s, a low-key seafood shack restaurant along Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times )

Restaurants in L.A. have changed a lot in the last few years: louder, more informal, playlists — and more casual service. Gillian Ferguson checks in with some restaurant front-of-the-house veterans to find out how they’ve managed (literally) the change.

A Colombian food truck

The Paisa Bowl is a protein-packed serving of pork belly, steak, sausage, beans, white rice, plantains, avocado and an arepa topped with a fried egg, from the Cali Fresh food truck.

(Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times )

There’s a lot more to food trucks than just tacos, of course, and Jenn Harris continues to highlight some of this town’s best. This week, she talks to the folks from Cali Fresh, a Colombian street food truck.

Curtis Stone’s new kitchen

We recently wrote about Curtis Stone’s new butcher shop and restaurant project (the butcher shop opened a few weeks ago). A few days ago, Stone’s new restaurant, Gwen, opened its highly anticipated doors too. It’s a restaurant that features tasting-menu dinners, with lots of stuff from the butcher shop’s charcuterie program, plus dishes cooked on the fire pit.

The Taste is coming: Our annual Labor Day food weekend, Sept. 2-4, will be here before you know it, and tickets are available.

Jonathan Gold’s 101

Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers.

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