Resy’s Guide to Off Menu Week Los Angeles

As a celebration of the city’s vast culinary and cultural landscape, Adamae dips its toes in Spain as much as in North Africa. But come Off Menu Week, chef Matt Cheek will look to Thailand, as he will showcase his regional Thai cuisine skills, and shine a light on dishes that have influenced the Pok Pok vet’s cooking, from muu ping (coconut pork skewers) and som tum mamuang (green mango salad) to khao phat (Thai fried rice).

[For more on Adamae, chef Matt Cheek, and the Off Menu Week specials, check out this new Resy feature.]

Venice’s favorite steakhouse will be honing in on its chops (literal and figurative) this February, with an exciting array of dishes. There’ll be American Beauty’s roasted Aspen Ridge prime rib (a vintage steakhouse classic), Santa Barbara uni served in its shell, chicken skewers grilled over almond wood, and a hybrid of cioppino and North African seafood stew, served with hand-rolled couscous.

Drop by APL and you might just get a first taste of Adam Perry Lang’s next signature. Seared Hokkaido scallops prepared in a rich mornay sauce will make a trial run during Off Menu Week, but you can also expect truffle-chokes (an ode to his grandmother’s home-cooked skillet meals) and a dish of enoki and gnocchi, a perfect pairing… that just happens to rhyme.

Snacks and wine go hand in hand, and to best enhance its dizzying wine-by-the-glass selection (41 options and counting), Bar Avalon will be extending its menu. For one week only, sip vino with a pimento cheese sandwich, yuca chips, a smoked fish tartine, and a Coronation Chicken Salad sandwich.

A cult favorite in the making, Birdie G’s already boasts a roster of dishes too cherished to be taken off the regular menu — meatloaf blue plate, anyone? But starting February 24, the team will roll out riffs on existing staples alongside new creations. Expect a mushroom salisbury that doubles as an updated (vegan) version of that beloved meatloaf blue plate; pressed lamb deckle (a cut similar to bacon); a “matzalidiere” of wild sardines, caramelized onions and green garlic; and reimagined potato pierogis made with farm-fresh potatoes from Aaron Choi of Girl & Dug Farm. Set the Notify now.

This February, Silver Lake’s ultimate neighborhood spot will be reissuing some of its bygone greatest hits. So run, don’t walk, to savor Botanica’s legendary whipped ricotta tartine (complete with fruity olive oil and pear purée), the crudités and dips spread, crespelle in brodo (rolled pasta in a chicken bone broth with pecorino and shmaltz), and a new dessert of apple walnut cake with cashew cream and caramelized apples.

Charcoal Venice is getting nostalgic. For Off Menu Week, chefs Jordan Olivo and Joseph Johnson are putting twists on formative dishes from their past. For Jordan, it means a flavor-packed chicken mole that his grandma would make, and a version of the first pasta dish he learned to cook, carbonara (here, with pancetta, crispy pork skin and smoked egg yolk). For Joseph, a soigné take of his childhood yams: ash-baked yams with feta and strawberry-guava vinegar, and a slow-grilled aged short rib meant to be devoured with your hands.

[To learn more about chef Joseph Johnson and that ash-baked yam dish, click here.]

LA’s favorite rooftop hotspot is doling out a bevy of new Mediterranean-inspired bites for Off Menu Week: truffled beef tartare scooped up with Parmigiano-Reggiano shortbread cookies, wood-roasted langoustines slicked in garlic-anchovy butter, grilled radicchio salad, and an excellent “Sunday Gravy” — tomato-braised pork shank with spicy meatballs, Italian sausage, and paccheri.

For Off Menu Week, Employees Only is putting together specials like grilled baharat carrots dipped in carrot curry, roasted golden beets dusted in pistachio sumac dukkah, confit pork belly with grilled endive and black garlic dipping jus, and a cheffy play on beef jerky doused in a lime and fish sauce vinaigrette.

Farmshop regulars, right this way: The Santa Monica locale will be unleashing new peak-seasonal dishes during Off Menu Week. Think five-pea soup with whipped ricotta and lemon thyme, Hawaiian kampachi crudo with confit grapefruit, housemade saffron cavatelli with lamb merguez and English peas, and for dessert, frozen nougat topped with caramelized pistachios and the season’s very first strawberries.

fundamental DTLA knocks out the sort of plates a neighborhood relies upon, and for this week, the all-day eatery is looking for inspiration in the amazing communities of Los Angeles. You’re in for a savory yeasted waffle with shiitake crème fraîche, charred Savoy cabbage topped with an egg, short rib XO Bolognese, and a little gem salad studded with charred prawns.

The Greek-inspired Kassi is looking beyond its Hellenic roots, setting its sights across the globe. Expect lamb flatbread reminiscent of Australian and European street stalls, grilled eggplants inspired by a small izakaya in Osaka, and a refreshing, peppery citrus salad, perfectly in tune with LA’s winter season.

The modern Filipino-Cali sensation is diving even further into its Pinoy roots. Come Off Menu Week, Lasa will be paying tribute to kaldereta, the Philippines’ answer to hearty meat stews, in the form of a bombastic large-format platter. Expect a tomato-stewed lamb neck, accompanied by confit potatoes, roasted carrots, charred shishito peppers, mustard green salad, and steamed rice to soak up the drippings.

[Want to read more about how Lasa is evolving its Filipino American cuisine? Right this way.]

To celebrate Off Menu Week, Lukshon is taking a look at nearly a decade of Southeast Asian plates, and paying tribute to the best. You’ve got seven days to revisit old classics and revamped hits, from dan dan noodles and spicy chicken pops to steak bao. What are you waiting for?

Step inside Maude’s research and development process, and get a behind-the-scenes look at how the chefs craft their seasonal South Australia tasting menu. Along with the current menu, Off Menu Week patrons will also receive alternative courses that didn’t make the cut.

Things are getting personal at Nerano. This week, get to know your chef, Michele Lisi, better through four dishes plucked from the annals of his Italian past. Taste the pizza he made on his first job at age 14, the risotto that won his culinary school over, the saucy signature sea bass he slung on the Amalfi Coast, and his take on the original Caesar salad (with endive and bagna cauda), before it came to America.

Don’t be surprised to see Mexican plates crowding the tables at Night+Market Sahm. The Thai eatery’s trailblazing sous chef Samantha Quintero is taking the reins for Off Menu Week, firing specials redolent of her Mexican upbringing. You’re in for shrimp ceviche, bass al pastor, smoked pork belly, and grilled skirt steak — all made with Mexican flavors and a pinch of Asian influence.

[Meet Samantha Quintero, the chef quietly powering Night+Market Sahm.]

Back in Night+Market’s original WeHo location, it’s sous chef Gee Jang who’s leading the program. Korean-born and LA-raised, Jang continuously pulls from his immigrant background while making use of the exceptional produce around him. Tuck into Thai-style pickled swiss chard, Brussels sprout larb, and fried turkey wings alongside a bottle of skin-contact wine. This is drinking food, after all.

Petite Taqueria’s seven days of experimentation will be put to good use. This glitzy cantina will be doling out lamb birria quesadillas (best dipped in the accompanying jus), an Impossible chorizo burger, a vegan take on taquitos (stuffed with sweet potato and replete with cashew crema), and an orange creamsicle flan, a citrusy play on the classic dessert.

Get ready to discover another facet of this lauded pizzeria: For one week only, Ronan will be singing of Morocco, courtesy of sous chef Jeremy Elkaim. Expect his Moroccan heritage to shine in dishes like beef and potato cakes, an orange and olive salad, blue prawn aguachile, and crisp lamb belly laced with almonds and apricots.

Take a peek at what’s happening behind the scenes: Salt’s Cure is trotting its staff-only family meals into the dining room for Off Menu Week. The aptly named “La Familia” prix fixe ($45) will only be available for the week, and will give you a taste of the restaurant’s  back-of-house culture. So eat what the cooks eat, from Baja shrimp aguachile and pozole rojo to pork fajitas and mixed berries flan.

When it comes to its staff, this beachy Mexican joint has culled quite the collection of international talent. And during Off Menu Week, the owners are letting their cooks shine. Tallula’s Off Menu specials will meld Mexican roots with Burmese and Indian accents, giving way to roasted plantain with chicken tikka masala, chicken and sweet potato enchiladas, al pastor tacos entomatadas, and sweet coconut tapioca.

Take a trip down red sauce lane: For seven days, the Tasting Kitchen is revamping Italian American classics with locality in mind. That means dishes with one foot in Italy (AOC controlled goods, like Parmigiano Reggiano and mozzarella di Bufala) and the other in New York, which will translate to modern versions of classics like saltimbocca and osso buco.

Get in line, this temple to Japanese steak will be rolling out its seasonal prix fixe menu exclusively for Off Menu Week diners. That’s right, Yakiya is about to unleash vintage-aged ribeye; filet mignon with bone marrow, miso, garlic, and kimchi rice; an A5 ribeye with ponzu jelly; and chawanmushi with Dungeness crab.

Chef Richie Lopez’s vibrant eatery celebrates Nikkei food, the bi-cultural cuisine borne out of Japanese immigration to Peru. Get ready for never-before-seen dishes: braised dairy cow shank with nettle purée, grilled mako shark with Peruvian panca pepper sauce, broccolini sprouts sauced in yellow pepper with sweet potato powder, and a tiradito of wild halibut with sea urchin and sudachi.