ZAGAT
Summer in LA, when June gloom turns to hotter days, busier beaches and the constant search for anything to keep us cool. Before the season truly kicks into overdrive, we scoured the restaurant scene to find the 25 best, new essential eats and drinks that scream summer in the Southland. Coupled with last year's list, consider this your back-pocket guide for the season.
FOODBEAST
There's a brunch item in the heart of West Hollywood that's been drawing foodies toEstrella like ants to a half-eaten Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Not that we condone leaving behind peanut butter cups.
A while back, Estrella introduced an innovative dish called The Rolling Stone. It featured a poached egg inside an avocado that...
LAIST
Los Angeles is #blessed with sunny weather pretty much most of the year, which means it's easy to do what we love most: brunch outdoors. On lazy weekend mornings, we're willing to wait in long lines to get some sort of variation on eggs and bacon, and treat ourselves to boozy bottomless mimosas. If there's an outdoor patio involved, then we've basically snagged the golden ticket. Here are our favorite brunch spots throughout the city that have the most gorgeous outdoor patios
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
The Sunset hotspot Estrella (8800 Sunset Blvd.) has upped its menu with the opening of the boho-chic Mother’s Auxilary Theater. The unveiling of Hollywood's newest theater is led by the restaurant's Alan Nathan and Brett Nestadt (Choice Hospitality Group).
The design concepted by Christian Schulz and Studio Collective is a rebirth of the '60s and '70s, decorated with plush...
MODERN LUXURY
I don’t always think of bourbon when I think of Joni Mitchell. A great syrah, maybe, or something spicy and earthy. Even a martini. But atEstrella, a stylish new spot on the Sunset Strip, the cocktail named for the folk-jazz crooner is whiskey-based with a bit of pomegranate molasses, grapefruit and lime. It’s smooth and not sweet, kind of like the singer herself.
THE INFATUATION
Is there a group more obsessed with ineffective buzzwords than restaurants? Doubtful. Artisanal, sustainable, local, farm-to-table, gourmet, organic. These words are so dangerously undefined they serve no purpose except being entirely misleading. And then there’s the king of them all. A word so misused and overplayed by every person writing, cooking, or taking an Instagram of the nearest stalk of who-gives-a-f*ck, it’s basically devoid of any meaning whatsoever.
Forbes Travel Guide
Inspired by Laurel Canyon’s bohemian bungalow culture in its ’60s and ’70s heyday, Estrella, decked out in macramé and vintage photography, opens mid-October on the iconic Sunset Strip. Former Top Chef contestant Dakota Weiss will head up the all-day restaurant’s menus, which includes brunch. You’ve-had-a-tough-week-and-you-deserve-a-splurge items include a bacon-wrapped avocado stuffed with poached egg, a truffle honey grilled cheese sandwich and cornmeal griddle cakes topped with cinnamon pecan praline. Now, that’s star quality.
WHERE MAGAZINE
California fare from Executive Chef Dakota Weiss (Top Chef season 9) and fresh cocktails from mixologist Gia St. George collide on the Sunset Strip at Estrella. The new restaurant aims to channel Hollywood Hills bungalow culture of the ’60s and ’70s with a Laurel Canyon-esque layered restaurant, bar, patio and lounge space decked out with glistening pendants, vintage found pieces and lush plants. Dine for breakfast, lunch (grab-and-go style until January) and dinner on comforting dishes like chai-spiced French toast; sous vide hangar steak with orange-habanero chimichurri; truffle honey grilled cheese; roasted bone marrow with confit quail, kabocha squash spatzel and red wine-truffle jus; and honey fried....
EATER LOS ANGELES
Estrella is Dakota Weiss's brand new effort in the kitchen, and results are pretty darn glorious. Opened just last Friday for dinner, Estrella began breakfast service today, with grab-and-go lunch items available in between.
Estrella is Dakota Weiss's brand new effort in the kitchen, and results are pretty darn glorious. Opened just last Friday for dinner, Estrella began breakfast service today, with grab-and-go lunch items available in between.
West Hollywood's Sunset Strip can be an odd dining desert despite plenty of places to eat, and with reasonable prices, eventual all day service, and an inside-outside feel, it could be the versatile restaurant...
LOS ANGELES TIMES
In the middle of the Sunset Strip, near the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Horner Avenue, there's a hippie oasis. This is Estrella, a new restaurant by partners Alan Nathan, Brett Nestadt and chef/partner Dakota Weiss. And stepping inside the front doors is like a visit to your grandmother's house circa 1971 — if she were glamorous, lived in Laurel Canyon and was besties with Joni Mitchell.
Designed by the Santa Monica-based design boutique agency Studio Collective, it has macrame lampshades and sea shells, hand-painted Mexican tiles along the bar, leather bar stools handmade in Spain and A-frame ceilings that give the look and vibe of an old-school Hollywood Hills bungalow...
EATER LOS ANGELES
Behold the Bacon-Wrapped, Egg-Stuffed Avocado at Dakota Weiss's Estrella
Video producer Food Steez managed to get into the kitchen for an early peek at Estrella, West Hollywood's upcoming eatery from Dakota Weiss and Alan Nathan.
Though the place is still coming along (reports have it opening sometime very soon), you can now get a glimpse inside the kitchen at one of their sure-to-be signature dishes: the Rolling Stone. Just so everyone's on the same page, that's a bacon-wrapped avocado that houses a poached egg inside, and is served with slices of heirloom tomato. Oh man.
FOOD REPUBLIC
Dakota Weiss, a Top Chef: Texas contestant who helped build a Santa Monica hit with Sweetfin Poké, is opening this ambitious restaurant on the Sunset Strip this September. Laurel Canyon’s “bohemian bungalow culture” from the 1960s and 1970s helped drive the aesthetic. The name Estrella refers to a character from Joni Mitchell’s “Ladies of the Canyon.” The indoor-outdoor space includes a private lounge and a50-seat screening room. 8800 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood