Goldie's, Open Today on 3rd, is More Than a Pretty Face

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Save for the chairs, Nick Mathers pretty much designed every aesthetic detail inside his new West Third Street restaurant and bar, Goldie's, which opens for lunch today. He sketched the restaurant then hired craftsmen to bring his vision to life. A booth, tables, shelving — all elements were built inside the actual restaurant and then organized into place. And those shelving units behind the bar and on the center island were inspired by a Frank Lloyd Wright design. So, you could say there is some Mid-Century influence here, mixed in with ubiquitous wood — olive, maple, oak — for a natural, earthy feel.

Some might recall Chado Tea House, which previously inhabited this plot for 22 years. Mathers ripped off the cafe's facade and built his main dining room farther back from 3rd Street to create room for the above pictured front garden patio (separated from the dining room by a retractable garage door-esque window) and that living wall. He took the excess wood from Chado and repurposed it back into Goldie's. Just look up. The boards above your head were once part of Chado.

Anyone that has ever dined at Mathers' first Los Angeles restaurant, Eveleigh, will know he is a fan of seasonal eating. For Goldie's, he has brought over chef Thomas Lim, a friend of eight years, who previously cheffed one of Mathers' restaurants (Duke Bistro) in Sydney, Australia. Starting with lunch today, and dinner to follow in about a week and a half, Lim focuses on handcrafted foodstuffs (menu above).

Many restaurants in Los Angeles push the farm-to-table thing, but Mathers prefers to avoid this terminology and rather describes the California cuisine at Goldie's as getting back to the roots of how food was once made decades ago. By hand. In small batches. With fresh ingredient. And that's what you'll find at Goldie's. Simple sounding dishes with a bit more backstory. For example, during breakfast Goldie's serves a Bircher Muesli with fruit, almonds, and yogurt. But in this case Lim makes his own yogurt. But, that's not to say the restaurant does't stock a Pacojet. Because it does.

The menu is pretty short overall. Right now during lunch one will find avocado on house-baked bread with chili and lemon, a chicken confit salad, scallops with kohlrabi, and a few grilled flatbread sandwiches. There's also a pasta, a meat, and a fish. The most expensive dish, Boulder Valley beef coulotte with green tomatoes and Shear Rock greens, costs $20. Surely the bill of fare will change based on seasonal availability, though a few of the restaurant's top sellers will score a permanent place on the menu. It's also worthwhile to note that Goldie's prepares many of its dishes over a dual wood and coal-fired grill and the kitchen will also play with a rotisserie to cook lamb, pig, and more.

The bar, which, to start, will serve during the week until 11 p.m. and on weekends until midnight, is run by former ink. bartendress Brittini Rae Peterson. In addition to a strong craft cocktail program which will use house-made liqueurs like Amaratto, expect one cider on tap and eventually one cocktail on tap. Beer and mostly naturally-made wines, too. Coffee is from Handsome and a "more adventurous" juice program is in the works.

Mathers wants Goldie's — named after a neighborhood deli he frequented in Sydney as a child — to be your trusted best friend. An unpretentious eatery fit for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or drinks, in which one can catch up with friends over a round of cocktails or a place to bring a first date. And while many restaurants in Los Angeles look better than they taste, Goldie's is serious about its food — supporting local farms, butchering its own animals, and reverting back to the craft of production.

Goldie's opens at 8 a.m. Monday through Friday and at 10 a.m. for brunch (to come soon) on Saturday and Sunday.
·All Goldie's Coverage [~ELA~]