Patric Kuh Racks In Three Stars for Butchers & Barbers

Today comes the first review from LA Mag critic Patric Kuh in two months, and as Eater guessed, it's of Butchers & Barbers. The Hollywood hot spot is the Houston brothers' first restaurant concept, which comes after, as Kuh puts it, having "built a mini empire of individual ventures that span eras but share a nostalgia for lighthearted transgression."

Kuh is impressed with chef Luke Reyes' fare which is both robust, pairing well with the restaurant's stellar cocktail program, and nuanced:

He's not a meat-only cook by any means, but he's particularly artful at making animal protein shine. The skin on a salmon fillet crackles beneath a bed of parsnip puree and a drizzle of aillade, a minutely minced paste of hazelnuts, fennel, celery leaves, and lemon zest. The grilled hanger steak with a compound butter of Point Reyes blue melting on the seared meat and charred onions draped over a handful of La Ratte potatoes is the opposite of one of those marked-up à la carte filets with an entourage of expensive side dishes. It's a steak option at an accessible level and manages to say a lot about the realm the Houstons have created. [LAM]

Butchers & Barbers ultimately scores three stars.

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The Elsewhere: The Offalo uncovers the $25 foie gras tasting menu at VINU, Darin Dines hits Terrine, Gourmet Pigs ventures to East LA's Corazon y Miel, and My Last Bite goes on a Josef Centeno crawl.