Passover Starts Today With These Specials From Across LA

Passover begins today at sundown, and to mark the occasion several restaurants around Los Angeles have worked up unique menus or bulk food packages for customers. Nate ’n Al’s in Beverly Hills is offering delivery on orders over $50, with dishes including brisket, potato pancakes, and honey-glazed salmon. Crustacean (also in Beverly Hills) is putting a Vietnamese spin on its Passover menu, meaning matzo ball pho with herbs and rice noodles and more. The one-off dishes will be available for on-site dining or takeout from April 5 to April 13. In Culver City, Akasha will host a Passover seder on April 6 with Rabbi Mark Borovitz. The dine-in event runs $145 and will include wine-braised brisket, matzo meal-baked eggplant, and other dishes.

A tasting room opens in South LA

Loft & Bear, California’s first 100 percent African American-owned distillery, is now open for on-site tastings at 6414 McKinley Avenue, offering tastes of its vodka, rum, and gin that’s all made in South LA’s Goodyear Tract area. The company is hosting a grand opening of its tasting room on Saturday, April 8 from noon to 5 p.m., with distillery tours happening every hour on the hour.

An LA trend to know about

The New York Times takes a look at Honey’s and Ruby Fruit, two new lesbian and nonbinary bar spaces in Los Angeles. Critic Tejal Rao says that “it’s hard to overstate the collective joy in the room” at Ruby Fruit, housed in the former Eszett space and run by former employees, particularly because of the lack of enduring lesbian, trans, and nonbinary safe hospitality spaces in Los Angeles over the past several years.

Bill Chait moves on

Restaurateur Bill Chait is no longer involved with Fanny’s, the restaurant at the Academy Museum. Partner Carl Schuster and Chait have both departed along with chef Raphael Francois, leaving the restaurant in the hands of Eric Klein, who oversees the culinary arm of Wolfgang Puck Catering. Klein is now running the show with chef Jun Bum Oh at Fanny’s and the Cafe. Oh has previously worked at Melisse, Hotel Bel-Air, and others.

A new name on Fairfax

Manna Cafe is now open on Fairfax, just up and across the street from the Original Farmers Market. The restaurant has brought on chef Brian Hill from Portland, Maine, who has been nominated several times for a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast, and is now here in LA cooking up a menu that leans towards everyday staples like avocado toast and little gem salads. There are surprises like a squash blossom omelette and brioche breakfast sandwich with scrambled eggs, merguez, and melted camembert cheese. The opening daytime menu is below for the restaurant at 101 S. Fairfax Avenue, with a dinner menu (including beer and wine) coming soon.