The fight to save Dulan\u2019s on Crenshaw … Jenn Harris\u2019 immersion into Nobu Los Angeles vibes … the post-fire rebirth of Altadena\u2019s Bernee as Betsy … plus a new restaurant with no-tip, no-fee, no-surprises menu pricing and more. I\u2019m Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week\u2019s Tasting Notes.<\/p>\n
Saving L.A. soul food <\/p>\n
Greg Dulan inside Dulan\u2019s on Crenshaw.<\/p>\n
(Dania Maxwell \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
On May 26, 1978, at 4:45 a.m., Adolf Dulan<\/b> took out a black marker and yellow legal pad. The future \u201cking of soul food<\/a>,\u201d who a few years later would open the Southern food mecca Aunt Kizzy\u2019s Back Porch<\/b><\/a>, noted the date and time in the upper right-hand corner and wrote across the top sheet in capital letters: \u201cGREG.\u201d <\/p>\n Then, itemizing each point in Roman numerals and underlining key words twice, the late social worker-turned-entrepreneur<\/a>, who started out with an Orange Julius<\/b> franchise and had at that point opened his first independent restaurant, Hamburger City<\/b>, wrote instructions to his eldest son, Greg Dulan<\/b>, on running a business. <\/p>\n One of Adolf Dulan\u2019s five guidelines: \u201cFind out [the] cost of each item you sell and how much profit it brings in \u2014 determine if you need to drop or add items to be sold.\u201d<\/p>\n At the bottom of the second sheet of paper, taped to the first sheet to form a scroll-like document, Adolf Dulan wrote this directive to his son: \u201cIf you are ever going to be a business man, this will be your bible to use … [for] \u2018making the nut.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n One piece of advice the elder Dulan didn\u2019t pass on to his son: Don\u2019t let a parking lot deal take you down. <\/p>\n Earlier this week Greg Dulan, who in 1992 opened his own successful soul food restaurant, Dulan\u2019s on Crenshaw<\/b> \u2014 years before his father started Dulan\u2019s Soul Food Kitchen<\/b><\/a> \u2014 posted a call on social media for help<\/a> from the community. <\/p>\n \u201cI bought some adjacent real estate with the goal of building parking for the restaurant and a culinary kitchen for training and workforce development,\u201d he said on a video collaboration<\/a> with radio station KJLH<\/b>. \u201cThe real estate portion is dragging down the restaurant. The restaurant is doing great but the overall business is in trouble and maybe won\u2019t survive unless I get some kind of support.\u201d<\/p>\n On a fundraising page<\/a> put up by the nonprofit civic and public arts organization Destination Crenshaw<\/b><\/a>, the situation for the restaurant, which reopened early last year after a two-year renovation, was presented as dire: \u201cWith foreclosure looming on September 6,\u201d read the plea, \u201ctime is measured in days, not weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n During a phone interview on Friday afternoon, however, Greg Dulan wanted to make one thing clear: \u201cI\u2019m going to be here.\u201d There\u2019s no way, he insisted, that he\u2019s giving up on his restaurant without a fight. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s more of a real estate issue than a restaurant issue,\u201d he said. \u201cThe remodel took longer than I expected, and it went over budget. It ate up a lot of my reserve capital.\u201d <\/p>\n Dulan\u2019s on Crenshaw, on a busy section of Los Angeles\u2019 Crenshaw corridor, which has become denser with redevelopment and the building of the Metro K line. After a two-year renovation, the restaurant, which has been a fixture for more than 30 years, reopened early last year.<\/p>\n (Dania Maxwell \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Redevelopment along the Crenshaw corridor,<\/a> which prompted Dulan\u2019s renovation, also put pressure on the restaurant. \u201cWe lost a lot of parking,\u201d Dulan said. \u201cThe density on Crenshaw has been increased.\u201d <\/p>\n He added valet parking to help relieve the pressure but hasn\u2019t had the money to build a proper parking lot for the restaurant. Earlier this year, however, he started using the production kitchen on one of the two lots he bought to prepare heat-and-serve meals for Vallarta<\/b> supermarket\u2019s Hyde Park location and hopes to expand that operation. <\/p>\n The problem is that he took out a hard-money loan to fund the business and now a big balloon payment is due. \u201cSept. 6,\u201d he said, \u201cis the deadline for me to satisfy my loan obligation or refinance.\u201d He\u2019s hoping to avoid selling the two parcels he bought or even the land with the restaurant itself, but if he is forced to sell he says he would find a way to keep the restaurant going.<\/p>\n \u201cI can run a successful restaurant,\u201d Dulan said over the phone, \u201cbut real estate development is a whole different animal.\u201d <\/p>\n Since the word went out that Dulan\u2019s was in trouble, many people have responded with offers to help the restaurant, a soul food fixture for more than 30 years. \u201cWe\u2019re getting calls from a lot of celebrities and people from the community,\u201d he said. \u201cRevenue is up 40% at the restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether these offers will lead to a solution for Dulan\u2019s money troubles is still uncertain, but for Los Angeles soul food lovers, the remodel has been a success. Dulan\u2019s refurbished patio area has become a popular gathering spot for family parties, political events and even yoga classes. And his fried chicken is still some of the best<\/a> in the city. <\/p>\n Fried chicken, meat loaf and more soul food favorites at Dulan\u2019s on Crenshaw.<\/p>\n (Dania Maxwell \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n \u201cI had no idea that that my little soul food restaurant would go viral,\u201d Dulan said of the community response, \u201cbut apparently we built up a lot of goodwill that I underestimated.\u201d<\/p>\n Vibes and miso cod at Nobu Los Angeles A view of the sushi bar and main dining room at Nobu Los Angeles on La Cienega Boulevard.<\/p>\n (Catherine Dzilenski \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Nobu Los Angeles<\/b>, \u201cwhich opened in 2008, several years after its more famous Malibu cousin,\u201d writes columnist Jenn Harris<\/b>,<\/a> \u201cis somewhat of a hidden gem on a stretch of La Cienega Boulevard, where black cars once swarmed its valet stand and reservations were elusive. Now … weeknight dinner reservations are procured with ease.\u201d Though it \u201cstill vibrates with a current of money, celebrity and those who seek it,\u201d Nobu L.A., Harris says, \u201csuffers from the aesthetic malaise of an Asian-themed chain restaurant in the mid-2000s … The menu, for the most part, is … past its prime even if everyone (this writer included) still loves the black cod with miso.\u201d <\/p>\n With a new chef at the helm of Nobu Los Angeles and a Netflix<\/b> documentary on founder Nobu Matsuhisa<\/b> released this summer, Harris tries to determine the value of the younger restaurant, up the road from the original Matsuhisa<\/b>, which after nearly 40 years, she writes, has \u201cexemplary\u201d nigiri. Can Nobu L.A. \u201ccontinue to thrive on vibes\u201d? <\/p>\n Post-fire rebirth At the newly reopened and renamed Betsy in Altadena (formerly Bernee), owner Tyler Wells, in a wide-brimmed hat, huddles with his staff at the bar overlooking the hearth.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n I was one of the few who was able to eat at the ambitious Altadena restaurant Bernee <\/b>in the single month it was open before the Eaton fire destroyed much of the neighborhood around it. The restaurant, which was saved from the flames, was one of the spots that had been attracting diners from all over Los Angeles<\/a> to the neighborhood. After the fire, chef Tyler Wells<\/b> \u2014 who lost his home and was in the process of separating from his wife and restaurant partner, Ashley<\/b> \u2014 thought he might leave the state and start over. But as Food\u2019s Stephanie Brejo<\/b> writes, Wells was drawn back to Altadena and is reopening the restaurant this weekend with a new name, Betsy<\/b>, in honor of his late mother. Breijo\u2019s story has all the details<\/a> of Wells\u2019 post-fire journey.<\/p>\n Chef-owner Justin Pichetrungsi\u2019s doodles of new dishes for the renovated Anajak Thai Cuisine, left, and dishes served before the restaurant\u2019s extensive remodel.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo and Mariah Tauger \/ Los Angeles Times<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n And if you missed it, Breijo also talked with Anajak Thai<\/b>\u2018s Justin Pichetrungsi <\/b>last week about the two-month renovation of his family\u2019s restaurant, which has reopened. \u201cThe hardest part of the business is the organization part, not the innovation,\u201d he told Breijo. \u201cInnovation is so fun…. But with all the behind-the-scenes stuff, people never saw how broken [the restaurant] was in order to make the show go on.\u201d I can\u2019t wait to check out the new show.<\/p>\n \u2018Instant-izing\u2019 food Customers shop and eat in the dining area at CU Ramyun Library convenience store in Hongdae, Seoul. Ramyun packets are ranked in terms of spiciness levels from \u201cmild\u201d to \u201cvery hot & hell.\u201d<\/p>\n (Tina Hsu \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Imagine \u201cnearly every conceivable dish\u201d … \u201cturned into a packaged meal,\u201d even \u201cfried rice that you squeeze out of a tube,\u201d writes Times Seoul correspondent Max Kim<\/b><\/a>. \u201cThese have turned convenience stores into a $25-billion industry in South Korea and those food products are churned out at a staggering pace: up to 70 new food items hit the shelves each week, effectively offering a live feed of South Korean tastes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn South Korea\u2019s food retail market,\u201d convenience store critic Chae Da-in<\/b> tells Kim, \u201cyou go extinct if you\u2019re not quick to change.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsletter <\/p>\n You\u2019re reading Tasting Notes<\/p>\n Our L.A. Times restaurant experts share insights and off-the-cuff takes on where they\u2019re eating right now.<\/p>\n Enter email address <\/p>\n Sign Me Up <\/p>\n You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. <\/p>\n Cooling down The refreshing Mexican drink suero with lime and sparkling water.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n For these sweltering days, contributor Carolynn Carre\u00f1o<\/b> wrote about the refreshing Mexican water cocktail<\/a> suero. It\u2019s made with lime, sparkling water and lots of ice, then served in a salt-rimmed glass. She also includes two other cooling drink recipes, including IPA-Lada Michelada<\/a> from the much-missed Whittier restaurant Colonia Publica<\/b> and Salty Angeleno Micheladas,<\/a> developed in our Times Test Kitchen using our own L.A. Times Salty Angeleno<\/b> blend developed in collaboration with Burlap & Barrel<\/b>. Salty Angeleno and our other spice blends, California Heat <\/b>and L.A. Asada<\/b>, are available online at Burlap & Barrel<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the kitchen Martin Draluck prepares sweet potato chili in the Times Test Kitchen.<\/p>\n (Stephanie Breijo \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Black Pot Supper Club<\/b><\/a> chef and founder Martin Draluck,<\/b> who was featured in the Netflix documentary series \u201cHigh on the Hog\u201d <\/b>on Black food traditions, came to the Times Test Kitchen recently for our \u201cChef That!\u201d<\/b> video series<\/a>. Watch him make sweet potato chili<\/a> with a secret ingredient \u2014 a tab of Abuelita chocolate. As deputy food editor Betty Hallock<\/b> writes, it \u201cgives the chili a mole-reminiscent richness.\u201d The vegetarian chili, she adds, \u201ccomes together in under an hour. Find the recipe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n And if you missed last week\u2019s \u201cChef That!\u201d episode, you can watch Adrian Forte<\/b><\/a>, the cookbook author of \u201cYawd<\/b>\u201d and chef at Sam Jordan<\/b>\u2019s modern Caribbean restaurant Lucia<\/b>, make easy fried plantains with Scotch Bonnet aioli. Get the 30-minute recipe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Early bird tickets<\/p>\n VIP tickets (allowing early entry) to The Times\u2019 Food Bowl Night Market<\/b><\/a>, presented by Square<\/b>, are already sold out for the Saturday-night session taking place Oct. 11 at City Market Social House<\/b> in downtown L.A. But Friday-night VIP tickets are still available and for early birds, there is a \u201cdate night deal\u201d<\/a> with two general admission tickets available for $199, a savings of about 20%. More than 40 restaurants are participating, including Holbox<\/b>, Baroo<\/b>, the Brothers Sushi<\/b>, OyBar,<\/b> Heritage Barbecue<\/b>, Crudo e Nudo<\/b>, Hummingbird Ceviche House<\/b>, Rossoblu<\/b>, Perilla LA<\/b>, Evil Cooks<\/b>, Villa\u2019s Tacos<\/b>, Holy Basil<\/b> and Luv2Eat Thai Bistro<\/b>. Check lafoodbowl.com<\/a> for tickets and info.<\/p>\n Also … A recent latte art throwdown at Picaresca Barra de Caf\u00e9 in Boyle Heights.<\/p>\n (Julie Wolfson \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n Newsletter <\/p>\n Eat your way across L.A.<\/p>\n Like what you’re reading? Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.<\/p>\n Enter email address <\/p>\n Sign Me Up <\/p>\n You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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