Hey, we’re opening a restaurant! It doesn’t look like it right now, but this is going to be a dining room. Soon!
Sarah is a music person who likes food. Daniel is a food person who likes music.
We worked together creating the Jaca Social Club popup last year and we had so much fun that we decided to make it a real restaurant. It’s going to be called Jacaranda, an intimate fine dining restaurant with dinner party vibes. What does that mean, you ask? We’re not sure but we’re going to find out!
We’ve got about a month to get the space together and work out the kinks, and then we’ll open in early May, in the heart of Jacaranda season :) Reservations should go live next week.
In the meantime we’re excited to tell you about our amazing team, the food and drinks we’re working on, and everything else that goes into opening a restaurant in this crazy world.
Thanks to everyone who has helped us along the way. We can’t wait to show you what we’ve been working on!
Much love,
Sarah and Daniel
My sister @sararose.yoga had a yoga studio in Western MA for many years, and one time when I was visiting she gave me a shirt. The studio logo was on the back and on the front it just said, Practice. I wore that shirt until it fell apart, and even then I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of it. I loved it because yoga, like cooking, is a practice, but also because the word suggests commitment, humility, constancy, the idea that every day I’m going to practice to get better, even though I know I will never be perfect. In cooking or life.
The internets these days are full of perceived perfection. Carefully cultivated stories, perfect molds that make perfect little tart shells, the perfect dish captured at the perfect time for all to see that so much winning is happening. It’s dizzying, because every day I go into the kitchen with the intention to do everything perfectly and every day I - we - struggle. Sometimes ingredients, equipment, people aren’t at their best. But we try!
This is a dish of artichoke. It’s painstakingly trimmed and cooked with lemon and olive oil, then the middle is cut out and turned into a thick puree that we use to refill the center. On top of that is a puree of onion and green garlic that is sharpened with champagne vinegar. Some ribbons of steamed sweet potato (surprise!), some spring things, a broth of pea tendrils and mint that is made with ice and water just before serving that is light and flavorful and almost creamy in body but not fixed with fat so it’s evanescent, brilliant green when made and then fading within an hour or so. Some good olive oil.
They don’t all look this good. Sometimes the sweet potato breaks in places or the ribbons don’t fall perfectly or the shape is just less pleasing. Maybe other people don’t notice but I do. And I accept it. I’d love for every one to be perfect but that’s not possible. Difficult shapes that are made by hand to look beautiful and simple will never be perfect every time. The important thing is that every day we try to make them a little better.
Practice 💜
📸 @wonhophoto
Such a great addition to LA’s fine dining scene 💜 10 course tasting menu @jacaranda.la by chef @chefdanielpatterson just opened on Melrose featuring Californian cuisine!
Cover photo by @eatswithanthony
#lafoodie #finedining #tastingmenu #losangelesfood #artofplating
@chefdanielpatterson and Sarah Lewitinn (@ultragrrrl ) want their new Los Angeles restaurant to be a fine-dining destination with dinner-party vibes.
So at @jacaranda.la , which will open today, the married couple has a six-seat communal table for guests who are inclined to make new friends.
Patterson wants to rethink tasting-menu culture at the 30-seat restaurant. And one thing that Lewitinn noticed at Jaca Social Club, Jacaranda’s precursor, was demand from solo diners.
Read more by @andywangnyla at the link in our bio.
When @_ajmillz started as CDC at Coi in 2011 he came with the kind of resume no one has anymore (Ducasse! TK!) but what really impressed me was his palate. We season in a very idiosyncratic way and he had it down within two weeks. I never forgot that. Now when he tastes something I know it’s exactly the same as if I tasted it.
Andrew is one of the smartest cooks I’ve ever seen. Disciplined and organized, with tremendous attention to detail. Great creative problem solving and so many good ideas. His calm and kind leadership makes everyone around him better.
Over the years we became close friends. The late night drinks (so many!), family hangouts, watching our kids grow up together. Having Andrew in the kitchen helping open @jacaranda.la has not only saved my life, it’s been a real joy. Doing work you love with people you love is the best.
If you have good food at Jacaranda it’s in large part because of this guy. Very grateful for you Andrew!!! 🙏💜
-Daniel
THANK YOU THANK YOU @heyhochman for the nice words! It’s true that this is a scary time to open a restaurant but we’re so excited to be doing this together and we’re going to try our best to make it work 😊
Much love,
Daniel & Sarah
I started working with @matttinder at Coi in 2011. For four intense years we worked together and travelled to events around the world. His desserts were brilliant and much copied. We had a kind of creative synchronicity that is extremely rare in any field but especially in restaurants. He went on to open Saboteur Bakery near Seattle, which he ran for several years.
Matt moved back to the Bay and started doing some consulting, but we were always talking about cooking together again.
I am so, so excited to have Matt in the kitchen at Jacaranda. His influence - creatively, technically and as a leader - crosses to savory food as well. I’m very impressed at how his cooking has grown and matured, still delicious and innovative but more layered and thoughtful and consistent.
A couple snaps of first desserts. A dish of raw chocolate and roasted kelp that is extraordinary, strange and familiar all at the same time. And what he calls fruit anarchy, a last plate, a still life of barely touched and preserved fruit that is a mix of improvisation and preparation, the best of last season and also of right now.
Grateful to you my friend. Having so much fun cooking together ❤️
Real community work is rooted in collaboration.
We’re proud to partner with @MudTownFarmsWatts — a 2.5-acre urban farm and community wellness space in the heart of Watts — to bring fresh, locally grown produce directly into our kitchen at @welocol .
Through this partnership, we’re not just serving meals, we’re serving nourishment sourced from the community, for the community.
Developed by the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC), MudTown Farms is doing the work — creating access to healthy food, providing job training, and holding space for wellness and growth.
This is what it looks like when ecosystems are built with intention.
Since 2015, @chefdanielpatterson has been showing up for this community, no spotlight needed.
Now he’s back in the kitchen, teaching the next generation through Alta Community.
This is bigger than food.
We have an opening day! May 6!
We’ll be open for dinner from Weds to Saturday, and lunch on Sunday. Not brunch, lunch! A long, luxurious lunch, with a menu like dinner but a little shorter and less expensive.
Reservations are live on @opentable , link in bio!
Can’t wait to feed you 🥰
Love,
Daniel and Sarah
A photo doesn’t begin to capture how vibrant and beautiful this painting by @adelerenault is. We are so grateful to Adele for the care and intention she put into it. It is an image of the tree behind Alta 😊 Thank you Adele ! 🙏🥰
Long, rainy drive to the desert. Not for Coachella, for Yerba Santa! A sweet, resinous desert herb that smells vaguely like bubblegum. We’ll infuse it into water and use that as the base of a green sauce with nopales juice, lime and chile for a dish of grilled and raw vegetables.
