RHUBARB | ginger | sakura
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Thoughts from @dcberan :
“I hit a turning point a few months back, trying to pursue minimal with my food vs maximizing. For years the thought process was always “what else?”. At some point, likely as a point of maturity, and the encouragement of my chef de cuisine - @casebase21 , I started looking at things from a more reductive standpoint. We pushed toward the rule of 3 flavors, or moments, forcing me to look at the value of the individual ingredient as opposed to masking ingredients with layers.
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This dish, along with its mirrored sibling from the first half of the menu - the crab course - is the simplest and likely the most personally challenging in our current menu. The course required three things- great product, great technique, and a clear purpose. I constantly asked- is this enough? Somehow it’s become a unanimous favorite among diners.
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Put simply, this course is rhubarb, in its best form. Slightly tender, barely cooked in a lightly sweetened green tea and cherry blossom syrup to balance the acid while complimenting the floral and vegetal notes of the rhubarb. To restore the intensity of the rhubarb we dress it in raw juice seasoned with the same tea syrup. I always loved spice with rhubarb so we season with raw ginger and ginger oil, and to push it back to savory, we finish with tosaka seasoned in white soy and Fresno chili.
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An homage to one of my favorite ingredients.”
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Photo: @wonhophoto
This post is a little late. I wanted to take some time to wrap my head around it. To say the opening of @selinerestaurant was difficult would be an understatement. Learning to balance life, work, family, all while developing a voice and a vision, all while leading a team.
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I look back at it and wonder how I even made it this far. How fortunate I am to have such an incredible team, and family. People who love and support and believe in me. Without them, I’m lost.
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Our team at seline is amazing. To be nominated for @beardfoundation best chef California is something I’d never really thought was possible. This nomination reflects the magic and support that resides within these walls. The passionate team that comes in every day and believes we are better today than we were yesterday.
I used to take moments like this for granted, not winning was a loss. At this point, in this moment, I couldn’t feel more honored. I had to overcome a lot, and it was in a big part because of the incredible people around me.
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Whatever happens June 15, happens. At this point, we are celebrating how far we’ve come. Thank you to the beard award voters, this incredible team, and my family. A moment that means so much more than a nomination for an award.
DUNGENESS CRAB | kohlrabi | smoked pork
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Thoughts from @dcberan :
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“I felt a rare kind of excitement during the R&D for this dish; it felt like a departure, a definitive step forward for both myself and the restaurant. As our menus have evolved, we’ve sought unique ways to convey feeling—moving toward a space that exists just outside the familiar. It’s the sensation of a distant place you’ve always known, but never actually visited.
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This course explores “dampness”—a peek into a stream just after a thaw. It takes me back to the trails behind my childhood home, where I’d spend hours digging through the mud for crawfish and minnows as the ice began to break.
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To capture that moment, we’ve encased crab in a veil of steamed kohlrabi, served chilled in a smoked pork consommé. We finish the broth with wild bay leaf oil, which naturally grows along those same banks. The oil creates a sense of movement and distortion on the surface, mimicking the way the water bends your view of the life moving beneath it.
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It is the muted, mineral beginning of our season. A memory of the thaw that will eventually find its mirror in the bloom.
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It isn’t a “familiar” dish, and yet, it feels exactly like a place I’ve been.“
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Photo: @wonhophoto
🍽️ Most LA tasting menus are not worth the money in 2026. Seline is the exception. Swipe to see why 👉
$295. 18 courses.
Every one earned its place. Pacing flawless. Plateware by Match Stoneware.
We went in ready to be the skeptics. We left already trying to book again.
If you book ONE tasting menu in LA this year, make it this one.
🔗 Full review at reallaeats.com — link in bio
⸻ THE SPRING MENU ⸻ 1. Succulent · avocado · burnt parsley 2. Green Garlic · artichoke · eucalyptus 3. Dungeness Crab · kohlrabi · bay laurel 4. Beef Tendon · fennel pollen 5. White Asparagus · farro · black trumpet 6. Preserved Cherry · pistachio · Celery Root · smoked beet · savory granola 7. Celery Root · miso fudge 8. Maitake · rose 9. Tuna · fermented poblano 10. Rhubarb · ginger · sakura 11. Green Asparagus · sunflower 12. Peas · fava bean · shio koji 13. Black Cod · mussel · fennel 14. Cauliflower · wild greens · burnt strawberry 15. Brioche · butter 16. Coffee · caviar 17. Caramelized Honey · earl grey tea · lemon 18. Sorrel · blackberry · olive oil
Where would you send someone instead? 👇
📍 SELINE
🗺️ Santa Monica, CA
MAITAKE | rose
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Thoughts from @dcberan :
“Spring is an ever-evolving season, each day revealing new life, new growth. It felt only natural for the menu to move in the same way—unfolding through time, rather than the dual perspectives of a single day that defined our winter menu.
This course marks that turning point, carrying the diner from “the damp moments after the thaw” into “the bloom.” A bowl of moss evokes the forest floor—cool, quiet, still holding onto moisture. Resting on top, a fried maitake mushroom serves as a final expression of that first phase, grounded and earthbound.
Then, the shift.
To welcome the second half, we introduce the first flowers of the season—rose and elderflower. The dish opens up, becoming more aromatic, more expansive, signaling a departure from the restraint of early spring and the full arrival of the bloom.”
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Photos: @wonhophoto
About Seline—what it is, and how it became that.
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Seline has been the most personal and most difficult thing I’ve done. Restaurants don’t open fully formed—they evolve. When we opened, I thought I understood it. I didn’t. I was lost. Then came the fires, life, and a real sense of failure. A friend told me plainly, “You don’t know what your restaurant is.” She was right.
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That was last June. I spent the summer searching—reading every review back to Alinea, looking for a thread. Had anyone captured, in a single sentence, what I’d been trying to say all along?
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The shift came in August. A 2017 review of Dialogue by Bill Addison in Eater articulated the cuisine as I’d always felt it, while a note from David Choe reminded me the food needed to be personal—emotional. That became the turning point. From there, we created the autumn 2025 menu as a three-part story.
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Two weeks ago, we launched our spring menu—the best work I’ve done. Seline now lives where seasonality meets surrealism, where dreams and memory collide.
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Thanks for the push, @iamsamlim .
CAVIAR | coffee
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Thoughts from @dcberan :
“This dish began as a happy accident. We have a rule in the kitchen: if you open a second tin of caviar for service, you taste the two side by side to ensure they match. If they don’t, the dish has to be adjusted.
One morning at Dialogue, while portioning caviar, I was doing what I often did—drinking a Dunkin’ Donuts French vanilla coffee. As I moved into a new tin, I tasted the caviar, then took a sip of coffee. Something clicked. It was unexpectedly delicious. There was a salted caramel, almost umami-like quality—depth, a subtle roasted note. It felt like a natural pairing. Within a week, the dish was born.
At Seline, we evolved the presentation by introducing a stack of bowls. The idea was to nod to the tradition of stacking plates with caviar—layering luxury upon luxury—but to do so in a way that felt more grounded. The bowls are made of concrete, rough at the edges, heavy in the hand, always chipping. That tension mirrors the dish itself: the everyday familiarity of vanilla coffee set against the elegance of beautifully produced caviar.”
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Photo: @ohpetelee
The space, the food, it’s all in the details.
Such a thoughtful and delicious meal at @selinerestaurant — @dcberan ‘s iteration of the new spring menu is everything I want out of a meal.
It’s the kind of experience that feels deeply considered without ever trying too hard. Each dish moves with intention, balancing restraint and creativity in a way that lets the ingredients speak loudly. There’s nothing excessive, nothing missing—just precise, seasonal expression at its best.
Our kitchen-
Thoughts from @dcberan :
“I wanted a space that felt like a home, that was comforting and familiar, that started with the kitchen. In my grandmothers house, that was the life of the home. When friends came over, they didn’t come in through the front, they came in through the sliding door in the kitchen.
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When our guests enter the restaurant they come in the same way. Our space is designed to feel like you’re walking in through our back yard, our host meets the diners outside and welcomes the into the kitchen. This is their first impression of our space. A small team, a peaceful landscape, a welcome smile. This is our home.”
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Photo: @wonhophoto
POPCORN | caramel | butter
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Thoughts from @dcberan :
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“I will never forget the impact of the nostalgic courses at Alinea. Dishes like “bubblegum” and “popcorn” sound out of place in fine dining when spoken aloud. Then you see the guest reaction—you watch them flash back to a moment. A clever reinterpretation of a childhood classic, presented at an unexpected time, can be transportive when executed correctly. It was brilliance from @grant_achatz .
At Next, we played with this idea for the “Childhood” menu in 2011. I couldn’t have imagined how much joy a rethought peanut butter and jelly would bring to adults. It was mind-boggling.
This course is an evolution of one I loved at Alinea. The original was “popcorn • liquified”—simple liquid popcorn with caramel foam. Guests loved it. Here, we wanted to rethink it and give it the texture of a Sundae as a final course, whereas the Alinea version was entirely about flavor, intentionally absent of texture.”
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POPCORN | caramel | butter
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Photos: @wonhophoto@ohpetelee
A special night with Seline.
We had the honor of welcoming Chef Dave Beran of Seline for a one-night collaboration that brought together thoughtful cooking, creativity, and a deep sense of place.
The dining room was full, the energy was high, and every detail felt considered from start to finish.
Thank you to Chef Beran and the Seline team for sharing your craft with us, and to @blackbird for hosting and helping bring the evening to life.
Nights like these are why we do what we do.
