In addition to the soon-to-open Plan Check, a few more new restaurants are helping alter the flavor of Japanese-heavy Sawtelle Bouelvard. Orris, which has long offered a French-influenced Japanese menu, has reopened with a new “Spaghetti House” concept after briefly closing at the end of January. This means that chef-owner Hideo Yamashiro is now tackling Italian food, giving us flashbacks of Erbe Matte’s own attempts to integrate Korean profiles with Italian recipes on Canon Drive. The concept finds Yamashiro riffing on salads, soups, and pasta dishes, with a wee taste of Japanese cooking apparent in menu items like shrimp mousse ravioli with shiitake sauce and Tanaka mustard greens in white wine sauce, though the chef wisely sticks closer to Italian cuisine instead of trying to bridge two styles.
Elsewhere, Squid Ink reports that Nong Lá, a new Vietnamese cafe on the same block is opening this spring week to diversify Little Osaka’s offerings, while a Mexican restaurant named Nina’s has been generating whispered raves since coming to the street shortly before the new year. Either way, Sawtelle has long been a strong street to cruise for exciting eats, but has had a banner year in attracting new and improved eateries to this dense West L.A. dining district.
Spaghetti House by Orris, 2006 Sawtelle Blvd. West L.A. 310-268-2212.
