A mountain version of a Parisian wine bar is opening in Altadena

Chef Tyler Wells' restaurant opened a month before the Eaton fire that devastated the quaint mountain town of Altadena, but it did not destroy the community or his restaurant space. He relaunched it under the name Betsy last September and opened Bar Betsy for the first time this month: an adjacent cafe by day and a wine bar by night.

“Having those 30 days and then having them taken away gives a different perspective,” Wells said. “You feel this gratitude for what you have in the moment. Every day we are just present.”

Bar Betsy serves what Wells calls “sunny, beachy, really simple food”: roasted carrot sandwiches, stovetop-baked pecan cinnamon rolls, heirloom grits with thick-cut bacon and runny eggs, market tomatoes with strawberries and burrata.

Like Betsy, almost all of the ingredients on the menu come from local and independent farms. At night, Wells sees it as a sort of mountain version of a Parisian wine bar, with cheese, charcuterie, Cara Cara tuna crudo, lemon cake, and a more extensive wine list by the glass than Betsy's.

He had signed the lease for the space at Bar Betsy before the fire and happened to store some of his belongings there, including photo boxes and his camping gear – the latter of which would come in handy after the Eaton fire when he spent a summer camping and cooking out on a farm. “I feel like either the necessities have survived or the things that have survived have become necessities,” he said. “I don’t know which came first.”

After his own apartment burned down, Wells couldn't bring himself mentally or emotionally to sort through what few of his belongings remained – so he left the room standing. But when Betsy opened to confirm that guests had been clamoring for reservations weeks in advance, she realized she would need overflow space. It was time to open Bar Betsy.

During the holidays, Wells and his team began construction, adding a small kitchen, prep room and bakery, as well as banquet and bar seating to the former flower shop.

Wells tapped Avanthi Dev – a Vespertine, Destroyer, Gra and Blue Hill alum at Stone Barns – to oversee the Bar Betsy menu alongside Betsy chef Paul Downer.

“The most exciting thing about being up here is being part of a community that is rebuilding itself,” Dev said. “It feels more meaningful to be a place that is needed than just another place.”

The team also remodeled a small lot in an alley that once served as a kindergarten for the hardware store that has since burned down. This year they planted garden boxes of tomatoes, berries, herbs and citrus trees and added an outdoor oven, composter and long table for private events. Bar Betsy is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m

871 E. Mariposa St., Altadena, barbetsy.com

Baldi

With handmade pasta, wood-grilled steaks and his childhood favorites, a famous Italian chef recently launched a personal take on a Tuscan steakhouse. Baldi by Chef Edoardo “Edo” Baldi is now open at the base of the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills.

Baldi grew up in Tuscany until he was ten, then his parents, the famous owners of Giorgio Baldi, moved to Los Angeles. While the Baldis later dominated LA's fine Italian cuisine, they often returned to Tuscany, where Edo Baldi still has a home in Forte dei Marmi. In his new company he focuses on family recipes and Tuscan ingredients in an upscale atmosphere.

“It's about getting away from a lot of the fancy stuff – and the trendy stuff too – and really getting back to the Tuscan table,” he said. “There are all these dishes that are really, really tied to my childhood, which is a Tuscan childhood.”

He added a sauce from a Tuscan family friend to the menu – listed as “Mezze Maniche from Sauro's wife” – as well as a sformato special in a nod to his father, who often made the soufflé-like dish for lunch. When the Baldi family ate steaks at home, his mother prepared a simple red sauce and salsa verde that they ate with the meat; Meat is also served in the new steakhouse.

The menu also features dishes loyal to Baldi, including a tortellini twist on their sweet corn agnolotti, which was based on a sweet corn soup that Edo Baldi tried about 30 years ago. “We give the chickens corn,” his father said at the time, but it became one of the restaurant’s most sought-after types of pasta for decades.

There's a selection of American steaks as well as Japanese and Australian Wagyu steaks, and sides like broccolini, roast potatoes and spinach are simply prepared. Baldi began his culinary career at the age of 16, making desserts for his parents' restaurant; The menu includes cheesecake and butterscotch rum budino. Baldi Steakhouse is open Wednesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. The Tandem Lounge Bar Baldi is open daily from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m

9850 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, (310) 860-6798, waldorfastoriabeverlyhills.com/dining/baldi

The Joint Seafood and Uoichiba DTLA

This month, one of LA's best-known fishmongers opened a 4,000-square-foot store selling dry-aged fish, hand rolls, coffee, Wagyu and fresh baked goods on the border of the Arts District and Little Tokyo.

Liwei Liao, who helped spread dry-aged fish across the city and country, launched Joint Seafood Market in 2018, followed by Handrollbar Uoichiba — both found under one roof in Sherman Oaks. Now both can also be found in a new downtown area that includes expanded retail offerings and a 32-seat sushi counter.

Liao sells dry-aged fish wholesale to restaurants including Kato, Somni, Majordomo, Restaurant Ki and several José Andrés companies. Using customized, climate-controlled refrigerators, he removes moisture from the seafood to develop flavor and change texture. Dry-aged fish can be purchased at the counter for home cooking or found alongside wagyu, caviar and more in Uoichiba's hand rolls. The counter also sells fresh oysters, smoked black cod, miso-marinated salmon, salmon, a homemade furikake mix and uni butter.

The downtown operation is 50% larger than Sherman Oaks', and while the Valley outpost processes 4,000 to 5,000 pounds of fish per week, Liao expects the new location's production to triple, reaching up to 15,000 pounds per week.

From the front door, guests can see every part of the space: Uoichiba, with its U-shaped sushi counter on the far left and a neon sign with Liwei's slogan “FRESH IS BORING”; the joint's sales counter in the middle; and on the right the café and the shelves with pantry goods. Dozens of species of hanging fish can be spotted in the ripening chambers. A larger manufacturing facility in Vernon is scheduled to open later this year. The Joint and Uoichiba are open downtown Tuesday through Sunday. The coffee bar is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the joint fish counter from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Uoichiba from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m

600 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, jointseafood.com

Venice Steakhouse

Just a block from the famous “VENICE” sign, a cozy, dimly lit steakhouse owned by a Petit Trois graduate recently opened. Venice Steakhouse is led by chef and partner Sydney Hunter III, whom Jonathan Gold called in 2016 “the guy with the snide whiplash mustache who hands you a plate of snails.” Hunter also worked at Bastide, Kettle Black, Café Pinot and Fraîche.

He combines his Italian and French training with the sensibility of California cuisine for dishes like meatballs with frisée and champagne dressing; French nasturtium butter; wedge salad drizzled with Pedro Ximénez reduction; and carrots with sheep's milk yogurt and his French Five Spice blend. The steaks – some dry-aged and in large formats – can be accompanied with a range of sauces such as Dijon chicken jus, green peppercorns, red wine demi-glace and a horseradish cream made from whipped Kendall Farms crème fraîche. Venice Steakhouse is open Sunday through Thursday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m

1715 Pacific Ave., Venice, (310) 209-8351, venicesteakhouse.com