The return of Here's Looking at You is a serious win for L.A. dining
The tinny chime of a twice-tapped service bell — the analogue silver dome once used to summon hotel desk clerks — pierces the din of the packed 50-seat dining room as Drake’s “Fake Love” pounds from the speakers. Chef Jonathan Whitener, impossible to miss with his towering height, shouts one word from the kitchen: “Scallop!”
Considering the obstacles, though, the return of HLAY still feels like an act of grace for its enthusiasts, me among them. Allan Katz and Danielle Crouch designed the original bar program, a collision of tiki updates, martinis stained purple-blue with violet liqueur and a wild fizz employing Angostura bitters, mango nectar, coconut cream and aquafaba. The blaring hip-hop and tight, in-it-together seating navigated by upbeat servers kept pace with the culinary energy.
Ta and Whitener’s landlord urged them to sell the restaurant. A low-ball offer came in and then lingered too long in escrow; after nearly a year, during a hopeful moment in early June 2021, all parties agreed that HLAY deserved another shot at life. The duo planned quietly for months and announced its resurrection in November. Ta set up a GoFundMe page for the restaurant that eventually raised over $85,000. The dining room, with its abstractly Midcentury Modern vibe, was reassembled.
Whitener has an ideal counterpart in pastry chef Thessa Diadem. Her desserts at HLAY, as at All Day Baby, stretch notions of spice and degrees of sweetness without tipping into absurdity. Her warm, chewy chestnut mochi bathe in muscovado caramel and coconut cream with a finishing shower of crushed halva. So many layers of texture and flavor. Same with a frozen cloud of pear soda foam, dotted with sorrel granita and hiding avocado leaf gelée and tapioca pearls soaked in fermented honey milk.