In late September, a light purple square on an Instagram post caught the attention of fine dining fans around the world: chefs Daniel Patterson and Keith Corbin said they would open a new restaurant, Jaca, next year in Los Angels.
It marks Patterson's return to fine dining after leaving Coi, his Michelin-starred San Francisco restaurant, one of the most influential tasting menu restaurants in the country for nearly 16 years. In the time since he launched Locol, closed local, Locol reopenedHe teamed up with Corbin, opened high and created a non-profit organization. Now he's ready to dine again with Corbin by creating Jaca, a restaurant in Beverly Grove that the duo hopes to open in the spring.
While some details are still to be determined, here are five key things to know about Jaca, including its tandem wine bar, its tasting menu format, and where to find it.
Why Jaca now?
“A couple of years ago I felt the energy coming back and now I'm ready,” Patterson said. “This is what I've done my whole life. It's what I love to do. So I'm really excited to be able to come back and do it, but in a different way, taking advantage of the culture and community connections that we've developed.”
When Patterson left Coi in 2015, he had spent more than two decades working at full speed in professional kitchens, primarily in fine dining. “It was just non-stop, all the work and the pressure and the 100-hour work week,” he said.
He wanted to focus on the first version of Locol and, in doing so, met Corbin, who grew up in Watts and became his business partner. They opened Alta, and over the past decade, Patterson has become more entrenched in his neighborhood restaurants in Watts and West Adams. For years, good food left his mind, until recently, when he started to feel itchy.
“It's just an energy that I lost and I didn't know if I was going to get it back,” Patterson said. “It was little by little and then it grew and grew, and then it became a kind of compulsion. The work, the craft and the day to day, the ritual, I am so prepared for it.
“I like that it's difficult. I like that sometimes we fail. I think that type of cooking doesn't work for me unless you take risks.”
Corbin, Alta's executive chef whose soul food formed the backbone of Locol's new iteration, is less familiar with fine dining. He said he plans to spend a lot of time in the kitchen with Patterson in Jaca, learning for himself.
“That's Daniel's level,” he said. “But what I do know is that I am excited because for me this is a graduation to another higher level of learning.”
Format will vary
Two menus are planned: An earlier seating will serve an abbreviated number of dishes because guests may not want or have time for a multi-hour dinner. A later seat will offer a longer menu that could include up to 10 or 15 dishes.
Fine dining has changed since Coi debuted in 2006, and that means Patterson and Corbin will also look for new ways to attract diners.
“When we opened Coi, the food we were making was very new, pushing boundaries and really changed the way people cook in the Bay Area and around the world,” Patterson said.
“At the same time, Instagram and the rise of this interest in food and food as entertainment means that a lot of the things we were doing that were new are no longer new. … So we're going to have to figure out how to have that emotional impact.”
There is an adjacent bar and bottle shop.
Like Adams Wine Shop, attached to Corbin and Patterson's Alta restaurant, Jaca is also expected to open a wine bar and bottle shop next door. Corbin and Patterson hope locals can experience a more casual experience.
“It's been really important to have a way for our Alta community to come and connect, and offer some different pricing,” Patterson said.
The dining room of Son of a Gun, a restaurant that closes this month, will become the headquarters of the new Jaca restaurant.
(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)
They're taking over space Son of a Gun
Earlier this year, Patterson called restaurateurs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, hoping to tap into their knowledge of available buildings in the city, when they gave him surprising news: They were considering closing their Beverly stalwart Son of a Gun Grove, a decade old, and offered Corbin and Patterson. the space.
“I don't think they were actively involved in it. [closing]”Patterson said. “I think it was during our conversation that they came up with the idea and were ready for it.”
After Son of a Gun closes on October 12, they will remodel the space, removing vestiges of a nautical theme and adding mid-century modern touches and sunset colors. The plan: two dozen seats, an open kitchen, five tables and an eight-seat counter.
Expand your educational program
While Jaca will not operate under Alta Community, chefs' new nonprofit organization spanning Locol and Alta, is intended to play a role in job placement and training for up-and-coming chefs in Watts and beyond.
Patterson, left, and Corbin in the kitchen of their recently reopened Locol, where they employ and train members of the Watts community.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Locol employs members of the Watts community, often at-risk youth, many of whom have never worked in professional kitchens before. After training at Locol, those who wish to continue working and learning can continue at Alta.
“It creates a flow of fluidity that I think is really difficult to achieve in the industry,” Patterson said.
If employees want to follow a culinary path in a fine kitchen, after their time at Locol and Alta, Patterson and Corbin hope to train promising chefs in Jaca. It echoes the path of Corbin himself, who worked as a kitchen manager at Locol before becoming Patterson's business partner and chef-owner at Alta.
“Can you imagine how difficult it is to start in the kitchen and even think about reaching the level of a restaurant like Jaca or Coi or Noma or any of those?” Corbin said. “Being able to have an entry point and advance to this third level because it is already integrated into the program or the company? “That changes lives.”
