Rashida Holmes first tasted a buttery, almost scallion pancake-like roti during a trip to Barbados when she was 10, and while bread can come in many forms, that paratha-style, laminated, flat, flaky variety stayed with her for decades. It became the backbone of her His famous pan-Caribbean pop-upAnd now, in East Hollywood, an exclusive item at its first brick-and-mortar restaurant.
At the new Bridgetown Roti, which Holmes describes as Caribbean American, the former Rustic Canyon and Botanica chef takes several days to prepare her roti, then wraps it in a rainbow of fillings, like her mother’s chicken curry with turmeric slaw; curried shrimp with homemade green relish; and butternut squash with fried cauliflower.
The burgers, yellowed with turmeric and house-made curry powder, are loaded with oxtail, eggplant, sweet potato or shrimp. A new menu item, “Caribbean Tings,” offers diners cod cakes, curried channa doubles and a new coconut bread sandwich. Some of the menu items are traditional, but most represent what Holmes and business partner Malique Smith see as a modern, personal reflection of Caribbean food in Los Angeles and their own histories.
“For us, that means taking things that are traditional and making them our own, and that means bringing new ideas to what ‘traditional’ means,” Holmes said. “It’s what home means to me, because we moved around a lot when I was a kid, so I don’t have any regional loyalties. My loyalty is based on the food I loved, and the food I loved was food my mother made, like fried fish and chicken curry, and my Aunt Vie’s codfish croquettes.”
Rashida Holmes, chef and partner at Bridgetown Roti in East Hollywood.
(Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times)
The pop-up restaurant, founded in 2020 and run out of Holmes’ home with his wife, Shanika, was always a way to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant. The process took years longer than expected, but Holmes always got help along the way: Often, brokers and investors tried his food and then immediately wanted to help.
After a long search, she and Smith found a space in East Hollywood, and while they waited for their restaurant to open, they moved away from pop-ups and weekly pickups and into catering.
That longer incubation period has allowed Holmes to find new staff to help run and maintain the kitchen, as well as experiment and prepare new menu items. The signature roti and burgers remain, while items like the thick slices of macaroni and cheese pie with curry and black pepper sauce, normally only available around the holidays and for catering, are now available in the restaurant as well.
Brand new items include oversized whole chicken wings marinated in jerk brine and sweetened with honey, as well as the fried fish sandwich, served on fresh coconut bread. Baked at Silver Lake's renovated Café Tropicaland non-alcoholic beverages that one might find at a picnic, such as a fresh coconut and mint lemonade or a passion fruit and guava tea.
Holmes’ mother had always been a contributor to the business with business advice, but now she’s a more formal part of the team, as was her father. The family opened the casual, colorful restaurant in a roughly 1,800-square-foot space with just under 10 tables and a small patio. The bright blocks of magenta, yellow and blue in the design are meant to replicate the colorful hues of painted Caribbean houses.
Holmes hopes the cozy, familiar aesthetic and menu — and the success of Bridgetown Roti — will encourage others to follow suit, setting off a chain reaction of Caribbean cuisine in Los Angeles.
“I hope by this time next year there will be more Caribbean restaurants in Los Angeles, because I think the market is ripe and people want to try them,” Holmes said. “We need more of us. Los Angeles is too big for there not to be more of us here, we are really making a big impact.” Bridgetown Roti is open Wednesday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
858 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, (747) 221-9026, bridgetownroti.com
Bar Sinizki, from the teams behind Dune and Kaldi Coffee, specializes in Eastern European classics like cheese and potato pierogi.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Smack Burgers
Smack Burgers, a Bay Area-founded company, got its humbly start in a backyard in 2021 but quickly went viral for its thin-pressed patties smashed with thin ribbons of onion and specialties like the Hellapeño, a spicy bacon cheeseburger drizzled with spicy honey. While its pop-ups and food trucks still roam Northern California, Smack Burgers just opened a brick-and-mortar location here, its first outpost in Los Angeles, occupying the former Taco Chabelita space in Harvard Heights. Find a variety of smashburgers, onion rings, burger bowls, and beef tallow-fried waffle fries at this eye-catching yellow-and-black burger joint just off the highway. Smack Burgers is open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
2001 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, Instagram.com/smackburgers
Wax on Hi-Fi vinyl bar and restaurant combines Japanese and Creole favorites, such as chicken katsu curry with andouille.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Wax in Hi-Fi
A new downtown vinyl bar blends Japanese and Creole flavors to the tune of soul, funk, pop, R&B, hip-hop, and jazz. Wax on Hi-Fi is the first restaurant from Atlanta-born chef and owner TJ Johnson, a DJ herself. She traveled to Tokyo for inspiration to design her own Japanese-inspired hi-fi bar, which regularly hosts DJ sets in addition to other live programming, such as comedy nights. Dishes draw inspiration from Japanese classics as well as Creole and other iconic Southern fare, such as andouille-laden Japanese curry fried chicken; miso-rich, nori-covered mac and cheese; and shrimp po’boys topped with yuzu and kewpie slaw. At the bar, look for sake, wine, and beer along with sake and soju cocktails, such as lemon sake, horchata, strawberry and nigori, or sake with lime, basil, and cucumber. Wax on Hi-Fi is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to midnight.
212 W. 5th St., Los Angeles, (213) 332-1697, en.waxonhifi.com
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Those looking for a savory bite have a new destination at Topped, an unusual stand at the Original Farmers Market from the team behind Kaylin + Kaylin Pickles. The local pickle company known for its range of flavors like honey mustard and spicy garlic (and, at its original stand at the market, its pickle tasting bar) recently expanded with a second stand. Topped specializes in pickle “boats” and pickle chips loaded with toppings in both sweet and savory options, hollowing out half spears or stacking trays of pickle chips with Takis and nacho cheese; smoked salmon with capers and cream cheese; Nutella with peanut butter and pretzels, and more. Topped is open Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and all other days from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
6333 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, kaylinandkaylin.com
