Daniel Patterson's more relaxed fine-dining return is the chef's answer to how L.A. wants to eat - BERITAJA

The eating room glows a ray violet. The playlist is simply a Gen-X dream of Pavement, Smashing Pumpkins and Bjork. The chatter ebbs astatine a comfortable hum complete the delicately tweezer-placed ribbons of saccharine murphy and slivers of radish.

Jacaranda is Daniel Patterson’s first return successful 10 years to cooking successful a fine-dining kitchen. It’s also, he says, a small much for illustration a meal party. It’s surely little general than San Francisco’s Coi, wherever he made his sanction and served 1 of the country’s about acclaimed tasting menus.

His wife, erstwhile euphony journalist and shaper Sarah Lewitinn, welcomes guests to the caller Hollywood restaurant. She’s often dressed successful a ballgown and conscionable arsenic often outspoken, cracking jokes aliases spilling room secrets arsenic she converses pinch each table. With only 1 seating each day, guests are encouraged to linger past their 10-course, $295 tasting menus.

The value is formal, but the much casual work reflects the improvement of Patterson’s cooking arsenic good arsenic wherever he thinks good eating mightiness beryllium headed. With much socializing and a less-stuffy environment, Jacaranda, he says, is tailored to the measurement he thinks L.A. wants to bask high-level dining: That operation of high-low, he says, has proved “a revelation.”

“I was really fortunate to beryllium portion of a procreation that did a batch to alteration really group cook, and Coi did a batch of that,” Patterson says. “My mobility was: What does good eating look for illustration successful 2026?”

Guests successful the lavender-tinted eating room of Jacaranda restaurant.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Patterson stepped distant from his cook duties astatine Coi successful 2016 (though he retained ownership until its 2022 closure) successful bid to launch Locol successful Watts pinch Roy Choi and later Alta successful West Adams pinch Keith Corbin.

In his years distant from the world of high-end tasting menus, he dedicated clip to “inner healing” aft years of channeling his power and angst into the kitchen, chasing what he called “lightning bolt moments.” Older and calmer, he worried his productivity mightiness suffer without chasing those highs, but he’s recovered the other to beryllium true. Creative flow, he says, is stronger now because of it.

Of course, he’s reentering the fine-dining genre successful a caller era, 1 replete pinch societal media influencers, a “camera eats first” mentality and ongoing debate complete good dining’s relevance, disbursal and labour practices.

In a metropolis that balances world-class thoroughfare vendors pinch world-class tasting menus, he hopes location will ever beryllium room for some successful Los Angeles.

“I don’t for illustration censorship, and saying immoderate kinds of look are OK and immoderate kinds aren’t really sounds a full batch for illustration censorship to me,” Patterson says. “If I show you only good eating matters and location shouldn’t beryllium immoderate taco shops, that would beryllium ridiculous. But if you opportunity location should only beryllium taco shops and nary good dining, that sounds arsenic ridiculous.”

An artichoke “flower” astatine Jacaranda restaurant, pictured May 3, 2026.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Patterson says he can’t speak to different kitchens, but astatine Jacaranda he’s trying to lead pinch much “kindness, compassion [and] patience” than before. He accommodates conscionable 1 seating per nighttime and 1 luncheon seating connected Sundays to let the unit to activity shorter hours and relieve immoderate of the high-stress pressures truthful communal successful fine-dining kitchens.

His ain cooking has besides evolved. Patterson has utilized his years successful L.A. to research and amended understand Southern California’s ingredients, specified arsenic the yerba santa he hand-picks 2 hours distant successful the desert. And he cooks pinch much herb than he did successful the Bay Area.

As for the “X factor” that makes his much relaxed attack possible, Patterson says that would beryllium Lewitinn. Also known arsenic Ultragrrrl, she’s worked arsenic a blogger, Spin mag editor, grounds explanation laminitis and DJ. Sometimes her thoughts are unfiltered pinch guests, causing Patterson to pause. But the unscripted quality of Jacaranda, he says, is the beauty of it.

Because Jacaranda is besides a emotion story.

Husband-and-wife squad Daniel Patterson and Sarah Lewitinn guidelines successful the foyer of their good eating restaurant, Jacaranda.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

Two-and-a-half years into their relationship, Lewitinn yet tasted Patterson’s existent cooking. Previously, he’d been solicitous of her desire to eat the benignant of vegetarian nutrient that she already knew. But connected a nighttime erstwhile a wine-industry friend came to their location for dinner, Patterson cooked successful his ain style. When Lewitinn took her first bite, she cried.

“It was for illustration realizing that a creator has been coating useful for different group and not for themselves,” she says. “At that infinitesimal I was like, ‘I understand why you request to beryllium a fine-dining chef. This is your calling.’ I became thrust aliases dice astatine that moment.”

He’d wanted to return to good eating for years, pinch various starts and stops. Then, past summer, aggregate friends suggested Patterson commencement much simply by hosting pop-ups. Lewitinn suggested utilizing their ain home.

They launched a ticketed 12-seat dinner bid called Jaca Social Club, wherever Patterson said he felt for illustration a 25-year-old statement navigator again, striving to make it. Despite the Michelin stars and decades successful fine-dining kitchens, he felt arsenic though he were rebuilding himself entirely.

“I deliberation that cooking is fundamentally different [from different arts] successful that immoderate happened, it’s gone,” he says. “You’ve sewage to do it again, and you person to wholly remake it.”

The pop-up could beryllium large and, supra all, fun.

“I would show people, ‘If I don’t perceive you from the kitchen,’” Lewitinn says, “‘then I’m doing thing wrong, truthful please beryllium loud, beryllium chatty.’”

Patterson besides enlisted the assistance of Coi’s erstwhile cook de cuisine, Andrew Miller, for the pop-up. He’s now down the stove pinch Patterson astatine Jacaranda, and immoderate of their pop-up dishes made it to Jacaranda’s opening menu. A vessel of soft tofu covered by a furniture of food gelatin is inlaid pinch caller Monterey Bay seaweed and topped pinch a mound of caviar. Duck is crusted pinch aggregate varieties of peppercorn.

Back successful 2024, it was going to beryllium Patterson and Alta’s Corbin successful Jacaranda’s kitchen. They’ve since divided their “spheres of influence,” Patterson says. Corbin is now solely successful complaint of Alta, which has temporarily closed for a reset and will reopen, its cook says, pinch a caller paper successful June. Corbin and Patterson some proceed to tally Locol and its tandem nonprofit, Alta Community.

That Alta Community spirit, aliases what Patterson calls “the bedrock of Alta” — mentoring unit — is besides showing up astatine Jacaranda. Three positions truthful acold person been filled pinch group served by the nonprofit.

.

A type of Jacaranda’s soft tofu pinch caller seaweed and caviar, pictured, first appeared during the Jaca Social Club pop-up series.

(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)

In a way, Patterson calls the struggles to unfastened — including losing the aged Son of a Gun abstraction connected Third Street — a blessing: “The way to Jacaranda, the edifice that we person now, really conscionable came retired of nonaccomplishment and things not moving out.”

Jaca Social Club ran for 4 and a half months earlier they recovered the erstwhile Koast space, which sits on Melrose Avenue adjacent to different fine-dining destination, Jordan Kahn’s Meteora, pinch Nancy Silverton’s Mozzaplex and Ludo Lefebvre’s Petit Trois nearby.

But Patterson and Lewitinn didn’t person the keys until early March. The edifice came together successful only a period and a half. They replaced the carpet, the furniture, the ceiling, the drapes. They painted the room themselves. They swapped retired room equipment. They hung creation by Lewitinn’s great-uncle Landes Lewitinn.

Then, earlier this month, they flipped connected the sounds of Neutral Milk Hotel, Oasis and Mazzy Star, and fired vermilion food grilled and served pinch steamed Kauai prawn, nasturtium folded into dainty sandwiches, and vegetables floating successful yerba santa and nopal juice. Patterson’s dishes are still considered, but pinch an constituent of improvisation everyplace else.

“The measurement we’ve done things everlastingly mightiness not beryllium applicable to this,” Patterson says. “So let’s create this arsenic we go.”

Jacaranda is located astatine 6623 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, and unfastened Monday to Saturday pinch seatings opening astatine 5:30 p.m., and connected Sunday pinch seatings opening astatine noon.