Perhaps you’ve seen Michelin-starred chef Daniel Humm’s NoMad truck rolling across L.A. for the last year or so, and if you’re lucky, you’ve been fortunate enough to bite into its signature truffled chicken burger. It was an exciting first taste of NYC’s NoMad, an ambitious, world-renowned hotel filled with a restaurant and a bar just as internationally acclaimed. But it was only a taste compared to what’s coming soon.
When NoMad Los Angeles opens the doors to its lavish, 241-room hotel this Sunday, our city will receive most of its total five restaurant and bar concepts from one of the world’s preeminent chefs and his business partner, Will Guidara. Beginning Sunday evening, find the “casually-elegant” Lobby restaurant open for dinner—by reservation only—where you’ll find fresh, seasonally driven fare on the main floor; on Monday Lobby will be up and running with breakfast and lunch service, beginning at 7am. Its Mezzanine restaurant, perched above the lobby, opens this Sunday evening as well, also reservation-only, with more of a formal bent closer to the menu and feel of NoMad’s NYC restaurant. Expect dinner-only initially, with lunch and brunch to follow. The Giannini Bar, just off the main lobby, also launches that day, with an expansive cocktail menu from bar director Leo Robitschek. Next door, the attached coffee bar (unique to L.A.’s location) opens its doors at 7am Monday and will serve as both a cheery cafe in the daytime, and in the evenings, an aperitivo-style amari bar. This spring, the final piece to NoMad L.A.’s puzzle falls into place on the rooftop, where an indoor-outdoor bar and cafe will open to both guests throughout the day, and to the public during the evenings—especially for reservations and private events, at least to start.
Humm himself is here in L.A. through the first few months of opening, and then will split his time between the two coasts—keeping an eye not only on New York’s NoMad, but the famed Eleven Madison Park, as well. Fortunately, L.A.’s outpost is in more-than-capable hands. Executive chef Chris Flint is not only a veteran of Humm and Guidara’s kitchens—he’s the equivalent of a five-star general, first joining their ranks as a line cook at Eleven Madison Park in 2008, then climbing to sous chef, later opening the NoMad in New York as the executive sous chef, then rejoining Eleven Madison Park as its chef de cuisine, helping secure the restaurant’s three Michelin stars and propelling it to its current position as the number one restaurant in the world. (Whew.)
We caught up with Flint to learn what to expect from the West Coast’s own NoMad, his favorite restaurants in L.A. and the future of that beloved food truck.
What differences can people expect between the L.A. and New York NoMads?
It’s a delicate balance; we don’t want to change it so much that we get rid of the things people are excited for us to offer, but we don’t want to just copy what we know, either. That’s part of the fun. As a chef, I go to the Hollywood Farmers Market every Sunday, and I got peas—fresh peas—and pea tendrils that were blooming, in like, November. That’s crazy for me. Usually I’m getting squashes and root vegetables around this time. We’re like kids in a candy store; we’re relearning everything. So that’s what you’re going to see on the menu that’s different here: We’re really working on dishes that capture what’s going on now, the time and the place of L.A.
NoMad had the truck for the last year, and a pop-up preview or two; why was that integration process important?
I think for us, especially, in terms of our culture, we like to approach things with no ego. We’re pretty good at certain things but we’re not good at everything, and we just like to hear from other people: What kind of flavors excite you? What inspires you, in terms of seasonality and produce? I think to really do it right, and not just bank on what we know, I think it’s smart to integrate, especially into L.A. Otherwise it’s a little cocky to come into L.A. and think you’re going to crush it because you think you know what you’re doing. I think it shows that we’re very much a student of what we do and we want to do it the right way, which is why we took the past year integrating with the food truck and things like that.
What are some of the biggest differences in L.A.’s dining scene versus New York’s right now?
Honestly I’ve just been eating all ethnic food [here], and not really going out to fine-dining spots. I mean, New York obviously has a ton of good ethnic food as well, but it’s just different. I’ve been eating a lot of Thai food and just exploring my neighborhood, Silver Lake, Hollywood, East Hollywood—I’m just scratching the surface, to be honest, but I feel there is such a genuineness here. It’s not fussy, it’s just natural. It feels more honest, and that’s not putting anything on New York’s dining scene—obviously I love the food in New York—but there’s something really unique and honest about the food here.
What are a few of your favorite places you’ve visited since your move?
Jitlada, 100%. Also I’ve eaten at Luv2Eat [Thai Bistro] once or twice a week. I love Sqirl for breakfast; everyone’s always so nice and friendly there and it’s always so fresh and creative. I’ve also discovered Tsubaki—I’m a huge Japanese-food fan, and I want to go every week. It feels like a hug when you go there, the food is delicious, the sake is amazing. Botanica and Kismet are also really, really delicious as well.
As one of them, why do you think there’s been such a surge in New York chefs opening in L.A. for the first time? Why now?
I think for us, as a company—and one thing I find unique and is a reason why I continue working with chef Daniel and Will—is because when we grow, we don’t turn over our staff a lot. What happens when you open a large property like NoMad New York [is that] you get a big swell of talent. We don’t want to lose those people, we want to give them more opportunities. We got to a place of growth and we were ready to do something different, and so we said, “What’s the next thing that we do? We’re not going to make another Eleven Madison Park, that’s its own thing, and we want to continue to grow the NoMad, so let’s go to L.A. Let’s do it out there.” We have 15 people that just packed up and said, “Let’s do this together.”
From our perspective, it was a chance to do something a little different—not just a copy-and-paste of New York—to really do something that reflects different seasonality, different ingredients, a different experience, different style, and yet still feels like the NoMad.
And you know we had to ask: What’s going to happen to the NoMad truck?
We’re definitely going to keep it on a hiatus so we can focus on opening the restaurant, and then probably [in] March or so we’ll reactivate the truck. We’re not going to have it on the same sort of schedule; we’re probably going to use it for offsite events.
[1/19 Update: Opening hours and dates changed since the initial publishing of this story; the piece has been updated to reflect this.]
NoMad Los Angeles opens on Sunday, January 21, at 649 S Olive St, with the Lobby restaurant, Mezzanine restaurant and Giannini Bar all beginning service in the early evening.