Tomat

On the face of it, Tomat is an unlikely place for some of the city’s most delicious, interesting new California cuisine. Run by husband-and-wife duo Harry Posner and Natalie Dial, the airy, London-inspired restaurant is located in a nondescript Westchester strip mall just a few miles from LAX, with a third floor rooftop where—at least in warmer weather—guests can sip cocktails as they watch jets take off. Loosely inspired by Posner’s Persian heritage, the seasonal dinner menu includes “barbari” bread that more closely resembles focaccia, a tahdig-inspired jeweled rice cooked in a Japanese donabe and a juicy roast duck with a mole sauce that captures the essence of fesenjoon, a sweet stew made with pomegranates and walnuts. Other items like piri piri chicken, bone marrow pie (a daily special) and sticky toffee pudding draw inspiration from British foodways. The dishes here crackle with the raw, frenetic energy of culinary ambition—and I simply can’t wait to come back.