Sweet symphony
Beethoven Market, Mar Vista listings, Café Telegrama, Marrakech, Noma Kaffe, best South Bay restaurants, MORE
ASK FOUND
This week, an urgent FOUND subscriber PROMPT for which we are seeking intel:
What restaurant should we take our picky kids to that’s also somewhere I actually want to eat?
Got answers or more questions? Hit reply or email found@itsfoundla.com.
RESTAURANTS • First Person
Market high
With quiet, tree-lined streets and its central-ish Westside location, Mar Vista is a great place to live, but it hasn’t exactly been a neighborhood known for splashy restaurant debuts. Jeremy Adler is changing that with Beethoven Market, which opened Saturday at the intersection of Beethoven and Palms.
Adler, also a co-owner of Cobi’s in Santa Monica, has created what might be the ideal neighborhood restaurant (in an ideal neighborhood setting). The big, airy space — which used to be an actual market — has a huge, inviting central bar and a compact, greenery-lined patio. Cozy booths and banquettes line the walls.
In the kitchen, Felix alum Michael Leonard is turning out Cal-Italian standards like house-made pastas sauced in carbonara or amatriciana. There’s a dead-simple tuna carpaccio with capers and olive oil, prawns bathed in salsa verde, a chicory Caesar with “what my mother thinks is too much dressing” (it’s not), and a handful of wood-fired pizzas, including an excellent red-sauced sausage and pepper pie.
Everything about the place feels easy-breezy, from the affordable wines by the glass to cocktails like a Vesper with olive oil-infused vodka. Speaking of affordable, those pastas are priced in the teens, as with the $14 cacio e pepe; at nearby Felix, the tonnarelli version is $26.
It’s clear that Adler wants Beethoven Market to be a place people come to repeatedly, maybe even multiple times a week. Given its distance from my place — a 10-minute walk — I’ll likely do just that. –Karen Palmer
→ Beethoven Market (Mar Vista) • 12904 Palms Blvd • Sun-Mon & Wed 5-9p; Thu-Sat 5-10p • Reserve.
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: Chinese American Firstborn opens in former Pok Pok space in Chinatown • Tesla finds a chef for its forthcoming WeHo diner • Levain Bakery plans Venice, Beverly Hills outposts • WeHo’s The Den has closed on the Sunset Strip • The unexpected, giddy rise of sparkling Riesling.
REAL ESTATE • First Mover
Three properties that have recently come to market in Mar Vista.
→ 3563 Purdue Ave (Mar Vista) • 5BR/5.1BA, 2874 SF • Ask: $2.99M • modern residence with covered outdoor dining • Days on market: 7 • Agents: Ron Wynn and Brett Raskin, Compass.
→ 3641 Purdue Ave (Mar Vista) • 5BR/5.1BA, 3677 SF • Ask: $4.25M • recently built (2019) house with pool and spa • Days on market: 21 • Agent: Stephan Illouz, Coldwell Banker.
→ 3731 Wasatch Ave (Mar Vista, above) • 5BR/4.1BA, 4154 SF • Ask: $5.33M • Earth-toned house with indoor/outdoor ease • Days on market: 35 • Agent: Trevor Montano, Compass.
WORK & PLAY LINKS: Expansive new Apple campus rises in Culver City • Altadena Not For Sale (alternately, sell to a nonprofit) • Getty to sell $500M in bonds to bolster museum’s fire protections • Rick Caruso’s Palisades Village mall eyes reopening early next year • Inside LA’s first AI-powered gym in Santa Monica • Career apocalypse reports: Gen X and Gen Z • Is the future of watches unisex?
WORK • Thursday Routine
Stamp it out
DEBBIE & CARLO SCHMID • founders • Red Dining Book
Neighborhood where you live and work in: West LA
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
We’re fortunate to call my aunt’s charming house both our home and office. Carlo enjoys his morning coffee in bed reading the news, while I like to start the day by burning a few calories. Then we sit down for a breakfast of homemade bread. Our workday begins with emails, meetings, and content creation for ads and social media. We’re always on the lookout for exciting new restaurant openings.
Almost two years ago, we made the move from Switzerland to Los Angeles (though we still spend a few months each year in Switzerland) and launched Red Dining Book, a boutique restaurant guidebook. Leaving behind our corporate jobs in Zurich, we embarked on this incredible adventure led by our love for food and great hospitality. The Red Dining Book has been a beloved concept in Switzerland for over 16 years, and now, it’s here in LA. Think of it like a restaurant scavenger hunt: Each time you dine at a featured restaurant, you receive a stamp or signature in your book and a comped entrée.
We can do most of our work remotely, often opting to work from coffee shops like Café Telegrama in Melrose Hill (the sister café to one of our featured restaurants, Étra) or Gnarwhal Coffee Co. in Santa Monica, which pairs perfectly with a beach walk.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, or this weekend?
This week, we’re planning to revisit two of our featured restaurants, Lasita and Butchr Bar. Both are incredible spots with amazing teams, and we can’t wait to experience them again.
How about a little leisure or culture?
As Swiss, we have a deep love for hiking, so you’ll often find us tackling every trail we can. One of our favorite trails is Switzer Falls — but there are so many breathtaking hikes to discover! Recently, we’ve hiked in Joshua Tree (Lost Horse Loop, Boy Scout Trail) and Sedona (Devil’s Bridge Trail). Beyond nature, we also love LA’s vibrant art scene. For example, the Hauser & Wirth gallery always showcases fantastic exhibitions. We like to combine it with a walk through the Arts District and a great dinner at somewhere like Camphor, Yess, Kodo, or Damian.
Any weekend getaways?
We love spending time at Bodega in Los Alamos, sipping wine and enjoying a BBQ. And of course, no trip is complete without wine tastings at some of the region’s most wonderful wineries like So Far Out, Dovecote, Donnachadh, Storm Wines, and Pence. A nice way to let the evening draw to a close is by having a drink at the bar of the Inn at Mattei’s Tavern in Los Olivos.
What was your last great vacation?
Marrakech, a city bursting with color, culture, and incredible energy. We stayed at the stunning Riad Pure House and Kasbah Tameslothe. During the day, we explored the YSL Museum and the enchanting Jardin Majorelle, a must-visit for design and fashion lovers. Another highlight was a visit to the Beni Rugs Studio near Marrakech, where we got an inside look at their beautiful showroom, weaving floor, washing facility, and design headquarters.
What store or service do you always recommend?
Läderach for some truly great Swiss chocolate. We go there twice a week.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Inside the just-opened Virgin Clubhouse at LAX (TBIT) • Delta ending LAX-PPT (French Polynesia) route • First look at revamp plans for Ka La'i Waikiki Beach LXR resort • First U.S. One&Only now taking reservations for Big Sky, MT, opening in Nov • Fairmont Tokyo taking reservations for 07/01 opening • Assaying the myriad problems at Resorts World on the Las Vegas Strip.
GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Larder
The wait is Noma
Noma Kaffe is the freshly minted subscription coffee arm of René Redzepi’s famed Copenhagen restaurant. And true to Noma form, the service already has a waitlist. Subscribers who made the cut will receive monthly deliveries of two 250g bags for $65 (including shipping), designed for filter-style brewing. The team promises the waitlist will move, with new slots opening each month.
Carolyne Lane, who ran the restaurant’s coffee and tea program for the past six years, heads up the Kaffe, which roasts its beans just a few minutes away from the restaurant under the supervision of head roaster Alistair Hesp. “We value clarity in flavor,” says Lane, explaining Noma’s mission to “taste a coffee’s origin in the cup.” This translates to light-roasted beans and coffees with a tea-like quality that offer nuanced, delicate cups with tastes of cherries and jasmine.
The project sources beans from a number of locales, including Mexico, where they procured 20 distinct nano lots from indigenous Tzeltal and Tzotzil communities. Drink up. –Kat Odell
→ Shop: Noma Kaffe • monthly subscriptions from $65 per.
CULTURE & LEISURE • The Empire Strikes Back
Alvin Ailey Dance Theater • Dorothy Chandler Pavillion (West Hollywood) • Fri @ 730p • orchestra, $79 per
Los Angeles Philharmonic • John Williams Spotlight • Walt Disney Concert Hall (Downtown) • Sat @ 8p • front orchestra, $479 per
The Smithereens • The Canyon Agoura Hills (Agoura Hills) • Sat @ 9p • section 642, $88 per
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Restaurants, South Bay
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of LA’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundla.com.
Baran’s 2239 (Hermosa Beach), to-go breakfast burritos available Fri-Sun, pre-order through IG or call