Cabra
Chef Stephanie Izard’s Peruvian restaurant and bar, Cabra, is now open atop the Hoxton hotel downtown. It’s the second location of Cabra for Izard, who opened the first within Chicago’s Hoxton. Izard also operates the restaurant Girl & the Goat, with locations in the Arts District and Chicago. At Cabra, the “Top Chef” winner is serving dishes such as skirt steak saltado with vegetables; chicharron with pickled squash salad; ceviches; and empanadas. At the bar, beverage director Daniel Dooreck (formerly of Toronto’s Taverne Bernhardts) oversees a menu of pisco-forward concoctions, including a frozen pisco drink with guava and vodka, plus additional cocktails made with house syrups and fresh fruit. Cabra is open from 4 to 11 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and from 4 p.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday, with brunch service to follow.
1060 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, (213) 725-5900, thehoxton.com/downtown-la/cabra-restaurant
Jail Joa’s new partnership
Korean bar Jail Joa opened in a Westlake strip mall in the summer of 2021, but management spent more than five months waiting for a beer and wine license. Now that owner Joyce Jin has acquired that license, she is relaunching the bar in partnership with the team behind neighboring restaurant Hanchic. The new partners have redeveloped the food menu to include a new focus on more contemporary and trending Korean bar bites, such as tteokbokki cooked in front of the diners and fried rice made with Korean instant noodles. The new beverage program will feature soju, available straight and in cocktail form, plus Korean beers. Eventually, the team hopes to open a wine bar within the space. Jail Joa will reopen Feb. 4 from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily.
2500 W. 8th St., Unit 108, Los Angeles, (213) 908-6423, instagram.com/jail.joa
Breadblok Silver Lake
Gluten-free, soy-free Santa Monica bakery Breadblok is now also open in Silver Lake, with loaves of fresh bread, pastries, cookies, packaged crackers and other retail goods, plus a full coffee bar. A cafe menu boasting sandwiches, quiches, tartines, salads and other all-day fare is also on offer, as is patio seating. The new Breadblok is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
1529 Griffith Park Blvd., Unit 103, Los Angeles, (213) 444-1874, breadblok.com
Monday pop-ups at Jewel
Vegetable-forward Jewel is normally closed Mondays, but a new weekly series is helping to make greater use of the Silver Lake space by spotlighting local food pop-ups and vendors. Owner Sharky McGee has launched the new event, where a revolving list of pop-up guests such as Say It Ain’t So and Picnic Sandwich cook at Jewel on Monday nights while the restaurant serves drinks to complement the new food menu — which will remain vegetable-forward. Upcoming guests include Mexican Italian concept Amiga Amore on Feb. 7 and Mexican Jewish pop-up Malli on Feb. 14.
654 N. Hoover St., Los Angeles, (323) 522-6927, jewel-la.com/monday-night-popups
Sassafras Saloon reopening
The Southern-inspired Hollywood bar Sassafras Saloon is set to reopen with a Mardi Gras party on March 1, featuring a live brass band, a tarot card reader, burlesque and themed specials such as king cake and beignets. The cocktail bar has been closed to the general public since March 2020, opening only for private events, including a highly scrutinized gathering in mid-2020. Following the event, Sassafras will open on Saturdays only, from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.
1233 N. Vine St., Los Angeles, (323) 467-2800, sassafrassaloon.com