What You're Eating - Top Spring Menus In Los Angeles

The spring season is upon us, and restaurants across the city have updated their menus to highlight the products that shine the most during the time, or simply newly inspired dishes that speak to culinary ingenuity. Here are a few places that invite you to the table for a taste of what's in store this season.

Bone Kettle
67 North Raymond Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91103
(626) 795-5702
www.bonekettle.com

Bone Kettle officially opened its doors in late February with a menu promising Southeast Asian fare, plus steaming bowls of noodles served with their 36-hour bone broth. Several new items on the menu include ube gnocchi tossed with duck confit, chopped apricots, pecans and savory mushrooms, oxtail dumplings in plum wine sauce and beautifully prepared crudo topped with jackfruit caviar. The restaurant's Indonesian-inspired shareable plates, and current, although soon to be short-lived BYO status, are great reasons to grab a table, and of course, it goes without saying that you'll save room for a huge bowl of hand-torn ramen noodles in their signature bone broth.

Kettle Black
3705 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 641-3705
www.kettleblackla.com

Silver Lake's rustic Italian eatery recently added several dishes to its menu, including a green tagliatelle with parsley pasta, English peas, arugula basil pesto and pea shoots, Nantes carrots served with sliced snap peas, fried beluga lentils and spiced Greek yogurt, Creekstone Farms New York steak with agrodolce braised cipollini onions, bloomsdale spinach, and olive oil-crushed Russian bananas and branzino drizzled with Manila clams, fennel-saffron broth, romanesco, jumbo asparagus and baby fennel. What Italian restaurant would be complete without a true antipasti platter. Kettle Black's finally added a charcuterie and cheese selection currently featuring soppressata, prosciutto de parma, salami cotto, robiola, pecorino romano, taleggio and gorgonzola.

Hinoki & the Bird
10 West Century Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90067
(310) 552-1200
www.hinokiandthebird.com

Tuck into Hinoki & the Bird's patio now that the weather is better than ever, and a platter of sweet lobster "knuckles" with black bean sauce and chilies, hanami toast with fresh ricotta and flowers, and little chocolate ice cream bars now on the dessert menu.They're also launched the Ichiba tasting menu available each and every Wednesday through the summer featuring a five-course menu of the chef's choosing based on beautiful finds from the Santa Monica Farmer's Market.

Bottlefish
11677 San Vicente Boulevard #200
Los Angeles, CA 90049
(310) 954-9495
www.bottlefish.com

Brentwood's Bottlefish recently launched a Saturday and Sunday brunch menu just in time for the season. Once again, the patio is the place to be while you peruse a menu that includes chile-glazed bacon, avocado and fried egg on an English muffin, lemon ricotta pancakes made with brown butter and served with blueberry compote, lobster toast with avocado mousse and radishes and fried chicken with pickled green tomatoes sandwiched between two waffles. Staying true to their seafood-centric foundation, you'll also find a selection of "simply prepared" grilled fish dishes for a lighter start to the day.

Killer Shrimp
4211 Admiralty Way
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
(310) 578-229
www.killershrimp.com

March marked Killer Shrimp's Seafood Festival that introduced diners to a new rotation of dishes. From that list, one would be chosen for the permanent menu. They were all a hit, and now they're all available for your next visit. Try Killer crab claws with lemon, butter, rosemary and a house spice mix, tempura fried rock shrimp doused with spiced aioli and served over garlic noodles, beer battered cod sliders with lemon aioli, lobster and shrimp enchiladas with cilantro cream sauce and stuffed lobster tail tossed in a housemade dynamite sauce and served with drawn butter. In total, there are 14 new dishes on the menu, so get ready to work your way through them all.

Lucques
8474 Melrose Avenue
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(323) 655-6277
www.lucques.com

Lucques' new menu will no doubt entice you to make a reservation as soon as possible. Begin the meal with grilled romanesco with tehachapi grains, mint and feta, spring onion and potato soup with sorrel and crème fraîche, or a spring vegetable salad with fava bean purée and hazelnut brown butter. Entrées of note include morel lasagna with parmesan pudding, English peas, asparagus and pea shoots, stout-braised pork belly with swiss chard and pummelo escabeche, and lamb merguez with carrot purée, fava beans, black olives and marcona almonds. One of the best ways to take advantage of Lucques commitment to serving the season's best is to reserve a spot at Sunday Supper, which will always offer an ever-changing menu.

Doma Kitchen
Villa Marina Marketplace Mall
4325 Glencoe Avenue #8,
Marina Del Rey, CA 90292
(310) 301-0582
www.domakitchen.com

Doma Kitchen may have changed locations but the restaurant kept everything else that made the menu's Eastern European-Central Asian dishes all their own. New items include a niçoise salad with Italian tuna, French green beans, potatoes, olives and dill and a veggie burger with featuring a housemade falafel patty, veggie ragu, garlic spread and arugula on a soft, buttery brioche bun. Another intriguing creation is duck breast with brussels sprouts, basmati rice dotted with red currants, cranberries and apples, and a champagne sauce.

Barans 2239
502 Pacific Coast Highway
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
(424) 247-8468
www.barans2239.com

One of Hermosa Beach's true gems takes pride in a menu with a California focused selection prepared with French technique. Grilled romanesco with gooseberries, horseradish and sage is perfect for the season, along with seared Albacore with sweet pepper relish, aji verde and fingerling potatoes and steak tartare with quail yolk, parmesan gel and crispy potato chips. Savor the food and the pleasantly temperate beachside neighborhood.

Sotto
9575 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90035
(310) 277-0210
www.sottorestaurant.com

Spring brings insalata tonnata with turnips, celery, capers, serrano peppers and cured egg to the table at Sotto, along with grilled branzino filet with artichokes, fingerling potatoes, olive, capers and mint salsa verde. They also serve one of the season's most revered delicacies--squash blossoms--two ways. You'll find them stuffed with ricotta and tempura fried, or there's a Neopolitan-style pizza with squash blossoms, zucchini, stracchino and fresno chilies.