The husband-and-wife chef team Quinn and Karen Hatfield are riding a wave of delicious success. First their Beverly Boulevard restaurant Hatfield’s opened to raves in 2009 with its imaginative farm-to-table fine-dining fare. Then, in 2010, it moved to larger, sleeker quarters on Melrose Avenue. Now the duo is taking on an entirely new endeavor: a breakfast-and-lunch joint called The Sycamore Kitchen.
Pastry chef Karen’s skills shine during breakfast service: Indulgences including crusty kouign amann and crème fraîche coffee cake sit alongside a gluten-free banana-chocolate muffin (all around $3 each). Coffee is from Portland’s Stumptown roasters; we’ve upped our caffeine habit with the mochacito, a small chocolaty specialty drink ($4).
For lunch, we love the series of “toasts”: open-faced sandwiches served on thin, crispy slices of house-baked sourdough. The chicken-salad toast with grapes, walnuts and Greek yogurt aioli ($10) illustrates chef Quinn’s ability to serve big flavors in still-refreshing combinations. Salad lovers will enjoy the farmhouse chop, in which Persian cucumber, fingerling potato, celery and radish mingle in an herbed yogurt vinaigrette ($10).
Even better: The just-opened place is soon to add hot breakfasts and brunches. We’re hungry already.
The Sycamore Kitchen, 143 S. La Brea Ave.; 323-939-0151 or thesycamorekitchen.com
