Openings

Ari Taymor Opening More Permanent Alma Space, June 27 in Downtown

Ari Taymor
Ari Taymor Photo: SinoSOoul

Alma, Ari Taymor’s pop-up restaurant, has a new location in Downtown; a more permanent space on Broadway that will be open five days a week. The chef sends word that the restaurant will open to the public on June 27, with reservations available on UrbanSpoon starting next Wednesday and currently available through email. Alma first launched at Flake in Venice when nearby Salute Wine Bar, where Taymor was working as its new exec chef, closed in February. The pop-up then spread to Silver Lake before a recent run in an undisclosed Downtown location. What will the new space bring to the table?

Alma’s new space will find the chef cooking an a la carte dinner menu Tuesday to Saturday from 6:00 to 10:30 P.M. Taymor will also offer tasting menus personalized to each table at $80 per person. The chef is still calling this iteration of Alma a “pop-up” and will be backing a BYOB policy, while Chris Yamashiro will run a drinks program with “custom blended teas,” infusions, and house-made sodas.

Taymor predicts, in the days ahead, that Alma will open for lunch from Monday to Friday, offering a menu from Derrick de Jesus, his chef de cuisine, who will prepare lunch inspired by his native San Gabriel Valley, which could include “ramen, steamed buns, and more.”

Looking forward to Alma’s opening on Broadway on June 27, the chef sends us a tentative menu of what he initially plans to serve here, a tight selection blooming with stone fruit, shelling beans, peacock kale, peach gazpacho with abalone, and beignets bearing squash blossom and burnt citrus. Take a look below.

Alma, 952 S. Broadway Ave. Downtown.

Alma Menu- Early Summer

snack
Squash Blossom Beignet, burnt citrus and wild fennel-6
Peanuts, black vinegar caramel -4
Onion chicharone, smoked onion crema-5
House Pickles, oyster -5
Potato skins, Humboldt fog, crispy ham and sorrel-6

start
Peach Gazpacho, abalone and cilantro-10
Peacock Kale, jasper hill cheddar and shallot-9
Heirloom tomato, hand pulled mozzarella, basils-9
Carrot, lemongrass, black rice, coconut, turmeric-12

follow
Shelling beans, slow cooked egg, tomatillo, padron, and purslane-16
Mackerel, quinoa, avocado, peach and radish-18
Suckling Pig, corn, black garlic, holy basil and maitake-22

finish
Stone fruit, granola and verbena-9
Blueberry, popcorn, shiso and buttermilk-9
Andante Cheese, seasonal condiments-11

Tasting Menu-$80 (Reservation only)


Looking ahead, we plan to eventually open for lunch Monday to Friday with a menu from our Chef de Cuisine Derrick de Jesus that will be inspired by the food he grew up eating in the San Gabriel Valley, with ramen, steamed buns and more.

Our website, with Reservations and contact information can be found at www.alma-la.com

Attached is a tentative opening menu. We are really excited about all of these changes and are looking forward to becoming a more permanent fixture of the evolving LA dining scene.

Key Dates:

Reservations open: June 20th

We open: June 27th

Ari Taymor Opening More Permanent Alma Space, June 27 in Downtown