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Nancy Silverton knows what she's doing.
Yes, I'm aware that this is a wild understatement; Osteria Mozza remains a Michelin-starred hot reservation almost two decades after opening, and Silverton was just awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. Nobody needs me to say she’s great at what she does.
But even so, her new Italian-Korean restaurant, Lapaba, is shockingly, deliriously delightful. There's a reason it landed a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Awards just months after opening.
Maybe it’s just a 20-year hangover from living through NYC’s fusion phase in the aughts, but a pasta joint that leans heavily on Korean staples seemed like a great concept but possibly troublesome in execution. Well, shove a kimchi suppli in my mouth and shut me up because there is nothing troublesome happening at Lapaba. With the possible exception of the name, a portmanteau of La Pasta Bar.
The room sets the tone as soon as you walk in, with a long marble counter wrapping around the open kitchen, putting every diner in the front row as cooks roll, cut, and plate. Aesthetically, it’s a winner (I particularly loved the rope curtains), but practically, it’s divine because you’re going to want to wade into each course side by side with your dining companion.
Restraint is what makes the food work. Korean ingredients are folded into classic Italian forms so naturally that you almost don't notice until halfway through a bite. The kimchi supplì is the perfect opener, crisp outside and molten inside, with just enough funk to keep the richness honest. A burrata con crema utilizes the satsuma sweet potato (the greatest of all sweet potatoes) to perfection, offsetting it with chili crisp and sweet soy. And why has it taken this long for anyone to bring bulgogi meatballs into my life? Toss in a side of milk bread and the truffle tomato sauce, and you have the kind of starter that orbits your brain about once a month.
Lapaba is the type of restaurant where “the plates are meant for sharing,” a phrase that always strikes fear into my heart, but the going wasn’t so bad this time. My dining companion and I ordered the Tonnarelli & Lobster and the Radiatore & Galbi Jjim, both of which were rich in different ways and deeply satisfying. But the agnolotti stuffed with cheesy corn might have been the stealth star of the show, a perfect combination of pasta and filling (browned scamorza!) that leads to a polite fork duel between friends.
Over the course of dinner, I enjoyed one of the best gin and tonics I’ve ever tasted thanks to the use of rhubarb. But the star of the cocktail menu might be the dalgona, a soju riff on an espresso martini that comes with so much foam on the top that I immediately regretted not trimming my mustache before dining. That lasted just a second, though, before I was dipping my face back into the glass for more.
And then came dessert. After all this build-up, wouldn’t it be fitting if dessert turned out to be the thing to go wrong? Well, not quite. The tiramisu had an earthy taste and a dryness that wasn’t to my liking, but the pavlova was a stunning work of art. Not only did the black sesame meringue and crème fraîche come together beautifully, but cutting into this pavlova was like slicing into butter. No sudden cracks or crumbles, just perfect, bite-sized pieces ready to pop into your mouth to savor.
Locating Lapaba in the heart of Koreatown might have been a risky move, but after a dinner there, it’s hard to blame them for wanting to bring a fresh twist on much-loved flavors to the neighborhood. Especially when it transcends what we’ve known and becomes something greater than the sum of its parts.
Lapaba is located at 558 S. Western Ave and serves dinner from 5pm–9pm on Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and 5pm–9:30pm on Friday and Saturday. For more information and to make a reservation, click here.