Phillip Frankland Lee’s ever-changing Encino empire now offers a pasta concept, sliding the new Pasta Bar into his family of restaurants tucked inside a strip mall.
The latest from the Top Chef contestant and his wife—pastry chef Margarita Kallas-Lee—launched last week in their former Woodley Proper space, taking over the gastropub and adding a new sibling concept to the adjacent omakase-format Sushi Bar and lauded tasting-menu restaurant, Scratch Bar & Kitchen.
Opening a restaurant is never easy, but it’s especially challenging to launch a business at this current moment: Yesterday Governor Gavin Newsom announced that L.A.’s indoor dining rooms must close for at least three weeks, but Pasta Bar can keep running thanks to a bit of patio seating (while it doesn’t offer takeout or delivery, next door’s Sushi Bar is available for to-go with preorders, and has also been moved outdoors). Once dining rooms across L.A. County reopen, though, Pasta Bar visitors will find a chef’s counter—with seating separated by Plexiglas—where they’ll watch chefs stretch fresh mozzarella and plate course after course of handmade pastas.
Like its sushi and fine-dining counterparts, Pasta Bar follows more of a tasting-menu format: The multi-course Italian meal will change with the whims of seasonal produce and local markets. It’s helmed by chef de cuisine Kane Sorrells, formerly of Blanca in NYC, who might incorporate nectarine with pistachio milk into the antipasti course one night and fresh horseradish into a dish of soured pork sausage with broth, another.
Though the courses will vary, one thing is certain: You’ll begin with fresh sourdough from Kallas-Lee, and enjoy it alongside spreads and jams and dips such as pomodoro with strawberry and basil; cultured butter; and toro ’nduja. The talented pastry chef is also heading up the dessert courses, with dishes like holy-basil cream with berries; a calamansi budino with bitter coffee emulsion; and a brioche doughnut filled with citrus curd.
The beverage program, run by the restaurant family’s director of food and beverage, Gavin Humes, includes three levels of wine options—ranging from $40 to a full pairing at $125—as well as à la carte Italian-leaning cocktails and a range of house-made liqueurs and digestifs such as nocino, limoncello and pomelocello.
Reservations can be made online now via Pasta Bar’s Tock page, with seats available at $85 per person.
Pasta Bar is now open at 16101 Ventura Blvd in Encino from Wednesday to Sunday. Two seatings are available each night, at 6pm and 8:30pm.
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