Soaring into the Los Angeles dining landscape is Hinoki & the Bird, an imaginative dining concept from renowned chef and restaurateur David Myers that pushes modern California cooking to vibrant new bounds. Taking cues from Myers’ travels, most notably through the Silk Road, the restaurant serves as a colorful kaleidoscope where bright flavors, a healthful sensibility, and technique harmoniously collide. A partnership between Chef Myers and prominent real estate firm Related Companies, the Milo Garcia-designed restaurant is housed on the ground floor of the luxury condominium tower The Century.
“With Related, the talented Milo Garcia, and my culinary team, we set out to create an experience of simple, subtle, and unobtrusive beauty,” said Myers. “As California cuisine continues to evolve, our translation looks toward its pillars: local ingredients, a sense of seasonality, worldly inspirations, and a relaxed aesthetic that reflects our natural surroundings.”
Imbuing the local bounty with intrinsic influences from the Silk Road, the menu for Hinoki & the Bird becomes a brilliant gateway for bold flavors and of-the-moment California fare. Broken down into categories such as Raw Bar, Fun Bites, Simply Grilled, Inspiration, and Vegetables and Grains, the offerings at Hinoki & the Bird are distilled to their purest form at the hands of Myers and Executive Chef Kuniko Yagi. A meal may begin with a selection from the Raw Bar including Scallops with grapefruit and lime leaf, Marinated Tuna with a lemongrass salad or a more robust dish of Beef Tartare with pickled jalapeño and parmigiano.
Palate awakening dishes from the Fun Bites section include Chili Crab Toast with spicy cucumber and coriander, Spice Scented Nuts, and Fried Oysters with black garlic aioli. Myers’ distinctive flourish of creativity, skill and sensuousness lend sophistication to his signatures dishes. As the name suggests, dishes in the Inspiration category are reflections from his travels. The Caramel Braised Kurobuta Pork with radish and mustard greens is a play on the Vietnamese classic while the Hinoki Scented Black Cod with sweet potato and pistachio is an homage to the restaurant’s fragrant namesake cypress wood, transporting the diner to a peaceful riverbank in Japan.
Other dishes include a playful Lobster Roll with green curry and Thai-basil, and a Cured Duck Leg Carbonara. Vegetables shine in iterations like Crispy and Raw Kale with curried almonds, pecorino and lemon vinaigrette and Spinach with Miso Cured Goat Cheese flecked with sunflower seed vinaigrette. Plates in the Simply Grilled section are cooked to perfection over Binchotan, a Japanese charcoal and include Sambal Skate Wing, Apple Marinated Shortrib, and Drunken Duck Breast.
For dessert, delicate creations include a Meyer Lemon Shaved Ice with pink lady apple, Greek yogurt and pistachio, and Chocolate-Praline with malt sponge cake, zephyr namelaka, yuzu and arare. A selection of rice creams, ice creams and sorbets are also available. Mirroring the menu’s California focus, the cocktail program created by famed mixologist Sam Ross is comprised of concoctions both fresh and complex, with styles ranging from Cups to Swizzles to Negronis to Quaffers. The latter refers to double-tiered stacked glassware that allows imbibers to enjoy a beverage in two parts: a starter of spirits, followed by an encore of palate-rousing juices, like the Nakatomi Plaza with fresh pressed green apple on the heels of Choya plum wine and Yamazaki whisky.
Cups include a traditional Gordon’s spiked with Szechuan pepper; Swizzles a Griffith Park version with bourbon, mint, lime, bitters, and absinthe; and Negronis an apropos Harajuku of Hakushu single malt whisky, Maurin Quina, Gran Classico, and chocolate bitters. The pedigreed wine list presents 1000 selections and includes highlights from Austria, Germany and Alsace, while offering choice Burgundies and California cabernets—all to pair with Hinoki & the Bird’s span from pure to smoky flavor profiles. More than 20 wines and sake are offered by the glass.
Designed by Milo Garcia’s LA-based MAI Studio (Gjelina, Zinque), Hinoki & the Bird evokes the easy elegance of home, layering lively chaos with a soothing foundation of calm. Pristinely charred cedar wood graces the entry, melding into a 1,000-pound door that peeks into the activity within through interwoven glass and timber. The perched foyer funnels toward a "stacked" stairwell of solid walnut. Leading to an interior dining space, lined with original oak walls reclaimed from a former barn, guests will encounter an eclectic bar and an oversized communal table made of solid copper.
Fourteen coveted spots surround the burnished table, with seats made up of found flea market chairs reimagined. Curved brass panels and rows of cabinets slide open and closed around the bar, framed by gleaming overlapping aluminum reminiscent of a midcentury diner. Sleek copper pendant lamps sparkle above, adorning the handcrafted feel of the space. Facing the bar is an artful open kitchen, silhouetted in acid-etched glass, and stacked antique kitchenware atop brass shelving. The adjacent aged steel and glass wall marks the portal to the spacious outdoor patio, which constitutes more than half of the entire restaurant.
With a brilliant stroke of whimsy, the ceiling is laced together by contorted cedar planes, twisting the trellises into an abstract series of pitched roofs. Below the frenetic art installation overhead sprawls relaxed seating grouped from 1930s-inspired bus benches alongside cozy denim patchwork sofas—all enclosed within a lush emerald ‘living’ wall of vines. Situated at the base of the 42-story masterpiece designed by renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern, the restaurant is easily accessible through a dedicated valet entrance enveloped in a sweeping circular porte cochere.
The Century’s striking elliptical tower rises boldly above the Los Angeles skyline and offers 140 residences with panoramic views that stretch from downtown Los Angeles across the Santa Monica Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Set upon nearly four acres of landscaped gardens, the gated property affords residents the utmost in privacy, surpassing any other high-rise residence or five-star hotel in the entire city. The Century represents the evolution of estate living – offering the best of everything that one would expect in a gated Beverly Hills mansion – with added amenities that a private estate cannot offer, including an Assouline Culture Lounge, 24-hour doorman, concierge and valet parking.
In addition to the restaurant, Myers will design private catering and events menus exclusively for residents of The Century, from large-scale fêtes on the sweeping estate grounds to intimate affairs in the private dining room overlooking the gardens. Along with preferred reservations, The Century residents will also have the rare opportunity to enjoy Myers’ award-wining cuisine in the comfort of their personal residence.
Hinoki & the Bird is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday, from 5:30pm to 10:00pm, with lunch service slated to begin this spring. For more information or to make a reservation, please call 310.552.1200 or visit www.hinokiandthebird.com.
### Media Contact: Susan Hosmer / Maggie Condon Bullfrog & Baum 212-255-6717 / 323-651-1380 hosmer@bullfrogandbaum.com maggie@bullfrogandbaum.com
ABOUT DAVID MYERS David Myers is a renowned Los Angeles-based chef who captivated the attention of the culinary world in 2002 with his first restaurant, Sona, which has held a Michelin star since the start of the Los Angeles guide. Following the opening of Sona, Myers created one of Los Angeles’ first modern French brasseries in Comme Ça, featuring a beverage program that pioneered market-driven cocktails, and an Italian neighborhood-inspired Pizzeria Ortica in Orange County. Since then, Myers founded David Myers Group, which owns and operates the aforementioned restaurants in addition to five concepts in the Ginza district of Tokyo: four high-end patisserie outposts called SOLA by David Myers and a 40-seat restaurant, David Myers Café, which showcases his California-inspired cuisine with Japanese ingredients. In 2010, Myers made his first foray into Las Vegas with Comme Ça at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Myers’ culinary capabilities have been widely recognized by both the media and culinary industry, including notable accolades such as Food & Wine’s “Best New Chefs”, Angeleno’s “Man of Style”, and the James Beard Foundation nominations for “Rising Star Chef of the Year” in 2004 and “Best Chef, Pacific Region” in 2008. Myers has appeared on The Today Show, Bravo TV’s Top Chef, CBS’ The Talk, The Best Thing I Ever Ate and Iron Chef America. To track Myers throughout his world travels, follow him on Twitter.
ABOUT RELATED Related Companies is the most prominent privately-owned real estate firm in the United States. Formed 40 years ago, Related is a fully-integrated, highly diversified industry leader with experience in virtually every aspect of development, acquisitions, management, finance, marketing and sales. Headquartered in New York City, Related has offices and major developments in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, San Francisco, South Florida, Shanghai and Abu Dhabi and boasts a team of approximately 2,000 professionals. The Company’s existing portfolio of real estate assets, valued at over $15 billion, is made up of best-in-class mixed-use, residential, retail, office, trade show and affordable properties in premier high-barrier-to-entry markets. Related has built a stellar reputation for collaborating with top chefs and restaurateurs at its distinctive properties. Related’s Time Warner Center is home to Chef Thomas Keller’s Per Se and Bouchon Bakery, Chef Michael Lomonaco’s Porter House New York,
Chef Masayoshi Takayama’s Masa and Bar Masa and Chef Marc Murphy’s Landmarc. Related is among the first developers in Los Angeles to bring together elite condominium residences with a new restaurant from one of the nation’s top chefs. Beginning with Robert A.M. Stern and The Chatham in 2001, Related pioneered the “starchitect” concept, now propelled by longstanding partnerships with world-renowned architects and designers, including Skidmore Owings and Merrill, Yabu Pushelberg, David Rockwell, Adam Tihany and Clodagh. These relationships have produced stunning and innovative buildings nationwide, redefining the concept of sophisticated urban living and placing Related at the vanguard of new urbanism. This role includes a staunch commitment to sustainable design, with LEED certification already completed for 10 existing properties. Five Star Living®, a hallmark across all Related residences, is an unparalleled offering of world-class locations, breathtaking views, inspired architecture and design, unrivaled amenities and superior services. This lifestyle is even further enhanced with the inclusion of Equinox® Fitness Clubs, a market leader in fitness. For more information about Related Companies please visit www.related.com.
