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Daily Dish

Cafe Habana in Malibu; Design Cafe at Pacific Design Center; Raya at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel

By Betty HallockDeputy Food Editor 
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The Pacific Design Center’s Design Cafe has reopened with a Mitteleuropa-meets-California-cuisine menu by Food + Lab, the brainchild of Esther and Nino Linsmayer. Open for breakfast and lunch, the Design Cafe kiosk offers morning items such as house-made granola parfait with European-style yogurt; house-made muesli with berries; and a smoked salmon sandwich with creme fraiche and sliced cucumber. For lunch, there are signature Food + Lab sandwiches such as chicken wiener schnitzel with lingonberry chutney, Austrian meatloaf and organic salads. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood (located at Melrose Avenue Plaza), (310) 657-0343, www.pacificdesigncenter.com.

Restaurateur Sean Meenan’s New York transplant Cafe Habana is set to open this week in Malibu. The solar-powered West Coast outpost will serve the Cuban sandwiches and grilled Mexican-style corn on which the Manhattan original and its Brooklyn outpost have built their popularity. Residents of the ‘Bu, including Cafe Habana co-owner Rande Gerber, are sure to flock to it. Also, full bar. Malibu Lumber Yard, 3939 Cross Creek Road, Malibu, (310) 317-0300, www.cafehabana.com.

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Raya is open at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, featuring ‘pan-Latin coastal cuisine’ -- sustainable seafood, local produce and Latin flavors -- from chef Richard Sandoval (his other restaurants include Maya in New York and Dubai and Tamayo in Denver). Chef de cuisine Greg Howe helms the kitchen. On the menu: appetizers such as coconut shrimp ceviche and hamachi tiradito and entrees including chile ancho-pistachio-crusted tuna and chipotle-miso glazed black cod. Dulce de leche pudding, lemongrass panna cotta and Mexican chocolate tart are among the dessert choices. One Ritz Carlton Drive, Dana Point, (949) 240-2000, www.ritzcarlton.com/lagunaniguel.

-- Betty Hallock


Daily Dish
Betty Hallock

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times. She has co-written four cookbooks, including “Bäco: Vivid Recipes from the Heart of Los Angeles,” “Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen” and “Baking at République.” She started her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American in New York, worked on the L.A. Times’ Business desk, and was interim food editor at Los Angeles Magazine. Hallock also helped launch a food and nutrition vertical for wellness app RoundGlass. She’s a graduate of UCLA and New York University.

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