Lot 1 update

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After chef Josef Centeno left Echo Park’s Lot 1 the last day of July, owner Eileen Leslie closed the restaurant to regroup, then reopened nine days later with a new chef. Leslie picked Craig Karas, formerly executive chef at Chicago’s Weather Mark Tavern (where he is still part owner). Karas has redone Lot 1’s entire menu, which now includes brunch. Brunch was always something Leslie wanted to focus on (see the large banner, left, adorning the restaurant).

Leslie, who declined to comment on the lawsuit she filed against Centeno, says that the liquor license is still a ‘work in progress.’ Brunch items include banana-stuffed French toast with coconut-rum syrup; a recent dinner menu offered scallops with asparagus and truffle oil. As for lunch, you might find a flat iron steak sandwich with red onion jam on a baguette. No ‘bacos’ (Centeno’s specialty) now at Lot 1, though, nor, for the moment, anywhere else.

Lot 1, 1533 W. Sunset Blvd., Echo Park, (213) 481-8400. Open for lunch Tuesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; dinner Tuesday through Sunday, 6:30 to 10:30 p.m.; and brunch Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

— Amy Scattergood