Brooklyn wine bar Sauced is making its West Coast debut on September 12, 2024, on the 7,000-square-foot rooftop of the former Ace Hotel, which is now called STILE Downtown Los Angeles by Kasa. The original Williamsburg location, a 40-seat bar decked out with a disco ball, famously does not have a wine list and encourages patrons to chat with bartenders and taste a few pours before settling on a glass. “By not having [a menu] it allows us to talk with our clients and figure out what they’re interested in trying,” says owner Damian del Rio. “We try to create a wine experience that is less pretentious.”

Sauced LA will be carrying on the menuless tradition and will have 25 to 30 bottles open each night. Parisian chef Quentin Peron, who relocated to LA to get Sauced underway, will serve “Parisian wine bistro-style food,” says del Rio, like charcuterie, cheese, and fresh oysters. In addition to the Brooklyn original, Sauced has other locations in Manhattan and a soon-to-open outpost in Nashville.

Sauced is located at 929 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015, and is open Thursday and Sunday from 5 p.m. until midnight, and Friday and Saturday from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Ssam Kim

A taste of Phú Quốc in LA

Downtown’s Caldo Verde is celebrating the release of the cookbook The Memory of Taste by Oakland chef Tu David Phu on Thursday, September 12, as part of the restaurant’s cookbook dinner series. The $95 per person menu draws from the chef’s journey, which spans from the Bay Area to Phú Quốc island, including tuna summer rolls, green mango and dried squid salad, and stir-fried clams. Reservations are available on OpenTable.

Sensational SGV seafood

Gab Chabrán of LAist names a trio of sensational seafood spots in the San Gabriel Valley per an Angeleno lamenting the closure of McCormick & Schmick in Pasadena. His list of picks includes Yama Seafood Market and Newport Seafood in San Gabriel, and Temple City’s the Dive Oyster Bar.

Get a taste of Caro Mio Pizza

Pizza pop-up Caro Mio is slinging California-style pies every Saturday night in September at Maury’s in Silver Lake starting at 5:30 p.m. Behind the ovens is Jackson Baugh, an East Hollywood native, whose principal dough is made with 25 percent whole grain and fermented for 48 hours. Baugh’s so proud of his dough that he sells small tubs of dipping sauce because “we really don’t think anyone should leave their crust behind,” he says.

Vietnamese vegetarian excellence

The San Gabriel Valley’s newest Vietnamese vegetarian restaurant is giving neighboring stalwarts Veggie Life and Thien Tam a run for their mock meats. Buddha Vegetarian Restaurant in South El Monte (not to be confused with Happy Buddha Kitchen in Temple City) has been wowing early diners with its pitch-perfect noodle soups since opening in August. Swing in for meatless renditions of bún mắm, bún riêu, and Central Vietnamese dumplings.

Town goes down for the count

Highland Park’s Town Pizza announced in an Instagram post that it will be slinging its last pies on September 7 after a decade of operating on York Boulevard. Owners Joram Young, Scott Lunceford, and Sean Kelly opened the New York-style pizza parlor in June 2014 serving traditional slices and out-of-the-box options topped with mole, pulled pork, corn, and queso fresco.