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If the name "Spartina" sounds familiar, you might remember it from the resurgence of New York's Tribeca neighborhood in the 1990s. Chef and restaurateur Stephen Kalt's Mediterranean concept was at the forefront of the neighborhood's comeback. Now, after criss-crossing the country and working with the likes of Daniel Bouloud, Andrew Zimmern and Steve Wynn, Kalt has found a new home in L.A. and reinvented his 1990s East Coast Mediterranean restaurant for 2016 Southern California.
Take a look at Spartina.
Chef and restaurateur Stephen Kalt collaborated on the design of Spartina with his wife, filmmaker Shelley Schulze. Custom French blue tables, olive leather banquettes and soft dome lighting contribute to a warm space filled with historical elements and clean, modern lines.
Charlotte Perriand-inspired bar stools and Shelley Shulze's landscape photography create a relaxed California vibe.
Residential touches like these shelves bring personality to Spartina.
"Part of philosophy of the restaurant was to make it like our house with a big open kitchen where you can have a glass of wine and everyone experiences the cooking and the drink-making," says Kalt.
"This [Spartina] is much more contemporary, a mid-century L.A. industrial style with greens, blues grays and zinc with some warm wood...It’s attuned to 2016 Los Angeles," Kalt observes.
The 1,000 square foot patio gets year-round use in L.A.
Kalt says Southern California's farmers' markets inspire items like this fettuccine with English peas, pea shoots and Pecorino. Most offerings menu from $12 to $25.
Fried polenta with sweet gorgonzola, red grapes and black pepper.
Fazzoletto (handkerchief pasta) with roasted plum and San Marzano tomatoes and whipped ricotta.
Smoked trout ravioli del plin with lemon cream, roe and herbs.
Pastry chef Stacy Desrosiers heads up Spartina's baking.
"I’m hoping that 20 years after [the first Spartina] my skills and range are greater and that my attention to detail is greater. It's not that I wasn’t cooking good food back then, but my grasp is more accurate now," says Stephen Kalt.
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