L.A. Chapter at the Ace Hotel opens next week; here's what's on the menu

L.A. Chapter at the Ace Hotel opens next week; here’s what’s on the menu

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The dining room of L.A. Chapter, the restaurant on the ground floor of the new Ace Hotel downtown. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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The Ace Hotel’s L.A. Chapter will feature a menu from chef Ken Addington of Five Leaves in Brooklyn. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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The L.A. Chapter dining room as seen from the restaurant’s mezzanine. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. Chapter restaurant will open to the public on Friday, Jan. 17. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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The kiosk at the United Artists theater at the Ace Hotel is expected to feature patio tables for coffee and snacks. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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The candle holders on the tables at the Ace Hotel’s L.A. Chapter were created by artist Kevin Willis. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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The dining room of L.A. Chapter features leather-upholstered banquets, brass-topped tables and Commune-designed tile work. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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The Stumptown Coffee bar at the Ace Hotel downtown. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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The bar at L.A. Chapter. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

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L.A. Chapter’s mezzanine features its own bar. (Betty Hallock / Los Angeles Times)

By Betty Hallock

Jan. 10, 2014 1:35 PM PT

The tables have been set at L.A. Chapter, the restaurant at the grand new Ace Hotel downtown that’s fashioned after neighborhood breakfast-lunch-and-dinner spot Five Leaves in Brooklyn. L.A. Chapter is set to open next Friday.

Five Leaves chef Ken Addington has created a kissing-cousin menu that includes L.A. versions of some of his iconic dishes. Instead of Five Leaves’ ricotta pancakes, there are malted buckwheat waffles, and instead of a kale salad with Gouda and hazelnuts, the kale salad at L.A. Chapter includes hijiki and crisped rice. “I wanted dishes that had their own identity,” said Addington, in Los Angeles for the restaurant’s opening. The Five Leaves Burger is the same, with harissa mayo, grilled pineapple, pickled beet and sunny-side-up egg.

Also on the menu at L.A. Chapter, a project spearheaded by Addington and his Five Leaves partner Jud Mongell, are starters such as grilled octopus with pistachio puree and steamed mussels; pastas such as sea urchin chitarra; and entrees including Colorado lamb loin and lemongrass rabbit ragu with creamy semolina.

Dan Sabo, also of Five Leaves, is helming the cocktail program. There are three bars in the hotel: in the dining room of L.A. Chapter, on the restaurant’s mezzanine and the cocktail lounge dubbed Upstairs, located at the rooftop pool with sweeping views of downtown’s skylines.

The cocktail menu is divided into four categories, based on alcohol content, with non-alcoholic, low- , mid- and high-proof drinks. The non-alcoholic Clubman, for example, is made with Stumptown cold brew, cinnamon syrup and tonic. A light Gee Bee includes Aperol, Earl Grey-infused vermouth, honey and soda. A potent Ghostlight has rye whiskey, cardamom spice syrup and Angostura and cherry bark bitters.

The restaurant, like the rest of the hotel, which is located in the United Artists building on Broadway & 9th Street that was built in 1927 by Mary Pickford for the film studio she co-founded, was designed in collaboration with Commune. The artists Haas Brothers have contributed pencil drawings on the walls and Kevin Willis created the ceramic candleholders on the tables.

The restaurant will be open all day serving breakfast, lunch and dinner for hotel guests and locals alike.

929 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, (213) 623-3233, www.acehotel.com/losangeles.

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