Coastal Luxury Management (CLM) is opening Faith & Flower (705 W. 9th St., Downtown), the group’s first SoCal brick-and-mortar venture, this week. Executive Chef Michael Hung, formerly of San Francisco’s Michelin-starred La Folie is behind the food. Michael Lay (Restaurant 1833, Rose.Rabbit.Lie.) runs the bar program as Lead Mixologist, and Ben Spungin (Bernardus Lodge) serves as Executive Pastry Chef. Designed by AvroKO, the restaurant pays homage to the two major renaissance periods that have shaped DTLA: the 1920s and modern day. The name brings together this idea with the location – “Flower” referring to the street the restaurant is on, and “Faith” for the street’s alleged name during the early 1920s.
AvroKO truly out did themselves when it comes to the design. Design elements are a perfect combo of modern and old school, with a partition wall composed of distressed doors collected from the 1920s, a large scale handmade sunburst wall installation, and an entire wall mural by highly acclaimed local street artist Robert Vargas. The rustic earth-tones are off-set by glamorous handcrafted chandelier lighting and complements the 140 plush leather and textured seats both inside and out on the restaurant’s hedge-lined secluded patio.
CLM co-founders David Alan Bernahl II and Robert Weakley have join forces with Los Angeles restaurateur, Stephane Bombet of Bombet Hospitality Group to bring us this new spot. Inspired by a global flavors and techniques, along with the use of a wood-fired oven and raw bar, Executive Chef Michael Hung has designed a menu redefining Californian rustic cuisine. While the menu will change seasonally, dishes you can expect now, include San Diego Halibut Carpaccio with pomelo and ruby grapefruit, herbed crème fraiche, and brioche croutons; a Chinese chili-soybean Oxtail Agnolotti glazed in bone marrow butter and finished with a tangerine conserva; and Duck Liver Mousse Tarts with grenadine-candied onion. Some of my favorites were the salad of Roasted Young Carrots and Brassicas with smoked Greek yogurt, mustard seed crackers, and sherry-shallot vinaigrette; the pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon; and the melt in your mouth rib eye. All of the dishes overall have a “deconstructed” kind of feel, which makes the family style plates very shareable.
The cocktail program spans from the Gilded Age to the Roaring Twenties and is split into two parts. The first features classic libations and the second will be original recipes that represent a mix of modern and classic techniques. Signature drinks will include the English Milk Punch inspired by Jerry Thomas’ “How To Mix Drinks” from 1862, composed of cognac, bourbon, Jamaican rums, absinthe, pineapple, spices, and milk clarification; Olvera with mezcal, zirbenz stone pine, royal combier, cherry heering, orange bitters, lapsang souchong vapor; and the Stormy Phosphate with Lost Spirits Navy rum, lime gum syrup, acid phosphate, and ginger beer. The intricately etched crystal glassware imported solely for the restaurant, making drinking these masterpieces a truly special occasion.
Open for dinner Sunday-Thursday, 5:30-11 pm, and Friday & Saturday 5:30 pm-midnight. Lunch will be available starting April 14th, Monday-Friday 11:30 am-2:30 pm. Brunch will be available Saturdays & Sundays from 10 am-3 pm starting April 19th.
