Finally opening its doors today is La Brea's long-awaited breakfast and lunch space, Sycamore Kitchen. Karen and Quinn Hatfield, owners of the eponymous Hatfield's — one of the better places in town to experience a splurge-worthy seasonal tasting menu — are taking a shift toward the casual with their latest endeavor, focusing on house-made pastries baked every morning and a selection of fresh sandwiches, soups, and salads available in the afternoon.

Pastry chef Karen Hatfield will be putting her spin on old world classics with items like a salted caramel pecan babkas, blueberry financier muffins, bacon-leek quiches, cheddar-rosemary croissants, tomato-gruyere focaccia, lemon polenta cake and kouign amann (a crusty French butter cake). Chef Quinn Hatfield has designed sandwich offerings such as roasted turkey on fresh country bread, a BLT made with two-textured bacon and balsamic tomatoes, and a hot pastrami shortrib sandwich spread with caraway-onion jam. There are sweets for afterwards too, like berries and cream cookies; and coconut-peanut butterscotch bars.

The coffee program will be run by the cult coffee gurus at Portland's Stumptown Roasters, featuring drip coffee and Chemex pour-overs and specialty drinks like a mochacito made with salted chocolate ganache. The chef duo (and married couple) plans to expand their menu even further by July's end, adding brunch items such as a benne biscuit “benedict” made with poached eggs, bacon, and herbed hollandaise; buckwheat crepes with strawberries; and buttermilk barley pancakes with vanilla-maple butter.

The rustic industrial space, a former 50's-era print shop, is defined by its vaulted ceiling, criss-crossing wooden beams and exposed brick walls with two sleek counters on either side. It looks like the kind of place where you wouldn't mind spending a entire morning, lingering over a pastry and milk-tinted cup of coffee — which is probably just what the Hatfields are hoping for.

The Sycamore Kitchen is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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