Besha RodellWhen Palate Food + Wine closed in March of last year, many people mourned the loss of chef Octavio Becerra's intensely seasonal, intensely personal Glendale restaurant. Now Becerra has resurfaced with a very different venture. Acabàr opened this week in Hollywood, with Becerra in the kitchen as chef.
Acabàr is in the former Dar Maghreb location on the corner of Stanley Ave. and Sunset, and it has been redesigned but has retained many of Dar Maghreb's Moroccan details.
Becerra's menu is international in scope, with a loose theme of how La Cuisine Française has permeated cuisine worldwide, as well as the global interplay created by the Spice Trail. The menu references “Indochine, Franco-Afrique, The Levant, French West Indies, India, South East Asia, La Méditerranée.” So there's pho and steamed buns, as well as merguez meatballs with white bean hummus, as well as côte de bœuf.
Cocktails are by Josh Goldman and Julian Cox's Soigné Group, and are grouped by era using historical recipes, beginning in 1632 with punches and moving through history on up to the present, through classic cocktails, tiki and modern drinks.
Acabàr is open Tues.-Sat., 6 p.m.-2 a.m.
Acabar interior; Credit: Alen Lin
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