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Daniel Patterson’s new restaurant on Melrose, Jacaranda, represents his most deliberate return to Los Angeles fine dining — and it lands at a moment when tasting menus are again drawing attention in the city. Open since 2024, the kitchen leans on seasonal California produce and a compact, carefully paced service that matters to anyone tracking where the city’s high-end dining scene is headed.
From past projects to a new dining room
Patterson first made sustained waves in Los Angeles with the Locol experiment in 2016 and has since moved through collaborations and pop-ups — most recently a home-based project with his wife, Sarah Lewitinn. Lewitinn, known for a varied career in music and nightlife, plays a social role in the dining room, greeting guests and shaping the atmosphere between courses.
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Jacaranda occupies a Melrose address amid several well-known fine-dining neighbors. The room itself is low-key but curated: family paintings hang on the walls and a playlist of early-2010s indie tracks keeps the tempo light and modern as the meal progresses.
What you get — the format
The restaurant currently offers a prix-fixe tasting menu priced at $295, with an optional wine pairing for $145. The sequence runs about two and a half hours and features a total of a dozen items: two opening bites, a set of composed plates through the middle of the meal, two desserts and finishing mignardises.
- Opening bites: crisp brown rice cracker with thin radishes and a yuba roll; a nasturtium “sandwich” for a bright, vegetal start.
- Vegetable-forward interlude: a green vegetable juice presented like a small bouquet to showcase micro-season produce.
- Silky course: soft tofu custard in kelp-forward broth topped with a touch of caviar for saline contrast.
- Seafood and heat: a squash-blossom dumpling filled with local prawn, balanced by a faint habanero kick and saffron.
- Main sequence: California king salmon barely cooked, served with cucumber yogurt and wasabi; mushroom “button” morels stuffed with mushroom-chicken pâté plus a crisp, fried potato; and a near-rare duck breast with roasted blueberry, a simple green salad and a restorative duck bone broth.
- Sweet finish: cherry-cherimoya granita, a chocolate-kelp mousse, and a finale of dressed fruits and mignardises.
Wines and pairings
Wine director Rick Arline — previously associated with the West Hollywood natural-wine scene — has assembled a pairing that reads like a tour of California producers. The progression begins with a brut cuvée and moves through food-friendly whites such as Riesling and Chardonnay, landing on a 2021 Pinot Noir for the duck that emphasizes dark-fruit depth and a coastal lift.
The list is intentionally domestic and tailored to the menu’s textures, favoring bottles that complement rather than overwhelm the seasonal ingredients.
Practical note
Jacaranda runs a rare Sunday lunch tasting service, a small but meaningful difference: daytime light changes the room’s energy and makes the multi-course menu feel more relaxed. It also preserves the staff’s weekend evening off — a detail that matters for service consistency over time.
The bigger picture
On its opening run, Jacaranda demonstrates the technical control and ingredient sensitivity Patterson is known for from his earlier work in California fine dining. The meal is precise and thoughtful, showcasing a modern California approach without leaning on gimmickry.
Whether Jacaranda will settle into the city’s long-term tasting-menu rotation is still unresolved. For now, it’s a polished statement from a chef with a track record of influencing the region’s culinary conversation.
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