Launching a new fine-dining restaurant in the current Southern California culinary scene isn’t easy. More than 100 restaurants closed in Los Angeles last year alone. As they prepare to open Jacaranda, Daniel Patterson and Sarah Lewitinn seem to know that as well as anyone. What they're betting on is that taste, determination and a punk-rock spirit might just be enough to beat the odds.

Patterson is the former two-Michelin star chef from San Francisco’s Coi restaurant and co-founder of Alta Adams in L.A. His wife is the former Spin Magazine tastemaker known as “Ultragrrrl,” who helped put My Chemical Romance on the map and championed The Killers before launching her own record label.

From Underground Supper Club To Los Angeles Restaurant

The couple spent much of 2025 operating an intimate underground supper club out of their storybook Los Angeles home with a fine-dining pop-up called Jaca Social Club. Twelve (mostly) strangers sat at nearby tables as Lewitinn helped the group connect between ten courses of Patterson’s $250 tasting menu.

On May 6, they’re making the experiment real. Jacaranda, their 30-seat restaurant at the corner of Melrose and North Citrus, occupies prime real estate amid a cluster of deliciousness, with Osteria Mozza across the street, Meteora next door and Petit Trois around the corner.

Jacaranda feels less like a splashy opening salvo than an extension of the Pattersons' own home. Fresh flowers are everywhere. Wool coasters and napkins were crafted by Lewitinn herself. And, notably, the walls are hung with original pieces by Lewitinn’s great-uncle, Landès Lewitin (no second n), a founding member of the influential New York art collective known as The Club, whose ranks included Willem de Kooning, Barnett Newman, Robert Motherwell, and Isamu Noguchi.

An Intimate Space With Personal Touches That Feel Like Home

The couple cares about the guest experience down to the smallest details. Diners are asked in advance what their favorite songs are, and Lewitinn weaves them into the evening's soundtrack, so that sitting down to dinner at Jacaranda feels less like a reservation and more like a party thrown specifically for you. Especially if you are a fan of bands like Hole and James.

The menu is still being finalized, drawn fresh from Wednesday and Saturday farmers’ markets and given to spotlighting lesser-known seasonal rarities — pea tendrils, yerba santa, nasturtium, artichoke flower, vermilion. One standout: a pepper-crusted duck served in a sauce of roasted blueberries and wild bay leaves, accompanied by a salad of pickled shallots and crispy duck cracklings in a blueberry-tinged dressing. It’s served alongside a small cup of broth made from grilled duck bones and scented with pepper tree.

At Jacaranda, Desserts To Write Home About

Pastry chef Matthew Tinder brings a streak of the cosmic to desserts. A veteran of Patterson's kitchen at Coi and the Michelin-starred team at Meadowood Napa Valley, Tinder is producing dishes that linger in the imagination: cherry, cherimoya and green almond arranged around a mound of gently shaved yellow ice (a dish that practically dares you to call it “Do Eat Yellow Snow”). There's also a riff on chocolate mousse — raw chocolate, dates, and roasted kelp — that tastes considerably better than it sounds.

For a meal-ending treat called Fruit Anarchy, Tinder reaches for the etrog, a knobby, intensely fragrant citrus traditionally used in Sukkot observances. He found a Fresno farmer who specializes in them and sells the imperfect specimens — the ones too blemished for ceremonial use but no less extraordinary on a plate.

Jacaranda has one seating a night, Wednesday through Saturday, starting at 5:30 pm with plans to open for lunch on Sundays from 12:00 pm–3:00 pm. The couple wants guests to relax and not feel rushed through a meal. Dinner party vibes are what they’re after and it’s intriguing. Whatever comes next for Jacaranda, the Pattersons are clearly just getting started.

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