Bar Etoile

Bar Etoile feels like a postcard from Paris, rewritten in Los Angeles. Tucked into Melrose Hill, the restaurant is the creation of partners Julian Kurland and Jill Bernheimer of Domaine LA, with Travis Hayden leading the kitchen. It’s a place where French technique meets California’s best produce – relaxed, elegant, and grounded in community.

The menu is a love letter to both the French canon and California’s farmers markets. Think a minerally Caesar steak tartare topped with crunchy shallots, a buttery Gruyère tart that tastes like fields, creamy trout rillettes finished with fresh herbs, and a burnished rotisserie chicken served with farm-ripened persimmons. Each plate feels familiar but alive, elevated by the quality of the produce and a sense of intention that’s impossible to fake.

The energy is that of a Parisian wine bar translated through an LA lens, vibrant but unhurried, stylish but never stiff. The room glows with soft light and natural textures, a space built for long conversations, shared bottles, and dishes that arrive one by one until the night disappears. At the bar, guests trade stories over glasses from Julian Kurland and Jill Bernheimer’s curated cellar; at the tables, strangers become friends. Bar Etoile isn’t chasing trends or flash. It’s simply a restaurant built on good food, good wine, and the kind of hospitality that makes you want to stay for one more course.