Highland Park's 'Gastropub'
The York features upscale food and funky good times
By Dan O'Heron 04/03/2008
When Shirley Farmer, a young healthcare administrator from Eagle Rock, told me, “You’ve just got to write about this place on York in Highland Park,” I was concerned about her welfare.
“Isn’t that gangbanger country?” I asked.
“I didn’t see it as gangland,” said Shirley. “Many of the people in the bar were old and looked like they were from Denmark.”
She was talking about The York, a bar and a restaurant that has been on the boulevard for less than a year.
“The food is great; not the usual bar stuff,” said Shirley. “The sirloin burger, shrimp bruschetta and grilled salmon salad are the best I’ve had anywhere. And the beer — Oh! the beer,” she exclaimed, citing the likes of Kronenbourg 1664 on tap and bottles of St. Rogue Red and Val Dieu blond.
I wondered if they had any Budweiser. “No, not there,” she said. If I wanted to pound some Buds, I’d have to go down the street to Marty’s or Johnny’s bar. “But they’re fun places, too,” said Shirley.
Shirley earned a master’s degree in social work from USC, which must have included many sessions in good eating and drinking. So it figured that she knew a lot about social evenings spent in enjoyable company. I had to investigate
The York is located on the edge of Avenue 50 and York Boulevard, where, in two short blocks, a string of 90 small, independent businesses — unbroken by franchises or big boxes — are within walking distance of patrons. Services include TV and bicycle repair shops, $9 haircuts and a Western Union office, which is handy: If you order a delicious $13 burger at The York — and want another — you can just wire home for money.
But is a restaurant with $13 burgers and expensive beers out of place in working-class Highland Park?
“Not at all,” said partner Gabriel Byer, a former bartender at Silver Lake’s Edendale Grill. Flipping through “The Great Good Place” by Ray Oldenburg, Byer underscored passages that explain The York: “It’s the great third place. The first is home. The second is the workplace. The third is the informal gathering place. … Most people go [to a pub] as individuals, not groups, with the certain knowledge that their friends will be there.
“We’re that third place,” said Byer. “But we’re not just a tavern and we’re not just a restaurant — we are an upscale gastropub. Original for the area, but we do fit in.”
He said The York caters to both an influx of young professionals — attracted to the functional value of Highland Park’s Craftsman, Bungalow and Spanish Mission-style homes — and to longtime residents who want to stay put. “We’re that home away from home for all kinds of people.”
Points of difference are found on hooks under the bar in front of each stool. On any given night, they’ll likely hitch-up purses, backpacks, briefcases, clipboards (coaches at nearby Occidental College), caps, helmets, satin jackets (Dodgers fans) and tweeds (professors at Oxy), spiral sketch pads (strings attached) and grocery bags.
Eras and attitudes are bridged by the look of The York. Following a “gastropub” model developed by a New York innkeeper, the partners took a broken-down old bar — The Wild Hare — and stripped its walls and ceilings bare, exposing warm brick and sturdy rafters. This laid-open space is for high-top tables for two along a wall and a long, hardwood bar that partitions the dining room. Dark stains on the bricks made me think of full-blast steel-town bars in Pittsburgh. But mostly the look is So Cal retro.
The menu, created by a restaurant consulting firm, is prepared by Chef Juan Castillo, formerly a cook at Yuu Restaurant & Lounge, a hip Santa Monica spot. It includes everything from chicken wings elevated by lime and honey ($8) to pan-seared tilapia ($15). I found the latter marries well with a St. Clair Vicar’s Choice Cabernet Sauvignon.
For me, The York was a place for discovery and reminiscence. At dinner, I discovered roasted baby beets with burrata, a sweet, soft cheese so velvety smooth that it could beautify a Swiss fondue; and the $13 cheddar/sirloin burger enclosed in an airy brioche bun.
At the bar — very sociable after a couple of beers registering 9.5 percent alcohol — I reminisced about Highland Park and how a police station located on York Boulevard gave the area an undeserved bad rap.
Today, the place still has its problems. But The York offers a refreshing oasis from trouble on the streets. As Byer correctly stated, The York, for more and more people, really has become a home away from home.
The York
5018 York Blvd., Highland Park
(323) 255-9675
www.theyorkonyork.com
Open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. seven days
Brunch is from 10:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Saturdays and Sundays
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