  WHAT MAKES République an unassailable cornerstone of Los Angeles dining? Margarita and Walter Manzke are equally exceptional talents who gave themselves the format — a bakery plus a restaurant serving three meals daily in a spectacularly baroque Hancock Park building — to succeed at what each of them does best. Together they perfected a blueprint for the all-day modern Californian restaurant. First things first: Margarita and her team lay out one of the country’s finest pastry selections. They fill the counter with cakes, sweet and savory pies, canelés, fruit-filled tarts and laminated doughs so finely structured their layers can be stretched like an accordion. It’s a whirl of gracious plenty. Arrive early and round out the morning with a pale omelet, billowing French toast or the signature kimchi fried rice with short rib and poached eggs. Break away from Zoom for a couple of hours at lunch and meet someone for salads and a dry-aged burger. At night the restaurant transitions elegantly to formal dinner service. Start by indulging in Normandy butter and pan drippings (imagine gravy distilled from a thousand roasting pans at Thanksgiving) served with one of Margarita’s baguettes. Walter uses meticulous technique, grounded in French tradition, to both comfort and startle. His gifts are as evident in a farmers market salad with precisely vinegared dressing as they are in the deft snap of grilled spot prawns and the goodness of roasted duck among a fall collage of squash, apples, onions and drizzles of peppery cider jus. Wine director Sarah Clarke has just the right Burgundy in mind. Need it even be said that dessert is all but mandatory?
• 624 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles 90036, (310) 362-6115, republiquela.com See also
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