LIEN TA and Jonathan Whitener’s Koreatown restaurant, Here’s Looking at You, could have vanished forever as one of the pandemic’s countless casualties. Its reopening in January after a 17-month hiatus felt like an act of grace to its enthusiasts, me among them. A reductive description like “global small plates plus brainy cocktails” doesn’t convey the improbable combinations that Whitener, who leads the kitchen, and bar director Danny Rubenstein graft with skill and imagination. Sip a mai tai given unexpected depth from house-aged Jamaican rum before disappearing into salt-and-pepper frog’s legs splattered with salsa negra; whipped duck liver swiped with crusty bread and a few drops of smoked maple syrup; and steak tartare channeling Korean galbi, potent with chile and tamari and mellowed with egg yolk. Whitener has an ideal counterpart in pastry chef Thessa Diadem. Her desserts, including chewy chestnut mochi bathed in muscovado caramel and coconut cream, stretch notions of spice and texture without tipping into absurdity. Like most everything at HLAY (as it’s called by nearly everyone who knows the place), these sweet endings come off as unorthodox, sating and perfectly Los Angeles.

• 3901 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, (213) 568-3289, hereslookingatyoula.com

Steak tartare, top, with chile, tamari and an egg yolk; half duck confit with aji amarillo.