Editor’s note: This article was originally published in October 2025 ahead of Lapaba’s opening. It has been updated with confirmed menu details, hours, and reservation information. Daily Ovation has not yet conducted a first-person visit — a full review is forthcoming.
Lapaba opened in Koreatown in February 2026 and has already landed on LA Magazine’s Best New Restaurants list. Here’s what the menu looks like, what diners are saying, and what you need to know before you go.
Nancy Silverton’s Lapaba Brings Italian–Korean Fusion to Koreatown: Where Handmade Pasta Meets Kimchi Heat
Handmade pasta with a hint of gochujang
Nancy Silverton’s Lapaba opened in Koreatown, Los Angeles will get something it didn’t know it needed: handmade pasta with a hint of gochujang.
The acclaimed chef behind Mozza and Campanile is stepping into bold new territory—an Italian–Korean hybrid that might just redefine LA’s next great dining trend.
The name Lapaba nods to its DNA: “la pasta bar” with Korean nuance, a mash-up of tradition and reinvention. It’s the kind of restaurant that makes locals brag, visitors reroute flights, and chefs quietly take notes.
A Flavor Story That Could Only Happen in Los Angeles
If any city could birth a restaurant like Lapaba, it’s Los Angeles. Koreatown sits at the intersection of heritage and hustle, where soju bars meet espresso bars and fermentation isn’t a fad—it’s a way of life.
Silverton, known for her obsessive focus on texture and craft, reportedly fell in love with the idea while dining through Seoul’s cafe culture.
“There’s a rhythm to it—comfort and surprise in every bite”.
Lapaba aims to merge those rhythms: imagine silky tagliatelle tossed in a gochujang butter sauce, or burrata paired with sesame oil and pear. It’s a culinary dialogue between Emilia-Romagna and Seoul, between slow-simmered ragù and sizzling banchan.
The Lapaba Experience
The space at 6th & Western will channel Silverton’s minimalist Italian aesthetic—warm wood, hand-thrown ceramics, linen tones—layered with subtle Korean design cues. Expect brass accents, rice-paper screens, and an open kitchen where chefs fold dumpling wrappers next to pasta dough.
If Osteria Mozza feels like Rome, Lapaba will feel like a quiet back alley in Seoul where the pasta just happens to be extraordinary.
What to Order at Lapaba
Based on confirmed menu details and early diner reports, these are the dishes getting the most attention.
The bulgogi meatballs arrive with milk bread and truffle tomato sauce — a combination that diners keep coming back to. The milk bread alone has drawn comments. Start here.
For pasta, the orecchiette with fennel pork sausage, Bloomsdale spinach and gochugaru is the move if you want something that reads more Korean than Italian. The gochugaru heat is present but measured. The tonnarelli with clams, chorizo and braised kombu is the one for seafood eaters — kombu doing the work that Italian brodo usually would.
The cacio e pepe dduk is the signature concept dish — the Roman original rebulit around Korean rice cake. It is the clearest statement of what Lapaba is trying to do.
If you are not there for pasta, the fried chicken with Calabrian chili, yuzu ranch and kohlrabi has developed its own following. Chef Lelah has said she wants it to be the dish that gets you out of bed in the morning.
Early diner consensus: portions are small, creativity is high, service is fast and attentive. Counter seating is the room — plan accordingly.
Leading a Fine Dining Generational Shift
Los Angeles is the world’s laboratory for hybrid dining. Lapaba isn’t just a clever concept—it’s a reflection of how Angelenos eat now: borderless, curious, and always chasing flavor.
Silverton’s move also signals a generational shift. Fine dining no longer means white tablecloths—it means intention, intimacy, and identity. In a neighborhood where Korean barbecue smoke meets café jazz, Lapaba feels inevitable.
For more Koreatown flavor.
Reservations & Hours
Address: 558 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90020 (northeast corner of 6th & Western, Koreatown) Phone: (213) 513-6426 Hours: Wednesday–Saturday 5–10pm · Sunday 5–9pm · Monday–Tuesday closed Reservations: Book via OpenTable — recommended for all party sizes. Seating is primarily counter and bar style.
FAQ: Lapaba in Koreatown, LA
Q: Where is Lapaba located? A: Lapaba is at 558 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90020 — northeast corner of 6th & Western in Koreatown.
Q: When did Lapaba open? A: Lapaba opens in February 2026.
Q: What type of cuisine does Lapaba serve? A: Lapaba is an Italian-Korean pasta bar. All pasta is made in-house. The menu merges Italian regional cooking with Korean ingredients — gochugaru, kombu, doenjang — without treating either tradition as a garnish for the other.
Q: Who are the chefs at Lapaba? A: The kitchen is led by husband-and-wife chefs McKenna Lelah and Matthew Kim, both Osteria Mozza alumni. Nancy Silverton is a partner and investor providing menu oversight alongside Joe Bastianich, Tanya Bastianich, and restaurateur Robert Kim.
Q: How do I make a reservation? A: Book on OpenTable. Reservations are recommended — seating is primarily counter and bar style.
Q: What are Lapaba’s hours? A: Wednesday–Saturday 5–10pm, Sunday 5–9pm. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
LA’s food scene still leads the conversation
When Nancy Silverton’s Lapaba opens, it won’t just serve pasta—it’ll serve proof that LA’s food scene still leads the conversation on what’s next. It’s old-world technique meeting Seoul spice, the warmth of Nonna with the edge of K-Town nightlife.
So book early, bring your curiosity, and maybe leave room for one more bite from the menu.
