Sqirl After Dark

Jessica Koslow’s daytime institution quietly becomes one of LA’s most considered dinner destinations.

Feb 27, 2026

I haven’t been to Sqirl in many years. When the place was a complete madhouse I made the pilgrimage for the ricotta toast and the sorrel rice bowl. All very good. But I’m not someone who’s driving that far for a bite during the day, and as time went on and I stopped eating lunch altogether, Sqirl quietly disappeared from my memory.

Then out of nowhere, I start hearing mumblings that Sqirl might open for dinner. It picks up steam, then fades, then I forget about it. And then it’s real. It happened. Open for dinner. So the question becomes what exactly is this going to be. The daytime menu but darker outside? That would be lazy. Is the wine list going to be wall to wall natty pours with nothing for the person who just wants a proper glass of Burgundy? I go online and find a well laid out dinner menu, a diverse wine offering that genuinely has something for everyone, and then to my actual surprise, cocktails. And the cocktails read well. Built on the architecture of classics with a smart twist. Okay. Things are pointing in the right direction.

Then you show up and the vibe is working. Tables and chairs set up outside, heat lamps above, soft LED lights in the awning. Things look proper. Now let’s eat and drink.

The cocktails come from Kayla Garcia, who recently did the program at Bar 109. Those were not bad cocktails by any stretch, but they leaned a little timid given what the descriptions were promising. At Sqirl it feels like she had more room to do her thing. The sorrel sour is a nice nod to the iconic sorrel rice bowl. Light, refreshing, vegetal. A solid drink. My favorite of the night was the Teajou, a smart riff on a bijou with a hint of tea that played beautifully with the chartreuse. These are drinks that actually taste like what the menu says they taste like. That should be the baseline but it isn’t always, and it counts.

Our only real issue going in as a two top was that the menu had too many things we wanted to try. If we were smarter we would have brought friends. C’est la vie.

First thing to hit the table was a beef tartare served with potato chips. The meat was diced thick, which I genuinely appreciated. This was seasoned exceptionally well. A lot of mustard, and what were listed as blueberry capers read more as cornichons to me, which meant the fruit in a savory context didn’t offend for once. The smoked tonnato didn’t overpower and played nicely with everything else on the plate. This is a top level LA tartare.

Next was the chicken liver, layered with compound celery butter. Pretty fucking good. The texture, the flavor, the temperature. All on. Who knew celery butter was the thing missing from our lives. Paired with schmaltz grilled bread, this is a dish I’m coming back for.

Sqipms. A dish that sounds like a typo but earns its place on the menu. Squid stuffed with shrimp chorizo, grilled, served with a rouille style sauce and nixtamalized fennel. The rouille had me thinking bouillabaisse, which isn’t the worst place for your brain to go. It all worked. I liked this dish a lot.

Then came the cabbage. A quarter of a cabbage to be exact, stuffed with what was described as duxelles but presented more as a mushroom puree than a fine dice. I understand the labor involved. I understand the sourcing. Still, $29 for a quarter of cabbage is a stretch. The exterior was nicely charred but the inside was still slightly raw and crunchy, which I suspect was intentional to hold the structure so the filling didn’t fall apart on the plate. I get it. But for me this is a one and done. There are too many other things on the menu I’d rather revisit.

Steak. The Denver steak from Cream Co came perfectly cooked. I appreciate the choice of cut. Everyone defaults to ribeye, New York, or hanger. A Denver has serious fat content and real tenderness and it doesn’t get enough respect. The oxtail demi was good, the salsa verde seca was good, and I liked the braised onion. This is a genuinely satisfying steak dish and one of the better small steaks in the city right now.

We got a side of pommes aligot “fundido” that honestly registered as really good mashed potatoes. When I see pommes aligot on a menu I come in expecting much more cheese pull and a very different texture. Good potatoes, just not quite what the name implies.

The pork was a smoked collar from Cream Co served with sikil pak and house made flour tortillas. The smoke on the collar was excellent. The sikil pak had a nice subtle heat. The tortillas need a little work. They ran a touch thick and dry and would benefit from more fat. But the use of collar as a cut is exactly what I want to see more of. It’s not a pork chop with apple condiment. Collar, secreto, pluma. These are interesting cuts and most kitchens are too risk averse to put them on a menu. This wasn’t safe and I appreciate that.

Dessert was a preserved yuzu tart and sticky toffee madeleines. The yuzu tart tasted like yuzu in a big way, and the Straus cream did its job taming the tartness, but it didn’t land the way the madeleines did. The madeleines are a smart play on sticky toffee pudding. The texture, the crumble, the crème fraîche ice cream. It all works together. This is a smart dessert.

The takeaway is that this is a well thought out, carefully sourced menu that clearly wasn’t thrown together overnight. This has been in development for a while and it shows, even in the soft opening stage. Jessica Koslow has done a really nice job, and the people she’s brought in have done the same.

Sqirl has been open for around 14 years but I’m treating this as a new opening. It’s also solidly east of me. 54 minutes on a Wednesday night for a 6:30 reservation, but that was with abhorrent traffic. We cannot have nice restaurants near where I live it seems. But I live where my real estate bread is buttered and I’m just going to have to accept that the places worth eating at require commitment, suffering through traffic, and probably a small contribution to my blood pressure, though the eating and drinking at dinner doesn’t exactly help either.

Sqirl for dinner has made the list. I’ll be going back on weekends to avoid the road rage.

Congrats to Jessica and everyone who helped bring this together. We have another good one on our hands.

Listen to Jordan and I talk the meal on the new episode of Mad Food.

Sorrel Sour

Aquavit and Vago Espadin Mezcal make a verdant and Silky Sour with a Vegetal Finish

Teajou

Our Bijou features Green Chartreuse, Haku Gin, a Moscato based Vermouth and Green Tea Shochu

Tartare

Classic Beef Tartare with non-classic Green Blueberry Capers, Smoked Tonnato, Thick-Cut Chips.

Chicken Liver

Jidori Chicken Liver Layered with Compound Celery Butter, Membrillo Gastrique, & Schmaltz Grilled Teachapi Grain Country.

Sqimps

Pacific Coast Squid filled with Shrimp Chorizo, Lacquered in Aminos, Grilled over Bincho, served with a California Saffron Aioli & Nixtamalized Fennel.