The new folks behind Freedmanโs are asking themselves some compelling questions:
What does a neighborhood bistro look like, for Silver Lake?
How can a restaurant become your new favorite wine bar?
Andโthis is the one they ask most passionatelyโhow can they get a bottle of wine on every single table. Wait, better yet, a whole-ass magnum?
The answers that chef Ryan Costanza and general manager/beverage director Matt Bone have come up with are beginning to spark some fun changes. The Silver Lake strip mall joint started off with a lot of ambitions alreadyโits nouveau-Jewish deli cuisine made Bon Appetitโs Hot 10 Restaurant List in 2018, spearheaded by young sibling-owners Jonah and Amanda Freedman, who found a creative niche riffing on Jewish classics in a town with an abundance of tradition to cull from. At the beginning, they recruited Bon Appetit wine editor and Silver Lake local Marissa Ross to curate their wine list, honing a philosophy that centered bottle affordability in the spirit of vin-to-table.
Now with Bone at the helm, โher concepts definitely live on,โ he says, but theyโve tweaked their approach after a couple of years in the neighborhood. Bone, a chipper new dad who arrived at Freedmanโs after working for chef Brian Dunsmoor at Hatchet Hall, has big goals of making Freedmanโs the new kickback spot for natural wine drinkers in townโeven if theyโre not doing dinner. Bone and Costanza have been collaborating on this vision together, which looks like a way to make Freedmanโs into the likes of an all-night hang spot, from dinner date to nightcap. Theyโve noticed since broadening their by-the-glass list and increasingly educating their staff on the wines, theyโve gotten closer to that goal of wine on every table. While they still pursue Rossโs vision of accessible sub-$60 bottles, their tweaked approach has made a good impact on business. โItโs been easier to get, like, people on Tinder dates to come in and have a couple glasses,โ Costanzaโs observed.
โIโm so excited by the idea of a bar where people drink bottles of wine,โ Bone says. โI donโt know that place. Ordinaire in Oakland, maybe? Thatโs what wakes me up in the morning. I want it to be normal to meet up and just crack a bottle of wine, sit down, and just chat.โ Fortunately for Bone, who joined Freedmanโs earlier this year, a lot about the space already works in the favor of his restaurant-as-wine-bar vision. A contrast to all that is breezy and IKEA-wood-and-white about contemporary LA dining, Freedmanโs is a cozy cave, grandma-luxe with leather banquets and baroque wallpaper best for holing up after dark. Amazingly (this is Los Angeles, the city that often sleeps), itโs open until 2:00am on weekends.
What else works is that Freedmanโs oft-rotating wine list focuses on smaller producers who are genuinely affordable. Plus, even if you canโt polish off the bottle you ordered for whatever reason, youโre able to take the rest home with you. These are specific choices that help Bone facilitate the casual and affordable drinking atmosphere he wants to see in the world, or at least, in Silver Lake.
โThere are some of the best natural wine destinations within earshot,โ Bone says. Itโs true; theyโre just a tumble down Sunset Boulevard from several of LAโs most exciting places to drink wine. But itโs extremely worth noting that Freedmanโs glasses tend to clock in at $13 and under, and a handful of delicious bottles land in the $40 and under range, rendering Freedmanโs one of the more, shall we say, safe spaces to show up at night wanting to try a bunch of stuff just for fun. In Boneโs vision of โde-preciousizingโ natural wine (which certainly picks up from Rossโs influence), this affordable curation is where the walk meets the talk. โIn the end, I want this to feel like a neighborhood bar with a wine program,โ Bone says. โWhen the people from Night+Market Song get off and come drink bottles here, I think that’s the end goal. I take that as the best compliment: when industry people end up drinking here.โ
Costanzaโs been busy crafting a revamped menu that maintains a couple of classicsโthe waffle-iron latke, the glorious glazed brisketโbut adapts the Jewish deli influence into subtler, more Parisian bistro shapes. He notes the proliferation of Israeli cuisine throughout the city (most of which are knockouts, like Mh Zh, Dune, Kismet, and Bavel), and points to Freedmanโs instead looking to Ashkenazi influences which have deep roots in Los Angeles, but with less contemporary adaptations. As Freedmanโs evolves and continues to ask itself questions about what it can become, it shows a commitment to staying close to its roots. It all started just a few years ago, with Jewish traditions and low-impact wines. Those beginnings seem as fertile ground as any for an exciting, continuing conversation about how and where we drink good wine. And that conversation is one that ideally unfolds over a magnum, plopped in the middle of a table, surrounded by friends.
Top photo by Dylan + Jeni.ย