Look Who's Popping Up

Le Comptoir Brings Gary Menes Back to Glendale

Menes at work
Menes at work Photo: Le Comptoir

Gary Menes is back at Palate Food & Wine! Okay, not exactly since the restaurant closed last spring, but he is taking a temporary space at The Wine Vault where Palate was housed. Last Thursday, this market-powered wizard of omakase reignited Le Comptoir, the pop-up in which he riffs ingeniously on pristine local produce for a tight counter-side crowd, to the former home of Palate Food & Wine in Glendale, where he served as executive chef for two years. Le Comptoir is now operating in the space over two nightly seatings three nights a week (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday), with walk-ins accepted after 9:30 P.M. with counter-space permitting.

$55 buys a five-course meal selected and prepared by the chef, with $24 wine pairing and $18 corkage. Menes, meanwhile, tells Glendale News Press that while he’s benefiting greatly from the pop-up format, he’d love to open his own permanent restaurant someday if he can maintain his vision and the economics behind it work. For more reservations and information on Le Comptoir’s current run, look to Menes’ website.

Le Comptoir at The Wine Vault, 929 South Brand Blvd. Glendale.

Le Comptoir Brings Gary Menes Back to Glendale