Hatfields to open new restaurant Odys & Penelope on La Brea

Quinn and Karen Hatfield of Hatfield’s and Sycamore Kitchen are planning to open a third restaurant. Odys & Penelope will be located just a few doors from their bakery-cafe Sycamore Kitchen on La Brea Avenue, and is expected to open in the fall.

“It started with loving what we were doing at Sycamore and the space,� Karen Hatfield says, “and this has a similar feel in that it’s an old warehouse with brick walls and wood-beamed ceiling. It comes from a concept we’ve been thinking about for a long time that’s more how we cook and eat on a regular basis. Sycamore represents that in a breakfast/lunch sense. This is more what dinner looks like�

The restaurant is “sort of a modern take on a grill concept,� incorporating a custom live-fire grill as a centerpiece along with a churrasco and a smoker, which inform the main styles of cooking.

“I think it will be somewhat of a meat-centric restaurant but definitely not a steakhouse,� Karen Hatfield says. It’s not about expensive filet mignons, and it’s not fancy, she says. There will be a bigger focus on vegetables and “intricate, fun� appetizers.

It’s about Quinn Hatfield’s latest obsessions -- grilling and smoking. “We have a new smoker at the house, we’re getting a new grill made for us, with a makeshift churrasco at the moment,� Karen Hatfield says. “Every week it’s what else can he come up with and fine tune.�

The 3,800-square-foot restaurant with an expected 80 seats also will have a full bar. A designer has not yet been chosen, but the grill, churrasco and smoker are meant to be a main focal point.

The name Odys & Penelope, a reference to the ancient Greek king in Homer’s “Odyssey� and his wife, was partly inspired by the Corinthian columns in front of the brick building that will house the restaurant. “That’s what got me thinking about the famous couple,� Karen Hatfield says. “I’m sure there’s some deeper metaphor there.�

127 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles.

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