Madcapra and Animal chefs to open Los Feliz restaurant in the Mother Dough space

If you’ve been following the path of Sara Kramer and Sarah Hymanson, the two Brooklyn chefs who last May opened the falafel stand Madcapra in Grand Central Market, the news that they’re opening a new restaurant won’t come as a tremendous surprise.

In New York, they cooked at Glasserie and Blue Hill. Since coming to Los Angeles, they’ve also done pop-ups and private dinners with Animal’s Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo -- gigs that seem, at least in retrospect, as much scouting missions as fun events. This is especially true when you consider that Shook and Dotolo are partnering with Kramer and Hymanson on their upcoming project.

The chefs will open the new restaurant in the space currently occupied by Mother Dough, the pizzeria on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Feliz, whose last day of service is Jan. 3. Kramer and Hymanson will cook a Mediterranean menu in the yet-to-be-named restaurant, something more formal than their falafel stand but still “kind of casual,� Kramer said. And no, there won’t be falafel on the menu.

“It unfolded gradually,� Kramer said about the partnership. “We all liked each other, and we have a similar aesthetic.� Kramer said that the four had “talked abstractly� about opening a place together and when Mother Dough announced it was closing, things fell into place. “I went and peeked at it, and then went back with them,� she said.

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For the record: An earlier version of this post said Mother Dough is currently closed. It will be open until Jan. 3.

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Shook and Dotolo, of course, have a mini-empire of their own: not only with their own restaurants -- Animal, Son of a Gun and Jon & Vinny’s -- but with their trio of restaurants in partnership with chef Ludo Lefebvre, Trois Mec, Petit Trois and the recently opened Trois Familia.

Kramer and Hymanson said that this kind of business track record is what drew them to the chefs -- that and the fact that they’re, well, chefs. “They build from a chef’s perspective,� Kramer said. “And that’s really important to us. It’s really ideal.�

The new restaurant is to feature produce-driven Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes, food that’s meant to be shared. “We’re not choosing one country or even one region,� Kramer said of the cuisine, describing it as nontraditional and contemporary. “How do we want to eat in 2016?� she asked, rhetorically.

“We started doing this kind of food because we love it,� she said. “We have varied cultural backgrounds and influences -- we’re not traditional.�

As for the location, both chefs said they want the new restaurant to be the kind of neighborhood favorite that Mother Dough was. “I live a mile and a half away,� Hymanson said of the Los Feliz location.

Fans of Madcapra should not worry, as Kramer and Hymanson said that nothing will change at the Grand Central Market stand -- except that maybe now they can refer to the place as “our flagship falafel spot.�

4648 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles.

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