Los Angeles - May 01, 2009

Please Pass the Colonel Mustard

Tavern Bar Restaurant and Larder Opens

We suspect Miss Scarlet in the atrium with the candlestick.

But find yourself at Tavern, Caroline Styne and Suzanne Goin’s newest venture, and you’ll be the one in the hot seat.

Investigations begin in the larder, a street-front cafe and marketplace serving house-made pain au chocolat and gloriously crusty fresh-baked bread. (Take-out roast chicken, short ribs, charcuterie, and specialty foods — pinecone bud extract, rhododendron honey — make for dangerous red herrings.)

Boozy confessions spill forth in the bar’s arched wingbacks and plush pumpkin-colored banquettes. But it’s the sun-drenched dining room with live olive trees and to-the-manor-born decor that takes perps’ breath away.

Dinner’s on the scene with wild mushroom ragout, grilled lamb with white beans and feta salsa, and duck sausage with pancetta and kumquat marmalade. Breakfast and lunch come next week, when the place will be deluged with locals.

And anyone else who’s got a clue.

Tavern, 11648 San Vicente Boulevard, at Darlingon Avenue, Brentwood (310-806-6464 or tavernla.com).