Dusk tints the tips of the palm trees purple and the lights of downtown Los Angeles begin to glitter in the distance, Jon Shook shows Danielle Haim how to choke up on the punch ladle for a maximally generous pour. Her sister Alana stands ready to float a few drops of Peychaud’s bitters into the glasses, while nearby at the stove, Vinny Dotolo tells Este Haim why it’s better to sear the Halloumi cheese before scattering on the thyme leaves and chile shards. (Spices can burn and go bitter.)
The occasion is a New Year’s Eve dinner at Danielle’s new home overlooking Silver Lake. It’s close to the hipster heartland at Sunset Junction but invested with the lush, jungly magic of the hills.
Ariel Rechtshaid and Danielle Haim sip Spiced Rum Punch with Citrus and Luxardo.
Shook, for one, isn’t the type to wax nostalgic. “I live in the future,” says the chef, who, along with Dotolo, owns several of L.A.’s most admired restaurants, including Animal and Son of a Gun. (Add Ludo Lefebvre to the mix and you have the trois mecs behind Trois Mec, still one of the most sweated reservations in town.) “But New Year’s Eve is the one night of the year when I allow myself to get a little reflective,” he adds, “to say, ‘Wow, I did that.’”
The two certainly have a lot to be proud of this year. BA Hot 10 winner Petit Trois, a jewel box of a bistro whose cult omelet is rivaled only by its cult burger, and the rollicking Italian-American restaurant and pizzeria Jon & Vinny’s joined their empire. Meanwhile, their friends Este, Danielle, and Alana have something to celebrate too: Their rock band, Haim, scored a nomination for Best New Artist at the 57th annual Grammy Awards, and they’re fresh off opening for new bestie Taylor Swift on her 1989 World Tour.
Quick Aleppo Dill Pickles and Halloumi with Cured Olives and Thyme.
Though Shook and Dotolo certainly know their way around a lobster tail and a lobe of foie gras, they’re passing by the more predictable holiday foods for tonight’s menu. When Haim told the guys that they’re on a bit of a lamb kick, the duo conjured a cuisine that Shook calls L.A. farmers’ market Middle Eastern. It’s a riff on the Mediterranean dishes the Haim (two syllables: HI-em) sisters grew up making in the San Fernando Valley, and it comes together with a twentysomething’s kitchen in mind. “We cook in people’s homes all the time,” Dotolo says, downplaying the fact that they’re also Hollywood’s most sought-after caterers, “so we get that most people don’t have a circulator and a food mill.”
The meal was also engineered toward maximal cavorting. The chefs shopped and prepped a couple of days ahead. Salads were assembled that morning, and the dinner’s centerpiece, a leg of lamb that puts a Levantine twist on the classic seven-hour French party dish, has been chilling out (and staying warm) in the oven. “You’re not physically cooking when the party’s happening, so you can actually party,” Shook explains, making a reality out of the impossible dream.
The boys.
The garden gradually fills with a black-clad legion of friends weaving through the overgrown agaves: guys doing mods-versus-rockers with significant hairdos and a sequin or two; women whose frayed layers seem to have something to say about Stevie Nicks, with whom Haim has performed. It’s a music-y crowd: Grammy-winning Beyoncé producer Ariel Rechtshaid, Asa Taccone from Electric Guest, the Swedish producer Ludwig Göransson, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend alongside actress Rashida Jones.
But tonight’s soundtrack is retro. The punch, made by Shook and Dotolo’s beverage guru, Helen Johanneson (her new wine store, Helen’s, is in the back of Jon & Vinny’s), has an unlocking effect. By the time the platters have traveled the table, “La Isla Bonita” can scarcely be heard over the din of chatter. Come midnight, the candles have melted into baroque puddles, and as Alana stands under the pergola spraying Champagne in frothy jets, Abba’s “The Winner Takes It All” becomes the first song of the new year.
“Happy Nu-Nu!” the girls shout in unison.
A Very Haim New Year
Este Haim sears without fear.
Jon Shook and the Haim sisters grab some punch.
Alana and Danielle Haim prep herbs for salad with Jon Shook.
All the cocktails and snacks.
Guest Melody Ehsani snacks on feta and Medjool date toasts.
Spiced Rum Punch with Citrus and Luxardo.
New Year's alfresco: Electronic music producer SOPHIE (left) and Ezra Koenig lean in.
Herb Salad with Pickled Red Onion and Preserved Lemon and Shawarma-Spiced Braised Leg of Lamb.
Bitter Greens with Carrots, Turnips, and Oranges (left); Mixed Lettuces and Kohlrabi with Creamy Sumac Dressing; and Farro with Pistachios, Mixed Herbs, and Golden Raisins.
Jon Shook kicks back.
Bitter Greens with Carrots, Turnips, and Oranges
Wine flows aplenty around the intimate dinner table.
Lingering in the garden.
Hayden Dunham pre-games.
Chefs Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo.
From left: SOPHIE, Rick Sorkin, Asa Taccone, Ariel Rechtshaid, Ezra Koenig, Ludwig Goransson, and Jon Lieberberg.
The Haim sisters pop in the new year with Ezra Koenig and Rashida Jones.
Alana Haim
Este wears a dress by Louis Vuitton and boots by Robert Clergerie; Alana wears a blouse by Derek Lam, skirt by Louis Vuitton, and shoes by Barbara Bui; Danielle wears a jumpsuit by Stella McCartney, shoes by Longchamp, and bracelet by Louis Vuitton.
• Quick Aleppo Dill Pickles
• Halloumi with Cured Olives and Thyme
• Spiced Rum Punch with Citrus and Luxardo
• Mixed Lettuces and Kohlrabi with Creamy Sumac Dressing
• Bitter Greens with Carrots, Turnips, and Oranges
• Farro with Pistachios, Mixed Herbs, and Golden Raisins
• Shawarma-Spiced Braised Leg of Lamb
• Herb Salad with Pickled Red Onion and Preserved Lemon
• Upside-Down Blood Orange–Polenta Cake