"Restaurant Review: The Park in Echo Park"

S-Irene-Virbila's Rating

THESE days it usually takes a minimum of half a million dollars to open even the smallest restaurant in Los Angeles. For a young chef dreaming of his or her own restaurant, doing it on the cheap means going for a small space in an under-serviced neighborhood, forgoing the edgy design and pricey PR firm, and doing most of the cooking -- and everything else -- yourself. As part of a growing movement of modest chef-owned neighborhood restaurants, the Park in Echo Park opened in March with a budget of $100,000. It may not be able to boast plush banquettes or water features, not to mention Christofle flatware or Riedel glasses -- but it makes up for it with pluck and a menu realistically priced for the times.

Chef Joshua Siegel, who hails from Boston and worked in San Francisco for the last 10 years, found a spot at Sunset Boulevard and Douglas Street that had previously done time as a casual Mexican restaurant. That meant the space already had a kitchen, a big advantage because Siegel didn't have to go through a lengthy permit process to build one. Parking wasn't an issue either. The previous restaurant didn't have any, so he wasn't required to provide the unrealistic number of spaces that has sent so many new restaurant projects in the city into lengthy delays.

Siegel and manager-maitre d' Ruth Kim got down and dirty, doing much of the cleaning, sanding and painting themselves. The exterior got a coat of Kermit the Frog green paint, the better to stand out as cars whiz by. They slapped black and white tiles on the floor, found an old street lamp (now the logo on their menu) and empty picture frames at the flea market to hang on the wall. The chairs are mismatched wooden ones set around basic wooden tables.

Decor tells the story

FOUR vintage wooden stools are screwed to the floor in the foyer along a narrow counter piled with cookbooks of the best pedigree -- "Sunday Suppers at Lucques," "The Zuni Cafe Cookbook," "Chez Panisse Caf