Look Who We Found At Otium

Stop the presses! Is that Richard Pink not eating a hot dog?! Sure enough, we snapped him Thursday making an exception for a delectable lobster roll at Otium, the hot new restaurant downtown at the Broad Museum.

And other stuff, too, like that deconstructed kale, quinoa, feta, currant, and almond salad; asparagus and cucumber appetizer; grilled fish that arrived later with cauliflower, grape and cilantro; oh, and those celery chips that accompany the lobster roll. (Disclosure: We helped Richard polish it off.)

GM Christian Philippo and chef Tim Hollingsworth’s wife, Caroline, arrive at the table to check in on one of their favorite guests. And impart a colorful detail: Caroline’s a reason this restaurant exists. Tim, who was head chef for six years at the famed French Laundry in Napa Valley, left there and came here two years ago to follow her. The fans who fill Otium’s 140 seats each day, and 44 more on the patio in good weather, thank her. (By the way, observers say in recent days that’s included the likes of Kenny G, Pierce Brosnan, Gordon Ramsey and, not least, Kourtney Kardashian.)

You recognize the stand-alone building, sandwiched between the Emerson apartment house on the left (and its restaurant Vespaio) and the Broad on the right. Richard, who by day is a senior dealmaker at Clarion Partners down the street, says he loves the energy the area now exudes with the Broad, Museum of Contemporary Art, Disney Hall, and other components of the Music Center concentrated near this sociable new park…

…which naturally attracts movie crews as well. Our question: Pink’s business is booming, not just at Melrose and LaBrea, but in 11 other locations (and counting) around the world. Why not a hot dog stand here, Richard?

No, this is not a small customer looking for a seat at Otium. Rather, this is an exhibit (and normal-sized person) we saw after lunch at the Broad.