Cronut Creator To Open L.A. Restaurant

Pastry chef and Cronut king Dominique Ansel is out to try something new (for him at least): a sit-down savory restaurant. "I was trained as a chef; I love cooking as much as baking," the chef tells the Los Angeles Times, explaining why he's heading in a new direction.

The restaurant, which will be Ansel's largest project yet, will land in Los Angeles sometime toward the end of the year and will serve dinner, cocktails, brunch and pastries. According to a rep, he'll "be dedicating a large portion of the menu to brand-new creations made exclusively for L.A. that won't be available anywhere else." And, yes, there will be Cronuts.

Unlike his other bakeries, which are primarily grab and go, "in a restaurant, you can see what happens to your food," he says. It's something he may be getting a taste of at his four-month-old café in London, where guests can sit down at open tables.

There's no word yet on what savory fare Ansel will serve, but the chef says the city is accepting of self expression: "It's a different culture here. People seem more patient; they seem to give you more of a chance to express yourself." Ansel has a deep love of Taiwanese food and has experimented with dinners celebrating it in New York. So we're not ruling anything out.