Bar Restaurant, one of our favorite restaurants of the past year, is reopening tonight, July 10, for outdoor dining. They’ve got seating on their patio, and have added an outdoor dining room in their huge parking lot at Sunset Junction in Silver Lake, so it’s somewhat appropriate that they’ve got a new-ish name, too: Bar Restaurant Valet Parking.

As far as the menu goes, they’ve kept a few of our favorites from before the shutdown, including four kinds of cured ham (such as the tremendous Cinco Jotas), a frisée salad with crispy potato and egg yolk bonito, and an extremely untraditional version of moules frites. There are also some new dishes that we’re very interested in, like charred eggplant with heirloom tomatoes and caramelized yogurt, and soft shell crab with Szechuan au poivre. Whatever you order, we can confidently say it will be a little strange and a lot great.

If you’re not dining out in restaurants right now, there’s also good news: The new menu will be available for pick-up and delivery starting tonight, as well.

Bar Restaurant Valet Parking is open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 6-9:30pm, and Fridays and Saturdays 6-10pm. Reservations are required, and can be made online or by calling (323) 347-5557.

Read our full (pre-COVID) review of Bar Restaurant here.