Doggy Bag: Meet the Mattinator

Matthew Accarrino: SPQR's Febreze?

Iron lady: Carolyn Allburger checks in with SPQR's Matt Accarino for Eater. It's been a month since the fauxhawked L.A. chef tidied up after the reign of Nate, and there've been big changes at the Pac Heights osteria. For one, it's really not an osteria. "We've transformed from regional Roman cuisine to new Italian cooking, an all-encompassing seasonal Italian restaurant with California inspiration," Accarrino tells Allburger.

Indeed, you get the feeling owner Shelley Lindgren wanted to disinfect the place of any lingering Appleman taint, and Accarrino is the Febreze. Allburger: "So you didn't even look at the old menu before you started?" Accarrino: "Not really, the first week we had brussel sprouts [sic] and cauliflower because they were big hits before, but I took them off. I didn't really know about the restaurant before I moved up here."

Other restaurant owners might've wanted to keep a concept the worked, but not Lindgren, apparently. In reaching for a chef with a style that marks a 180 from his predecessor -- the Gallant to Appleman's Goofus, not to mention a head that seems overwhelmed with hair -- Lindgren has revealed herself to have bigger, hangier balls than the most swaggerific line cook.