Noma, the famed Copenhagen restaurant known for its envelope-pushing, often-foraged Nordic cuisine, has set up shop in Southern California. More precisely, 130 members of Noma\u2019s staff have decamped to Los Angeles for a four-month residency, which runs from March 11th through June 26. When tickets went on sale this morning, they sold out in 60 seconds, according to an Instagram story from Noma founder Ren\u00e9 Redzepi. \u201cWe’ve sold out faster than ever before,\u201d he wrote. \u201cPlease add yourself to the waitlist as cancellations happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many in the Nomaverse have already begun preparing for the highly anticipated residency, conducting research and building a hyper-regional larder. Those who manage to secure (and pay for) a table will have to shell out\u2014a reality that has already caused some friction. That said, there are a few more accessible back doors into dining at Noma LA.<\/p>\n
The globally lauded restaurant has been rising and shape-shifting steadily since opening its doors in 2003. It\u2019s been one of the world\u2019s most covetable reservations since being crowned the World\u2019s Best Restaurant in 2010, and is widely credited with pioneering New Nordic cuisine\u2014think tiny fjord shrimp in a pool of pine-infused cream and reindeer heart with smoked juniper. Over the last decade, the web of Noma alums opening their own bakeries and restaurants around Copenhagen has helped catapult the city\u2019s dining scene to new heights, drawing food obsessives in droves. Then, in 2023, Redzepi announced that Noma would close, citing the unsustainability of fine dining, which\u2026 didn\u2019t happen, obviously.<\/p>\n Photo by Audrey Ma<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n Noma\u2019s LA residency isn\u2019t the first time Redzepi has rounded up his team to hunker down somewhere new, learn the ins and outs of the local food ecosystem, befriend farmers and artisans, and turn natural culinary wonders into dishes cerebral and delicious. Noma has previously popped up in Tulum and Kyoto. What brings the tweezer-loving team to Los Angeles? The ingredients, of course! Southern California is an ecologically diverse agricultural wonderland which yields a style of progressive cuisine that\u2019s equal parts radical simplicity and playfully inventive, rooted in what are arguably the best farmers\u2019 markets in the country.<\/p>\n No mystery there. But what exactly will Noma\u2019s residency\u2014and broader presence\u2014in Los Angeles look like? We\u2019ve secured the details to help you suss it out.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a hefty chunk of change\u2014likely more than you or I might ever imagine spending on dinner. Redzepi told the Los Angeles Times<\/em> that the price tag reflects the cost of flying 130 staff members from Copenhagen, housing their families, and covering their children\u2019s (private) schooling. To put that in perspective: at Somni, L.A.\u2019s most expensive restaurant, $1,595 gets you the tasting menu and premium wine pairing, before<\/em> tax and tip. New York\u2019s Eleven Madison Park charges $365 for its tasting menu, with a reserve wine pairing priced at $475 ($840 total, before tax and tip). And Napa\u2019s The French Laundry costs $425 for food, with wine pairings ranging from $300 to $1,000. $1,500 for Noma stateside, then, isn\u2019t entirely unfounded.<\/p>\n But I do have a lingering question: if corporate sponsors like American Express and Blackbird are helping fund the entire operation (more on that shortly), why didn\u2019t Noma ask for more sponsor money so diners could pay less?<\/p>\n Over the past few years, Noma has leaned more heavily into CPG with the 2022 launch of Noma Projects, an umbrella under which they\u2019ve developed pantry items like mushroom garum and extra-spicy corn-yuzu hot sauce in their Copenhagen test kitchen and fermentation lab. The brick-and-mortar in Silver Lake will be the first Noma Projects shop outside of Denmark. There, customers can buy their signature goods, in addition to specific-to-L.A. items. For the latter, they\u2019re partnering with local producers to create special formulas stateside, including kombucha, cold brew, dashi mix, and fermented honey products.<\/p>\n Photo by Audrey Ma<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n The menu is still very much a work in progress, and as the back-of-house crew settles into Silver Lake, they\u2019ve been sampling and cooking their way through a wide range of local ingredients. According to a Noma spokesperson, they\u2019ve been especially taken with California wild bay, also known as California laurel\u2014a broad-leaved evergreen in the same family as avocados, whose leaves release a peppery aroma when crushed. They\u2019ve also zeroed in on American honey ants, insects native to arid climates that store nectar in their abdomens (and have historically been used as a source of sugar in indigenous cuisine), as well as 12 varieties among Southern California\u2019s remarkably diverse array of cacti.<\/p>\n Noma sommelier Max Manning is collaborating on a site-specific beer with Highland Park Brewery, made using organic heritage Sonoran Wheat and Rouge de Bordeaux from Sherry Mandell and Alex Weiser\u2019s Tehachapi Grain Project. He\u2019s also developing a California desert amaro with yerba santa, rabbitbush, ladies’ tobacco, and Manzanita berries, alongside other botanicals foraged in the Cuyama Valley, with help from Rob Easter of Workhouse Rye + Modern Ancient, the distillery based in Tucson, Arizona, and Northern California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Noma](\"https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/696fb3e435ed700c0e285e66\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Rene_%25C2%25A9AudreyMa_0068_final.jpg\"\/)
<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\nDinner at Noma LA will cost $1,500 a head. That price includes the tasting menu and<\/em> beverage pairing, plus tax and tip.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Noma Projects shop on Silver Lake\u2019s Sunset Boulevard will sling its own science-y pantry staples alongside locally made products.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Laying](\"https:\/\/assets.bonappetit.com\/photos\/696fb3e44aaac9dae7210ccc\/master\/w_1600%2Cc_limit\/Noma_%25C2%25A9AudreyMa_689_final.jpg\"\/)
<\/picture><\/span><\/div>\nThe test kitchen is going all in on cacti.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The beverage team is concocting spirits from foraged desert botanicals, making beer with heritage grains, and pouring California wine exclusively.<\/strong><\/h2>\n