Backbone, a dinner-only New American restaurant tucked into the Montrose pocket of the Glendale foothills, is staking out its role as one of Los Angeles's most ambitious neighborhood spots. Husband-and-wife chefs Nathan McCall and Karen Yoo, veterans of Sona and Daniel who ran the Los Feliz butcher shop McCall’s Meat & Fish for a decade, are serving seasonally driven plates in a quiet, intimate dining room that feels low-key but very dialed in. Diners and critics are zeroing in on showstopping starters and a seafood-forward focus that comes off as both precise and playfully inventive.
Standout dishes
The headliner is the sea urchin double-decker waffle tower, stacked with uni, nori-honey butter, and yuzu cream, which reviewers have flagged as a must-order. Backbone follows that opening salvo with careful, composed mains like roasted duck breast paired with Japanese sweet potato and black rice, and seasonal agnolotti filled with late-summer corn and early-spring squash, as reported by Eater LA.
From butcher shop to dining room
The restaurant is the long-gestating project of McCall and Yoo, who spent years focused on retail at McCall’s Meat & Fish before heading back into full-service dining. Backbone's website notes that both cooks previously worked at Sona and Daniel and that their approach draws on French technique blended with Spanish and Asian influences.
Why Montrose
Backbone arrives in the middle of a broader suburban dining wave that has pulled adventurous chefs into neighborhoods outside the Westside and Downtown, a trend Eater LA has been tracking with notable openings in South Pasadena, Altadena, and Hermon. That shift helps position Montrose as part of a larger, intentional dining circuit rather than simply a sleepy local strip.
Where to go and how to book
Backbone sits at 3463 North Verdugo Road in the La Crescenta–Montrose pocket of Glendale and lists dinner service Wednesday through Saturday, with limited Sunday prix-fixe service added in April 2026, according to Backbone's website. Reservations are available on Resy, and the compact dining room makes booking a smart move on weekend nights. The restaurant posts both a phone number and an email address for inquiries on its contact page.
Where critics landed
Since opening in late 2024, Backbone has consistently appeared on local roundups of notable new restaurants, with the Los Angeles Times naming it among standout newcomers as the city's dining map slowly stretches deeper into residential neighborhoods. For nearby residents, it functions as a neighborhood table; for everyone else, it is a solid excuse to drive up the hill for a planned-out night of eating.
