One of our favorite restaurants to set up shop last year, Fraiche has a boatload of things going for it: great food crafted by a skilled chef in Jason Travi, formerly of La Terza, who knows how to bring sophistication to rustic, belly-warming dishes; a welcoming room that feels both spacious and bustling at the same time; and one of the best sidewalk patios for going al fresco year round. It even sports one of those deceptively tricky names that separate the gastronomique wheat from the chaff. (Once and for all, fine foodie peeps, it’s pronounced “fresh.”)

So, Fraiche doesn’t need to do much to get us to swing by for a casual dinner with friends or an impromptu nightcap. But a weekly DJ night? Hmm…while we’re afraid to admit that it sounds suspiciously trendalicious, the restaurant is already open until 1 a.m. every night and does have a pretty cool indoor-outdoor space dedicated for its lounge. Sure, we’ll bite.

We show up on a chilly Thursday night, expecting a sparse crowd thinned out by the holidays. But at 10:30 p.m.—only half an hour into the DJ set—the seasonally-covered patio is pretty much at full capacity. DJ Nico, an unassuming Frenchman in a black hoodie, has taken up half the outdoor lounge area and is spinning moody electronica. (We hope it was just our imagination, but we’re pretty certain we heard a Euro-remix of “Gangster’s Paradise” at one point in the evening.)

But the real action is at the bar, where self-styled “bar chef” Albert Trummer is master of his potable domain. Austrian-born, with stints in the Hamptons, New York City and Miami, the uber-mixologist has a flair for spectacle and puts on a fiery display of absinthe that would make a pyromaniac drool. At least someone’s feeling the music as the fire grooves to the heavily synthesized downbeat. Unhappy with the height of the flames in his first go, Trummer builds a bigger, more menacing pyre. Splatters of sugary syrup are everywhere. “You've got to shoot it,” he urges afterwards. “It’s medicine.” We’re no doctor—Trummer says that it helps the common cold—but we feel real good after the warm, anise-flavored elixir journeys down the throat.

It's no surprise Trummer’s got fans: We spy a gorgeous solitary girl picking at a salad at the end of the bar. She’s obviously someone, but only after she makes a snarky remark do we recognize that she plays Maya on “Heroes.” A bunch of Trummer's regulars cycle throughout the evening. He personally attends to every one, making certain that an order of fondue, moules frites, sliders or shrimp cocktail—each perfectly executed—is readily dispatched, or pouring out any remainder in his cocktail shaker and sliding it over to the lucky chosen. If he knows your name, it’s obviously the best seat in the house—even with the sticky countertop.

Fraiche DJ night
Thursdays, 10 p.m.-1 a.m.
Dinner service until 10:15 p.m.
Bar menu (one of the best in the city) available until midnight
Cocktails, and Albert Trummer**, until 1 a.m.

Jiyeon Yoo is Restaurants editor for Metromix Los Angeles.
**Editor's note: Metromix has just learned that Albert Trummer is no longer overseeing the bar service at Fraiche. Stay tuned and we'll let you know where you can pull up to a sticky countertop and fiery absinthe display.

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