Gastronomy Blog by Cathy Chaplin

Restaurant Review

10 Nov 2026

{close friends} Mkutano House at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

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Mkutano House at San Diego Zoo Safari Park - San Diego

Welcome back to Close Friends: Unfiltered and irreverent restaurant reviews, copied and pasted straight from my DMs. Edited lightly for grammar and clarity.

Mkutano House — Swahili for “gathering with purpose” — is a full-service restaurant in the heart of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s Elephant Valley. Opened in March 2026, the two-story lodge serves a “globally-inspired” menu with cocktails featuring spirits sourced from distilleries across Africa.

The best seats in the house are on the patio with unfettered views of elephants eating, ambling, and playing.

TLDR: 💯

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Restaurant Review

17 Oct 2026

{close friends} Lielle – Los Angeles

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Welcome to Close Friends: Unfiltered and irreverent restaurant reviews, copied and pasted straight from my DMs. Edited lightly for grammar and clarity.

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Chef Marcus Jernmark’s tasting menu ($150) at one-Michelin-starred Lielle in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, October 15, 2026.

TLDR.

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Restaurant Review

13 Oct 2026

{plate-by-plate} Tuju – São Paulo

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Plate-by-plate of chef Ivan Ralston’s tasting menu (R$1,650) at three-Michelin-starred Tuju in São Paulo, Brazil, on Tuesday, July 28, 2026.

First stop: Tuju’s ground-floor garden, where “Totem o Homem Tatu” awaits, a zoomorphic wooden sculpture carved by Indigenous artist Stive Mehinako (Kulikyrda Mehinako).

Tomato and Mushroom (R$70) | “Our take on the classic Bloody Mary, but not so ‘bloody’ as it is, is one of the non-alcoholic cocktail options on our menu. With tempered and clarified tomato juice, finished with mushroom salt made here.”

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