Photos: The Gadarene Swine in Studio City

Blackened cauliflower can be ordered a la carte and is served on the tasting menu.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Robert Max, left, and Lana Inderman enjoy dinner at the Gadarene Swine.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A meal often starts with sourdough with a reduced tomato puree. The dish is similar to the charred, half-baked rounds of sourdough with uni served at chef Phillip Frankland Lee’s other restaurant, Scratch Bar.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Phillip Frankland Lee helms the kitchen while his wife, Margarita Lee, serves as pastry chef of the restaurant.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Japanese eggplant skins with diced vegetables is a dish only available on the tasting menu at the Gadarene Swine.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Lee, from left, prepares a dish under the watchful eyes of sous-chef David Bowles and chef de partie Ricky Hernandez.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Vegetables in a Box is a tiny crate of crisped potato plunked into a drift of blackened eggplant puree and filled with thin disks of asparagus, kernels of sweet corn, pickled shimeji mushrooms, and whatever happens to be on hand that day.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Margarita Lee pours hot olive oil, from a candle made from an orange, over her version of tres leches.  (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)