ew restaurant chef/owners are as picky about the plating of food as Bernie Lee is. At akar (), Lee selects a specific dish for) for most of akar's plates and bowls. Segel-Moss enjoys “creating a minimalist color palette for chefs to create their art.” Lee works the pottery in with plates that he sources from around the globe. “Everywhere I travel, I look at plates,” he says. To Lee, an important part of the dining experience is the items that get placed on the table. “If you eat a salad at home versus in a restaurant…the takeaway is different,” he says. “So when a client asks, ‘Can I buy this plate?’—I know they've noticed.” , available on akar's current menu, combines poached shrimp with slices of seasonal pomelo, crispy shallots, peanuts, pickled Fresno chilies, and a fish sauce vinaigrette. The colors remind Lee of blooms in a garden, with the plate as a quiet backdrop. “To me,” he says, “it's a garden .”
