Hinoki & The Bird
Century City's Best Kept Wine Secret
Century City · Los Angeles · Asian, Californian · Visit Website ↗
Reviewed April 7, 2026
Wingman Metrics
First Impression
Walk into Hinoki & The Bird and the wine list immediately signals that someone here takes this seriously. Four to five hundred selections, a dedicated sommelier in Cristina Candido, and a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence earned in 2024 — this is not a restaurant that phoned it in on the beverage program. The indoor-outdoor Century City setting gives the whole experience a polished-but-not-stiff energy that matches the list's ambition.
Selection Deep Dive
The list leans hard into France and Italy, which is exactly where it should lean — Burgundy anchors everything, with names like Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet and Leroy Bourgogne sitting alongside the kind of Bordeaux heavyweights (Château Lynch-Bages, Château Pichon Baron) that make collectors lean forward in their chairs. California holds its own with Kistler Chardonnay and Screaming Eagle representing the prestige end of the state's output. The Italian contingent — Gaja Barbaresco and Giacomo Conterno Barolo — is short but surgical, hitting the producers that actually matter. If there's a gap, it's that the Asian-inflected cuisine could use more support from Alsace, Germany, or even some well-chosen Austrian whites, regions that read the menu better than a Napa Cab does.
By the Glass
Roughly 20 to 30 pours by the glass is a generous program, with entry points starting around $14–$18 — reasonable for Century City, where a parking validation costs more than a cocktail at lesser restaurants. We'd want to know more about how often the glass list rotates, but the depth of the bottle list suggests Candido has good raw material to work with. Ask what's open; the answer will tell you everything about how seriously the staff treats the program on any given night.
Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet — $150–$200 (estimated range)
Leflaive Puligny at a restaurant with this caliber of cellar and proper storage is the move. You're paying for one of Burgundy's most reliable white Burgundy addresses, and in a room that actually knows how to keep and serve it, that matters more than the sticker price suggests.
Leroy Bourgogne
Most tables at a room like this will be chasing the Screaming Eagle or eyeing the DRC. Meanwhile, the Leroy Bourgogne sits there quietly — a village-level wine from one of Burgundy's most obsessive producers, almost certainly the best QPR on the French side of the list if the markup is reasonable. Order it before someone else does.
Screaming Eagle
Yes, it's on the list. Yes, it's Screaming Eagle. No, you should not order it at a restaurant. The markup on cult Napa Cab at this level is always punishing, and the food here — hamachi crudo, wood-roasted fish, dumplings — is not crying out for a wine that costs more than a round-trip flight to Napa. Save it for a collector dinner where the bottle is the point.
Domaine Leflaive Puligny-Montrachet + Hamachi crudo
Chardonnay from Puligny — all that mineral tension and restrained fruit — cuts through the richness of hamachi without overpowering the delicate citrus and heat that typically dress a crudo. It's the kind of pairing that makes you put your fork down and pay attention.
🔥 The Bottom Line
Hinoki & The Bird is doing serious wine work in a room that could easily coast on the Century City expense-account crowd. Get Cristina Candido's attention, tell her what you're eating, and let the list do the rest.
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