Kim Stodel, bar director at three-Michelin-starred Providence a few blocks west of the Paramount lot in Hollywood, steeps charred sweet corn in jasmine green tea on a recent afternoon.  I have a suspicion that adding this burnt aroma will accentuate things, taking it over the edge in the way I'm hoping,  he explains of tweaking this accompaniment to an abalone dish on the seafood restaurant's tasting menu. It's part of Stodel's extensive prep and constant experimentation for his nonalcoholic pairings program.

Providence has been around for two decades, Stodel overseeing drinks for more than half that span. But he's only been concocting elaborate spirit-free progressions in the past two years.  The NA category is exploding,  Stodel says,  and we're all still beginners, exploring. 

L.A.'s fine dining realm is at the leading edge of a new national movement in NA pairings thanks to driving, sobriety culture and the dampening effects of GLP-1 products. At Sushi Nakazawa's lauded original Manhattan location, only 5 percent of the clientele is opting for NA beverages, while it's 25 percent at its 5-month-old outpost along Robertson Boulevard.

Downtown restaurant Kato, a repeat on the World's 50 Best list in recent years, was an early and enthusiastic adopter of NA pairings.  You can draw a clear parallel with the advent of serious cocktail programs in fine dining spaces 20 years ago, when those drinks became culinary,  explains Kato's bar director Austin Hennelly.  Soon we'll look back at the time right before right now and won't believe alcohol-free beverages weren't taken seriously in sophisticated restaurants because this is now what a significant percentage of people want to drink. 

Customers, especially younger generations who on average drink substantially less, are driving the demand. In turn, these fine-dining establishments - which operate on thin margins - are developing their NA programs as meaningful alternative revenue streams. (Their cost is often almost as much as alcoholic programs.)  With small restaurants in particular, when you remove wine, the numbers are very tight,  exp
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