The Gilda is by far the most famous of the pintxos, the skewered bites that top bars across San Sebastián and the País Vasco. The legend of the Gilda says that it was the first pintxo, named for the Rita Hayworth character in the 1946 movie Gilda. I don’t know if it’s true—we may never know the first!—but it was an early one. It’s also one of the easiest to prepare at home ahead of a party—get long toothpicks and skewer olives, peppers, and anchovies, then keep them soaking in olive oil until it’s time to serve. And, of course, they go best ahead of the meal with a drink in hand, vermouth or a glass of very cold Txakoli.

I’ll tell you a story—this is one of the tapas that actually helped launch my career. I was a very young chef working at a restaurant in Roses, on the Costa Brava of Catalunya. One summer night, very late, a customer came in and tasted my gambas al ajillo, and asked me to come work with him. That customer was Ferran Adrià, the chef of one of the most incredible restaurants of all time, elBulli, where I found my voice and learned so much. And I owe it all to these garlic shrimp! To me, it’s an amazing tapa because it is so simple and fast and the reward is so great. You have these sweet, juicy shrimp swimming in a hot, garlicky sauce made withextra virgin olive oil and Spanish brandy. Be sure you have some bread on hand to soak up all that sauce.

This was the first dish we came up with in the La Copine kitchen. We noticed the fryers, and immediately Nikki was reminded of how much she loved making fry bread as a kid, and pretty soon that translated into beignets. And because we knew we were going to do coffee and daytime hours, it felt right—like childhood nostalgia. La Copine is rooted in California, with our beginnings on the East Coast, inspired by France and the Mediterranean, New Orleans, and the South. Starting with beignets helped establish our identity—thoughtful yet indulgent. Beignets are something you wouldn’t find in the desert, and it has been important for us to provide something different from what was already here. We decided to make our beignets vegan so more people could have them, as inclusivity is at the root of all our dishes and our restaurant. We don’t advertise them as vegan, because we get a lot of cowboys who might not order them if they knew, haha. Traditional beignets are covered in powdered sugar, so we blend sugar to mimic powdered sugar but with a more granular crunch, then we add coffee grounds for a little more texture. You can make the dough the same day, but we like to make it the day before and let it slow ferment in the fridge overnight to develop more flavor. The next day, let the dough sit out on the counter for an hour before rolling it out and cutting it. You can then chill the cut beignets for up to four hours, until you’re ready to fry. Once the dough is cut, feel free to freeze whatever you are not frying that day. Fry from frozen, but the beignets might be less fluffy. Frying from fresh is always best.If you don’t need to make them vegan, and have dairy milk, butter, and eggs on hand, you can use them instead of the vegan ingredients. Sub equal parts for the milk and butter. Use one egg for the tablespoon of egg replacer and remove two tablespoons of water from the recipe. We are all about flexibility and using what you have on hand where it makes sense.

After eating this dish at La Copine, Natasha Lyonne said, “This place is a 10!” causing Nikki and Claire both to blush. As we are just a few hours from LA, a lot of people from the City of Angels show up at our doorstep. To accommodate diverse dietary needs, we make many dishes or components of our dishes vegan and/or gluten-free. It’s surprisingly easy when it comes to soups, salads, and sandwiches, but for a substantial vegan main dish, we had to think more outside the box.Claire grew up in New Jersey eating eggplant Parm as an after-school snack, sometimes layered and baked, other times piled on a sandwich, or simply dipped in oil and balsamic vinegar. So we came up with this eggplant Parm meets lasagna, made with thin slices of eggplant and zucchini layered like noodles with a fresh tomato sauce and cashew-based béchamel. After baking it for two hours, it’s refrigerated overnight to set, making it super easy to reheat the next day. We reserve half of the pomodoro to add to the pan when reheating so it gets extra hot and bubbly and finish it with a drizzle of basil oil, lots of garlic breadcrumbs, and fresh basil. It’s a comforting dish that both vegetarians and meat eaters find satisfying. And it’s easy to make gluten-free if you leave out the breadcrumbs or use a gluten-free option.

This dessert is an OG. It has been on the menu since our first year and is one of our most popular. And it happened completely by accident. Nikki was making a vegan coconut custard that never set up. With a penchant for not being wasteful, she figured she could add some cooked rice to the loose coconut base, and voilà! It absorbed the custard perfectly! We then created an actual recipe for it. It has been a fun topic of conversation with guests for years because everyone loves the nostalgia of a bowl of rice pudding.Coconut, cardamom, cinnamon, lemon, and thyme flavor the pudding base made with sweetly aromatic jasmine rice. Before the pudding goes in the fridge, it will still look a bit loose, but don’t worry, it will set up overnight. We serve ours chilled in a bowl with a raspberry compote underneath and fresh orange slices on top. Our fennel-spiced pepitas add a fun crunch and additional flavor to this comforting old-school dessert. It’s so good, we don’t even discuss taking it off the menu anymore.

I love eating fish tacos. I do not love the kitchen smell or extensive stove-top cleanup. They aren’t terrific as takeout either. This recipe combines the joy and flavor of a restaurant taco with the ease of an oven bake: You throw them in the oven, then prep the rest of the components while they cook.The real beauty of this recipe, though, lies in its versatility: If you are busy, you can swap out store-bought fish taco seasoning and bagged shredded cabbage mix and shredded carrots. And if you are cooking for different dietary preferences, a couple of easy swaps can make it paleo, vegetarian, or vegan (more on that below).The charred limes are a fun way to finish this dish—charring the lime is a super quick way to make it juicy, smoky, and slightly sweeter.