Jessica Koslow

North Italia is located right across the street from Garage 6 on Second Street in Santa Monica. In this part of town, directions are often given by where people can park. The authentic Italian restaurant is also just around the corner from the Promenade, which is nice, according to Regional Chef Sammy Sleman, “because we’re kind of tucked away, it makes us feel a little bit more neighborhood-y versus in a busy touristy spot.”

“The cool thing about Santa Monica is it’s a mix of everything,” he explained. “We have local residents who live close by, and we have a lot of tourists. They’re coming in from all over the world. We love that mix. It keeps us on our toes because we have new clientele that comes in often, a lot of first-time guests. We really like to wow them and make sure they have an awesome experience.”

Next year marks a decade that North Italia in Santa Monica has been open for business. Sleman joined the brand 13 years ago when it included just six restaurants. Today it consists of 50 nationwide. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

Thibaud Duccini grew up in Cannes, a city in the South of France that he refers to as hospitality-forward. He credits its “touristiness” with exposing him to what would become his career path, a passion that stayed with him when he moved to LA 16 years ago.

“There’s a lot of restaurants and hotels in Cannes,” explained Duccini, who opened The Wine Station in August 2025. “When you’re in high school, during the summertime you work in restaurants to make money and that’s how I got introduced to the hospitality business. I’ve worked in hospitality since I was 16.”

Duccini’s first job in LA was working with the Patina Group for 7 years, where he was put in charge of the wine program. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

According to Zach Brooks, general manager of Smorgasburg LA, there is no better way to enjoy the city of LA than through its food. Brooks has tested this worldview in other cities as well, such as New York, where he began his food writing career with the launch of a website called Midtown Lunch.

It was while running this venture that he met the founders of Smorgasburg New York, which started about 15 years ago.

“Originally, it was the Brooklyn Flea, before there were a lot of hipster flea markets,” Brooks explained. “They were one of the first in Fort Greene in Brooklyn, and it had a little bit of food. The food became so popular that when they got an opportunity to launch a second event, they decided to focus on food, and they called it Smorgasburg because the original one was in Williamsburg.” . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Alonso Franco and Ignacio Barrios, owners of Merka Saltao, the new Peruvian restaurant in Culver City, met in elementary school and became fast friends. As the years progressed, so did their careers — but in different directions.

Franco ran hostels, offering tourists 300 beds from Lima to Cusco, hosting 1% of all Peruvian tourism each year and reaching the rank of No. 3 hostel in the world by Hostelworld. Barrios was a celebrated chef in Lima who ran collaborative kitchens and appeared in his own TV show on a local food network.

When the pandemic hit, the two reconnected. Because people were not traveling as much or getting together as often, the two successful entrepreneurs decided to start from scratch and build something aligned with their goals and passions: Peruvian food in the United States. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

When asked about the origin of Truly Pizza, the wildly popular pizza place in Dana Point, co-founder John Arena mused about the humor of how things always seem to come full circle.

As the story goes, Arena moved to Las Vegas with his cousin in 1980 to open a tiny pizzeria. He had picked up a few tips and tricks growing up in his family’s shop in New York and wanted to launch out on his own.

“When I was a young child, my dad always worked two jobs,” Arena said. “He was a New York City factory worker by day and after his shift, he would go straight to our family-owned pizzeria and work late into the night. By the time he came home, I was always asleep, but without fail my dad would come to my room to kiss me goodnight. After a night of cooking, his clothes would take on the aroma of pizza. For my entire life the fragrance of pizza has conjured up the love of family and a commitment to the beautiful heritage of the world’s greatest communal food.” . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

It’s Veterans Day, the Tuesday after their grand opening weekend, and Jessica Christopher and Michelle Taylor, the owners of Altadena Cookie Co., are taking stock of their good fortune in a year that saw a lot of bad fortune. The store is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the cases are fresh out of inventory, but the two entrepreneurs could not be happier.

“It was overwhelmingly positive and overwhelming in the amount of people that came in,” Taylor said. “It was really touching because a lot of people were saying that they’ve been following us, and this is giving us hope.”

The hope is referring to the atmosphere in the aftermath of the January wildfires in Altadena that destroyed more than 7,000 structures, including Taylor’s home. Before opening a brick and mortar, the two women who met at a mommy and me group ran their business out of their homes. . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

In France, food is more than a meal; it is a ritual. This is the gospel according to Maxence (Max) Bouvier, the 29-year-old co-owner of OH LA LA, the French-Californian café on East Colorado Boulevard.

“Usually an average dinner is twice as long as what you experience here in the U.S.,” he explained. “It’s really something very important in the French culture.”

Inspired by his native French love of food and the desire to share it with his community, one year ago Bouvier opened OH LA LA with his business partner, Thomas Kocer. . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

Neil Syal and his father, Raj, haven’t always worked together. Raj is a chef and baker, and Neil started his career as an accountant. It was Neil’s growing love for health and fitness that pulled them together for their latest project, Bungraze, on Central Avenue in Little Tokyo.

“This is a culmination of what we’re passionate about,” Neil said. “We came together to create a burger with a flatbread focaccia bun. We make the dough every morning.”

The concept for freshly made bread for each burger began at Raj’s restaurant, Rockfire Grill, around 2014. During the pandemic, Neil started to make his own food, including bone broth and yogurt. Raj, being the chef in the family, asked his son if he could make the bone broth and yogurt, and in 2022, the two began to sell their newly created brand, Sungraze, at the Historic Downtown LA Farmers’ Market. As the two were setting up for the market each week, they noticed the signs for lease on doors. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

In late August, just over a month before Bianca Sicilian Trattoria officially opened in the Arts District in DTLA, chef and owner Michele Galifi fell off a ladder during construction. He broke his arm, wrist and elbow. Fortunately for Galifi, from a young age his family instilled in him the values of hard work and dedication.

“Whatever it is going on in your life or your health, you always have to understand that you have a business, and you need to carry the business forward,” he said. “It’s absolutely normal for humans to have days off. We have days that we don’t feel good, but at the end of the day, you need to make sure that you pull through and do your best at all times.”

Sure enough — falls, breaks and all — Bianca Sicilian Trattoria opened its doors in late September. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Friends and business partners Richard Peters and Constantine Savvides have always been adventure junkies. Savvides rock and ice climbs; he tries to tackle Jiminy Peak every year or two and once scaled the Matterhorn. When they met, they were both riding fast Italian motorcycles.

“I think there’s definitely a propensity toward risk,” said Savvides. 

“I would agree,” Peters added. “It doesn’t have to be necessarily risky but new horizons, new places, exploring the world. My form of that exploration comes with hiking, rock climbing, camping and a lot of outdoor stuff. Constantine and I have enjoyed that together many times.” . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.