Jessica Koslow

American-born Anthony Wang, who opened his first restaurant, Firstborn, inside the Mandarin Plaza in Chinatown on March 28, credits his older sister, Lulu, for his career as a chef. He would not be cooking today if it were not for her support and encouragement.

Wang studied classical piano as a kid, and he was really good, often placing at the top in state competitions. But when he turned 18, he stopped loving his instrument. His sister sat him down for a chat.

“It is obvious that you like cooking,” she told him. “Why don’t you try to pursue it?” . . .

Read the full article at LA Downtown News.

Levain Bakery owners Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald began baking at their first shop on 74th Street in New York City in 1995. The friends and running mates aimed to create a great place to work, be part of a community, and bake and share delicious breads and pastries. They had no expectations beyond the original 74th Street location.

Now, Weekes and McDonald have hit their stride with the opening of the Venice shop on Friday, April 4. They plan to stay in it for the long haul.

The latest Levain location takes over where Lemonade served delicious and healthful salads since 2009. Levain is upping the ante. The scent of bakeries wafting from the doors at the corner of Abbot Kinney and Venice boulevards will be a welcome addition to the popular shopping street.  . . .

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Tomat is the name of the new California cuisine restaurant that husband-and-wife team Harry Posner and Natalie Dial opened five months ago in The Triangle area of Westchester. It is also the nickname given independently to each one because they both turn red in the sun.

The former health care professionals serendipitously met at a research facility in The Gambia in Africa in 2013. Once Dial realized Posner could cook — and would often make things that she requested — she began to sit one seat closer to him each night at dinner.

“We became best friends through the years,” Dial said about her husband with whom she now has a 2-year-old. “We shared a desire and dream to eventually switch careers and open a restaurant. An opportunity came along that expedited this timeline for us.” . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

Enter the lobby of the U.S. Bank Tower, a 1,018-foot skyscraper on West Fifth Street, and take the elevator to the 54th floor. But wait, there is more. A second elevator escorts guests to the 71st floor. The doors open into 71Above, a dining experience like no other in Los Angeles.

On many occasions, the first words from diners’ mouths when they see the view is, “Wow.”

“We are very fortunate because we get to share that wow moment,” said general manager Alex Hasbany, who has worked at 71Above since it opened its doors in 2016. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

The Olympics are heading to Los Angeles in the summer of 2028, and Barbara Jacobs wants Downtown Los Angeles to shine. As the executive vice president of Allureum Experiences and project coordinator of The Gallery, she is familiar with the playbook because she has managed it previously.

“You walk around Downtown LA, and every place is half filled,” Jacobs said. “We need to make a concerted effort to make Downtown look beautiful, and I was part of that in 2008 with Bringing Back Broadway.”

Jacobs was also part of a small group of forward-thinking business leaders that introduced mixology to LA with the opening of The Edison — where she continued to work for nine years — which forever changed the local nightlife scene and the national cocktail conversation. . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

“Settecento” means 700, the number of the building that houses the new Italian restaurant and latest culinary effort from Global Dining Inc., which opened La Boheme in West Hollywood in 1991 and 1212 Santa Monica in 2016.

“When we were scouting a third location, we went to the 69th floor of the U.S. Bank Tower in Downtown LA and saw Maguire Gardens,” said Settecento owner Lucian Tudor. “We fell in love with the garden aspect of it and saw the potential of creating something unique, a space for the community to enjoy.”

Settecento will open its doors to the public on Friday, Jan. 24, and reservations are available via OpenTable. The menu is cloaked in secrecy until the opening date. Established in 1995, Café Pinot previously operated at 700 W. Fifth Street for 25 years until 2019. The space had been vacant for the past four years while Tudor’s team worked toward launching Settecento. . . .

Read the full article at LA Downtown News.

Starbird CEO Aaron Noveshen measures his success in more than dollars and cents. For the Los Angeles native, true pros-perity means helping people improve their lives.

“For me, it is first and foremost about giving opportunities to people with jobs, with growth, with education,” he said.

That economic boost is continuing. With the recent additions Starbird’s Pleasanton and Palo Alto locations, the chain founded in Sunnyvale now operates 16 restaurants in California. Starbird recently inked a seven-unit franchise development agreement in Colorado and is eyeing additional deals in Utah, Arizona and Washington by the end of 2025.

“The reception is nothing short of miraculous,” said Noveshen, calling from his Bay Area home. “The sales per square foot in our average unit is upward of $2,000, two to three times what typical restaurants experience. We are fortunate to be growing while so many others in the industry are struggling.” . . .

Read the full article at Playa Vista Magazine.

When Christian Warren moved to Catamaran Street on Venice Beach in 1992, he passed by 1 Washington Boulevard and gazed at the prime location. He thought a business could thrive there. 

On May 3, Warren and his partner, Justin Urich, turned his decades-old musings into reality when they opened Nalu Vida. The beach bar and restaurant offers tropical cuisine and cocktails. Nalu translates to “wave” in Hawaiian, and vida is “life” in Latin.

“It feels like coming full circle for me,” Warren said. . . .

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

Melody Bar & Grill owner Christian Warren refers to his business partner, who is 20 years his senior, as a legend. 

“Old bartenders stick together and confer that title on each other,” Warren’s partner Bobby Hughes said. 

Being called a legend is an honor bestowed on bartenders who have survived many years in the business.

Hughes, who laughed upon hearing about his legend status, started his career in New York City, where he once served a martini to actress Lauren Bacall. He gained a reputation as a first-rate bartender working at Chez Jay in Santa Monica and Cheesecake Factory in Marina del Rey.

Warren was working as a bartender at Baja Cantina in Venice when he met Hughes through a mutual friend.  

“Buying a bar was the penultimate dream for most bartenders then,” Hughes said. . . .

Read the full article at The Argonaut.

When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, Heather Wong was celebrating the one-month anniversary of the million-dollar bakery in Sherman Oaks that she had just helped to open. A year and a half worth of work, and Wong now found herself without a job. She launched her own brand, Flouring LA, baking and selling out of a ghost kitchen in Chinatown.

“I started the brand in July 2020 because I needed to do something for my sanity and for money,” Wong stated.

Within a year of starting her own business, she was approached by the great-granddaughter of the founder of New Chinatown, who offered her a space in the last building that the family owned — the historic SooHoo Leung Building on Hill Street, alongside Pearl River Deli, Thank You Coffee, Paper Plant Co., and Sesame LA. . . .

Read the full article at LA Downtown News.