Incoming
R E S TA U R A N T S
LOCATION! LOCATION! LOCATION! Several local favorites are expanding
Jon & Vinny’s
The beloved pizza-and-pasta joint is heading south, with a third location opening in the former Yee’s Chinese spot (4400 W. Slauson Ave., Hyde Park, jon andvinnys.com) in the coming months. F R E S H C AT C H
At Workshop Kitchen + Bar, Beckman applies classical techniques to local ingredients like rock cod from Dory Fleet in Newport Beach.
LIKE THE PALM SPRINGS ORIGINAL, L.A.’S WORKSHOP KITCHEN & BAR WILL FEATURE STARK, STUNNING DESIGN AND ELEGANT SEASONAL DISHES B Y TA R A S O L O M O N
I T ’ S B E E N A long time in the making,” says chef Michael Beckman, of the soonto-open Los Angeles outpost of Workshop Kitchen & Bar, an offshoot of his Palm Springs hot spot of the same name. Beckman first started looking for an L.A. venue five years ago but only found something suitable after Odys + Penelope shuttered in 2019, leaving its dramatic South La Brea Avenue space vacant. “It just has this incredible energy,” he says. The new restaurant will feature the same menu of seasonal California fare that has made the desert Workshop a hard-to-score reservation for eight years. Dishes run the gamut from English pea risotto kissed with Meyer lemon to a wood-fired pizza topped with long beans and Humboldt Fog cheese to a grilled pork chop served with bacon-shallot marmalade, brussels sprouts, and pickled Cara Cara oranges. “My particular flair in the kitchen 40 L A M AG . C O M
is a French-focused interpretation of California products and traditions,” says Beckman. A third-generation Angeleno, Beckman trained in France and Germany, then worked as a private chef to Beverly Hills boldfacers for years. In 2011, he opened Workshop Kitchen + Bar in an art deco-era movie theater in Palm Springs’s Uptown Design District. The restaurant has garnered praise not just for its food but also for its gorgeous industrial interiors, which nabbed a James Beard Award in 2015. The new 4,000-square-foot, 120seat Los Angeles restaurant is shaping up to be equally stunning, with historic bones, brick walls, and an open plan, thanks to a 22-foot, open truss ceiling. New York’s SOMA architects are overseeing the redesign. Beckman says, “It’s brutalist and modern.” Workshop Kitchen & Bar, 127 S. La Brea Ave., Fairfax District, workshopkitchenbar.com.
HomeState
The Texas-style taqueria is on a roll. Already this year, it’s brought its queso to Pasadena (1992 Lincoln Ave., myhomestate.com) and south of the 10 (3923 W. Jefferson Blvd., West Adams). The Valley (13424-28 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks) is next.
Great White
The all-day Venice cafe is heading inland (244 N. Larchmont Blvd., Larchmont Village, greatwhitevenice.com) in early September. —H E AT H E R P L AT T
M A I N I M AG E : AU D R E Y M A R C H ; J O N & V I N N Y ’ S : L I Z B A R C L AY; U OVO : CO U RT E SY O F U OVO ; H O M E STAT E : JA KO B L AY M A N ; G R E AT W H I T E : B R E C H T VA N T H O F
Icy Hot
Uovo
The pasta specialist just debuted a third outpost (4635 Admiralty Way, Marina Del Rey, uovo.la) and another is on the way at the Shops at Sportsmen’s Lodge (12833 Ventura Blvd., Suite 157, Studio City). Sugarfish and HiHo Burger will be next door.