danielpour 50th birthday

Mercado restaurant is open in Mid-City with a private dining room for eight. The space boasts new elements like a significantly larger interior, designed by Ana Henton MASS Architecture & Design. The concept created an updated version of the Santa Monica location fit for the 3rd Street space, which has two rooms. To the left of a large bar is a covered patio that opens to the corner of 3rd and Fairfax. The room includes counter-height communal tables and leather banquette seating. White brick walls replaced the original subway-tile walls, and the interior fireplace and furniture feature larger white tiles. In addition to the private room, the 6,200-square-foot space hosts 175 guests.

From chef Susan Feniger and the team behind Street comes Mud Hen Tavern, which opened in December and offers booths and communal tables. The refurbished space serves seasonal pub and comfort food and has a bar with a draft beer system. Located in the former Street space, Fengier and executive chef and partner Kajsa Alger prepare a variety of rustic dishes with global influences. The bar program includes international wines, local craft beers, and artisanal cocktails. A patio accommodates larger groups and private events.

Hakkasan Beverly Hills is a 10,000-square-foot restaurant that opened in the fall with an 18-seat private dining room called the Lotus. The signature Hakkasan blue façade and ornately patterned stainless steel doors open into the space, which has a dramatic main dining area that seats 132 and features sculpted white marble calacatta walls and oak accents. The restaurant is surrounded by a set of carved Chinese screens known as the Cage, a classic Hakkasan design element, meant to facilitate privacy at the tables. At one end of the room is a 66-foot-long blue backlit glass bar. The kitchen, as in all Hakkasan locations, is visible through the blue glass partition at the back of the restaurant. The restaurant is headed by Michelin-starred chef Ho Chee Boon and serves Cantonese cuisine with Asian-inspired cocktails, wines, and sakes. Conceptualized by Parisian design firm Gilles & Boissier, Hakkasan Beverly Hills features an intricate Shanghai Chinois-inspired aesthetic.

Crossroads is a new high-end vegan restaurant by chef Tal Ronnen. For intimate gatherings, there are two private dining spaces. The wine room has a retractable roof and white-washed wooden beams, as well as a herringbone-pattern wine wall, acid-wash concrete floors, and a palette of red, gold, and grey. Another private dining room for 10 has an antiqued mirrored wall, an opulent chandelier, an arced plaster ceiling, and an original Toulouse-Lautrec print. Wood cabinetry that houses the venue's collection of wines flank the space.

Chef Suzanne Goin and business partner Caroline Styne, owners of Lucques, Tavern, and the Larder at Maple Drive restaurants in Los Angeles, moved their small-plates restaurant A.O.C. to a new location in early 2013. The new space has a wood-paneled wine room that seats 40 for private events. A laurel tree-lined garden holds 70, and the entire restaurant seats 190 or holds 275 for receptions.

For large groups, Chi Lin is a collaboration between Innovative Dining Group and cuisine inspired by Cecile Tang of Joss. Chinese dishes include Maine lobster with ginger and scallion over house-made noodles; chicken carved and served with handmade porbien crêpes, plum sauce, and julienned cucumbers and scallions; and seared Wagyu served with the chef’s XO sauce and coarse sea salt. With a look by interior design firm Studio Collective, the space is meant to reflect the colors and tone of the Hong Kong skyline. The 5,000-square-foot space holds 100. The venue also shares a retractable wall with its sister restaurant, RivaBella, for a total of 13,000 square feet. The spaces are available for buyout individually or together.

Opened in March by Coastal Luxury Management, Faith & Flower has several spaces for groups. Handcrafted chandelier lighting illuminates the 140 leather and textured seats both inside and out on the restaurant’s hedge-lined patio. The entire space seats 175 or holds 400 for a reception. A large private room seats 50 or holds 80 for a reception, and a small private dining room seats 18. Designed by AvroKO, the design and decor is meant to pay homage to two major renaissance periods—the 1920s and modern day—that shaped downtown Los Angeles. Design elements include a partition wall of distressed doors from the 1920s, a handmade sunburst wall installation, and a mural by local street artist Robert Vargas. Executive chef Michael Hung helms the kitchen.

For sustainability-minded groups, the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey opened the Cast & Plow restaurant in March following a makeover. The venue has panoramic views of the marina and specializes in community-made, local, sustainable cuisine. It has 80 indoor and outdoor seats with a patio, terrace, fire pit, fireplace, bar, restaurant, communal table, and private space. Each setting offers the restaurant’s full breakfast, lunch, dinner, wine, and bar menus. There is an on-property herb garden, and the restaurant also offers hand-picked ingredients from local farmers' markets and farms.

The newest restaurant from perhaps Los Angeles’s buzziest chef, Roy Choi, is Pot at Choi’s Line Hotel. Opened in March, the Korean-American restaurant got its name from the signature menu items: hot pots meant to be shared among a group or ordered in individual sizes. Jude Parra-Sickels heads up the kitchen, and Sean Knibb designed the minimalist, intimate space. There's room for 92 seated guests and the venue is available for buyout.

In June 2013, Russian restaurant Mari Vanna Los Angeles opened in West Hollywood, offering Russian cuisine, karaoke, and eye-catching decor. The venue mimics the interior of a residence and has five distinct spaces: a fireplace-lit 30-seat family dining room, a 30-seat sunroom, an intimate 20-seat bar, a 20-seat wine and karaoke lounge, and a 60-seat garden patio. A white wrought iron gate marks the entrance, decked with potted plants and flowers, and birdhouses, flower baskets, and lanterns hang above the cushioned wicker seating throughout the patio for an open-air gathering. Inside, the karaoke and wine lounge comes equipped with an audiovisual system, and the in-house accordionist will entertain diners with traditional folk Russian folk music. The venue is available for buyouts and events. It's the sixth location for the international chain from Russian hospitality group Ginza Project.