Here's a look at new Los Angeles hotels, restaurants, private rooms, and other spaces to open for events this spring. The new and renovated Los Angeles venues are available for conferences, meetings, corporate parties, weddings, fund-raisers, outdoor functions, business dinners, teambuilding activities, and more.
Hanjip is the first partnership between Chris Oh and Stephane Bombet, owner of Bombet Hospitality Group and co-founder of such restaurants as Picca, Terrine, Faith & Flower, and Viviane. The Korean barbecue restaurant opened in Culver City in November. It’s available for buyout with room for 125 for receptions, including on the patio, or 95 seated guests. Chef’s cuts include beef tongue, baby octopus, and steak with fois gras butter. There’s also a wine and beer menu, plus soju cocktails. Dramatic black-and-white graphic wall decor complements wooden seating in the visually striking space.
Ivory opened on New Year's Eve as the new restaurant at the Mondrian hotel. The space is meant to celebrate Hollywood’s golden age and was designed by Built Inc. (the group behind the Nice Guy and Bootsy Bellows) in collaboration with John Terzian of the H.Wood Group and locally based Brigette Romanek. The 7,500-square-foot space offers views of the city, with a patio accented with palms. Inside are dining tables, lounge seating, and a communal table, plus a grand piano. The total capacity is 425 for receptions or 300 seated, using both indoor and outdoor spaces.
This winter, Santa Anita Park debuted a complete renovation, and this season is the first to have access to the new facilities. All 13 suites at the racetrack were revamped with seating for as many as 40 people, flat-screen TVs, retractable glass windows, catering and beverage service, and a private wagering machine and betting concierge. Below the luxury suites are more than 1,200 renovated boxes. Additionally, the overhauled Chandelier room has panoramic views of the track and a look in keeping with the room’s 1930s roots. The venue also renovated a speakeasy-like space, accessible by invitation only, which is hidden behind a nondescript door that opens to a small room done in dark wood, leather furnishings, and a polished bar.
Roku opened in November from Innovative Dining Group. Teppan chefs prepare A-5 Japanese Wagyu, Matsuzaka beef, Santa Barbara spot prawns, and other ingredients at interactive grill tables. The menu offers new dishes as well as select favorites from the group’s Sushi Roku brand alongside a big selection of sakes, craft cocktails, and what’s billed as the largest selection of Japanese whiskey on the Los Angeles culinary scene. It holds 500 for receptions or seats 200 guests.Â
Joey Restaurants, which has 24 locations across Canada and Seattle, opened its first Los Angeles-area location at the Village at Westfield Topanga in December. The new restaurant offers modern American fare with locally and globally inspired dishes led by executive chef Chris Mills. The venue reflects the mid-century look seen throughout California with an open kitchen design. The venue has 215 interior seats, and the patio has an additional 101 seats.
Rose Cafe-Restaurant, a project from chef Jason Neroni and restaurateur Bill Chait, reopened its doors in Venice in November. The iconic space originated in 1979; 36 years later, the new owners took over the reins, with a nod to seasonal, globally influenced cuisine. The sizable space, designed by local arts district company Studio UNLTD, includes indoor and outdoor dining with a beer garden, a full market and bakery, a Verve Coffee bar, and a 40-foot bar with cocktails by Julian Cox and Nick Meyer. The design aesthetic references the evolution of the Venice community over the past three decades from its rough-around-the-edges history to its more posh current incarnation. Using this as the inspiration, the team used smooth and rough textures throughout the restaurant with various tiles, rope, cement, and white oak. It holds 250 for receptions or seats 115 in the dining room. A chef's table seats 15.
Chef Jason Park’s French-Japanese dining concept, Maru, opened in October along the Wilshire Corridor in West Los Angeles. Open for lunch, happy hour, and dinner, the restaurant serves Park’s dishes using seasonal ingredients that he handpicks at local farmers' markets. The omakase program, spearheaded by sushi veteran Itsuroku Kimura, features fish flown in daily from Japan. The restaurant offers a private dining room with a 60-inch TV. There’s a 17-seat sushi bar. The private dining room holds 22 seated plus an additional 10 standing. The banquettes outside the room hold an additional 12 seated or 15 for receptions.
Opened in October from the team behind Estate Restaurant & Bar is Santa Monica’s Guest Room, which has a speakeasy feel. The space above Estate is accessible via hidden entry and has a design from O’Brien & Associates inspired by Art Deco and modern industrialism. The color palette of indigo, champagne, deep red, and brown complements walls adorned with bronze-filigree chevron shapes and velvets on the tufted sofas and chairs. Tungsten lighting provides a warm glow against walnut woodwork. The space holds 90 for receptions.
The landmark Georgian Hotel, located seaside on Ocean Avenue in downtown Santa Monica, unveiled a suite refresh in November. The revamp for the collection of signature and ocean view suites throughout the hotel’s eight stories includes elements of the hotel's iconic Art Deco motif with modern details. In the living area, a love seat disguises a hidden foam-mattress sleeper sofa, alongside a chaise lounge that together provide a residential feel. Enhancements to the bedrooms include custom-made 300-thread-count bedding along with light, ocean-hued lounge chairs with geometric shapes and details. Carpeting has bold patterns and neutral colors to balance the space.
Opened on the Sunset Strip in June is Bar 53, meant to be a man-cave-like environment with masculine touches in the Mad Men style. The location has plush brown leather booths and dark wood covering the floors. The Lore Group’s space also has a collection of vintage art and photographs on the walls, evoking the early Playboy aesthetic. The intimate venue is just 790 square feet with room for 65 for receptions.
