Plus a refreshing raw bar turns heads in West Adams
Words by CATHERINE BIGELOW and S. IRENE VIRBILA
Tyler Florence Is on the Move
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of WAYFARE TAVERN, chef Tyler Florence moved his beloved Financial District restaurant just four blocks away to a 10,000-square-foot, two-story space. Built in 1910, this brick-and-beam building received a $7 million updo, with lush interiors created by award-winning designer Jon de la Cruz. The main floor — with a marble-veined bar, plush banquettes, a wine room, and open kitchen pass — exudes a cozy yet luxuriant Gold Rush–era vibe and is divided into micro-dining rooms. Each is expressed in rich palettes of red and green and accented by gorgeous wall treatments, vintage art, and Tavern memorabilia. While Tyler is tweaking his daily menu, the stars remain: a classic burger, ethereal popovers, and his famed fried chicken, now available with a supplement of caviar. 201 Pine St., S.F.; wayfaretavern.com. C.B.
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Maybourne Beverly Hills Debuts Couture Confections
Fashionista alert: Don’t miss tea at the posh MAYBOURNE BEVERLY HILLS, which features not only the expected jam-slathered scones and dainty tea sandwiches, but also astonishingly intricate pastries in homage to Hollywood’s red carpet. The Maybourne’s sister hotel in London, The Berkeley, has been famously serving its Prêt-à-Portea tea service based on each season’s couture shows for some two decades. For this first season at the Beverly Hills hotel, executive pastry chef Brooke Martin is channeling iconic red carpet looks like ankle wrap sandals Taylor Swift wore at the 2021 Grammy Awards and Bjork’s Oscars swan dress, which makes its entrance as a pavlova with passion fruit ganache and swan meringue. 225 N. Canon Dr., Beverly Hills, 310-860-7980; maybournebeverlyhills.com. S.I.V.
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L’Ermitage Beverly Hills Raises the Roof
As part of a dramatic refresh to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the L’ERMITAGE BEVERLY HILLS, the hotel’s rooftop will be open to the public for the first time. The new bar and restaurant concept is called Poza, a morphing of “ponzu” with Ponza, the island off Rome, and pozza, Italian for pool. Enjoy 360-degree views of the neighborhood while noshing on bluefin tuna poke, lobster rolls, housemade chips with guacamole, and more from chef Todd Matthews, previously of Pendry West Hollywood and Mondrian in NYC. As for cocktails, try the 1975, the hotel’s version of a classic Dark & Stormy, or the signature Burton Sunset Spritz, mixed with St. Germain, blood orange, and raspberry boba. 9291 Burton Way, Beverly Hills, 310-278-3344; lermitagebeverlyhills.com. S.I.V.
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Cento Turns Seaward
Alta Adams sparked the growing restaurant scene in L.A.’s historic West Adams neighborhood. Bestia alum Avner Levi added the wildly popular Cento Pasta Bar and now, just next door, CENTO RAW BAR — and boy, is it a looker. Designer Brandon Miradi, responsible for the edgy Vespertine and Destroyer, puts his mark on every element: the snail motif on stools and silverware, slinky tiered seafood towers in wavy green acrylic, brightly colored plates, quirky cocktail glasses. He found a way to hand plaster the walls with textured swirls and swoops to mimic a sea cave. Chef Levi has gone full tilt into the menu. “It’s really a restaurant where I would like to go myself,” he says. “The way I like to cook and eat is playful.” Instead of the usual caviar service, he’s got caviar sliders with crème fraîche, lots of lemon, and chives. Tuna crudo comes in a tomato gazpacho. His favorite dish, which he could eat every day? The lobster melt, which is “like a tuna melt, but with lobster and Muenster cheese.” Seafood towers crowned with tiny uni tacos are heaped with oysters, shrimp cocktail, lobster claws, and snow crab claws. There are no reservations: Guests can pop in, maybe wait a little, talk, and socialize. Levi wants to leave room for the unexpected, whether it’s a fish, a new cocktail, or a conversation. 4921 W. Adams Blvd., L.A., 323-998-0404; @centorawbar. S.I.V.
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Carlsbad’s Newest Culinary Victory
For years natural wine bars have been sprouting in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, London, and Athens. But beach cities north of San Diego? Not so much. Now comes LITTLE VICTORY WINE BAR in coastal Carlsbad from former Bestia bar manager Jeremy Simpson and wellness entrepreneur Kirsten Potenza, owners of Little Victory Wine Market in Encinitas. And what a sweet little spot it is, specializing in wines from organic grapes and made with minimal intervention. The couple search out bottles from small producers in California, Sicily, Austria, Alsace, even the Canary Islands. Visitors can nosh on farmhouse cheeses, artisanal cured meats, pickles, and trending tinned seafood. In the kitchen is another husband-and-wife team: chefs Elliott and Kelly Townsend of the popup Long Story Short fame, who have trained in Italy and Denmark. The menu includes local bluefin crudo perfumed with passion fruit, green garlic risotto with Roman-style artichokes, maybe black cod with turnips and miso butter. Fish comes from the fishermen. Produce from the farmers. For dessert? Can’t pass up that burnt Basque cheesecake. The vibe is warm and convivial, a bit Parisian, a bit Nordic — with a patio. Wed.–Sun., 4–10 p.m. 505 Oak Ave., Ste. B, Carlsbad; littlevictorywine.com. S.I.V.
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Caribbean Cool Comes to Los Angeles
Jamaican-Canadian chef Adrian Forte was working as a private chef in Turks & Caicos when Sam Jordan (formerly of Olivetta and Issima) sought him out for a new high-end Afro-Caribbean restaurant in L.A. Forte grew up in Kingston, Jamaica, where two of his grandmothers had a restaurant together. He went to culinary school in Toronto, and he has been a semifinalist on Top Chef Canada, written an Afro-Caribbean cookbook, and cooked for the likes of Alicia Keys, Drake, and Virgil Abloh. Forte was happily semiretired, but after he saw the space, it felt right. “I’m most excited about introducing Angelenos to proper Caribbean food,” he says. At LUCIA, the chef riffs on tradition with salt fish and fig croquettes and lychee ceviche in tigre de leche (i.e., no fish involved, vegans). Everything is made from scratch. Coconut fried chicken (that’s the dish you’ll want on a first visit) gets a fermented chile aioli. Cooked down with cinnamon and clove, oxtail pepper pot comes with whipped butter beans. Of course, there’s a jerk steak, too. And for dessert, you can’t go wrong with the sweet potato sticky pudding with rum ginger caramel or the dramatic baked Alaska. The swanky bar turns out tropical-themed cocktails (okra martini?) and has bottle service, too. Wed.–Sun. for dinner. 551 N. Fairfax Avenue, L.A.; luciala.com. S.I.V.
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A Seafood Hot Spot Pops Up on a Westside Rooftop
From the banks of the Los Angeles River in Central L.A.’s Elysian Valley (lovingly referred to as Frogtown) to a perch overlooking the Pacific Ocean, LORETO expands its reach this summer by joining forces with the SANTA MONICA PROPER HOTEL for an exclusive culinary collaboration on the property’s stunning Calabra Restaurant & Bar. Paco Moran, executive chef at Loreto, brings his signature dishes to the hotel’s rooftop — which has breathtaking panoramic coastal views — for a seasonal pairing that’s as much a feast for the eyes as for the soul. Moran introduces a highly curated menu (with purposefully sourced ingredients and free of seed oils) that includes his crowd-pleasing ceviches, crudos, and stratified tostadas to the Westside, along with a golden hour cocktail menu crafted by Lorento Group bar manager Ari Davis. Reservations suggested. June 20–Sept. 1, Thurs.–Sun., 12–8 p.m. 700 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica; properhotel.com. D.N.
Portions of this story originally appeared in the Summer 2025 issue of C Magazine.
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