Bottega Louie, Conga Room, Chaya Downtown, Lab Gastropub Win Restaurant Design Awards

Bottega Louie's facade at 7th & Grand in downtown LA | Photo by Eric Richardson/blogdowntown

Four Los Angeles eateries received awards tonight at Dwell on Design honoring excellence in their design. The 4th annual 2009 Restaurant Design Awards presented by American Institute of Architects Los Angeles (AIA/LA) presented Bottega Louie and Chaya Downtown with top category jury prizes and The Conga Room with the lounge/nightclub award. The Lab Gastropub on USC's campus garnered the People's Choice award in the cafe/bar category.

The jury panel was comprised of Pulitzer Prize winning food critic Jonathan Gold, downtown's bar emperor Cedd Moses of 213 Downtown LA Nightlife (Seven Grand, Cole's, Golden Gopher, etc) and two designers. Other local restaurants that were nominated were AK Restaurant + Bar in Venice, Luau in Beverly Hills, Huckleberry in Santa Monica, Drago Centro and Rivera Restaurant, both located in downtown LA.

Houston's Restaurant in Denver and KAA Restaurant in Sao Brazil rounded out the top jury awards and Kara's Cupcakes in San Francisco won the jury's cafe/bar honor. Yoshi's San Francisco and La Condesa in Austin nabbed People's Choice awards for the bar/lounge and restaurant categories, respectively.