The dining room of the resurgent La Dolce Vita, known as one of the hotspots for Hollywood's A-listers for decades.
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Shelby Moore
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Topline:
La Dolce Vita was once known as one of the premier gathering spots for some of the most famous people on the planet. However, like many landmark restaurants, the lights went out during the pandemic. In 2023, its doors reopened. We take a look inside, discuss the restaurant's rich history — and resilience — with the owners.
A who's who: On any given night, Hollywood legends like Frank Sinatra, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George Raft, Don Rickles, Jack Lemmon, Gregory and Veronique Peck, Kirk Douglas, Sammy Davis Jr., Jimmy Stewart, Anthony Quinn or Henry Fonda may be dining inside, away from the paparazzi, drinking scotch and swapping stories in slick red leather booths, while eating hearty red sauce Italian meals served by discreet waiters in sharp tuxedos.
Read more ... to see what the new owners have done with the place.
It’s nighttime in Beverly Hills in the swinging 1960s. As commuters speed by on Santa Monica Boulevard, they probably don’t even notice the squat, windowless building with a single entrance.
But on any given night, Hollywood legends like Frank Sinatra, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George Raft, Don Rickles, Jack Lemmon, Gregory and Veronique Peck, Kirk Douglas, Sammy Davis Jr., Jimmy Stewart, Anthony Quinn or Henry Fonda may be dining inside, away from the paparazzi, drinking scotch and swapping stories in slick red leather booths, while eating hearty red sauce Italian meals served by discreet waiters in sharp tuxedos.
This was La Dolce Vita, which the LA Time’s Jean McMurphy once called “a neighborhood restaurant for the rich and famous.” A clubby, tiny eatery where reservations were essential — even Sinatra occasionally had to wait. For over five decades, new generations of high-flying insiders would frequent La Dolce Vita, including George Clooney, designer Tom Ford, Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron, editor Graydon Carter, and former presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush.
But during the pandemic, like so many L.A. area restaurants, the lights went out at La Dolce Vita. In 2023, after a three-year closure, it was reopened by international dynamos Marc Rose and Med Abrous of hospitality group Call Mom, who also own L.A. staples The Spare Room and Genghis Cohen.
“The first day Med and I walked in here with the actual keys, I looked at him and was like, ‘Well, it's ours to f— up,’” Rose says.
And true to La Dolce Vita’s A-list atmosphere, the new owners are keeping the restaurant’s secrets they have heard from old-timers to themselves.
“We get a lot,” Rose says. “We tend to want to keep those stories internal and share them with people when the times are right, because that's what it's for. When you build a clubhouse, you kind of want those stories to be here permanently.”
In many ways, Rose and Abrous are a throwback to La Dolce Vita’s original founders. There have been many celebrity mainstays over the years — The Brown Derby, Chasen’s, The Formosa, Perino’s, Romanoff’s, Ma Maison, Musso and Frank — and few are left. But La Dolce Vita survived, perhaps because it served up nostalgia to celebrities who had already become past-their-prime legends themselves and were tired of the rat race — they were looking for a bit of home.
Marc Rose (left) and Med Abrous, the owners of La Dolce Vita.
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Shelby Moore
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George Smith and Jimmy Ullo were second and third generation Italians — East coast transplants who had spent decades working in the upscale eatery industry in Los Angeles. According to a 1976 profile by the LA Times Lois Dawn, they met at the popular Italian restaurant Villa Capri, where Smith was a bartender and Ullo was maître d’hotel. When Smith and Ullo decided to start their own Italian restaurant, they went to two Villa Capri regulars, 1930s movie star (and known Mafia associate) George Raft, and old blue eyes himself, Frank Sinatra.
“[They] went to Frank and said, ‘we're going to open our own place,’” Rose says. “So, I think Mr. Sinatra agreed to become an investor and a backer of the place. I think — this isn't written anywhere — it was like, ‘well, I'm going to do it, but I want it to be my clubhouse too.’ And I think that when you see a building … that has no windows, it's an easy place to make your clubhouse and to do things behind closed doors.”
Frank Sinatra in 1968
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Los Angeles Herald Examiner Photo Collection
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Los Angeles Public Library
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La Dolce Vita opened in 1966 at 9785 Santa Monica Blvd. In true Hollywood fashion, the interior was designed by Jerry Wunderlich, an Oscar-nominated set decorator for TV shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the film The Exorcist. “La Dolce Vita is designed with seeming simplicity. Brick walls, wine bottles, straight, uncluttered lines, a marvelous use of glasses on the back bar,” Lois Dawn wrote in a review. Little did she know- the brick was fake.
“The layout was also something that really had this clubhouse feeling,” Rose says. “It's all booths. There's no loose seating or anything. It was really built for groups in a certain kind of dining, this kind of familial dining that is associated with American Italian restaurants.”
La Dolce Vita's dining room is known for its charm and atmosphere.
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Shelby Moore
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La Dolce Vita soon became a Rat-Pack era staple, where the Hoboken, New Jersey-born Sinatra felt right at home. The expansive menu featured entrees with names like “Steak Sinatra” and “Veal Fellini” which was a “marvelous melting combine of eggplant, prosciutto and mozzarella.” The mozzarella was a guest favorite, with tomato sauce as “fresh as a garden.”
The chefs were also glad to whip up anything patrons desired, even if it was off menu. And when Chef Gino Giglio found himself an ingredient down, he improvised. “Film producer Robert Evans wanted rigatoni one night when they were out of ricotta cheese,” The Los Angeles Times reported in 1976, “so they made up a dish with bechamel and parmigiana and now serve it often.”
Beloved, longtime maître d’ Reuben Castro started working at La Dolce Vita in 1974 when he was 21 and became an expert at knowing what his celeb clientele wanted. '[Sinatra] always pasta or steak, nothing else,” he told Piers Morgan of The Mail on Sundayin 2013. “He loved veal Milanese or rigatoni pomodoro, and arugula salad with shaved parmesan ... Red wine, like a Sassicaia, if he was with his wife. But if it was a boys' night then Jack Daniels all the way. It was always Daniels, and always on the rocks.”
Try the veal.
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Shelby Moore
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Celebrities like the Reagans, Don Rickles, and Sinatra had their preferred booths, and the telephone was always ready to be whisked to a table for important industry calls. “Frank Sinatra would hold court at booth No. 1 and tip royally, announcing to anybody that the staff at the restaurant was family,” Castro told The Los Angeles Times in 2004. When a kitchen worker’s watch broke, Sinatra gave him a Rolex.
Another time, the Times reported that George Raft “put the keys to his white 1974 Coupe de Ville on the table and told Castro he was too old to drive. ‘It’s over,’ he said.’ I’m giving you my car.’”
Things were perhaps too comfortable at La Dolce Vita. Castro remembered one uncomfortable moment when President Ronald Reagan suffered from gas. “He once stood up and farted very loudly,” Castro told The Mail on Sunday. “I couldn't ignore it, so I stood to attention and said, ’Salute, Mr. Presidente!’ And he laughed so loudly I thought he would fall over!"
But an air of menace occasionally swirled around La Dolce Vita. Sinatra, his daughter Tina (who is a part of the restaurant’s current ownership group) recalled, refused to sit with his back to the door.
“We once had a hoodlum shoot up the outside of the door after an argument over a reservation,” Castro recalled. “Frank heard about it, and a few weeks later he came in and said to me, ‘Don't worry about that guy again, we took care of it.’ I never found out what that meant, but that guy never came back to shoot at my door again!'”
The old timers would patronize La Dolce Vita until their deaths. Some of its mystique and popularity died with them. "Here was a piece of real Hollywood history that was at risk of going away forever. It was criminal," film producer Alessandro Uzielli toldTown and Country in 2013.
New owners
In 2003, Uzielli and his producing partners Ben Myron and David Simmer purchased La Dolce Vita. They refurbished it and honored the past by putting plaques up at departed regulars’ favorite booths. All was going well, until the pandemic hit.
That’s where Rose and Abrous stepped in. “Med and I grew up together and we grew up in New York City,” Rose says. “We grew up going to restaurants very much like this… These are the restaurants I've been going to with my dad who was also in the business, which I swore I would never be. And here I am. But these are the restaurants that I remember seeing my dad walk in and tip every single person on the way to the table. And I'm like, ‘how do you even know that that guy's going to be your table?’ And one time he said to me, he goes, ‘I don't, but I guarantee you my bread's going to come out warm.’”
For Rose and Abrous, reviving La Dolce Vita was a no-brainer. “We like to amplify the richness of history, both architecturally design wise and in a city in which we live,” Abrous says. “Our families are here; our kids go to school here. Why not do something kind of small and special? And that does give us all that kind of nostalgic feelings that really sparked our passion for hospitality in the first place.”
The duo worked with designer Victoria Gillet of We Are Dada to enhance the restaurant’s interior. Without changing the clubby layout, they gave it a modern twist — adding stained glass windows depicting cheetahs in empty coves, a cheetah carpet, pearly wood walls, and a revamped bar.
The bar at La Dolce Vita.
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Shelby Moore
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“The words sexy and chic came up a lot, which you don't always associate with spaghetti and meatballs, but we felt that they could be because we felt that way when we went into those restaurants,” Rose says.
“We always make the joke that when we first walked into the restaurant, it looked like it was right out of Goodfellas and now it looks like it's in Casino,” Abrous says.
They focus on locally grown produce and have curated a small red sauce menu which includes spaghetti and meatballs, tuna tartare, Caesar salad (made tableside), Veal Parmigiana, Clams Oreganata, and Bucatini al Limone — which can appeal to the health conscious and hearty eaters alike.
“We understand that people's palates have changed, the way they eat has changed. Even the way in California versus New York is different- the way people eat. And we paid attention to that,” Rose says. “Of course, there's a veal parm on the menu that is amazing and incredible … but there's also the most beautiful branzino piece of fish that you could eat.”
In the 10 months since it reopened, La Dolce Vita has proved that Angelenos are eager to see their history saved, and to savor the intimacy of a service-forward, secretive spot. It’s also a wonderful place for people watching, where grizzled rock stars sit in a booth next to sunny starlets, and old timers talk to friendly waiters at the bar while serious men in designer suits streak past to their booths. But it doesn’t feel pretentious, but rather like an upscale hole-in-the-wall that happens to be in the middle of Beverly Hills.
“It’s arguably the most famous zip code on the planet,” Abrous says. “And you think about the Rodeos of it all and the tourism and all, and you forget, it's a real neighborhood. There's so much residential up and down the streets here. People have a restaurant to go to where they feel good and they feel safe and they feel- I hate to say it, this sounds like an ad for Olive Garden — like you're at home. It's a special feeling.”
The Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights on August 31, 2026.
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Brian Feinzeimer
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The LA Local
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Topline:
Lineage Logistics sued a solar power provider and its contractor Thursday, blaming them for the fire that destroyed its cold storage facility and plagued Boyle Heights and surrounding communities with polluted, foul-smelling air for months.
The lawsuit: The company accuses Altus Power, Inc., Los Palos Street Operating, LLC, and Pearce Services of failing to address faults in the massive solar array installed on the 500,000-square-foot facility’s roof. Lineage is seeking more than $1 billion in damages, alleging negligence and breach of contract caused the fire, forced the warehouse to shut down and led to a cleanup effort that has cost more than $100 million. Los Palos, an Altus subsidiary, disputed Lineage’s claims and said that since the cold storage company was the tenant of the building they were responsible for cleanup and debris removal.
The investigation: The fire remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, and its cause has not yet been determined. But because both the June and 2024 fires appear to have started around the facility’s roof, the solar array has been long suspected of playing a role in the blaze.
Lineage Logistics sued a solar power provider and its contractor Thursday, blaming them for the fire that destroyed its cold storage facility and plagued Boyle Heights and surrounding communities with polluted, foul-smelling air for months.
The company accuses Altus Power, Inc., Los Palos Street Operating, LLC, and Pearce Services of failing to address faults in the massive solar array installed on the 500,000-square-foot facility’s roof. Faulty electrical in that array led to a fire in 2024, and the same problems sparked the fire on June 17, Lineage claims in the suit.
“This lawsuit is about Altus and Pearce starting this fire and then being nowhere to be found when the community needed help,” said Greg Lehmkuhl, president & CEO of Lineage, in a prepared statement.
The fire remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Fire Department, and its cause has not yet been determined.
But because both the June and 2024 fires appear to have started around the facility’s roof, the solar array has been long suspected of playing a role in the blaze.
Lineage is seeking more than $1 billion in damages, alleging negligence and breach of contract caused the fire, forced the warehouse to shut down and led to a cleanup effort that has cost more than $100 million.
Los Palos, an Altus subsidiary, disputed Lineage’s claims and said that since the cold storage company was the tenant of the building, they were responsible for cleanup and debris removal.
“Lineage’s statement is riddled with misinformation in a blatant attempt to deflect blame for their role in this matter, including any damage caused by the release of substances from the warehouse, not the solar panel,” a Los Palos spokesperson said by email.
A spokesperson for Pearce also disputed Lineage’s claims and said the company would be fighting the suit in court, adding they have been cooperating with the fire department’s investigation.
“Investigation into the fire’s cause, origin, and reasons for its spread remains ongoing, and it is premature for anyone to draw conclusions,” a spokesperson for the company said by email.
The company alleges in the suit that the solar provider used substandard equipment to connect electrical lines and that equipment started the Aug. 14, 2024 fire. The company told Altus, Los Palos, and Pearce, a subsidiary of real estate giant CBRE, to fix the faulty equipment before turning the solar array back on.
Altus and Pearce knew that about 200 faulty electrical connections had been identified by May 2026, including about 10 near the area where the June fire eventually broke out, the suit claims. Lineage says it told the contractors to delay turning the system back on until they provided proof the faults were fixed, but the contractors did so anyway.
“Altus and Pearce deliberately ignored Lineage’s request, prematurely re-energized the solar array, and negligently and recklessly caused this devastating fire,” the suit reads.
Mayor Karen Bass and other elected officials have said publicly that Lineage should not rebuild its facility and continue operating in Boyle Heights. The company missed a 45-day deadline to clean up the facility imposed by Bass in August.
Lineage has since announced it had completed cleanup of the remnants of the facility on Sept. 5. The suit also suggests the company could be planning to stay in Boyle Heights, rather than simply seeking reimbursement for the fire.
The city’s Department of Building and Safety has put its plans to rebuild on hold, and South Coast Air Quality Management District has also issued multiple notices of violation over pollution from food that rotted inside the facility for months.
“This was a solar fire, not a warehouse fire,” reads a press release announcing the suit had been filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court Thursday. “Cold storage is not a risk to communities — it is an essential service that lowers food costs, expands food access and creates jobs,” it added.
Fiona Ng
is LAist's deputy managing editor and leads a team of reporters who explore food, culture, history, events and more.
Published September 10, 2026 3:58 PM
Flowers are left at the Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum in 2024, which is located on the land where the Twin Towers once stood before they were destroyed.
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Spencer Platt
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Here's a list of events in L.A. and O.C. counties on Friday and Saturday remembering 9/11.
Read on... to see when and where events are scheduled near you.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
A new federal lawsuit filed Thursday accuses the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the FBI and other federal agencies of violating the First Amendment and privacy rights of observers.
About the lawsuit: The lawsuit describes disturbing encounters seven Common Cause members had with federal officers in Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey after trying to observe immigration enforcement. They include being photographed, followed, reported to police, pepper-sprayed or threatened with a visit to their home by federal officers. Federal officers did show up at one Common Cause member's Minnesota home.
Other lawsuits pending: The new lawsuit follows a handful of other cases brought by observers arguing First Amendment violations, but it is the most sweeping to date, as it includes incidents from multiple states and seeks national relief. It is asking a judge in Washington, D.C., to bar federal agencies from intimidating or retaliating against observers.
For months, Minneapolis resident Michael Khalili drove around the Twin Cities area observing and documenting the activities of federal immigration officers after they swarmed his city last winter as part of an unprecedented surge.
He points out that when federal immigration officers fatally shot fellow Minneapolis observer Alex Pretti in January, it was bystander videos that debunked inaccurate information Trump administration officials were spreading about Pretti, such as that he had committed an act of domestic terrorism and was a "would-be assassin."
"That's the only reason why the government's lies fell apart," Khalili said. "And that's why it's critical that people are out there."
But the 47-year-old father of two stopped observing ICE in recent months due to mounting risk and pressure from his family. Khalili said he follows the law when he drives behind ICE vehicles and is exercising his constitutional rights. But he said he's had repeated tense exchanges with federal officers who have taken photos of him and his vehicle, and told him to stop.
A day after one such exchange in March, Khalili's Global Entry status was revoked (until a HuffPost journalist inquired about it, and it was reinstated). On another occasion in May, he said a state trooper threatened him with a harassment charge for following ICE. Then in June, after 15 Minnesota activists were criminally indicted for conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, Khalili realized one of the counts against a defendant in that case was for following ICE vehicles across state lines in May on the same day Khalili had been warned he could be charged for following ICE. Khalili's wife became worried.
"She was concerned that federal agents could show up at our home and could arrest me in front of our children," Khalili said. "And so I agreed to stop doing this."
But Khalili hasn't given up his quest to hold the federal government accountable. He is now a named plaintiff in a new federal lawsuit filed Thursday, along with the nonprofit Common Cause, that accuses the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the FBI and other federal agencies of violating the First Amendment and privacy rights of observers.
The new lawsuit follows a handful of other cases brought by observers arguing First Amendment violations, but it is the most sweeping to date, as it includes incidents from multiple states and seeks national relief. It is asking a judge in Washington, D.C. to bar federal agencies from intimidating or retaliating against observers.
"The right of citizens to criticize and hold our government accountable is the backbone of American democracy – and it is under attack," Common Cause's vice president for litigation, Maryam Jazini Dorcheh, told NPR. "We want to make sure we're promoting participation in the political process. And obviously, if government officials are criminalizing peaceful observation, that hinders our mission," Jazini Dorcheh said.
NPR did not receive an immediate response from DHS or DOJ about the lawsuit's allegations. The FBI declined to comment.
The lawsuit describes disturbing encounters seven Common Cause members had with federal officers in Maryland, Minnesota and New Jersey after trying to observe immigration enforcement. They include being photographed, followed, reported to police, pepper-sprayed or threatened with a visit to their home by federal officers. Federal officers did show up at one Common Cause member's Minnesota home.
Observers film as ICE agents leave a residence on Jan. 28, 2026 in Minneapolis. NPR has documented numerous instances of other people legally observing ICE, describing intimidation and threats from the federal government.
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Stephen Maturen
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Getty Images
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In another instance, the suit alleges that ICE officers told local police to ban an unnamed Common Cause member from a public parking lot outside of an ICE facility in Maryland, where the member was observing, and told the member they knew who they were because they had put their face through a facial recognition database.
The 94-page complaint also draws from declarations filed in previous cases on behalf of observers in additional states, including Illinois, Maine and Tennessee.
The events described in the complaint are "not one-off activities. This is not about, like, 'Oh, some folks got out of hand in one place,'" said Danielle Lang, the vice president of voting rights and rule of law at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, which is litigating the case. "This is a top-down policy of retaliation and it needs to be addressed as such."
The lawsuit lists multiple directives from the Trump administration, including President Trump's National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) and the DOJ's memo to operationalize it, which link impeding immigration enforcement and extreme views on migration to domestic terrorism. The NSPM-7 memo was the basis for the federal government to investigate and spy on activists in Minnesota, which ultimately led to the charges against 15 people for conspiracy to impede ICE.
Additionally, the suit lists public statements and internal memos that equate observers who record federal officers with "violent rioters" and "domestic terrorists," to argue there is a national policy in place to retaliate against observers. Furthermore, the Trump administration repealed guardrails that could have prevented federal officers from using facial recognition and license plate readers against peaceful observers, and DHS dismantled its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the suit argues.
The suit alleges that the federal government's retaliation against observers includes threatening force or arrest, collecting observers' personal information to intimidate them, using force, pursuing criminal charges, and imposing civil penalties such as administrative subpoenas or revoking observers' Global Entry or TSA PreCheck status.
Michael Khalili was eager to join the Common Cause lawsuit to help fellow observers, since in his case there is documentation of some of his encounters.
"If the paper trail for the petty things that they did to me can keep somebody else from being pepper-sprayed or murdered, like, why would I not do that? How could I not do that?" he told NPR.
Last month he requested access to his state motor vehicle records on the number of times law enforcement officials have queried his license plate, driver's license or name and date of birth. Before he started observing, there were only two such queries. But since March 2026, law enforcement queried him 55 times, a detail that is included in the lawsuit.
In addition, he has a March email from Customs and Border Protection notifying him that his Global Entry membership was revoked. Though the email only stated that the reason given for the change was "Your Global Entry has been revoked," it came one day after ICE officers stopped him, took photos of him and his license plate and told him to stop following them. Other observers in other states have also had their Global Entry status taken away, and some, like Khalili, had theirs reinstated after a reporter inquired.
Khalili still suspects he is on a federal list of some kind, or that there is a flag on him. He recently went on vacation to Ireland with his family and when returning to the U.S, he was referred for additional questioning by U.S. immigration officials.
He hopes this lawsuit can help bring about corrective changes and guardrails after what he calls a "nightmare" that the country and Minneapolis have been through.
"And so that not only will I be able to go out and observe if I so choose, but that there's no reason why I have to go out and observe," Khalili said.
Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published September 10, 2026 2:06 PM
A finished pan of Chef Joshua Whigham's paella at Casa Leo's monthly Paella Drop, ready to be served to guests.
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Courtesy Casa Leo
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Topline:
Chef Joshua Whigham's monthly "paella drop" at Casa Leo in Los Feliz has grown from a 20-guest experiment into a waitlisted fixture.
Tell me more: Each version of his paella — from market mushrooms and truffle to chicken and langoustine — is rooted in a different Spanish region. Casa Leo was added to the Michelin Guide California this year — just over a year after opening.
Why is it important? Most Angelenos' idea of paella starts and stops at chicken, shrimp and saffron rice — the version built for tourists. Whigham, a 15-year veteran of award-winning chef José Andrés' kitchens, is using his monthly drop to highlight the dish’s variety with Southern California produce.
Mark the date: The next drop is on Sept. 20 and features a cuttlefish paella.
Casa Leo is a small Spanish restaurant located in Los Feliz near Griffith Park, where Chef Joshua Whigham is quietly bringing his own fresh approach to Spanish cooking — one that's specific and ingredient-driven in a way you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in the city.
Whigham spent 15 years working under José Andrés — the Michelin-starred, James Beard Award-winning Spanish chef — before striking out on his own a little over a year ago with Casa Leo. The restaurant has already been added to the Michelin Guide California and has built a reputation for a seasonal, genuine, personal approach. That shows up across the menu, from cocas (Iberian flatbreads) to a trout en escabeche dish inspired by Martín Berasategui, the Basque chef often credited as a pioneer of modern Spanish cuisine.
Paella drop
One Sunday each month, Whigham hosts a "paella drop," cooking the paella outside the restaurant on a propane rig built to fit the giant pan he uses. Originally open to just 20 guests, the pop-up has grown in popularity as word has spread — Whigham has incrementally raised the cap over time, and now cooks with an even larger pan that can accommodate up to 70 guests.
It’s a setup that gets a lot of attention. He recalls a group of cyclists zipping by one day, with one of them yelling, "Holy shit, that smells good."
Chef Joshua Whigham stands beside the finished paella, cooked on a custom propane rig large enough to hold his oversized pan.
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Courtesy CASA LEO
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"Paella is Spain's national dish," Whigham says — and for many Americans, it's the only regional dish they know by name. Most Americans picture one version of paella — chicken, shrimp, saffron-yellow rice — but the dish looks different depending on where in Spain you are. While the dish has roots in the southeastern region of Valencia, its ingredients and preparation vary widely throughout the country.
Showcasing that variety is one of Whigham’s aims. And he does it with strict adherence to tradition — he'll never include chorizo, since its heavy smoke and paprika flavors, he says, completely overpower the subtle, delicate taste of the saffron, broth and rice.
In August, the paella included market mushrooms, summer truffle, chicken and langoustine.
The next drop, on Sept. 20 (which just so happens to be World Paella Day), is a cuttlefish (sepia) paella.
Whigham wanted the drops to serve as an opportunity to activate the space in ways beyond regular brunch and dinner service.
Not a tourist menu
Whigham says people's exposure to Spanish cuisine often stops at gazpacho, jamón, and that one paella experience they had while studying abroad in college.
His approach, honed over almost two decades of cooking Spanish food, involves first surveying a dish's regional origins and then adapting it using Southern California ingredients, in a process Whigham calls "giving a traditional dish a sense of place."
"That's the path I'm on — taking traditional dishes and making them ours,” he adds.
A plated portion of Casa Leo's paella, served with a side of aioli and topped with edible flowers and microgreens.
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Casa Leo
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For example: marmitako, a humble Basque fisherman's dish traditionally made with tuna and potato, with a base consisting of tomato, bell pepper, red onion and fish stock. Whigham noticed poblano peppers were "exploding at the market" and swapped them in for the green bell peppers, using the same process and proportions — resulting in a richer tone, more of a capsicum flavor and a "nice low-key heat." Paired with the chili de árbol spice, it made the dish "warmer and richer and a little deeper in flavor."
Less than two years in, Whigham says the Michelin recognition was a lovely surprise. "We weren't looking for it," he says. "This is what I do. I don't know how to do anything else but this."
Still, he feels the weight of its importance: "A good restaurant, you feel it — the pulse of it, the heartbeat. That's what I want for people."
Casa Leo
Location: 4500 Los Feliz Blvd., Suite C, Los Angeles
