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Vegan Eatery Gadarene Swine Is Closing Tomorrow
The Valley's Gadarene Swine will serve its plant-based cuisine for the last time on Saturday, July 2. Helmed by Phillip Frankland Lee, the vegan restaurant opened in Studio City in 2014. Lee cited a dispute with his former business partner—which also prompted the closure of Scratch Bar on La Cienega in July 2015—as the reason for the closure. According to Eater LA, Lee was once partners with Daryoush Danesh. Danesh apparently re-opened Scratch Bar on his own after the shuttering, which Lee must not have been too happy about, given that he wrote on Facebook, "When you close your restaurant to relocate it and someone re-opens it without your consent, you definitely will have some explaining to do to angry Yelpers..."
In regards to Gadarene's end, Lee released the following statement:
We are incredibly grateful to all of the patrons who have embraced our plant-based restaurant and have supported us since we opened in September 2014. We hope that everyone will come celebrate with our amazing staff this weekend as we complete our last few days of service.
While Lee has no present plans for another vegan restaurant, he has kept himself busy. He's currently in charge of the menu at Silver Lake's El Chavo, he's got Scratch | Bar & Kitchen in Encino, and he and chef Luke Reyes are soon launching Oh, Man! Ramen, also in Encino. Oh, Man! Ramen will offer both whole animal and plant-based ramen.
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