In the direction of the second half of 2023, the Los Angeles restaurant scene was hit by a number of forces that led to slower enterprise than normal and rising prices. A number of eating places cited the author's and actor's strike, which introduced manufacturing and different industries associated to the leisure business to a standstill, as the first motive for decrease than anticipated gross sales. As well as, elevated labor, hire and different prices have continued to place strain on operators who’re already working on skinny margins. Here’s a present checklist of restaurant closings in Los Angeles ranging from the final days of 2023 to the primary month of 2024.
Spartina LA — Melrose Avenue
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Spartina LA, which was opened in 2015 by chef Stephen Kalt, introduced on social media final week that it might shut on January 28. Kalt has had a profession spanning practically 4 a long time in eating places spanning New York Metropolis, Atlantic Metropolis and Las Vegas. . Spartina was initially named for a restaurant he helped open within the early Nineties in Tribeca earlier than that neighborhood had change into considered one of Manhattan's hottest.
Spartina in LA was his ode to Italian-American meals, serving break up pizzas, handmade pastas and seasonal California produce. Kalt advised Eater that from Memorial Day onward, gross sales had been down about 40 % from expectations, blaming the author's and actor's strikes. “In 40 years on this enterprise, I've by no means seen something prefer it earlier than,” Kalt stated. The final day of operations can be this coming Sunday.
Atrium – Los Feliz
Los Feliz Atrium restaurant, which opened in 2018 by Beau Laughlin and Jay Milliken, closed with out discover on December 23, 2023. The elegant Los Feliz restaurant gives versatile dishes with worldwide flavors in a high-ceilinged house in a neighborhood that lacks a variety of high quality eating. . Employees had been notified of the closure a couple of days earlier than Christmas, though Atrium externally hinted it might reopen within the new 12 months. Atrium has not reopened though its sister lounge house Pinky's continues to function.
Skylight Gardens – Westwood
The Westwood Skylight Gardens Italian restaurant had simply celebrated its twelfth anniversary when it quietly closed in latest weeks (it initially opened in 2012). A tipster says the signage has been eliminated and several other Yelpers have reported it’s closed, although the restaurant's web site — which introduced the restaurant's tenth anniversary — remains to be up at press time.
Jeni's Ice Cream – Venice
Rose Avenue ice cream parlor Jeni's has closed since late December, although phrase is that the artisanal scoop store has reopened as a stand on Windward Avenue nearer to the Venice Boardwalk. Jeni's nonetheless has areas in Larchmont, Beverly Hills, the Runway in Playa Vista, Calabasas, Los Feliz and Highland Park within the LA space.
Caffe Roma – Beverly Hills
For 45 years, Caffe Roma has been a roadside vacation spot for Italian meals and low in Beverly Hills' Golden Triangle. The restaurant has introduced it’ll shut on January 1, 2024, though its sister restaurant Cafe Amici will proceed to function, which means longtime followers will nonetheless have a spot to get eggplant parmesan and ragu lasagna of beef Eater spoke with a Caffe Roma consultant who stated the proprietor had doubled the hire, making it tougher to function regardless of practically half a century of historical past within the neighborhood.
ETA – Highland Park
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Jazz bar and cocktail lounge ETA, which is a sister restaurant to the Greyhound sports activities bar, closed on December 30, 2023 after initially opening in 2016. Proprietor Mateo Glassman stated a part of the explanation for the closure it was that his companions James and Ryan moved. additional and that Glassman's latest addition to the household had made it tough to maintain operations. Glassman stated Highland Park and the jazz group had been an enormous a part of ETA's success and she or he was grateful for each.
