Chef Travis Lett is returning to the Los Angeles restaurant scene after almost 5 years away with a brand new Japanese izakaya referred to as RVR (pronounced “river”). Set to open this summer time within the former MTN area at 1305 Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, RVR picks up the place the chef final left off, however with a brand new enterprise companion at his facet and a hospitality group to his identify. . Lett is able to write his subsequent chapter after promoting his stake within the Gjelina Group in 2019, leaving Gjelina, Gjusta, GTA, and the now closed MTN to his former enterprise companions, Fran Camaj and Robert Schwan.
Whereas the LA restaurant group was baffled as to why the acclaimed chef was strolling away from the extremely profitable eating places, which had earned a cult following for its recent Westside aesthetic and hyper-seasonal California delicacies, Lett remained calm in regards to the matter “I felt like we bought to a spot the place one of the best of what we may do collectively was already achieved,” he says. Though it was troublesome for him to stroll away from these eating places, which he describes as “expressions of issues that come from my upbringing, my travels, my household's meals philosophy”, he accepted the choice within the following years. “It was bittersweet and it stays so, however I grew to become clearer and clearer as time went on, and it was the suitable determination.”
The dissolution of the enterprise partnership coincided with the delivery of Lett's son, offering the chef time to spend together with his household and a much-needed break after 18 years of “grinding arduous.” Lett initially deliberate to take six months to a yr off, however prolonged the sabbatical as a result of pandemic and its broad affect on the hospitality trade. Now, Lett is keen to get again into the kitchen. Eater sat down with the chef to study his imaginative and prescient for RVR, his lifelong love of Japanese meals and tradition, and what the longer term holds.
On unfinished enterprise
“The place I left off with the Gjelina Group was with MTN. I needed to do that California/Japanese izakaya for a number of years earlier than it opened, and I solely spent a few years working there earlier than I left. It appeared like a job infinite for me, so it’s sitting in my psyche as this factor that I needed to return as a result of I felt like a half-written story. I wish to proceed my work and proceed to discover this style of cooking.”
On the idea
“I name this challenge 'river', written RVR, which has a nod to the previous. It’s a idea based mostly on my love and curiosity in Japanese meals and tradition by way of the lens of California markets. I’m centered on to Japan's on a regular basis meals, so it's not meant to be an excellent high-end omakase form of expertise. In my travels to Japan, what strikes me is that on a regular basis meals is like that extraordinary. I'm speaking about noodles, yakitori, grilled stuff, pickled stuff, dashi, soups. I contemplate RVR an off-the-cuff tavern.
“I don't know if there might be a lunch service outside, however undoubtedly a lunch and dinner program. A few of the most inspiring meals I had in Japan had been at lunch. I imply, the best way lunch right here is so wonderful and never serving lunch would simply appear a disgrace, particularly given the economic system of a bit of actual property in Venice.”
Growing a ardour for Japanese meals
“It began with my training. My father was a navy man, he went to Annapolis, he was despatched to Vietnam, and he spent a variety of time in Japan. At a sure level in my childhood, my mother and father determined to begin to eat completely Japanese meals. This was within the 80's in New Jersey, which was very uncommon. hour and a half, and made jars of brown rice, miso soup, umeboshi, and udon. We ate with chopsticks each night time rising up. I bear in mind when associates came visiting nori rolls in my lunchbox and so they simply say “That is so bizarre, man”.
“My mom had this distinctive perspective on meals being an expression of her philosophy and well being, so once I had a sore throat, she would give me an ume or matcha paste to deal with it. I can't actually say from youngster I believed in it, but it surely labored in my psyche. Once I grew to become a chef later in life, it was pure for me to at all times take into consideration meals alongside these traces. It's not simply that it's scrumptious, however the way it's about well being, the way you hook up with the season, the way you specific a way of place by way of meals, which is an enormous a part of macro cooking. I don't cook dinner in a macrobiotic vogue, however there are particular features of philosophy which have been with me all these years.”
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On Japanese id
“I'm not Japanese and I don't need to faux to be somebody I'm not. I attempt to be myself and cook dinner the meals I like and the flavors I like. I've been to Japan a dozen occasions, I had cabinets stuffed with books, and labored in a Japanese kitchen for some time once I first moved to Los Angeles within the early 2000s. I attempt to concentrate on the custom and the way they had been made this stuff. I respect the place the knowledge comes from and do my greatest to not weigh it down in any means. It's all within the eye of the beholder, so somebody might need a special opinion on what I do, however I attempt to be rigorous in my analysis and diligent in my growth course of.”
On the menu
“I would like the meals at RVR to really feel accessible, snug and straightforward. If individuals need to are available and have dinner and have a number of programs of meals, we are able to do this. But when somebody needs to come back in and simply eat a bowl of ramen and drink a beer can also be good for that. We anchor the menu with home-made noodles, very lengthy bone broths, a reasonably substantial providing on the marinated facet, grilled fish and meat, some sashimi and hand rolls . I at all times attempt to have the vegetable choices that heart across the seasonal farmers markets right here. There’s a simplicity and moderation in Japanese meals that I attempt to implement in all the things. what am i doing”.
On the drinks
“There might be some cocktails and we are going to current a highball program, which is large in Japan, which you don't see an excessive amount of right here. I might say equally, if no more vital, I introduced a fairly wonderful wine group together with wine director Maggie Glasheen ( ex Anajak Thai).We’re curious to pair a very attention-grabbing wine with Japanese meals.
On area
“The massive factor is that I'm very aware of the positioning. I spent a whole lot of 1000’s of hours in that constructing and designed the kitchen. We're going to do a fairly substantial facelift within the eating room optimized for visitor consolation with new furnishings, a seating plan, lighting and a sound system. The place was good when it was MTN, but it surely was a variety of stone and metal and excessive barstools, and I felt that the place was not that snug. he’s hotter, so we combine the aesthetics of the design into one thing that feels slightly extra snug, and slightly simpler to obtain bigger teams.”
Within the group
“I’ve two cooks coming from Japan to assist me. One is Ian Robinson, a Canadian (former chef-owner of Skippa in Toronto) who lived in Japan. The opposite is Cean Geronimo (former of Gjusta and MTN), a Japanese gentleman residing right here because the pandemic. It's only a very LA group. Everybody brings one thing to the desk and tries to do one thing recent.
To the buyers
“I’ve a primary funding companion, Alan Karp, who’s the pinnacle of the personal fund KarpReilly. We had recognized when he supported me in my efforts to attempt to purchase different companions, and when he went into the opposite course, we already took the time to get to know one another. We mentioned: “Nicely hear, let's do one thing completely different”, however then the pandemic hit and it didn't appear to be the suitable time to begin a brand new hospitality platform .We waited some time and at first of 2023, we formalized our settlement to determine Sonnyboy Hospitality.
“I raised a fairly substantial quantity to have the ability to do RVR and likewise for potential development past that. I had an awesome funding group behind me, and since I took a break from the enterprise, I had an enormous backlog of issues that I wish to do within the meals area.”
On classes realized
“As a chef – and most restaurateurs are additionally on this bucket – you're not essentially taught the enterprise. The fact is in a market like Los Angeles or wherever in California or any of the large markets right now, it's costly. The actual property proposal is excessive pate, the HR facet, the buyers – there are a variety of buckets that require a reasonably nuanced expertise. Don't say you're an professional in this stuff in the best way I imagine I’m with meals, however I’ve realized many classes in lots of instances to make many errors, and it’s thrilling to have the ability to transfer ahead with what I like to think about knowledge.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
