Chef Jonathan Waxman heads back to SoCal with a new restaurant in Century City

May 30, 2017 10:15 AM PT

From new pizza in Echo Park to wellness bowls in Hollywood, here’s what’s happening in the L.A. dining world:

Full circle: If you visited Michael’s, Michael McCarty’s landmark Santa Monica restaurant, in the early ’80s, chances are you’re familiar with chef Jonathan Waxman. This is the restaurant that helped create the concept of star chefs, including Waxman, who was a chef there for five years and helped champion the idea of California cuisine. Waxman also cooked alongside Alice Waters at Chez Panisse and went on to open the much lauded Barbuto in New York City. Now Waxman is returning to L.A. and is teaming with the NYCA Restaurant Group to open a new restaurant at the Westfield Century City mall. “All in all this makes for a stellar location where I’m greatly looking forward to feeding folks in L.A. again,” said Waxman in a statement. Details are slim, but the restaurant is scheduled to open in spring 2018. It will join a host of other new openings at the mall, including Shake Shack and the long-planned Eataly. 10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 277-3898, www.westfield.com.

Pizza, pizza: Zach Pollack, chef and owner of Alimento in Silver Lake, has opened a pizza restaurant called Cosa Buona in Echo Park, in the former Pizza Buona space. The menu is divided into snacks, antipasti, salads and pizza, along with Italian sandwiches for lunch. Highlights include a white clam pizza; Hawaiian pizza; peel and eat shrimp scampi; and smoky mozzarella sticks. The wine list showcases natural wines from Italy and France. 2100 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 908-5211, www.cosabuona.com.

Going to market: City Market South, a full city block at San Pedro and San Julian streets, is billing itself as an “outdoor creative complex” in the downtown L.A. Fashion District. The market has just rolled out the first phase of its 20-year redevelopment with Rossoblu. Chef Steve Samson’s new Italian restaurant (he is also behind Sotto in Pico-Robertson) makes its own charcuterie in a basement butcher box. Also open at the center, in the main plaza area, is Yeekai Lim’s Cognoscenti Coffee. Steve Livigni and Pablo Moix, the duo behind the cocktails at Black Market Liquor Bar, Scopa Italian Roots and the Chestnut Club, also plan to open a new “cocktail-driven concept” with chef Antonia Lofaso, located on the north side of the central square. The new cocktail bar/restaurant is scheduled to open later this summer. And a reminder that James Beard Award-winning chef Charles Phan plans to open an outlet of the Slanted Door, his San Francisco modern Vietnamese restaurant, at the market in early 2018. 1057 S. San Pedro St., Los Angeles, www.citymarketsouth.com.

Get healthy: Milk & Honey is a new cafe in Hollywood serving “wellness bowls” and something the restaurant calls waffle cakes. The bowls are full of pitaya or acai with toppings such as berries, almond milk, shredded coconut and hemp granola. The waffle cakes are inspired by taiyaki from Japan and stroopwafel from the Netherlands, and they’re made with a batter free of refined sugars. The cakes are filled with savory or sweet fillings such as honey smoked salmon and Sriracha bacon. 1716 Highland Ave., Hollywood, (323) 848- 4602, www.MyMilkandHoney.com.

Good carbs: Friends & Family, Roxana Jullapat and Daniel Mattern’s new bakery in Thai Town, has just launched the Sourdough Club. It’s a way to get heritage grain breads every month. The monthly membership includes bread on the first Friday of the month, with stuff baked exclusively for club members, along with Jullapat’s seasonal jam and cheese. For more info, contact hello@friendsandfamilyla.com.

Still hungry? Spoke Bicycle Cafe, a new cafe, bicycle repair shop and bike rental shop, is now open in Frogtown, just off the L.A. River bike path. Mr. Holmes Bakehouse will open its fourth California location in Larchmont Village on Saturday. The Abbey is hosting an event to benefit the onePulse Foundation, the charity that was created by the owners of the Pulse nightclub, on Monday. Mark Peel has closed Bombo Foods at Grand Central Market and has opened Prawn, a new fast-casual seafood concept in the same space. MV Grab & Go, a new counter-service cafe in Mar Vista, by the team behind the Mar Vista, is now open. The Montage Laguna Beach has a new vegetarian tasting menu at its restaurant Studio, as well as new cocktails at the Lobby Lounge, the Loft and Studio (one of the cocktails is $1,000, and will benefit a local charity).