But, Do They Eat There?

Y ou know how Los Angeles architects are: always designing some restaurant. When it comes right down to it, are they secretly happiest breaking bread in the places they’ve designed? And how important is architecture when they themselves go out to eat?

Michael Rotondi

“I guess I like a lot of restaurants that weren’t done by ‘anybody.’ I think it’s actually time for architects to step back and let people do their own places, the kind of places everyone likes to go to in Little Italy in New York.” Designed (with partner Thom Mayne of Morphosis): Kate Mantilini’s; 72 Market Street; Angeli Caffe. Favorite Restaurants: Trattoria Angeli ; Tropical Ice Cream, Silver Lake (“it’s a social equalizer”); “the odd Chilean place in Glendale”; 72 Market Street.

Michele Saee

“It really depends what mood I’m in. Sometimes I feel a little uncomfortable, even a little angry or jealous, when I go to the very designed places because I start looking at them from a design point of view and criticizing them. Architectural space generally doesn’t play very much part at all in where I like to go. I hate to get dressed up.” Designed: Trattoria Angeli; Angeli Mare; Osteria Nonni; project architect for Morphosis on Angeli Caffe. Favorite Restaurants: Yuca’s (taco stand on Hillhurst in Los Feliz); Border Grill; Matsuhisa; The Fish Grill; Canter’s (“Especially after 2 a.m.--I like deli food”).

Elyse Grinstein

(Grinstein/Daniels): “Environment does lend a certain weight to an occasion. But I think your expectations differ according to the place. Sometimes I love to be at a very beautiful restaurant--and enjoy the obsequious service that often comes with that. I just love it at Chasen’s, where they say, ‘Oh, Mrs. Grinstein, let me cut your meat for you.’ But, quite frankly, I think the most important thing is who you’re with. You could be having a hamburger at The Apple Pan, which is very good, and if you’re with a great group, you have a wonderful time.” Designed (with partner Jeff Daniels): Chaya Brasserie, Chaya Venice, Kentucky Fried Chicken on Western Ave., Typhoon (in progress). Favorite Restaurants: Chaya Brasserie; West Beach Cafe; Musso and Franks; Chasen’s; El Tepeyac, Boyle Heights, and “the Mexican bar behind the Million Dollar Theatre, around Fourth and Hill, with live music all the time”; Fennel.

Steven Ehrlich

“I can’t think of any single place I would go to just for the space. It has to be all encompassing. Of course, I am an architect--wherever I am, I’m the person who will never sit facing the wall.” Designed: Daily Grill, Broadway Deli; new Daily Grill on La Cienega. Favorite Restaurants: Lawrence of India, Culver City (“I like the feeling there as much as the food. At night they light little candles and when you walk in, Lawrence is right there cooking”); 72 Market Street; Citrus.

Tony Greenberg

“Dinner is the main event in Los Angeles. There’s nothing else much to do.” Designed: Maple Drive. Favorite Restaurants: 72 Market Street; Caffe Lido, Santa Monica; Maple Drive.

David Kellen

“Environment has absolutely no impact on where I go at all! I’m mainly hunting for food. (Design) can even have a negative impact: If some place is very sterile with lots of glass blocks and neon, it would be impossible for them to serve me a good meal. Bad design irritates me.” Designed: Fama; Tacos, Tacos; did some work on Rebecca’s, and with former partner Josh Schweitzer as Schweitzer/Kellen: Rondo, Border Grill, Rockenwagner, City. Favorite Restaurants: Mitsuki, a pub on Western; Yuu’s, “in a nasty little shopping center just west of Sepulveda”; Chuladul’s, Culver City.

Josh Schweitzer

“Maybe it’s that Groucho Marx line about not belonging to a club, but after work I tend to try to get away from ‘architecture’ and go to little teeny ‘joints’ I can relax in. In fact, I think I search out places that are non-architectural. Otherwise, since I pick apart spaces I go into, it’s like sensory overload.” Designed: Campanile, the new Border Grill in Santa Monica; with former partner David Kellen as Schweitzer/Kellen: Rondo, Border Grill, Rockenwagner, City. Favorite Restaurants: Mitsuki, “a junky looking place with a corny fake grill with a light bulb in it and a dried fish over that . . . but it’s serious good food”; Robata; Border Grill, “early in the morning when it’s not open yet”; City, “in the mid-afternoon when there are around half a dozen people in the whole place.”