Hold the Garnishes
Silent-film actor Harold Lloyd used it as a carriage house. Then it became a bar called Mars, which begat the Shed, an upscale, if overdressed, gay nightspot. Today, it’s Lucques, a hot new restaurant on Melrose Avenue that serves French comfort food. Los Angeles interior designer Barbara Barry led the latest metamorphosis, applying her disciplined sensibility to the vision of owners Caroline Styne and Suzanne Goin. Their goal? An antidote to a day in L.A. We spoke to Barry about the space’s latest incarnation.
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Q. What made you want to take on this project?
A. When Caroline approached me with her ideas, I discovered we were kindred in our thinking. I’d always wanted to design the kind of restaurant I longed for at the end of a hectic day: a clean, honest place--no gimmicks, no theme, just good food well presented, as one can count on in Europe. I wanted the room in front of the kitchen where you get the freshest bread, the best butter, a clean white tablecloth and waiters with integrity, not attitude.
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Q. The restaurant is named for an olive that happens to be in your favorite shade of green.
A. That was very fun. Obviously, our likes were kindred there, too.
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Q. What of the existing structure did you keep?
A. The Shed was very decorated with fancy sconces and oversized booths, so we liposuctioned the booths, brought them down in height and did a lot of stripping away. When we peeled back the layers, we found humble materials [used brick and old wood], which serve as a great foil for the food. We reframed the existing mirrors, and let the people’s faces and the food be the art. I like to emphasize the presence of absence.
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Q. The restaurant feels like a sort of urban grotto, with a fireplace in the heart of the cave and a space open to the outside.
A. It does. I love the idea of dining in someone’s home, so I made the main room a living room, where we honored the hearth. Outside--and I need to credit my architect, Brad Caplow, for the perfect proportion of the doors--the space feels like arms around the sky. It’s spare: no fountains, no plants on the wall, just a beautiful coat of stucco in the right color [eucalyptus], which proves all materials are equal if they’re honored. They don’t have to be rosewood or gold leaf.
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Q. Cubes play a significant role in your design, from the light fixtures--hanging boxes of off-white muslin--to the barstools.
A. The space is a square, so I worked with that. The boxy shape also became a nice masculine counterpart to the female owners. Though two women run it, the restaurant is not sweet.
Q. Why do you think the restaurant has been such a hit?
A. When I came to the restaurant two weeks after it opened, I saw Suzanne in the kitchen wearing her chef whites and sweat on her brow, doing the work of making each plate beautiful, and I saw Caroline with her wonderful smile greeting the guests and making them comfortable. When you combine good energy with commitment and talent, the universe just follows.
Lucques restaurant, (323) 655-6277