After almost 20 years, Ammo restaurant is moving

After nearly two decades, Ammo, Amy Sweeney’s original farm-to-table restaurant in Hollywood, is moving. Sweeney plans to open a new location on Melrose Avenue in late August, and will close the existing Ammo restaurant on July 25.

“We felt it was time to look for a new home that meets our needs for where our business is now,” Sweeney said in a statement.

“Our take-out and delivery business is steady and we’ve recently expanded our catering and events services and needed a space that would better support both a return to our roots and a new direction, while remaining in the area.”

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The new Ammo will serve items from the existing menu for take out and delivery, and will open early with baked goods, granola, pour-over coffee and tea.

Commune, which designed both the Hollywood Ammo and the Ammo Cafe at the Hammer Museum, will design the Melrose Avenue restaurant.

Since opening Ammo Cafe in 1996, Sweeney has had Julia Wolfson, then Daniel Mattern helming the kitchen. Most recently, Sweeney has been acting as executive chef. She is looking for a new chef to helm the kitchen at the Melrose Avenue location.

While Mattern was chef, and his wife Roxana Jullapat the pastry chef, in 2010, former Times food critic S. Irene Virbila gave the restaurant three stars.

Ammo Cafe at the Hammer Museum will remain open and has recently added a happy hour menu and expanded its weekend brunch offerings.

The new Ammo will be at 6909 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. www.ammocafe.com.

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