Catch to open new steakhouse on Melrose Place this summer

Catch Hospitality group, the team behind the Catch restaurant on Melrose Avenue, plans to open Catch Steak in Beverly Grove. The steakhouse, located in the former Fig & Olive space, is scheduled to open this summer.

Co-owner Mark Birnbaum says the success of outdoor dining at Catch when it was allowed last year provided encouragement to move forward with a new restaurant in Los Angeles despite the pandemic.

“It made us think perhaps we can find something where we can bring Catch Steak to L.A. in a way we could consider pandemic proof,” he said. “As long as you have some sort of outdoor seating we would at least be busy enough to stay afloat and pay the people who work for us.”

Catch Steak will feature a large outdoor dining area created by removing the roof of the 8,000 square foot parking garage and replacing it with a retractable roof. There will also be outdoor seating toward the back of the existing restaurant in addition to the main dining room inside. A second-floor mezzanine level will be used as a private dining space with its own bar. And there will be a bar and lounge area downstairs as well.

(It is, of course, unclear whether outdoor dining will be allowed by the summer. )

Catch Steak in Los Angeles will be the local outlet of the original Catch Steak, which opened in the Meatpacking District in New York City last year. Executive chef Michael Vignola and Catch Hospitality Director of Culinary John Beatty collaborated on the menu, which for the most part will mimic the New York City location. The restaurant will offer a selection of American and Japanese wagyu beef, including A5 Kobe beef.

“We wanted to remix the steakhouse because the traditional steakhouse to us is not what our customers are looking for,” said Birnbaum. “That traditional steakhouse is big portions, an appetizer, big steak entree and a side and a gluttonous dessert. We wanted a smaller, shareable version of a steakhouse.”

There will be an option to order a wagyu flight of beef to be cooked at the table on a hot rock, and a “wagyu sommelier” to walk diners through the selection of steaks.

Between hiring back employees at the original Catch on Melrose Avenue and hiring entirely new staff for Catch Steak, Birnbaum said the restaurants will have 600 employees in total.

The group also plans to open a location of Catch Steak in Aspen.

8490 Melrose Pl., Los Angeles, catchrestaurants.com.