All stories about "Sbe"

So That's Why SBE Charges So Much For Drinks

Someone's gotta fuel the SBE private jet and Bentley! Indulge us here. We're just catching up on our Hills (sure we watch, you dont'?), and in this ep before the finale, Heidi flies off to Vegas with CEO Sam Nazarian and Brent Bolthouse to do some "project managing" for the new SBE hotel (the company plans to Los Angelesize the aging Sahara). Why this really is faux-reality TV: Like gazillionaire Nazarian would express any real interest in some random assistant's personal life, i.e. asking about boyfriend troubles. More believable: The slightly creeply laugh he and Bolthouse share over how the BF will "lose his mind" because she's in Vegas. Kinda ew. For the interested, in the finale, Nazarian walks around the Sahara and talks up the plans. Think: St. Tropez, "Club Cinq Cinq," lots, and lots of work.
· SBE Taking on Vegas [~ELA~]

Fire Sprinklers = Good: Katsuya's Wet Night

There's a learning curve for any brand new restaurant, no matter how many times the parent company has been through an opening. Case in point: A tipster tells us that people dining on the coveted upstairs patio at the Americana at Brand Katsuya had a little unexpected shower last night. Apparently the heat lamps accidentally triggered a fire sensor under the canopy, which activated one of the sprinkler heads, which in turn soaked anyone and anything on the terrace a bit. According to reps: "Any diners that were inconvenienced were offered complimentary dinner and the situation has since been remedied." The restaurant only opened two weeks ago, but it's good to know the fire system is in working order, and now they know not to put heat lamps under the canopy. We can check those off the list.
· Americana at Brand Mega Preview Day 2: Katsuya [~ELA~]

Week in Eater: Wolfgang's, Crown Bar, Americana Debut, Tipping Slags, Hollywood Fires, Ramsay Menu and MORE

Welcome back to the Week in Eater, where we divulge the best stories of the week that was.

No Relation to Puck: Wolfgang's Steakhouse Opens; Crown Bar Debuted in West Hollywood; Basque Nightclub and Off Vine Suffer Severe Damage in Hollywood; Gordon Ramsay at the London Menu Revealed, Ressie Lines Open; Katsuya, Cheesecake and More Open at Americana, But Others Are Delayed; The Writing On the Wall at Geisha House Means...; Trader Vic's Eyeing New Locations Downtown; Mega Plywood in Pasadena; and Restaurant Tips Slag With Economy.

Americana at Brand Mega Preview Day 2: Katsuya

We just took a spin around The Americana at Brand, which is still heavily under construction as all the workmen, staffers, groundskeepers and head honchos put final touches on everything for the May 2 debut. It's really quite frantic, especially with the various tour groups being led through the sawdust. We had a small preview yesterday, but today's TAAB gallery comes in two parts. First up, the new Katsuya, the third and largest of the SBE/Katsuya Uechi resto chain. Some fun facts about the space, next.

Continue reading "Americana at Brand Mega Preview Day 2: Katsuya"

Americana at Brand Mega Preview: Day 1

We've been keeping an eye on the dining haps at Americana at Brand, Rick Caruso's new Grove-like Glendale mall, but here we have the official first sneak preview of some eateries. Of course there's SBE's third Katsuya, a Cheesecake Factory, Pinkberry and Jamba Juice. Other restaurants/cafes that will open on May 2---The big public debut! Just days away!---are a Nestle Toll House Cafe, CrepeMaker, Frida Mexican Cuisine, Granville Cafe, Beard Papa, Richie's Pizzeria, and the Jewel City Diner, which we hear, is a Caruso-owned venture (he also owns the Whisper Lounge at the Grove). And because "Korean" continues to be the buzzword for 2008, Kyopo Grill has been added to the roster. Our siblings took a look at the retail and residential side of Americana. Are you excited or bored about the openings? Is this a boon or bust for Glendale? Comments is all yours.
· Americana at Brand Dining Update [~ELA~]
· SBE Future: Foxtail, Jose Andres, More Katsuyas [~ELA~]
· Curbed Inside: Developer Rick Caruso's Americana At Brand [Curbed LA]
· Americana at Brand: The Mega-Mall-Mixed-Use Preview! [Racked LA]

Week in Eater: Father's Office and Delancey Open, Inside Vinoteque, Mina Coming With XIV and More

Welcome back to the new weekend feature, Week in Eater, where we divulge the best stories of the week that was.

Father's Office 2.0 is Open: Liveblogged and Recapped; Delancey Debuted in Hollywood; We Take a Look Inside Vinoteque; Cindy's Restaurant Looking for a Buyer; Crown Bar Coming; Michael Mina and SBE Team Up for XIV; Porto's Causing a Parking Stir in Burbank; Will Westside Market Hall = SF's Ferry Building?; and Taco Truck Love Hits An All-Time High.

The Bazaar at SLS Beverly Hills, Rendered

The Bazaar from Dezeen

We're getting a few more breadcrumbs about the forthcoming SLS Beverly Hills, SBE's reconfiguration of the Le Meredien hotel on La Cienega, just one more notch in the Sam Nazarian-world-takeover belt. As previously noted, José Andrés will be overseeing food and bev for the entire hotel, and the dining options are a-plenty: In addition to the Bazaar, "the hotel’s public lobby reinvented as a fête extraordinaire with a heady array of pioneering culinary and lounge concepts," menus will be available in a private guest lobby, three private dining rooms, and a rooftop pool deck with cabanas. We don't have menu specifics yet, but Andrés has a long list of accolades for his avant-garde Spanish cuisine at his restaurants (Jaleo, Oyamel, Zaytinya, Café Atlantico, minibar) in Washington D.C. As with other SBE projects, Philippe Starck is doing all design. Late summer, early fall opening.
· SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills by Philippe Starck [Dezeen]
· SBE Future: Foxtail, Jose Andres, More Katsuyas [~ELA~]

SBE and Michael Mina Team Up For XIV

SBE talked the talk about putting a restaurant in the (now) former Privilege space at the corner of Crescent Heights and Sunset for years, but Sam Nazarian is finally walking the walk: Look for XIV ("Fourteen" for the Roman numeral-challenged), with Michael Mina at the helm, to open this fall. More from the LAT:

Mina, who heads a mini-empire of restaurants including the Michelin two-star Michael Mina in San Francisco and Stonehill Tavern in Dana Point, says XIV ("Fourteen") will open in early October, showcasing the "modern American style that I like to cook, with a lot of European techniques." Mina and SBE are marketing it as "social dining," a design-your-own-tasting-menu idea that is a sort of deconstruction of Mina's signature "trio" menus -- three small, single-themed dishes served on one plate. "It would be as if you were to take those and break them up into individual dishes," Mina says.

The plan always was to get a pedigreed chef on board---Jean-George Vongerichten, Todd English, and Ming Tsai were all bandied about---and bringing Mina to LA is huge. But it's not like LA was ever a first choice: After his original SF debuts, he opened restaurants in Vegas, Orange County, Atlantic City, Detroit and Scottsdale before he graced us with his presence. Still, it's an impressive addition to the Sunset Strip and to SBE's chef roster, which now includes Katsuya Uechi (Katsuyas 1-4), Jose Andres (at the SLS Hotel), and our favorite Top Cheffer Antonia Lofaso (Foxtail). We also commend their moving away from the name Slab.
· A chateau-style XIV to feature chef Michael Mina [LAT]
· Sam Nazarian, Dreamer: SBE's Plans for LA Domination [~ELA~]
· SBE Future: Foxtail, Jose Andres, More Katsuyas [~ELA~]

Americana at Brand: Dining Update

Katsuya en route, via Americana at Brand

As our brethren at Curbed have noted: Rick Caruso's Americana at Brand is just days away from its big Glendale debut. We drove around the construction site a few weeks ago and it's definitely its own little city in there, lots of activity, heavy lifting equipment, hard hats. What we couldn't do was get inside to get all the restaurant Plywood---and there's lots. Above is a shot of SBE's third (and largest) Katsuya location, which along with all of the other restaurants, will open on May 2 when the complex does. The roster includes: Frida Mexican Cuisine (from Beverly Hills), Cheesecake Factory, Granville Cafe; plus quickies like Pinkberry, Jamba Juice, Jody Maroni's, CrepeMaker, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Beard Papa; then something called Jewel City Diner, an offshoot of the Sunset Strip's Caffe Primo, and Richie's Pizzeria, which just opened another location in Santa Monica. None of these restaurants are particularly earth-shattering, and unless the traffic problems around Americana and the Glendale mall cease to persist, it's just as easy to get to the other locations. Plus, none compare to nearby Porto's.
· Americana at Brand vs. L.A. Live [~ELA~]
· Pre-Plywood Special: Katsuya Glendale [~ELA~]
· Americana at Brand, Part II: Weekend Construction [Curbed LA]

Mysterious SBE Bread Run: Foxtail or The Abbey?

According to the Haphazard Gourmet Girls, someone spotted a chef in a black SBE chef's jacket at the Pavilions in West Hollywood hoarding a cart-full of crappy bread products on Saturday night. The tipster immediately assumed the low-budget bread products were going to the SBE's newest outpost, Foxtail, mostly because of its close proximity to said Pavilions. Now, we're fond of rumor, conjecture and good goss as much as the next person, but we're just as fond of debasing rumor as spreading it. And when it comes to hometown Top Chef Antonia Lofaso, we really take issue. Not just because we met her and actually quite enjoyed the steak, truffle eggs and frites at Foxtail; it's because she's the only LA contestant on Top Chef. And when it comes to Top Chef, there's a little thing called city pride and a hefty dose of sibling rivalry that makes us, well, feel a little protective of our girl Antonia. No one asked the buyer, and it will be difficult to get the restaurants to confirm, but here's why we think that bread wasn't going to Foxtail:

1) Antonia wears a white chefs coat with Foxtail embroidered above her name, therefore we assume the other chefs wear white, not black, coats in her kitchen. The chefs at The Abbey, another SBE restaurant, wear black chefs' jackets.

2) The menu at Foxtail has fewer bread products than the Abbey, which has croutons, sandwiches, etc.

3) The Abbey is even closer to that Pavilions than Foxtail.

4) Antonia, a Spago alum, just wouldn't. The Abbey just would.
· Antonia Lofaso's Getting Baked [Haphazard Gourmet Girls]

Eater Inside: Foxtail

This little gem is Foxtail, SBE's new supper club (supper portion open for now, the upstairs club will open March 15). Sam Nazarian, Brent Bolthouse and Co. were going for a swanky Art Deco-meets-70s London nightclub vibe as interpreted by design firm Franklin Studios: Lots of textures, mirrors, stained glass, sparkle. The overall ambience is dark and intimate, a good setting for Ryan Magarian's cocktails and bistro fare from chef Antonia Lofaso, who we'll see on Top Chef: Chicago soon. Dining here won't get you access to the club upstairs, so don't bother milking that salad and glass of Champagne in hopes of hobnobbing. Since it's right next to Dan Tana's, the almost adjacent valet stands could be a more interesting scene anyway. More from the preview, and a look at the menu here.