The Hump Reinvented As The Pan Am Room at Typhoon

Brian Vidor’s Typhoon Restaurant has been a landmark at the Santa Monica Airport for 20 years. With a menu that includes dim sum, chicken satay, and insects, the place attracts locals, tourists and TV personalities alike. The Hump, its notorious upstairs cousin, closed earlier this year, after activists revealed that the eatery was serving endangered whale meat. The restaurant apologized. Profusely. And now they’re reopening -- not as The Hump, but as a completely different concept.

Typhoon Pan Am is the private dining room portion of Typhoon. Located in the old Hump space, it’s been slightly redecorated. There are colorful new fabrics and thematic artwork. A new chef, Norman Fierros, is in place and he’s created a menu of Latin dishes. Broiled oysters (Baja), beef heart, a Brazilian speciality, and several different ceviches (shrimp, oyster, octopus) for appear on the menu as appetizers. Empanadas, tacos, and tamales are served as smaller plates, good for tasting with friends. Main courses like steak with Chimichurri and a Chilean shepard’s pie topped with baked corn are a bit more mainstream. Caesar salad, which some sources say was created in Tijuana, also makes the menu. For dessert there are Argentinean-style crepes, a tres leches cake and Columbian coffee. It sounds good, but is it enough to erase the memory of the whole whale debacle? Time will tell. Typhoon’s Pan Am Room is open nightly from 6PM until 10PM.
·All The Hump Coverage [~ELA~]
— Daniela Galarza

Typhoon Pan Am

3221 Donald Douglas Loop S, Santa Monica, CA, 90405