Iconic Westside Chef Raphael Lunetta Emerges at Santa Monica’s Georgian Hotel

Great news for fans of Raphael Lunetta: the longtime Westside chef is now working the stoves at Veranda inside The Georgian Hotel. And there are already some great things happening.

For those unfamiliar, Lunetta is the former chef/owner of the iconic JiRaffe, a Santa Monica mainstay for the fine dining set. That restaurant closed in 2014 after 18 years in business, which has freed up Lunetta to take on various projects across the city. Most recently, he’s been attached to an as-yet unknown concept coming into another well-known Westside space: the former Josie, where Lunetta is teaming up with the guys behind Maple Block Meat Co.

Now he’s sunk his teeth into The Georgian Hotel, a colorful hideaway on Ocean Avenue, and its on-site restaurant Veranda. That’s where Lunetta has decided to partner up with GM Juan Viramontes to give the place some new vibrancy, including a reworked dining room that now eschew the white tablecloths altogether.

The menu is still being tweaked, but below is a sampling of what to expect across lunch and dinner. Fans of Lunetta from his days at JiRaffe might even recognize the chicken sandwich on the menu as well, an ode to his long run in Santa Monica. The all-day Veranda is open now.