LASA Nails the Filipino Family Vibe in Chinatown

It’s time to pull back the curtain for a full reveal of LASA, the high-powered modern Filipino restaurant helping to shape the Pinoy food conversation in Los Angeles. Brothers Chad and Chase Valencia have turned Alvin Cailan’s former rotating pop-up space Unit 120 into a lush room filled with family photos and personal artifacts.

It’s a swift shift from the former white walls temporary nature of the previous iteration — though nothing compared to the vagabond life the Valencia brothers have experienced before. From stints at restaurant room elysian in Frogtown on down, it’s been a journey watching the pair find their place in the city’s restaurant scene. It’s even more enjoyable to watch them tear down the window paper on their first-ever completely solo project.

If you’ve already come to admire the work that the duo has been doing, don’t worry — there’s lots you’ll continue to know and love about the Dana Benoit-designed place, the menu, and the men. If anything they’re just expanding on a theme with more days of evening service and an already-bustling lunch window in what was formerly the Amboy takeaway slot, turning out $10 bowls of impactful Filipino fare.

So now it’s all here, wrapped up in one gorgeous 42-seat package. The place is intimate but not small, thanks to tall ceilings and a few key touches that allow the room to feel homey without being cluttered. Starting this weekend true friends and family will begin journeying in for some dress rehearsal evenings, and to give thanks to the Valencia guys who have fed them all so much over the years. Then starting Wednesday night, it’s everyone else’s turn.

LASA opens officially next Wednesday at Far East Plaza in Chinatown, keeping hours from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. weeknights (closed Mondays), with an extension to 11 p.m. on weekends.

LASA
727 N. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA