Vespertine Opens Tonight and It’s Sold Out Until Late July, Plus More A.M. News

Kahn’s reign starts tonight

Jordan Kahn’s highly anticipated Vespertine opens tonight and surprisingly, the $250 per-person affair has been mostly sold out for the first three weeks. The first available reservation date on Tock is for July 19, with things opening up the week after, and almost full availability for the month of August. Anyone interested can pick up tickets here.

An East Coast pizzeria opens on the Westside

Santa Monica has a new pizzeria called Rock’n Pies Pizza Co., which takes over the longstanding N.Y.&C. Pizzeria on Wilshire Blvd. The idea is to serve thin crust pizza for takeaway and delivery, with some beer and wine for diners that want to enjoy the stuff on the spot. It’s currently only open for lunch.

Before Locol, there was Luna Sol Cafe

LA Taco has a cool feature on one of the city’s first notable community-driven restaurants called Luna Sol Cafe, which served MacArthur Park and Westlake from 1996 to 2003. It’s an interesting precursor to the likes of Locol, which was named Restaurant of the Year by the LA Times for its social mission.

The Guys are here

The Halal Guys have quietly opened their Downtown location on the corner of 7th and Olive, right in the heart of the business district’s busting bar scene. Oddly enough, the Yelp page still says “Opening Soon!” though it’s obvious that customers can go in and order a plate of chopped chicken and lamb gyro atop orange rice right now. It’s perhaps a bit more appropriate to see Halal Guys in a central business area like Downtown since it originated in Midtown Manhattan.

Raw vegan lands in the LBC

OC Weekly has a long look at one of Long Beach’s newer restaurants, a raw vegan establishment called Under the Sun that draws heavily from nearby Fountain Valley’s Au Lac (which also has an outlet in Downtown LA). The wholesome restaurant does plant-based takes on wraps and noodles.

$14 avocado toast anyone?

There’s a new avocado toast pop-up happening around town, according to LA Weekly. Lizzy Cooper’s pop-up called AvocaToast LA serves $10 to $14 avocado toast with an option to add an egg for $2. The pop-up roves around places like Found Coffee and local farmer’s markets. It’s certainly a creative take on the avocado toast format, but it’s also mildly comical to see someone do something that New Yorkers have essentially copied from LA. And shocker, Cooper has a pretty active Instagram account.

The NoMad Truck’s latest collaboration

Timothy Hollingsworth of Otium has prepared The NoMad Truck’s latest collaboration sandwich. Dubbed the Otium Chicken Burger, it’s made with grilled spam, sweet chili glaze, Thai basil, and peanuts, with proceeds from the sale going to Alzheimer’s Los Angeles. The $10 burger runs starting today until the end of the month, wherever The NoMad Truck is rolling around. It debuts officially today in front of Otium in Downtown’s Bunker Hill from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.