The 21 Most Anticipated Los Angeles Restaurant Openings, Early 2018

2018 is already shaping up to be another incredible year for Los Angeles’s restaurant scene. Big-named players from across the globe (and right here at home) have been working furiously to bring their projects to life in the first half of the new year, whether they be located along the far reaches of Chinatown near the LA River or the bustling Lincoln Boulevard corridor that slides along the coast. These are the biggest openings projected to land in Los Angeles between now and this summer.

APL Steakhouse

Location: 1680 N. Vine St., Hollywood

Farley Elliott

Major Player: Adam Perry Lang

Adam Perry Lang is almost ready to debut his first Los Angeles restaurant, a Hollywood steakhouse with grand ambitions. There’s the downstairs dry-aging room, the hand-forged knives, and the upscale ambiance that’s sure to turn heads. Inside, Lang is working a menu that focuses on red meat while also offering french classics, some pastas and seafoods, and wine galore. It’s the kind of steakhouse Hollywood’s power set has been looking forward to for quite some time.

Projected opening: March 2018

Bavel

Location: 500 S. Mateo St., Arts District

Bestia

Major Players: Ori Menashe, Genevieve Gergis

Bestia champions Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis are at it again with Bavel, a pan-Middle Eastern restaurant that plays to Ori’s Israeli strengths without being bound to one country. Expect fired-to-order pitas, hummus, and a whole lot more from the team behind one of LA’s most enduringly popular restaurants. And best of all, it’s just down the street from Bestia, so fans won’t have to travel far.

Projected Opening: February 2018

Cedd Moses Union Station Project

Location: 800 N. Alameda St., Downtown

Matthew Kang

Major Players: Cedd Moses/Eric Needleman, David Lentz, Eric Alperin

The 213 Hospitality team is known for some of Downtown’s most dynamic nightlife spaces, but now they’re moving even more firmly into the bright, all-day restaurant space with an unnamed brewpub landing at Union Station. The gorgeous Art Deco and Streamline Moderne property should make for a stunning backdrop for the project, which includes heavy hitters like The Hungry Cat’s David Lentz, and cocktail maestro Eric Alperin.

Projected Opening: March 2018

Guerrilla Tacos

Location: 2016 E. 7th St., Arts District

Google Maps

Major Player: Wes Avila

From cart to truck to cookbook to brick and mortar, it seems that Wes Avila can do it all. His latest magic trick is a set to arrive in early 2018, a fully-realized restaurant that expands on the modern Los Angeles Mexican food themes he and his team already do so well. Expect tacos of course, as well as drinks and an expanded menu of favorites.

Projected Opening: February 2018

Night + Market Sahm

Location: 2533 Lincoln Blvd., Venice

Elizabeth Daniels

Major Players: Kris Yenbramroong, Sarah Yenbamroong

The Yenbamroongs have been hard at work bringing their third iteration of Night + Market to life. The colorful project is the pair’s first for the Westside, and is tantalizingly close to bringing larb and natural wines (and one killer fried chicken sandwich) to Venice.

Projected Opening: February 2018

Howlin’ Ray’s Expansion

Location: 727 N. Broadway, Chinatown

Farley Elliott

Major Players: Johnny Ray Zone, Amanda Zone

After all this time the lines at Howlin’ Ray’s have not subsided. The hot chicken hit at Far East Plaza in Chinatown is just as enduringly (and, sometimes, frustratingly) popular as ever, with routine hours-long wait for sandwiches, wings, and weekend waffles. That’s all set to change, hopefully, with the team’s expansion efforts across town as well as their own growth at their current location. Expect more cashiers to take orders, a much larger kitchen, and a few other details meant to keep up the restaurant’s notorious quality and service, while speeding up everything else.

Projected Opening: February 2018

Crustacean Beverly Hills

Location: 9646 S. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills

Crustacean

Major Players: The An family

Beverly Hills mainstay Crustacean has been under construction for a while now, offering up a major revamp to the property while splitting into dual on-site concepts. The bottom floor will remain as Crustacean but with a whole new vibe, while the top floor should act as a cozier, more familial ‘secret kitchen’ of sorts.

Projected Opening: February 2018

Milk Bar Melrose

Location: 7150 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles

Milk Bar

Major Player: Christina Tosi

America’s most beloved sweets shop expands to Los Angeles with a big new location right along Melrose. Christina Tosi and her crew are known for their fanciful, fun creations, from confetti cake to all manner of cookies, drinks, and pies. The large shop should offer room for sit-down dining, as well as takeaway treats and call-ahead ordering.

Projected Opening: Late Spring 2018

Majordomo

Location: 1725 Naud St., Chinatown

Facebook [official photo]

Major Player: David Chang

David Chang’s Momofuku empire has been eyeing Los Angeles for years now, but Majordomo marks the team’s first official project here. A sort of modern Korean restaurant with a lot of California influence, Majordomo plans to offer big tableside meats to share as well as veggies galore, drinks, and more. Situated at the far east end of Chinatown, Majordomo also has the leg up on a number of other new projects out that way, and could become a new anchor for an otherwise underutilized part of town.

Projected Opening: January 2018

Modern Times DTLA

Location: 830 S. Olive St., Downtown

Google Maps

Major Players: Modern Times Beer

San Diego’s Modern Times Beer is betting big on the South Park neighborhood of Downtown Los Angeles. The craft beer team has been hard at work on a modern brewpub build-out that will not only offer brews created on site, but a full slate of the company’s overall offerings. On the food side, look for AM coffee and pastries, as well as a variety of vegan-friendly food options for lunch and dinner. The 5,000 square foot brick-walled space has room for about 125 seats all told, and should be ready to fly in a matter of weeks.

Projected Opening: January 2018

Tel

Location: 2231 S. Barrington, Sawtelle Japantown

Dylan + Jeni

Major Players: Jessica Koslow

The world is waiting for the arrival of Tel, a pan-Jewish restaurant that dwarfs chef/owner Jessica Koslow’s tiny Sqirl in Silver Lake. This Westside-ish arrival will offer everything from wood-oven bagels to Israeli food to Eastern European comfort food, with the backing of California’s prodigious produce purveyors and with help from some of the more in-tune designers around. Expect an airy space with lots of greens, and fans to flock almost immediately.

Projected Opening: Late Spring 2018

Petit Trois Valley

Location: 13705 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks

Elizabeth Daniels

Major Player: Ludo Lefebvre

Chef Ludo Lefebvre has truly found a home for his French cooking personality with Petit Trois, the small strip mall space off Highland that garnered national attention when it opened. Now he’s expanding into the Valley, and has even grander ambitions. Think a full dining room with space to lean into banquettes and order up a duck a l’orange, or a patio to while away the hours with French wine and some really good, rustic country food. This will be Ludo’s biggest project to date, and in many ways his most personal too.

Projected Opening: March 2018

Simone

Location: 447 S. Hewitt St., Arts District

Aliza J. Sokolow

Major Players: Jessica Largey, Bruno Bagbeni

Former Manresa lead Jessica Largey is putting the finishing touches on her expansive Arts District space, with a view to opening up in the middle of the spring. Expect a lively atmosphere in the main dining room, a coursed-out six-seat chef’s bar, and Duello, a fine cocktail bar tucked inside the whole thing. Largey obviously has a highly technical fine dining background, but expect something more laid back and in tune with the Southern California ethos here.

Projected Opening: Late Spring 2018

Tartine Manufactory

Location: 777 Alameda St. at The ROW, Downtown

Tartine

Major Players: Chad Robertson, Liz Prueitt, Chris Bianco

San Francisco super-team Tartine is heading to Los Angeles with an opening at the giant ROW project in Downtown. They’re bringing their Manufactory with them, a multi-concept space that offers everything from freshly-baked breads and pastries to a full lineup of breakfast, lunch, coffee, and dinner. Phoenix’s Chris Bianco is coming in to help as well, bringing his prodigious pizza-making abilities to one of the mosthotly anticipated projects in recent memory.

Projected Opening: April 2018

Hotel Figueroa

Location: 939 S. Figueroa, Downtown

Hotel Figueroa

Major Players: Casey Lane, Dushan Zaric

The LA Live-adjacent Hotel Figueroa has been under the knife since well into last year, undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation meant to completely overhaul the food, drink, and even the rooms at the gorgeous property. Now the debut is closer than ever, with chef Casey Lane helping to curate and oversee a small handful of drinking and dining destinations. Meanwhile cocktail legend Dushan Zaric is in for a bar or two, from bespoke upstairs cocktails with carts to the more volume-friendly stuff around the pool in the back.

Projected Opening: March 2018

Slab BBQ

Location: 8136 W. 3rd St., Mid-City West

Clay Larsen

Major Players: Burt Bakman, H.Wood Group

Trudy’s Underground Barbecue founder Burt Bakman is moving into a space of his own, with help from the H.Wood Group team. This West Third Street property will be a home for all things brisket and ribs, with a variety of Texas-leaning sides to boot. Expect drinks, both indoor and patio seating, and the ability to try some meat from what may be the city’s best barbecue maestro at the moment.

Projected Opening: February 2018

Triple Beam Pizza

Location: 5916 N. Figueroa St., Highland Park

Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images for NYCWFF

Major Players: Nancy Silverton, Randy Clement, Matt Molina

Randy Clement (Silverlake Wine) is coming for Highland Park with a big new project that will include wine, pizza, and more. He’s also brought on Matt Molina, his partner at Everson Royce Bar, and Nancy Silverton to run the ship at Triple Beam Pizza, a casual outfit doing full pies from a small space right up front. The project is located right on Figueroa, and should help to anchor the bustling construction zone that is the northern end of that stretch.

Projected Opening: February 2018

New Pine & Crane Project Highland Park

Location: 5100 York Blvd., Highland Park

Elizabeth Daniels

Major Players: Vivian Ku

Pine & Crane owner Vivian Ku is on a path to create a new kind of Taiwanese restaurant in Highland Park. The former Ba space on York has been expanded to offer more seating and accommodate a larger kitchen, with Ku and her team turning out more sit-down friendly fare than the bustling Pine & Crane in Silver Lake.

Projected Opening: April 2018

Ippudo Ramen

Location: 1403 2nd St., Santa Monica

Ippudo Ramen [Official Photo]

Major Players: Ippudo, Panda Express Restaurant Group

One of the most famous ramen names in America lands just off the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, as Ippudo Ramen lock into a space along 2nd Street. The casual Japanese shop also offers starters like pork buns and the like, and should be ready to take on all local and tourist customers by the first part of 2018.

Projected Opening: February 2018

Five Leaves

Location: 4845 Fountain, East Hollywood

Loopnet

Major Players: Jud Mongell, partners Zeb Stewart and Mark Hendrix

One of Brooklyn’s most enduringly popular cafes, Five Leaves, is coming for East Hollywood. Tucking into a corner spot around the corner from the Scientology Center, this Art Deco space is nearing completion as a bright, airy Australian-influenced all-day restaurant offering a lot of what Angelenos already love: Veggies, eggs, and sunlight.

Projected Opening: March 2018

Badmaash Fairfax

Location: 418 N. Fairfax, Los Angeles

Badmaash

Major Players: Pawan Mahendro, Nakul Mahendro, Arjun Mahendro

The family affair that is Badmaash keeps rolling along over on Fairfax, with an in-progress build-out that should make for a late February or early March opening. The Mahendro brothers and their chef father Pawan are hard at work opening up their new storefront on what is perhaps the hippest drag in all of Los Angeles, bringing modern Indian food to the fore. Bollywood, butter chicken, and Biggie Smalls indeed.

Projected Opening: March 2018

• An Eater’s Guide to Los Angeles [ELA]