Chateau Marmont Has a Hidden New High-End Japanese Restaurant

A quiet opening at The Chateau

Chateau Marmont, a longtime Hollywood haunt and celebrity playground, has quietly opened a new Japanese restaurant called Chateau Hanare. Savvy New Yorkers might recognize the name behind the restaurant: Reika Alexander, who also owns EN Japanese Brasserie in West Village. The Hollywood Reporter indicated it planned to debut in late May but has not yet opened.

Still, it’s gotta be one of the quietest incoming LA restaurants in recent memory, with 135 seats, and two seasonal kaiseki menus designed by chef Abe Hiroki. Chateau Hanare will also have sashimi and izakaya plates, along with EN’s famous fried chicken. Otherwise, it’s almost impossible to find any information on Hanare: There’s only a splash page website and there aren’t any listed phone numbers, though one could probably call the hotel to land a reservation. Hanare goes into a former residential building on Andre Balazs’ property. The celebrity hotelier was accused of groping several women in a late 2017 NY Times article.

Culver City is becoming a coffee destination

Another day, another coffee bar heads to Culver City. Most recently, Super Domestic coffee opened with a bicycle store-espresso bar mashup but now Toddrickallen reports that MillCross Fine Coffee & Provisions is opening at a new residential-commercial multi-use building along Washington Boulevard. There’s virtually no other information available online, though this secret Pinterest page might show some clues as to what the owners plan to do with the space.

Breaking ground at Antico

Chad Colby, former chef at Chi Spacca, has finally broken ground on his upcoming rustic Italian restaurant Antico. Located near the corner of Beverly and Larchmont, Antico should open by the end of the year, or perhaps early next year based on the late construction date.

A look back at one of the Valley’s most popular restaurants

LA Weekly takes a look at the newly updated Castaway, which boasts Patina vet Perry Polaci at the helm. Apparently the hillside Burbank restaurant now ages their own beef and has a chef’s table to give people a look into the kitchen’s activities. Seems like a big step up for the decades old restaurant that often carried a stodgy menu.

Funny caffeination

Eater does a rundown of the best episodes of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, now available on Netflix. Many of the episodes take place in LA restaurants, such with Larry David at John O’Groat’s and Julia Louis-Dreyfus at Caffe Luxxe in Santa Monica.

Note: an earlier version of this article stated that Chateau Hanare had opened per an article from The Hollywood Reporter, but representatives of the restaurant say it has not officially opened yet.