London’s Legendary Nose-to-Tail Restaurant St. John Is Opening in Los Angeles

One of London’s most iconic restaurants is coming to Los Angeles soon, and is landing in a delightfully unexpected place: Culver City. St. John, the 25-year-old Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver restaurant that has become massively influential in Europe, will open next fall at the Platform development project.

Word of St. John’s arrival first began trickling out last week, but the news wasn’t confirmed until this morning by Eater London. The jump to the West Coast is the first of its kind for the restaurant, which hews to a legendary tradition of British and European cooking. Per Eater London:

St. John characterisation as a British restaurant is correct, if a little reductive. So much of St. John’s success has been in its ability to present French and Italian cooking traditions and customs in a British context. And with that, in some senses, it seems fitting that this singular restaurant — and brand — would head for an American city whose climate, produce, and energy is much more closely aligned to southern Europe than, say, New York, which, by contrast, is closer, culturally, to northern European cities, like London, Paris, or Milan.

Gulliver told Eater London that the group specifically chose Los Angeles because it would be a city that many “would not expect.” There are still few firm details on the scope of the restaurant, but diners can likely expect not only the same dinner service as ever, but also an extension of St. John’s well-regarded bakery to boot.

Of course, the Platform development has long sought out big-name restaurant operators to take over its ground floor space. Sweetgreen, originally from Washington D.C., moved its headquarters there (and maintains an on-site restaurant), while Brooklyn’s famed Roberta’s does pizzas as well. The Cannibal, originally a meaty New York City restaurant, also opened and closed a restaurant at the Platform last year. But with other well-regarded restaurants nearby, including Vespertine, loads of coming office space, and plenty of transit options, the Platform is also among the most well-situated new developments anywhere in greater Los Angeles. Hopefully St. John fits right in.

St. John. 8850 Washington Blvd., Culver City.

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