A Star-Studded Surprise Fine Dining Restaurant Emerges in Westwood

There’s surprising new life at a familiar Westwood restaurant space these days. The two-year-old Fellow at 1071 Glendon has been quiet since the start of the pandemic, but now has plans to reopen on October 21 with a menu that — especially for the area — can best be described as ambitious.

Previously, Fellow was meant to be a slightly upscale but still very mellow hangout for the neighborhood, a place to stop in for a bite and a cocktail with friends or for UCLA students with family members visiting from out of town. Now Chef Mazen Mustafa is on board with a whole new direction, along with new operations lead and sommelier Scott Lester (Eleven Madison Park, the French Laundry). Mustafa is a New York City transplant who previously ran NYC’s version of the Aviary out of Chicago. Prior to that he was at the Elm in Brooklyn and was chef de cuisine of Michelin-rated Corton. Together the pair has also brought on LA’s own notorious water sommelier Martin Riese; Philip Camino is still on as owner to oversee it all as well.

So with talent aligned, the plan is now for Fellow to reopen on October 21 as a dinner destination with an upscale dining perspective. There’s a California-French bent to the menu and lots of fine dining technique in play, something that Westwood hasn’t had much of in recent years — and something altogether different for this current pandemic moment. In a neighborhood that has long favored Diddy Riese, Persian food, Chinese noodle and dumpling shops, and college bar hangouts, the reborn Fellow is trying to take a new course.

Ryan Tanaka

Fellow opens on October 21 for outdoor seating only at the moment, and room for about 40 people at a time. The large space will eventually be able to accommodate 200 at a clip, spread across the dining room, patio seating, and multiple bars. The building will also now house a next-door art gallery and showroom space in collaboration with Fellow, so expect more events once appropriate to do so.

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