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Dining room at Gigi’s.
Dining room at Gigi’s

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Gigi’s Plucks the Stylish Hotel Bar From New York City and Into Hollywood’s Industrial Heart

This stunning new restaurant and bar opens on November 13 in Hollywood’s budding Sycamore Ave corridor

Matthew Kang is the Lead Editor of Eater LA. He has covered dining, restaurants, food culture, and nightlife in Los Angeles since 2008. He's the host of K-Town, a YouTube series covering Korean food in America, and has been featured in Netflix's Street Food show.

Those in the Hollywood entertainment circle know that the areas south of Sunset have become the center of production and offices of LA’s massive streaming content boom, the somewhat forgotten, semi-industrial Hollywood Media District. Netflix is poised to open yet another office nearby while numerous other studios have used these flatlands, from the foothills to Paramount, as the facilities of on-screen fiction. In between, restaurants and cafes are opening up to cater to locals, from Tartine to Sightglass Coffee to more established Rao’s. And incoming next week on November 13 is Gigi’s, a stylish, throwback little find that comes from Alexander Wilmot and Samantha Ressler that hearkens both the midcentury panache of Musso & Frank and the vintage feel of New York City’s Bemelman’s Bar and Monkey Bar.

The striking illustrations come from young artist Andie Dinkin, whose arresting, colorful work on the dining room walls beckons one to linger over La Parisienne cocktail, a mixture of clementine vodka, vermouth rouge, pomegranate, grapefruit, balsamic, and dehydrated kalamata olive. A Gigi’s Old Fashioned, also conceived by bar director Courtney Rose (Petit Trois, Jon & Vinny’s), might also conjure modern Mad Men vibes with cognac, combier royal, chocolate chili bitters, and orange oil. The bar is clearly the main focus of the experience, though sadly it won’t accommodate imbibers until the pandemic diminishes significantly. Wine is another strength of Gigi’s, coming from Kristin Olszewski (Osteria Mozza, Husk Nashville), who showcases French and California bottles with emphasis on natural, biodynamic, and organic.

Entrance to Gigi’s, a glamorous LA restaurant
Entrance to Gigi’s
The bar and dining room at Gigi’s with marble flooring.
The bar and dining room at Gigi’s

The food menu, which sticks to well-worn and beloved French dishes, comes from executive chef Matt Bollinger, who cooked at Jean-Georges and Trois Familia. More aspirational Regiis Ova caviar comes upon creme fraiche with potato chips, or a hand-chopped steak tartare sauced with gribiche and mustard seeds. A seafood tower of oysters, scallops, shrimp, and king crab helps blow past the expense account minimum while a roasted chicken with lemon-thyme jus and pomme anna makes the whole affair actually feel like supper. Before the pandemic, LA was certainly on the road to following New York City with its love of things French, what with Petit Trois, Lupiotte Kitchen, Bar Restaurant, Pasjoli, Republique, and Tesse coming online in recent years. Gigi’s extends upon the genre with country pate, Parisian gnocchi, and halibut beurre blanc like a small alley bistro, except with gobs of interior design to boot.

The overall look comes from the late architect Osvaldo Maiozzi, who died earlier this year but made Gigi’s his last work. Maiozzi put together iconic restaurants Otium, Bestia, Redbird, and Angelini Osteria, and his imprint on the LA dining scene will likely be felt for years. Andrew Cosbie designed the interior, looking at everything from the linens, textiles, and other tactile elements, like the reclaimed marble flooring, mohair booths, and vintage Italian light fixtures. In addition, interior architect Aejie Rhyu of ARA-la Studio handled details like brass shelving, wood paneling, and millwork. Altogether the look and feel makes it feel like an ageless hotel bar but placed street side amid the part of Tinseltown where actual movie and TV magic happen.

At the moment, the 60-seat dining room is unavailable to patrons due to the restrictions of the novel coronavirus pandemic, but the 40 outdoor seats, spilling out front and to the side alley, will be available for reservations beginning next Friday from 5 p.m. to midnight, Wednesday and Sunday, and until 2 a.m. Thursday to Saturday. Oh and that timeless moniker of Gigi’s? It’s from Ressler’s grandmother.

Gigi’s Hollywood. 904 N. Sycamore Ave. Los Angeles, CA

Table seating, lights, illustrations at Gigi’s Hollywood.
Banquettes and booths with illustrations at Gigi’s Hollywood.
Tables, wall design at Gigi’s with orange color, deep green chairs.
Banquette with white tablecloths at Gigi’s
Bar setup at Gigi’s with bottles and espresso machine and marble countertops.
Eloise cocktail with gin, lillet rose, honey, rose, lemon at Gigi’s Hollywood
Eloise cocktail with gin, lillet rose, honey, rose, lemon
Oaxacan cocktail with mezcal espadin, reposado tequila, peach-habanero shrub, lemon, orange at Gigi’s Hollywood in a glass.
Oaxacan cocktail with mezcal espadin, reposado tequila, peach-habanero shrub, lemon, orange
Wilmot, with gin, pickled ramp, and dry vermouth
Wilmot, with gin, pickled ramp, and dry vermouth
Kitchen staff at Gigi’s Hollywood
Kitchen staff at Gigi’s
Cutting steak tartare at Gigi’s
Cutting steak tartare
Parisian gnocchi at Gigi’s.
Parisian gnocchi at Gigi’s
Caviar with potato chips at Gigi’s.
Caviar with potato chips
Parisian gnocchi at Gigi’s in Hollywood.
Parisian gnocchi
Steak tartare at Gigi’s on a plate.
Steak tartare
Roast chicken with jus
Roast chicken with jus
Fresh scallops with pink peppercorn granita on ice.
Fresh scallops with pink peppercorn granita
Kitchen staff at Gigi’s.
Kitchen staff at Gigi’s
Outside Gigi’s restaurant in Hollywood with plants and glowing neon sign. Wonho Frank Lee

Gigi's

904 North Sycamore Avenue, , CA 90038 (323) 819-7703 Visit Website
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