COVID-19 Outbreak Closes 75-Year-Old Nate’n Al’s in Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills delicatessen Nate’n Al’s is closed due to a COVID-19 outbreak amongst staff. The restaurant noted the “voluntary” closure last night on its Instagram page, adding that they “are taking every necessary precaution, and... testing all of our employees.” The restaurant plans to “safely re-open on Tuesday, Jan. 12th.”

Ownership has not stated the number of positive coronavirus tests among staff, though it’s worth noting the restaurant does not (yet, anyway) appear on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health outbreak list, which can be found here. The county mandates that any facility with three or more positive cases report said staff outbreak publicly. Late last year, Langer’s Deli in MacArthur Park closed after 11 staff members tested positive for COVID-19; the restaurant reopened on December 4.

The temporary closure announcement is just the latest for the Los Angeles area restaurant scene, as a slew of other prominent spots from Clark Street Bread to Hail Mary in Atwater Village have all closed in recent weeks due to COVID-19 outbreaks among staff. Even West LA burger stand Apple Pan, which is owned by the same family as Nate’n Al’s, had a coronavirus-related closure last month. LA is currently among the epicenters of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic nationwide, with one person dying every 15 minutes in LA County.

Even without the pandemic, the 75-year-old Nate’n Al’s has been the center of plenty of news over the past year or so. Back in 2019 Shelli and Irving Azoff and a group of LA celebrities came together to buy the business from the Mendelson family that had owned it for years, though the restaurant itself would need to move to a new location following redevelopment at the original address on Beverly Drive. In March of 2020 the restaurant said that it was “with great sadness that we will be closing our doors for all business,” adding that ownership did not “know what the future holds.” After a large public outcry, the Azoffs reopened Nate’n Al’s in May, but will still need to move the business at some point in the future.

The news of Nate’n Al’s temporarily closure comes less than a day before the permanent closure announcement of another staple Jewish deli in Los Angeles: 46-year-old Label’s Table in Pico-Robertson. Ownership there has shuttered as a result of redevelopment, with no plans to reopen elsewhere.

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