Atwater Village’s Hail Mary Launches Prix Fixe Tuesday Dinners With a Charity Bent

David Wilcox is back in front of the stoves at Hail Mary, his popular Atwater Village pizza restaurant, and he’s got something unique to show off. After a summer and fall spent mostly traveling and overseeing from afar, Wilcox will cook each Tuesday in December with a multi-course vegetable-only meal that centers around the restaurant’s crusty bread. Each plate, arriving in quick succession, is meant to allow for dipping, swiping, and sopping with said bread, with wine to boot and a hearty dessert to end the meal. Tickets for the weekly dinners go on sale today, with 10 percent of each purchase put towards a Christmas Day meal given to a food insecure family in the area.

Back in 2018 Wilcox was working in the same space on Journeymen, a quixotic spot for vegetable-forward small plates, with a unique hybrid service model and radical owner-employee transparency to boot. While Journeymen ultimately failed in Atwater, the emergence of Hail Mary as one of the city’s best places for pizza has given Wilcox the freedom work outside the kitchen more. Now he’s back, at least on Tuesday nights this month.

A new coffee contender

Equator Coffees is coming to Los Angeles. The popular Bay Area brand will open its first Southern California location in January at Culver City’s Ivy Station complex, featuring sustainable fair trade coffees from across the globe. To jumpstart the opening excitement, they’re even launching a collaboration beer with Hawthorne’s own Los Angeles Ale Works, that will blend a kolsch profile with beans from Equator. Look for the woman-owned B Corp to open in January.

A Hannukah party present

It’s not too late to snag this Genghis Cohen x Coolhaus x Valerie Confections ice cream collaboration for Hanukkah. The so-called Gelty Pleasures features chocolate ganache ice cream with a golden swirl.

Sports bar takeovers

Mr. Furley’s is on the expansion path. The low-key sports bar has grown onto West Third Street, taking over the closed Shelby space at 8445 W. 3rd St., just east of La Cienega. Expect drinks, TVs, snack food, and a grand opening party this Friday, December 3.

More ramen for Orange County

Ramen Shack is grand opening in San Juan Capistrano this Saturday, December 4, though they’ve been service food since September. The menu reads like a hit list of noodle soups, from tsukemen and shoyu ramen styles to ramen burgers.

A new face on Sunset

West Hollywood’s 1 Hotel has a new executive chef in Ginger Pierce, who spent years cooking in New York City at acclaimed spots like Jams and Barbuto under Jonathan Waxman. Now in LA, Pierce plans to overhaul the hotel’s menus overall by (in part) adding more vegetables to the menu, including options for vegan yogurt and a vegan breakfast burrito in the morning.