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Are Angelenos witnessing the renewed rise of Downtown LA’s dining scene? Perhaps, given the amount of movement currently happening in the area, from sky-high open-air hangouts to big-name chefs reviving long-awaited plans for rooftop hangouts. The latest addition to the landscape is Il Fiore, a restaurant focusing on flavorful Italian fare in the heart of the Financial District.
The new Il Fiore quietly began serving last week from its ground floor space at 819 S. Flower Street, the base of the O Hotel. The restaurant’s unique setup means there’s actually two chefs on site: Joel Stovall (who worked for Josef Centeno for years, most recently at Orsa & Winston), and Clay Cassis, who has worked at Vespertine and Bestia. Together the pair is turning out everything from daily breakfast and lunch for the hotel, with options from granola and avocado toast to house-smoked lox and focaccia de recco. Dinner is a more robust turn, featuring classics like cacio e pepe and braised short ribs along with vegetables roasted in nori butter and a pork cheek papardelle with papaya and heirloom tomatoes. Stovall and Cassis will even be growing some of their own ingredients from a nearby garden, and foraging for others around the region.
Stovall tells Eater that the restaurant will be Italian first, but — much like at Orsa & Winston — will pull from California and Japan for further influence. Meanwhile Suzi Chou, formerly of Cassia, the Wolves and elsewhere, is on to assemble the bar menu, and Robert Katrikh (Queensberry) will help to manage it all. The opening menus are below.
As for the Il Fiore space, look for a lot of mood lighting at night and tall windows by daytime for soft sunlight. The building has been opened to expose lots of brick, and tall ceilings show wood beams and plenty of cement — an ideal combination for Downtowners looking to mellow out at night and soon-to-return bankers ready for an upscale lunch.
Lunch and breakfast are available daily at the new Il Fiore, with hours from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., while dinner is open from Wednesday through Sunday beginning at 5 p.m.
