Culver City’s Chic Rooftop Destination Brings Lobster Frites Poolside

The Shay Hotel in Culver City has a new all-day rooftop restaurant: Canopy Club opened in late June in the space formerly occupied by Celestina, an influencer favorite from the Etta team that closed after only months of operation. The poolside restaurant and bar, located on the top floor of the hotel, serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner with views of downtown Culver City, DTLA, and Baldwin Hills.

Canopy Club is the latest from Mosaic, a new soup-to-nuts restaurant management firm from Paul Pruitt (New School Consulting) and Alex Racioppi (Kitchensync) that also runs the Puglia-inspired Bari in Beverly Grove and modern Mexican restaurant Mírame in Beverly Hills. In order to open the Canopy Club in lightning-quick speed — less than six weeks have passed since the group finalized their agreement with the hotel — Mosaic tapped designer Cassandra Smith to impart a 1960s, clubby Miami-meets-Palm Springs vibe to the indoor-outdoor space.

Sierra Prescott

Although the bones of the rooftop lounge remain intact from its Celestina days, Smith refurbished all of the pool furniture and umbrellas, weaving in pink, marigold, lime green, and cream accents. Pool-adjacent tables and a compact indoor dining room have a distinctly midcentury feel, with white leather-and-wicker chairs, light wood, and pink wallpaper emblazoned with oversized palm fronds and tropical flowers. The restaurant’s name, according to Pruitt, is a nod to both the rooftop serving as a canopy to the hotel, as well as dining under a canopy of stars.

For the restaurant’s all-day menu, Mosaic chief culinary officer Michael Santoro created a selection of crowd-pleasing California-inflected dishes. In addition to breakfast fare, a Caesar salad, and a double smashburger, there’s a grilled artichoke with green goddess mayo and fresh mint; “classy” shrimp cocktail with habanero cocktail dressing and lemon aioli; a lightly battered crispy fish sandwich with little gem lettuce, caper remoulade, American cheese, and pickles; and a BLT ssam with applewood bacon, tomato, pickled onion, avocado sauce, and pimento cheese. Canopy Club’s most show-stopping entree might be the lobster frites for two, a whole grilled Maine lobster served with Calabrian chile butter and fries.

Sierra Prescott

Sierra Prescott

Cocktails are available by the glass and in carafes with ice service for $75, including spritzes with refreshing spirits like tequila and mezcal, as showcased in a pomelo spritz and the chicle pop (blanco tequila, prickly pear, watermelon, lime, and basil). A nearly all-California wine list is complemented by a hefty selection of canned beer, canned wine, kombucha, and seltzers for easy poolside sipping.

Canopy Club is open at 8801 Washington Boulevard in Culver City Sunday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.