Celebrated LA Chef Casey Lane Plots Comeback With Big Hotel Group

Prior to the pandemic, Casey Lane was among the city’s most talked-about chefs. He had spent years cultivating a career in and around various hotels and boutique properties (as well as the Tasting Kitchen), from Downtown’s Hotel Figueroa to the Italian staple Viale Dei Romani in West Hollywood. For the past few years, however, Lane has been laying low as his previous projects closed, flipped, or otherwise switched things up. Now Lane is back and ready to build once again, partnering with the Palisociety (with locations in Santa Monica, Culver City, Silver Lake, Santa Barbara, and across the country) on a new dining group that will put Lane at the forefront as the creative director of food and beverage. Lane has already revamped the menu at Marco Polo in Silver Lake and at Simonette in Culver City, and will be working with Palisociety to bring new restaurants and new menus to the group’s offerings across the city.

A tender moment

Tenderfest, which dubs itself the “world’s largest chicken tender festival,” is back in LA on Saturday, August 20. For the cost of entry (prices range from $50 to $175) diners can score tender bites from names like Howlin’ Ray’s, Go Go Bird, Willie Mae’s, and more, while others like Nobu Matsuhisa will be contending for the title of the day’s best tender. Tenderfest is the brainchild of Off the Menu’s Lawrence Longo (Irv’s Burgers) and H.Wood Grou’s John Terzian.

Prime hours, Prime Pizza

Prime Pizza in Little Tokyo is extending its service hours, running until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights for everyone’s slice and whole pie needs.

Cooking Japanese yakitori, and some LA history to boot

Ever wanted to throw your own meat skewers party in a back yard? Here’s how Dylan J. Ho, a longtime food photographer and burgeoning yakitori specialist who goes by the title Tori! Tory! Toré!, configures a home yakitori party for groups, per New York Magazine’s the Strategist.

Meanwhile Culinary Backstreets has the lowdown on LA’s longstanding Japanese food history, with a particular focus on East LA, Boyle Heights, and the still-standing Otomisan, which is still going strong since opening in 1956.

A newcomer to Westwood, a potential change in Downtown

Popular plant-based Indian fusion restaurant Tulsi Eatery is coming to Westwood, opening August 15 with a slew of deals and dishes. The restaurant at 10916 Lindbrook Drive takes over for a closed former Veggie Grill.

Elsewhere, chef/owner Ria Barbosa of Petite Peso says that she is “ready to leave Downtown” after finding several smashed windows at her small Filipino restaurant on Monday, August 8. Barbosa says that her group is “actively looking” for other locations.