RESTAURANTS • First Person
Dear John’s doesn’t feel like sunny LA, and that’s the point. The dim Culver City hideaway is both intimate and convivial, and dinner here feels like an occasion, even if the occasion is Tuesday night. The servers are seasoned, the martinis cold and crisp, and the choices minimal — just Blue Note classics.
Like other restaurants in the cohort of old-school Hollywood glamor, Dear John’s has history. In 1962, it opened as a haunt for stage and screen celebs from the nearby Sony lot, then faded over time only to be resurrected in 2019 by restaurateurs Patti and Hans Röckenwagner and the chef Josiah Citrin. Today, it’s as if the restaurant has been frozen in amber.
Order the iceberg wedge and then the prime sirloin (marked with a subtle Snake River Farms monogram), a standout at a recent meal. The Idaho-based purveyor produces first-rate steaks. While there is a pleasant enough patio, the essential Dear John’s experience is indoors.
The atmosphere is particularly conducive to a boozed-up hang with old friends, shoulder to shoulder in one of the restaurant’s red booths. Original paintings from the ‘50s and ‘60s add to the vibe. But even though Dear John’s is an event, this is Los Angeles, after all, so dress up or dress down — the restaurant is welcoming to aging rockers and Alo-clad Apple staffers alike.
Let yourself dissociate from the real world as time and space slow down, then snap out of it as you exit, remembering that you’re not leaving a nightclub into the dawn light, only that dinner is done. –Colin Nagy
→ Dear John's (Culver City) • 11208 Culver Blvd • Tues-Sat, 530-930p.