House party
House party
Mama’s Boy, best tasting menus, Glassell Park sales, De Soi, Ruen Pair, Thailand, slow media, Stones tix, 1 Hotel San Francisco, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Word
The Italo-Texan two-step
The Skinny: Steps away from the sand and surf of Venice Beach, the supper-club-turned-venue Winston House has become a west side staple, more for its music than its food — until the space announced a complete revamp of the menu with chef Wes Whitsell at the helm, debuting last month. Dubbed Mama’s Boy, the restaurant’s new menu splits the difference between Whitsell’s Texan roots, the Santa Monica farmers market, and classic Italian recipes.
The Vibe: Tables at Winston House are clustered around a central stage, where a DJ spins tunes and local artists sometimes set up. Private events are extremely popular. The high-energy atmosphere at the restaurant is more house party than fine dining.
The Food: Whitsell’s ambitions for fusion are on full display, in plates like the artful pimento cheese arancini garnished with hot pepper-tomato jelly and fresh dill, or smoked brisket agnolotti, served in a pecorino butter sauce and punctuated with dark, sweet vincotto vinegar. Standout dishes like these merge the best parts of Italian and American southern cooking and showcase the chef’s mischievous flair for integrating high- and lowbrow flavors.
The menu at Mama’s Boy dovetails with the casualness that an entertainment-focused venue naturally evokes, as thin crust “Dad Pies” served on Tehachapi wheat crusts make great shareable snacks, and Venison meatball sliders or beer-battered squash blossoms mesh southern charm into commonplace Italian appetizers. Even in a dish as simple as Caesar salad, Whitsell elevates the plate, using puntarelle instead of romaine.
The Verdict: Whitsell’s last restaurant, Hatchet Hall, was a southern food staple on the west side for years before he took the reins. But it was only under his tenure that the restaurant earned a Michelin star. That turn begat a slew of other projects for Whitsell coming later this year, including a similar revamp of the menu at the Waterfront (also in Venice) and plans to debut a massive new concept at the old Enterprise Fish Co. space (a massive 16,000 square feet). Until they’re ready, pull up a chair at Mama’s Boy, where (yes) there might be a DJ bumping “Mr. Brightside,” but there’s also some serious food on the tables. –Caitlin White
→ Mama’s Boy (Venice) • 23 Windward Ave • Tue-Sat 6p-late • Reserve.
LA RESTAURANT LINKS: Following Best Bet shuttering, chef Jason Neroni takes the reins at Paloma in Venice • String of fires shuts down three esteemed East Side Mexican restaurants • Santa Monica trifecta: Napa Valley’s Gott’s Roadside plotting Santa Monica location … as is East Coast lobster roll spot Luke’s Lobster… as is Malibu Coast winery AJA Vineyard • Great White touching down in Brentwood.
REAL ESTATE • Sold
Glass houses
Glassell Park — that enclave tucked in between the hills of Mount Washington, Highland Park, and Eagle Rock — has been catching a fair bit of the Silver Lake and Los Feliz homebuyer overflow for a while now. It helps that the neighborhood had a median sale price of $1.09M last month, per Redfin, compared to $2.1M in Los Feliz and $1.545M in Silver Lake.
But there’s plenty of activity at the higher end of the Glassell Park real estate market too. Here, three recent sales, all of which went quickly, and for at least $100k more than the original asking price.
→ 3731 Toland Way (Glassell Park, above) • 3BR/2.1BA, 1685 SF • updated 1950s-built house on a quarter-acre • Listed: 4/19/24 for $1.595M• Sold 6/5/24 for $1.8M • Agents: Spencer Daley, Ernie Carswell, and James Likens, Douglas Elliman.
→ 3844 Sunbeam Dr (Glassell Park) • 3BR/3BA, 1766 SF • midcentury modern vibes with 4 parking spaces and second vacant lot • Listed: 5/2/24 for $1.4M • Sold 6/4/24 for $1.68M • Agents: Vanity Canales and Justin Borges, Keller Williams.
→ 3511 Parrish Ave (Glassell Park) • 3BR/2BA, 1595 SF • ranch-style house dating from 1959 • Listed: 5/29/24 for $1.299M • Sold 7/9/24 for $1.4M • Agents: Grant Linscott and Alejandra Zavalza, Keller Williams.
WORK • Thursday Routine
A new flavor
SCOUT BRISSON • CEO • De Soi
Neighborhood you live in: Marina del Rey
It’s Thursday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
Thursday is an office day with the team. We have a cute little space in a co-working office in Playa Vista where our team of eight gathers twice a week. It’s a bit of organized chaos as the majority of our team would categorize themselves as extroverts. We’re always sampling something new, and getting packages for brand sends. Our head of brand marketing calls me part-time CEO, full-time clean up crew.
What’s on the agenda for today?
It happens to be our community launch event for our new flavor tonight. Spritz Italiano is our take on everyone’s favorite citrus summer spritz. We’re gathering our LA friends at Gjusta to eat pizza, drink our NA bevvies, and celebrate all of the work that goes into a product launch.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Headed out of my bubble to Ruen Pair for amazing Thai food. I visited Thailand over the holidays and am on the hunt for the best papaya salad and massaman curry that LA has to offer. I’ll also likely combine my favorite Temescal hike with Bluey’s Santa Monica afterwards for a casual brunch.
How about a little leisure or culture?
The Marina del Rey Farmers Market is a Saturday staple. They often have live music and always have delish food stalls and the classic Brother’s dips (the three layer feta cheese/pesto/sun dried tomato is my all-time favorite).
What was your last great vacation?
Thailand is pretty hard to beat. We visited Koh Lanta (a sleepy little island off of Krabi), Chiang Mai, and Bangkok. In Koh Lanta we stayed at Layana Resort & Spa, which was incredible. Definitely check out the massage place on the beach right next to it if you stay. (Not much beats a massage with the actual sound of waves crashing.) In Chiang Mai we did an incredible cooking class with the Zabb-E-Lee cooking school. It was on a gorgeous outdoor oasis of sorts outside of the city and some of the best food we ate the entire trip.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
Ninja CREAMi for homemade ice cream: influenced by TikTok with zero regrets. (This is coming from a household with a 5-6 nights per week ice cream consumption habit.)
WORK • Startups
Fast & slow
After a couple of weeks of traveling and holiday disruption, I woke up Monday morning wanting to go fast — to quiet the uncertainty that built up during days outside the routine by hitting the gas on the business.
Luckily, it was early and I was in my kitchen and nobody else was paying attention, so I couldn’t do any damage.
Lock has a theory, which I subscribe to, that it takes at least a year, probably two, for media brands to take hold. During that waiting period, you’ve got to show up every day, publish when you say you’re going to, do good work even when it seems like nobody’s paying attention. Only then, when you’ve gained trust and established credibility, can you achieve instant success.
At FOUND, we’re just past a year in NY and still counting time in months in LA, SF, and Miami. So we’ve likely got some more slow ahead of us before I can wake up after a holiday and blow a lot of money on hiring new staff.
It’s possible to try to circumvent the media-building process with money, but that’s a tricky game. Revenue can lag other measures of success, which means you better have a lot of money and probably more. It’s also possible to go too slowly, of course, and end up with a hobby instead of a business.
Managing the fast and slow of the early stages is hard. It’s especially hard during the times that don’t call for gas. Hopefully, if we do it right, those times will seem much shorter when we look back on them fondly as the carefree early days of FOUND. –Josh Albertson
LA WORK AND PLAY LINKS: NoHo’s Tabula Rasa remade into wine store Haley’s Wines • With Santa Monica Farmers Market hitting its peak, chefs suggest what to buy • Pasadena’s Ambassador Auditorium goes up for sale.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Greatest Hits
The Rolling Stones, SoFi Stadium (Inglewood), Sat @ 730p, section C130, $397 per
Maestro of the Movies: The Music of John Williams and More, Hollywood Bowl (Hollywood), terrace, Sat @ 8p, $241 per
Missy Elliott, Crypto.com Arena (Downtown), Fri @ 7p, section 102, $255 per
GETAWAYS • San Francisco
Virtue, signaled
This post appeared in yesterday’s edition of FOUND SF. Looking for a little more Bay Area in your life? Subscribe to FOUND SF, with new issues dropping each Wednesday.
Locals and loyal guests remember Hotel Vitale and the rollicking, pre-pandemic happy hours at Americano’s patio bar. The longstanding waterfront resort has been reimagined as 1 Hotel San Francisco, part of Starwood Capital Group’s sustainable luxury collection.
The refurb brought with it a plant-filled lobby, quiet luxury vibes, and low-impact touches at every turn. Eco-minded travelers can check a bunch of boxes off of their carbon-offset bingo cards: reclaimed redwood from the old Bay Bridge, filtered water stations on each floor with recycled wine bottle carafes, wooden key cards, and recycled paper hangers.
The 200 rustic-chic guest rooms boast room service. But if you desire to leave your stylishly cozy nest, there’s the California fare at Terrene, which also offers a cocktail menu with a selection of zero-waste drinks, featuring ingredients from the hotel’s onsite herb garden and apiary.
The intimate Bamford Wellness Spa is a carryover from the beloved Spa Vitale, with only a few treatment rooms for massages and facials (no showers, steam room, or sauna). But what the spa lacks in space, it makes up for in views. Two rooftop soaking tubs (above) are the showstoppers, where you can melt away your worries with a mineral-rich bath (and a glass of champagne). –Allison McCarthy
→ 1 Hotel San Francisco (Embarcadero) • 8 Mission St.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Rancho Palos Verdes landslide is creating a new beach • In South Orange County, sand replacement begins at Doheny State Beach and Capistrano Beach Park • JetBlue to SFO is the most-delayed flight out of LAX • Russian River Resort hits the market for $4.5M • Yosemite entrance reopens following wildfire.
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RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Tasting menus
The Nines are FOUND's distilled lists of LA’s best. Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundla.com. For the full archives, click here.
Providence (Hollywood), landmark restaurant serving a seafood-focused menu by Michael Cimarusti ($325, 8 courses)