Next month, one of the most singular Asian restaurants in Los Angeles will close after nearly a decade in operation. Cassia — home of “sunbathing prawns,” bowls of creamy laksa and clay-oven flatbreads from chef Bryant Ng — will serve its blend of Chinese, Singaporean and Vietnamese dishes with French-brasserie flair until its final night on Feb. 22.
In a statement sent to The Times, owners Ng, Kim Luu-Ng, Zoe Nathan, Josh Loeb and Colby Goff cited a range of industry difficulties and occurrences that led to their decision: rising operational costs, sustained diminished business from the 2023 entertainment-industry strikes and, most recently, the city’s wildfires that destroyed thousands of lives, homes and businesses.
“We are not unique, but it’s been a challenge for sure,” the statement read. “While we’ve done our best to adapt, these circumstances have rendered us unable to continue to operate. Regarding the fires, we want to extend our deepest sympathies to everyone who has lost their homes or been affected by the recent destruction. It’s an unprecedented event that will reshape our city and the lives of so many people we know and care about for years to come.”
The closure of Cassia, a long-celebrated concept from the Rustic Canyon Family restaurant group, is one among a growing list in the last year. More than 100 notable restaurants and bars closed in the L.A. area in 2024, including the Santa Monica location of Sweet Rose Creamery, another Rustic Canyon Family operation (the original Brentwood outpost remains open). Multiple other restaurants such as Guerrilla Tacos, Lustig and Bar Monette announced their closures this month too.
A multigenerational chef-restaurateur, Ng drew from his haute culinary experience as well as those of his family and the Vietnamese heritage of his wife, Luu-Ng. After emigrating from China, his grandparents operated a Westside Cantonese-Polynesian restaurant, while his parents ran a Chinese restaurant in Northridge. Ng wove all of this and more into his white pepper crab, curries, lemongrass-glazed chicken, Sichuan-chile fried rice and satay.
That flavorful cultural melting pot, as well as Ng’s California background and perspective, is just one of a few reasons that L.A. Times Food’s general manager, Lauria Ochoa, tapped Cassia as the 2019 Gold Award winner.
“I love that Cassia’s food isn’t just Vietnamese or Asian, but Southern Californian,” she said at the time. “It embodies one of the big ideas behind the award — ‘expanding the notion of Southern California cooking.’ Fish sauce can be as important to the cuisine of Los Angeles as olive oil.”
In 2015, former L.A. Times Food critic Jonathan Gold wrote that “Ng, trained at the Cordon Bleu in Paris, is claiming the essence of French cooking as his own; colonizing the colonizers.”
Cassia appeared on the L.A. Times 101 Best Restaurants list many times, including the most recent 2024 guide, where Times Food columnist Jenn Harris wrote that “Ng has perfected his syncretic style of cooking, and every plate feels immensely personal.” It was named a best new restaurant by Bon Appétit, GQ and LA Weekly.
Before opening Cassia, Ng served as an opening chef at Pizzeria Mozza and helmed downtown Southeast Asian restaurant the Spice Table. In 2012, he was named one of Food & Wine’s best new chefs in the country.
Ng and Luu-Ng plan to open a new Chinese American restaurant called Jade Rabbit in Santa Monica that will feature more of a quick-and-casual format.
“We will celebrate Chinese-American food,” Ng previously told The Times, “which is a unique cross-pollination of Chinese and American cuisines built out of necessity, hard work, creativity, perseverance and entrepreneurship of Chinese American immigrants.”
Meanwhile, the Rustic Canyon Family will continue to operate its restaurants across L.A. and in Ojai, including Birdie G’s, Rustic Canyon, Sweet Rose Creamery, Milo + Olive, Huckleberry Bakery & Cafe, the Dutchess and the Cassia-adjacent Ester’s Wine Shop & Bar.
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