“Cool and sexy,” declared developer Rick Caruso of celebrity chef Timothy Hollingsworth’s new restaurant at Palisades Village. Throngs of guests dined, shopped and meandered through the upscale mall over the weekend, bringing life to the shuttered complex that sat vacant for 19 months due to the devastating Palisades fire. They filed into Hollingsworth’s Alphabet Bar & Grill, nibbled McConnell’s ice cream cones on a nearby grass lawn and twirled forkfuls of pasta from some of L.A.’s most notable Italian restaurateurs.
The Caruso-owned Palisades Village reopened on Saturday after more than $100 million in repairs, and with it came a renewed sense of optimism as the neighborhood continues to rebuild.
Though the shopping complex survived the fires, in part through the hiring of private firefighters, some buildings in the center sustained smoke damage and all of it required more than a year of renovations. Existing food businesses contained perishables and some could not be accessed for weeks following the fire, resulting in water, toxic-waste and mold damage.
Every business space inside Palisades Village was demolished down to the studs, new insulation was installed and kitchen equipment was replaced.
Roughly one-third of the center’s businesses are new, and according to Caruso, 99% of the complex is leased. With roughly a dozen restaurants, cafes and even a local farmers market, the shopping center is a culinary destination in its own right. About 70% of Palisades Village’s shops and restaurants opened on Saturday, with more to come. Here’s a quick guide to the restaurants and bars currently available, and what to expect in the coming months.
What’s new
Alphabet Bar & Grill
Celebrity chef Timothy Hollingsworth (Otium, the French Laundry, “The Final Table,” “Top Chef”) teamed up with the h.wood Group to open Alphabet Bar & Grill in the former Hank’s space. Designed as the Village’s neighborhood restaurant, it serves American classics, such as rotisserie chickens with a range of sauces and just-charred burgers under cheddar and buttery onions.
Alphabet Bar & Grill also offers child-friendly dishes, such as rotisserie-chicken noodle soup, and features indoor and outdoor dining, a small bar and a semi-open kitchen to watch Hollingsworth and his team at work.
The celebrity chef is no stranger to fire loss. His childhood neighborhood in Northern California recently burned, and he and his family had to evacuate during the Eaton fire. Supporting the Palisades through food inspired his involvement.
“The community has gone through so much and now it’s time to rebuild,” Hollingsworth said. “To have an opportunity to be a part of that is a really cool thing.”
Alphabet Bar & Grill is open daily for lunch and dinner.
K Bakery
This year Kim Kedeshian’s K Bakery turned 15 and found a new home. After shuttering her previous location due to the fire, the longtime Palisades resident reopened K Bakery over the weekend in Palisades Village. Now she can be found baking fresh English muffins, croissants, pretzels, loaves of bread, cinnamon buns and more in the former Jemma Pizzeria space Tuesday to Sunday. Online, Kedeshian offers whole-cake orders for special occasions.
Ueki at Blue Ribbon Sushi
Blue Ribbon Sushi was one of the center’s first restaurants. For the reopening, the team built an adjacent omakase counter. Ueki features a 10-seat sushi bar and two small booths, with sushi chef Hongki Lee — also known as chef Lee San — preparing a rotating menu of sushi and robata courses lasting roughly two hours. Ueki offers one seating Wednesday through Friday, and two seatings on Saturday and Sunday.
What’s to come
Spacca Tutto
Caruso had hoped to work with Nancy Silverton for years. But it was the mission of aiding the Palisades that finally spurred the Mozza, Chi Spacca and La Brea Bakery founder to conceptualize Spacca Tutto, an Italian-leaning steakhouse set to debut in Palisades Village next month.
“It was a neighborhood that I felt I could bring a little life back to, and that’s what really was exciting to me,” she said. “If it was pre-fires I’m not sure I would have jumped at the opportunity, only because I just didn’t feel like I’d wanted another restaurant in Los Angeles.”
Spacca Tutto isn’t a direct sequel to Silverton’s celebrated Chi Spacca, but a few of its stalwarts, including the focaccia di Recco and a number of steaks, will comprise roughly a third of the menu. Silverton plans on adding new items such as a crab Louie, shrimp cocktail, more steak sides and sauces, steak tartare and artichoke dip. Silverton and Chi Spacca alum Armen Ayvazyan are developing the menu together, and plan to debut it in the former Draycott space in mid-September.
Carla Cafe
Carla Cafe quickly built a cult following through sold-out sandwich drops during its pandemic-era pop-up run, then amassed even more fans with a Beverly Grove storefront in 2024 and a Century City location the following year. In spring 2027 owners and husband-and-wife team Avi Ahdoot and Jessica Horell are expanding Carla Cafe again, bringing their wildly popular sandwiches and matchas to Palisades Village.
“We’re so excited to be there to welcome everyone back and watch the community come back together,” Ahdoot wrote in an email statement.
The forthcoming Carla Cafe, located just off the mall’s green space near Spacca Tutto and Blue Ribbon Sushi, will feature a walk-up-window format.
What’s returning
Alfred
Alfred’s founder has deep ties to the neighborhood, so expanding his “But first, coffee” empire to Caruso’s Village in 2019 seemed logical. With family in the restaurant business in the Palisades, Josh Akhtarzad spent much of his childhood there, including his first summer job delivering pizzas.
“I watched it evolve, grow, and change, yet somehow never lose that small-town sense of community that made it so special,” he wrote in a recent Instagram post. On Aug. 15 he reopened his Village outpost for coffee and matcha, which also offers a selection of pastries and other specialty drinks, and is open daily beginning at 8 a.m.
Angelini Ristorante & Bar
Gino Angelini’s famed Fairfax osteria expanded to Palisades Village in 2022, serving some of the Italian chef’s most iconic dishes and fresh pastas such as the lasagna verde Nonna Elvira. Over the weekend the Palisades Angelini returned in its same location — including its large patio — and with its stalwart menu of Italian specialties and wines for daily lunch and dinner.
Angelini co-owner Tancredi DeLuca kept nearly everything identical, but did introduce a new chef to the project: longtime friend Lucio Bedon, former chef-owner of Vicini Ristorante & Wine Bar.
“It should feel like coming home, no?” Angelini wrote via email. “We keep the design, the atmosphere, and the menu how our guests remember.”
Blue Ribbon Sushi
Palisades Village’s original sushi vendor has returned. In addition to its new omakase counter, Blue Ribbon Sushi also expanded the original restaurant’s patio area, which overlooks the center’s lawn.
Look for its stalwart offerings of sashimi, maki, nigiri and other seafood — much of which is sourced from Japan — in addition to a robata selection of flame-kissed meats and produce, as well as Japanese Wagyu.
“After everything this community has been through, reopening our doors feels like an opportunity to be part of the neighborhood’s next chapter,” chef and co-founder Bruce Bromberg wrote in an email to The Times.
Blue Ribbon Sushi is open daily for lunch and dinner.
Erewhon
The Southern California-founded luxury grocer famed for its $20-plus smoothies is reopening in the Palisades in early 2027. According to Corinne Verdery, chief executive of Caruso’s operations, water damage and spoiled foods in the wake of the Palisades fire resulted in extensive cleaning and renovations, which pushed the grocer’s reopening into next year. When Erewhon returns to the Village, expect a new floor plan and the return of its cult-favorite items along with rows of produce, prepared foods and supplements.
McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams
One of California’s favorite ice cream companies returned to Palisades Village on Saturday and celebrated by giving out free ice cream scoops. Lines stretched out the door when Santa Barbara-founded chain McConnell’s reopened, with guests eager to try more than a dozen flavors, plus milkshakes, sundaes, ice cream sandwiches and floats. McConnell’s is open daily in the Palisades until 10 p.m.
The Pacific Palisades Farmers Market
The local farmers market returned on Aug. 19 and will run every Wednesday through Dec. 30. In an effort to bring fresh produce back to the neighborhood, the Pacific Palisades Farmers Market resumed with more than a dozen vendors, some specializing in fruits and vegetables, others in fresh eggs and some in flowers.
Look for vendors stationed along the Swarthmore Avenue stretch of the Village weekly from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m.
Porta Via
The Beverly Hills location of Porta Via remains closed following a spring kitchen fire, but its Palisades location has returned. Owner Peter Garland’s local chain began 30 years ago, and in 2018 he debuted an outpost in Palisades Village when the center launched.
His restaurant offers lobster rolls and burgers, plus salads, pastas, grilled meats and daily brunch items. The Palisades location, which is open daily for lunch and dinner, also offers a full bar and a patio.
“The return of Palisades Village represents so much more than the reopening of businesses,” Garland wrote in an email to The Times. “It is a symbol of resilience, hope and the strength of this remarkable community.”
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