When Cole’s, one of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles — and rumored inventor of the French dip sandwich — shut its doors seemingly for good on March 29, chef and hospitality entrepreneur Jeremy Fall was one of scores in the city who mourned its closing. After all, he spent years of his childhood living two blocks from the famous restaurant and bar, above his family’s Angelique Cafe.
Now he’s leading the charge to reopen the French dip icon that began in 1908 as Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet and sold carved-meat sandwiches to Red Car commuters, then evolved into a legendary bar that attracted famous poets, gangsters, actors and downtown dwellers including Mickey Cohen and Charles Bukowski.
Since early August, Fall and Sean Maloney, former chief hospitality officer of Mozza Restaurant Group, have been quietly working to revive the historic restaurant, setting it up to live another life as early as next month.
The sale has been in the works for more than a year, since before the previous owner, Pouring With Heart hospitality group, announced the end of Cole’s in July 2025, citing financial losses due to the pandemic, entertainment-industry strikes and the rising cost of labor. An outpouring of support from Angelenos helped delay the final closure until this spring.
“I grew up downtown, so I was going to Cole’s as a kid,” Fall said. “Seeing the oldest restaurant close, such a historical landmark, was really sad. It wasn’t this movie-esque spark where I was like, ‘I need to jump and do this.’ But when [Pouring With Heart] reached out I thought about it for a day, and I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe I should just try to see if I can pull this off.’”
Fall and Maloney currently hold a temporary liquor license and are awaiting full approval in order to close escrow. The hope, they said, is to reopen Cole’s in mid- to late November.
In an effort to offer something new — and help secure its permanence — the duo are ramping up Cole’s’ culinary offerings, envisioning a return to the kind of dining that might draw guests downtown. The vision, Maloney said, is if New York’s 4 Charles Prime Rib and Pastis and L.A.’s Musso and Frank Grill “had a child out of wedlock.”
“I want to make it sustainable so it’s here for a very long time,” said Maloney, who estimates he’s opened 11 other restaurants. This will be his first as an owner. “L.A. has been very good to me, so I want to make sure that this place is here for L.A.”
At the new Cole’s there will be French dips, cocktails and the return of the atomic mustard, albeit with a slightly tweaked recipe. But there will also be white tablecloths and pasta, as well as an expanded line of sauces.
Retaining Cole’s historic ambiance was important to the restaurateurs. Since receiving the keys in early August they’ve added vintage tin ceiling tiles and removed the pool tables to make way for more seating and a piano. But in the renovated bathrooms the famous plaques above the urinals — including the one declaring “Charles Bukowski pissed here” — will remain. And the booth frequented by gangster Mickey Cohen will stay put.
“Preserving its history is the priority,” Fall said, “but we also have to be mindful of being able to keep the doors open with menu expansion. People love history, but the reason it was closing is because people weren’t going to Cole’s.”
While Fall and Maloney designed much of the menu, leading the kitchen will be a new head chef: Daniel Nguyen, formerly of Osteria Mozza and Lolo Wine Bar. In addition to a revamped French dip, Nguyen plans to serve fresh ravioli, prime rib frites and salmon with trout roe.
The concept of modernizing is not new when it comes to Cole’s, especially pertaining to the dip. Under the tenure of Cedd Moses’ Pouring With Heart, Redbird and Vibiana chef Neal Fraser reimagined Cole’s version beginning in 2008.
Under Fall, Maloney and Nguyen, expect the Original, made with dry-brined prime rib and a 24-hour au jus, which is used not only as a dip but as a braising liquid and a final sauce to impart even more flavor. There will also be a pastrami version, and a vegan option made of mushroom and onion.
Clark Street Bread is in the final phases of testing a new custom sandwich roll, balancing the local bakery chain’s signature baguette with a classic roll and a slight twinge of Americana, like the style one might find in a New Orleans-style po’ boy. Clark Street culinary director Jesse Furman says the trick is finding the exact balance of traditional and new for a historic restaurant.
“Cole’s is part of the DNA of Los Angeles,” he said. “We’re honored that they thought of us to modernize the legacy that is Cole’s.”
Fall, who was behind the former Nighthawk in Venice and is opening a permanent location for his popular smoothie-focused pop-up, Drugstore, in New York next month, said, “We are really trying to make the world’s best French dip because it’s where it was created.” Both Fall and Maloney believe that the French dip was created at Cole’s, not Philippe’s. But at the end of the day, they said, the controversy is “a friendly competition” and nothing more.
“They [Philippe’s] wrote a very kind post when Cole’s closed and everything,” Fall said, then joked, “We’ll see if they write one when it reopens.”
And what about the cocktails? Fall and Maloney said the drink menu will lean classic but include a few new elements, including an au jus-washed martini.
But one of the largest questions is what will become of the hidden space behind the dining room that once held the Varnish, the groundbreaking cocktail bar that helped define L.A.’s craft cocktail culture in the 2010s? Fall and Maloney aren’t ready to reveal their plans , but will use the former Varnish room for private dining through the end of this year.
According to Moses, passing the torch to owners who would respect the institution was always a priority.
“We weren’t gonna sell it to somebody that wasn’t gonna continue the Cole’s legacy,” said Moses, who still operates seven bars downtown. “I shepherded it for 18 years, and we had a great run. We had a lot of fun with the place, and served a lot of dips and a lot of drinks.”
Though he said his multiple downtown bars are on an upswing, Pouring With Heart’s restaurants did not succeed; the group shuttered all of its food-focused operations in L.A. But Moses said he hopes that his increase in bar business in late 2025 and throughout 2026 bodes well for the neighborhood and the future of the famous French dip restaurant. Judging by fans’ reactions to the closure, he thinks it stands a chance.
Moses said the weeks of delayed closure — due to the “people coming out in droves” — were beautiful. Cole’s was often packed during its first years under his leadership, as was its since-closed outpost in LAX Terminal 4. He believes there is still a deep hunger for Cole’s history, its French dip and its setting. What mattered was finding a buyer who would honor that history.
He reiterated that Cole’s is still in escrow, but that he’s happy to have found someone with personal ties to the establishment. As he told The Times last year, multiple chefs and restaurateurs expressed interest in purchasing Cole’s. But Fall and Maloney had the edge.
“I felt like they had more of a personal connection,” Moses said, “especially Jeremy, having lived downtown and grown up eating the dip at Cole’s and having a love of that sandwich.”
Once escrow closes and Cole’s can reopen under Fall and Maloney’s supervision, Moses expects he’ll be a fixture to support the business: “We all feel a responsibility to keep it going.”
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