Spago

This week our two restaurant critics jointly consider one of Los Angeles’ dining behemoths and ask the question: Is Spago still relevant? This is Bill Addison’s review. Find Patricia Escárcega’s take here. Weighing the context and evolution of our

defining restaurants such as Spago is important. Also, for most of us, the primary question amounts to this: How’s the food at this once-upon-a-time game-changer today? Consider three recent review meals at Spago, two of which Patricia Escárcega and I

Spago   

iced coffee. — P.I.E. 5183 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 665-1035, sapp.menutoeat.com (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) Spago Power, celebrity, a sense of occasion, late 20th century glamour, smoked salmon pizza: Few restaurants need less of

de résistance is pastry chef Della Gossett’s kardinal schnitte, a cathedral of a dessert built on sponge cake, meringue, layers of custardy strawberry-white chocolate crème and the ripest Harry’s Berries strawberries. Spago pioneered casual fine

Asanebo    Attari Sandwich Shop    Cielito Lindo    Coni'Seafood    Dal Rae    Ham Ji Park    Musso & Frank Grill    Newport Seafood Restaurant    Sapp Coffee Shop    Spago   

Wolfgang Puck is expanding Spago with a 6,500-square-foot outdoor dining area in front of the Beverly Hills restaurant. The new space, called Spago L’extérieur, is located in the Canon Drive cul-de-sac. It will feature a large tent with slotted

will accommodate 109 people, including 30 seats in the lounge area. Dining area tables will be eight feet apart. Advertisement Diners will be able to order from the full Spago menu in the tent, and the existing Spago patio dining area also will be

-restaurateur Wolfgang Puck at Ma Maison in 1975 and helped Puck open Spago in West Hollywood in 1982, ushering in a dining renaissance in Los Angeles. But he first learned to cook at a small restaurant in the Sonoma Valley where he was a dishwasher during high

Angeles Times) He made a name for himself as chef de cuisine at Spago, where he created extravagant pizzas and cuisine that celebrated the best local produce. “I remember he said, ‘I have a pastry chef,’” Puck said. “I told him I already have a pastry chef

This week our two restaurant critics jointly consider one of Los Angeles’ dining behemoths and ask the question: Is Spago still relevant? This is Patricia Escárcega’s review. Find Bill Addison’s take here. As armchair statisticians like to remind us

“icons.” Spago, Wolfgang Puck’s temple to casually elegant dining, is the rare restaurant that can make a fair claim to all three titles. At 37 years old, it is a middle-aged colossus with name recognition around the world. Its legacy is manifold: Puck’s

Spago is the undisputed crown jewel of Wolfgang Puck’s dining empire, but the acclaimed chef also oversees more than a dozen other branded restaurants around the world. Our restaurant critics Bill Addison and Patricia Escárcega drop in on two of

a vegetable stir-fry but made with brown rice,” he says cheerfully. Aha. While Spago strives to keep reinventing itself through the decades, Chinois on Main and its Asian-fusion menu wallow in the past. Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff opened it in

of notable restaurants, including Chez Panisse, Michael’s of Santa Monica, and Maxwell’s Plum. He started working for Wolfgang Puck in the 1970s and helped open Spago in 1982. “He was a husband, partner, father, grandfather, brother, and uncle with so

much joy and aplomb,” Jannis Swerman, a longtime family friend who worked with Peel at Spago, said in a statement. “We will miss him and his cooking with all our hearts (and stomachs).” Working at Michael’s, Peel met Nancy Silverton, and the two wed in

Hollywood. The location is meaningful for Puck, who opened the original Spago on the Sunset Strip in 1982. That now-legendary restaurant quickly became a celebrity hangout and a driving force for vibrant California cuisine, with Puck’s smoked-salmon pizza

becoming a star in its own right. “For me, that’s where it all started,” Puck says, “looking out from Spago, out on the city, and saying, ‘Wow, L.A.’ And then having such a successful restaurant beyond my wildest dreams.” Puck is writing a new chapter of

company, Spago, Cut and dozens of other restaurants around the world. The Pendry West Hollywood hotel and residences, on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and Olive Drive, is the site of Puck’s two newest restaurants, Ospero and Merois. Both are

dining room. “The wood-burning oven started on Sunset Boulevard. Spago was the first to have one in L.A.,” Puck said, referring to the original Spago, which opened in 1982. “Now it’s back.” Puck plans to serve salads, handmade pastas, pizza and seasonal

renaissance in the 1980s with restaurants Spago and Chinois. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing shutdown have pushed him into politics, with a seat on President Trump’s economic council alongside chefs Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges

restaurants are closed. We are supposed to open in Singapore soon. In Istanbul soon too. Here in L.A., we’re doing takeout at Spago, a little takeout at Bel-Air Hotel and a little takeout at Chinois. With all the overhead of a restaurant, I hope that when we