Growing up, I never ate at museum restaurants. Instead, my parents studiously packed brown bag lunches for museum visits, reminding my younger brothers and me that admission was our adventure for the day. Even when school field trips took me back to those cultural institutions and I was lucky enough to choose from a kid’s menu, I rarely found them more appealing than the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches my mother sent with me. As I grew up and began visiting museums on my own, I learned to plan ahead, mapping out restaurants nearby or eating before I left home to avoid overspending on an uninspired meal I’d probably regret.
Lately my practice has shifted. A promising trend emerged among L.A.’s modern museum restaurants since pandemic shutdowns ended. Hoping to attract Angelenos and tourists back through their doors, many institutions took the opportunity to pivot their food programs, bringing in new chefs, debuting fresh menus and in some cases, revamping entire spaces.
The pinnacle of this movement is perhaps best embodied by the arrival of Lulu. In late 2021, Alice Waters, a trailblazer in the farm-to-table movement and founder of Chez Panisse, journeyed down the coast to partner with cookbook author David Tanis to open an all-day restaurant in the courtyard of the Hammer Museum at UCLA. This was notable not just because it served as both chefs’ first foray into L.A.’s restaurant scene, but also thanks to Lulu’s menu, which promotes similar ideals of sustainability, along with a strong local sourcing program and an often-changing seasonal menu.
Other eye-popping upgrades have followed. In May 2022, chef Chris Ono, an L.A. native with a fine-dining background that includes Providence and Eleven Madison Park, was announced as the chef-in-residence at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center (JACCC) in Little Tokyo. He launched Hansei, a three-part dinner series that offers a tour of the center’s lounge, garden and includes several courses at a chef’s counter, where Ono dives into the trademarks of Japanese American cuisine. The dinner series has proved so popular that Ono’s residency was extended through at least August. The center recently brought on Keizo Shimamoto, creator of the ramen burger and founder of San Juan Capistrano’s Ramen Shack, as director of culinary events.
“I really want people to enjoy the space, experience the JACCC and what it has to offer,” Ono said. “The garden is very private and the dinner is one of the only public events where people can see it.”
Upon arriving, guests take an elevator down to a small exhibition room where an Ikebana floral arrangement is on display with antique ceramics. The first part of the dinner is held in JACCC’s bamboo garden.
With 11 to 12 courses presented over the course of an evening, Hansei might represent a special-occasion option, but plenty of museums are bringing a similar intentionality to casual restaurants and even grab-and-go counters. Take Neighborhood Grill by Post & Beam that just opened in the Natural History Museum. Led by South L.A. locals John and Roni Cleveland in partnership with South L.A. Cafe Hospitality, the restaurant offers made-to-order sandwiches, tacos and flatbreads, in addition to a market counter stocked with items from local Black-owned businesses, encouraging guests to keep seeking out such products on their own.
“It means so much to me as a South Los Angeles native to be a part of the evolution of such a historic place,” Roni Cleveland said. The Clevelands have a young son with dietary restrictions and one of their goals with Neighborhood Grill is to make museum dining easier for families with selective eaters.
Here, we offer 18 artful food experiences convenient to L.A.’s best museums, galleries and landmarks. The list isn’t exhaustive but includes highlights such as a coffeehouse with a history of local activism and a downtown art complex with a restaurant as its centerpiece. From a garden tea at an Italian-inspired villa to a seaside brunch among sculptures, the culinary programs at these museum-adjacent restaurants are just as remarkable as the collections.
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