Grandmaster Recorders becomes restaurant and rooftop lounge in Hollywood

Grandmaster Recorders

With a restaurant, a rooftop lounge and a combination cocktail bar and performance space, Grandmaster Recorders is now open in Hollywood, beginning a new chapter for a former recording studio and silent movie theater. The 15,000-square-foot multiconcept Grandmaster Recordings is named for the 45-year-old recording facilities used by David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Beck, Rush, Queens of the Stone Age and more, and is the latest endeavor from Australia-minded Botanical Hospitality Group (E.P. & L.P., Strings of Life Café).

Conceptualized by the group’s culinary director Monty Koludrovic and executive pastry chef Jaci Koludrovic, Grandmaster Restaurant serves what they call “food that nonna would recognize but never cook herself”: a rotating insalata di pesce, served currently with iced radish, pickled persimmon, caviar and “Cali kosho,” a house-made fermented-citrus mayonnaise; a savory take on cannoli, with caviar; mortadella with cacio e pepe churros; and chicken piccata in celery-root cream; with cocktails such as NFTs (Negronis for the Table). Rooftop bites are similar to the full restaurant, though in more snacky form, with mini mortadella panini and a chicken vodka parm sandwich, plus cocktails on tap. At 71 Studio Bar, specialty cocktails and live music are on the menu. Grandmaster Restaurant is open from 5 to 11 p.m. daily, while the rooftop is open Monday to Friday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 2 a.m. 71 Studio Bar is open from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, though hours for the bar might change. Another opening, Blondie, along Melrose Avenue, is set for 2022.

1518 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (818) 502-1120, Los Angeles, grandmasterrecorders.com

El Ruso’s carne asada tacos and more are headed to a new Arts District outpost this week.

(Silvia Razgova)

El Ruso Arts District

Sonora-style taco operation El Ruso is coming to a new location: Instead of returning to its Boyle Heights space on Mirasol Street, owners Walter Soto and Julia Silva will instead begin popping up in the Arts District beginning Dec. 16. El Ruso paused its Boyle Heights appearances in June to focus on opening its Silver Lake location; its new Arts District outpost will feature a more pared-down menu than Silver Lake’s, at least to start, and with fresh handmade tortillas, carne asada, chorizo, birria and the new El Muñeco (asada with chicharrón). Open Wednesday to Monday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Corner of 4th and Seaton streets, Los Angeles, elrusola.weebly.com

Cento West Adams

Chef Avner Levi’s long-running pasta pop-up goes permanent this week. Cento, which for years brought fresh gnocchi, beet spaghetti, decadent uni-and-lobster pasta and other dishes to downtown via its residency in wine bar Mignon, will open a bricks-and-mortar restaurant Dec. 15 in West Adams. Levi’s menu will include many of his pop-up’s hits, as well as new items, including more antipasti, and a secondi category for mains like grilled ribeye and herb-stuffed orata. Wine and beer will be on offer, as will seating at an open kitchen and on the patio. Cento will open with dinner service, Wednesday to Sunday from 5 to 10 p.m., then extend to lunch and brunch in 2022.

4921 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 998-0404, centopasta.com

Cento’s pop-up pasta — including the popular beet spaghetti — has found a permanent home in West Adams, and it opens Wednesday.

(Liam Brown/Cento)

Madre Santa Clarita

Oaxacan restaurant and mezcal specialist Madre is expanding with a fourth location. Owner-operator Ivan Vasquez hopes to open his next Madre in Santa Clarita in September, boasting his mezcal collection of more than 440 bottles, plus Oaxacan specialties such as tlayudas, barbacoa and memelas as you’d find in the Palms, Torrance and West Hollywood locations. The new space will offer a lounge and bar area in addition to dining room and outdoor seating. Madre in Santa Clarita will open from Sunday to Thursday from 11am to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight.

27007 McBean Parkway, Valencia, madrerestaurants.com

Madre’s extensive mezcal display, here on the bar shelves at the Torrance restaurant and bar, will also be available in the new Santa Clarita location.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Magari

A new Japanese-meets-Italian cuisine collaboration is headed to Hollywood in early 2022. Chef Tony Messina (formerly of Uni, in Boston) are Yoshiyuki Okuno (of Tokyo’s La Brianza) are set to open Magari in the former Paley restaurant space, with Enrico Merendino (formerly of CARA) as executive chef. Expect fresh pastas, a crudo bar, wood-fired meats and more Italian food through a Tokyo lens, plus an outdoor fireplace lounge, a cocktail lounge and a focus on Italian wines.

6115 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, magarirestaurant.com