The Los Angeles outpost of New York’s legendary (and famously difficult to get into) red-sauce joint, Rao’s, will close on February 28 after more than a decade in Hollywood; Rao’s initially expanded to Los Angeles in 2013. The restaurant announced the closure in a statement on its website, writing that “the restaurant’s lease was officially terminated in conjunction with the property’s recent sale.” The statement says that while Rao’s initially hoped to relocate elsewhere in the city, the increasingly challenging landscape for restaurants and ongoing impacts of both the 2023 writers’ strikes and 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires have made continued operation not feasible.
Rao’s first opened in New York in 1896 and later expanded its brand with a line of wildly popular jarred sauces, as well as additional restaurant outposts in Los Angeles, Miami, and Vegas, the latter of which closed in 2021. In Los Angeles, the celebrity-favorite restaurant gained a following for its homey Italian cooking with dishes such as meatballs, chicken Parmesan, and rigatoni Bolognese served in a dim, romantic dining room with white tablecloth–topped tables.
There’s no news yet of what will occupy the Rao’s space after it closes, but fans of the penne alla vodka and nonna vibes have until the end of the month for one last bowl of pasta.
PJ and Friends brings a star-studded lineup of chefs to Pasjoli
This spring, Pasjoli’s bistro dinner series returns with a new lineup of Los Angeles chefs. Starting March 12 and running through April 23, PJ and Friends will bring chefs, including Mei Lin, Budonoki’s Dan Rabilwongse, and Donna’s Sathia Sun, to Pasjoli for five-course dinners, priced at $135 per person. Reservations are available on OpenTable.
The Los Angeles Times’ new critic pens her first review
Jenn Harris, who was recently named a restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times alongside Bill Addison, just dropped a review of Northeast Los Angeles’s Hermon’s. In the review, Harris praises the cheese-topped potato fritters and branzino, but found other dishes, like the Ode to Chez burger, more inconsistent.
Beethoven Market expands to daytime service
Mar Vista’s Beethoven Market, which lost its ability to serve liquor earlier this year, has just added new daytime hours and an expanded zero-proof menu. The restaurant now opens for breakfast and lunch, Wednesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The breakfast menu, available all day, includes dishes like cacio e pepe scrambled egg toast and lemon ricotta pancakes, while lunch brings a focaccia sandwich with mortadella and prosciutto and chicken Milanese starting at 11 a.m. Dinner continues to run from 5 p.m., seven days a week, with brunch on weekends.
Tradition and ritual are the heart and soul of Italian cuisine. Since 1896, the Rao’s family has believed in sharing those traditions with the community.