{"id":234604,"date":"2026-03-24T20:19:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T20:19:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234604\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T20:19:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T20:19:07","slug":"hidden-gems-inside-venices-force-of-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234604\/","title":{"rendered":"Hidden Gems: Inside Venice’s Force of Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

At her female-forward speakeasy Force of Nature, longtime restaurateur Leena Culhane fosters connections and champions sustainability from a century-old house on Abbot Kinney<\/p>\n

Leena Culhane didn\u2019t imagine herself as a whirling dervish \u2014 albeit one as calm as a feather in a soft sea breeze \u2014 of the restaurant world. Nor did she envision being a woman whose name is whispered among the well-heeled hoi polloi of Venice, grateful that she opened a space for them. Meaning locals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The term hoi polloi has often been misused to signal it\u2019s a place for high society, but the red-bottom-shoed crowd can more likely be found waiting in line a bit further down Abbot Kinney than at her adorable new venue, the appropriately named Force of Nature<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sure, it seems a bit of a clich\u00e9 to describe a woman who has been on the forefront of the Los Angeles restaurant scene for years as a \u201cforce.\u201d But for Culhane, her resume as an interdisciplinary artist, a skill she used as a bicoastal restaurateur, backs it up. After serving as the owner and longtime creative director of Santa Monica\u2019s Main Street favorites Crudo e Nudo and Isla \u2014 plus contributing to the raw fish and wine bar at Manhattan\u2019s Bella Dea in the West Village \u2014 Culhane has settled into her own space, quite literally.<\/p>\n

\"Force\"ForceForce of Nature\u2019s scenic rooftopCredit: Simran Malik<\/p>\n

Force of Nature is accessed through what appears to be a secret door behind a DJ booth inside the eatery Only the Wild Ones, which first began as a pandemic pop-up from The Butcher\u2019s Daughter owner, Heather Tierney. The fun California coastal spot now permanently occupies the first floor of 1031 Abbot Kinney Blvd., a great complement to Force of Nature for the nights Culhane does not offer one of her famous female-driven chef dinners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What makes Force of Nature special for foodies are these dinners that unfold in her soothing open-air space under the sway of palm trees that line the Westside\u2019s shopping mecca. Her wine list is designed as a curation of the world\u2019s best female winemakers and spirits producers who value sustainability. She has also embraced the non-drinkers with a lively list of mocktails. Some of the seating overlooks the picturesque Cook\u2019s Garden (and its bunny houses). Check in with Culhane on Insta to find information about upcoming chef dinners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Two\"TwoWine comes from female producersCredit: Simran Malik<\/p>\n

What makes this place so special, however, is not just what you can taste, but what you can feel. Culhane calls Force of Nature \u201can ode to women \u2014 and the folks who support women \u2014 as they continue to hold, expand and deepen what is possible for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At her female-forward speakeasy Force of Nature, longtime restaurateur Leena Culhane fosters connections and champions sustainability from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[106202,578,48,52,51,47,50,49,6646,3945],"class_list":["post-234604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-abbot-kinney","tag-dining","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-venice","tag-wine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}