{"id":526236,"date":"2026-11-11T16:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T16:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/526236\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T16:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T16:50:15","slug":"the-original-pantry-reopens-in-downtown-l-a-november-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/526236\/","title":{"rendered":"The Original Pantry Reopens in Downtown L.A. November 19"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Downtown landmark has been closed for almost two years<\/p>\n

Nine members of the original staff, a handful of reporters and executives from Hope the Mission<\/a> gathered at the Original Pantry<\/a> this afternoon for a taste test and meet and greet before the restaurant officially reopens on November 19. The furniture has been replaced and finishes refreshed, but it looks pretty much as you remember it. The hole in the side of the 102-year-old downtown landmark caused by a car crash has been filled in. The beloved hole in the tile floor, thankfully, has not.<\/p>\n

\"\"Returning staffers Brenda, Alex and Mary at The Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

Former Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan loved the place so much he bought it in 1981. The attorney had the foresight to sell off the air rights so the site wouldn\u2019t be attractive to developers looking to build a high-rise. Riordan died in 2023 at the age of 92.<\/p>\n

\"\"Patty melt at the Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pantry is an L.A. institution,\u201d Hancock Park real estate investor Leo Pustilnikov told Los Angeles<\/a> last year when he purchased the property. \u201cI see it as part of the legacy and history of Downtown and an opportunity to help my residents who could use employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Inside the Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

Pustilnikov\u2019s residents are the thousands of renters in and around Skid Row housed in his vast portfolio of apartment buildings. He partners with Hope the Mission, a non-profit providing housing, shelter, food, and mental health services to the poor. Every day, the organization provides 3,500 meals out of a commissary in North Hills. The non-profit will handle day-to-day operations at the Pantry, a unique arrangement they compared to the Chinatown caf\u00e9 run by Homeboy Industries, and 100% of the profits will go back to charity.<\/p>\n

\"Original<\/p>\n

Have Questions? Get Answers!<\/p>\n

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\"\"The Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people hear about food in a shelter, they think it\u2019s going to be a lower standard,\u201d Hope the Mission president Rowan Vansleve said today. \u201cWe\u2019ve hired white linen chefs to create borderline gourmet foods.\u201d That same quality is on display at the new Pantry.<\/p>\n

\"\"The floor in front of the original pay window at the Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

Everything we tasted on the menu, which now includes a b\u00e1nh m\u00ec sandwich and adobo spareribs alongside the Denver omelet and patty melt, was tasty and well prepared, but none of it reminded me of the restaurant that closed in 2025. The coleslaw, for example, was not finely chopped, and it was too creamy and not as sweet as the original. We overheard someone who had tried the new style of hash browns compare them to Denny\u2019s. This columnist suggested that the recipes had been passed along like a game of telephone \u2013 the same but different.<\/p>\n

\"\"Cooking at the Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

French toast that was $9 in 2023 is now $16, and today\u2019s $34 flatiron steak replaces the $22 top sirloin offered three years ago. \u201cOur menu is incredibly competitive with the local area, CEO Ken Craft said. \u201cBut the quality of the food is through the roof. The meat loaf was the best I\u2019ve had in my entire life!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Pastry chef Natalie B\u00e1rcena at The Original Pantry Credit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

The desserts, prepared by pastry chef Natalie B\u00e1rcena were the standout. B\u00e1rcena has prepared sweets at Milk Bar and Quentin Tarantino\u2019s Pam\u2019s Coffy at the Vista Theater. She\u2019s come up with some thoughtful and well-prepared items like an impossibly rich cheesecake and an outstanding brown sugar apple pie, but none are native to the Original Pantry. Her childhood memories of the restaurant\u2019s Peach Cobbler inform a version that would be at home at a fine dining restaurant but is completely unexpected here \u2013 and that\u2019s probably a good thing.<\/p>\n

\"\"Hope the Mission president Rowan Vansleve (L) and CEO Ken Craft (R) at The Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

Hope the Mission CEO Ken Craft and president Vansleve attribute some of the changes to the replacement of kitchen equipment, upgrades like baking bread in-house and the institutional knowledge and recipes that disappeared along with the staff that had made them for generations. Vansleve is not convinced that the changes are a bad thing. \u201cThe diner is the great equalizer, but there was this grieving that the food had somehow slipped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"The new menu at the Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a migrant,\u201d Van Sleve says. \u201cI knew about three restaurants in Los Angeles \u2013 King Taco, In-N-Out and a diner downtown that looked like it was from the movies. We\u2019ve made a few alterations on the menu because tastes have changed. This has to be successful, and the menu has to evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Souvenir case at the Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

The restaurant that once boasted \u201cThrough a door which has no key you will enter a cafe that has never been closed since 1924,\u201d reopens November 19. Opening hours will be 7am to 9pm. \u201cThe Pantry is not truly back until it\u2019s 24 hours,\u201d Van Sleve said. \u201cBut we\u2019ve got to make sure it\u2019s successful. Our goal is to be 24 as soon as possible but we need to see those lines around the corner like they used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cHistoric landmark \u2013 new mission\u201d at the Original PantryCredit: Photo by Chris Nichols<\/p>\n

The Original Pantry
877 S. Figueroa
Downtown Los Angeles<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Downtown landmark has been closed for almost two years Nine members of the original staff, a handful…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[39352,6858,26398,41922,48,52,51,47,50,49,57125,59417,59418],"class_list":["post-526236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-diner","tag-dtla","tag-figueroa-street","tag-hope-the-mission","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-pastry","tag-richard-riordan","tag-the-original-pantry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526236","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=526236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}