Rolling Stone Restaurant and Lounge is preparing for its long-awaited debut in Los Angeles next month by hosting an after-party for the American Music Awards on Sunday.
With a theme based on Rolling Stone magazine, the 10,400-square-foot restaurant and lounge — which promoters are calling RS/LA — is scheduled for a soft opening to the public Dec. 8 in the busy Hollywood & Highland lifestyle center at the heart of Hollywood. The music awards event, however, is a fitting kickoff for a concept that aims to tap into the city’s intersecting music and entertainment scene.
Since RS/LA was first announced in December 2009, some of the operating players have changed.
The restaurant’s primary investor is Dwight Freeney, a defensive end for the Indianapolis Colts, who partnered with Aaron West in An American Dream, a “diversified entertainment company,” according to press materials.
Freeney secured the licensing rights to the well-known magazine brand name, and the restaurant is being developed under a newly created hospitality division of An American Dream, officials said.
When the concept was first announced in December 2009, the venue was to be developed by Lucky Rug Group, whose principals included Irish entrepreneur Niall Donnelly and real estate specialist Joe Altounian. However, Donnelly and Altounian are no longer involved in the project.
Instead, Freeney and West have brought in as chief operating officer Salvatore Feli, who is a former vice president of operations for The ONE Group, the New York-based operator of the STK steakhouse concept, and a former manager of Tavern on the Green in New York. He also has worked for the New York restaurants Tao, Rue57, The Box Tree and Bolzano’s.
Also involved in RS/LA is Salvatore Feli's wife, Stacy Colbert Feli, who will serve as chief marketing officer. Stacy Feli said her background includes human resources work at Tavern on the Green and the Russian Tea Room when they were owned by the late Warner LeRoy. She has also worked with Tao and Café Gray in New York.
Jason Edmonds, a music producer and songwriter and executive vice president of An American Dream, will serve as RS/LA’s director of entertainment.
Stacy Feli said the bottom floor of the two-story venue will feature a lounge area that will be operated as a distinct concept, only open on certain nights, with a DJ, bottle service and a small bar menu.
The lounge will feature live music on some nights — an eclectic mix from all genres, as reflected by the magazine — and officials are hoping the venue will become the event space for the music industry. “You’ll never know who’s in the house who might jump up to the mike,” Feli said.
Upstairs, the restaurant will include 140 seats with a 40-seat patio for full-service dining. The bar area upstairs will include a balcony that overlooks the downstairs lounge.
Designer Gavin Brodin of Brodin Design Build in Los Angeles describes the décor as “vintage antique chic,” with only subtle elements from the magazine.
Unlike other entertainment-theme concepts such as Hard Rock Café and Planet Hollywood, Rolling Stone restaurant will not include memorabilia, Brodin said. The walls might have a smattering of iconic photos of rock-and-rollers, and, in one room, a series of framed covers of the magazine, but no autographed guitars, leather jackets or “cheesy album covers,” he said.
Instead, Brodin has created an urban setting with English lampposts, tufted red-leather banquettes, walls lined with steel pipes, and tables made from reclaimed wood and old machine parts. A brick-lined tunnel leads to a secluded VIP bar where a chalkboard wall invites guests to create their own designs.
The “modern American” menu was developed by chef Christopher Ennis, whose 12 years in Los Angeles kitchens has included stints at Fig & Olive, One Sunset, and Vibrato Jazz Grill. Ennis said he also worked for four years at Charlie Palmer’s now-defunct event space Astra West in Los Angeles’ Pacific Design Center.
At Rolling Stone, Ennis said he wants the menu to be accessible, offering a mix of snacks and smaller plates as well as higher-end grill or chophouse items.
“We’re not trying to be pretentious with the food, but we want it to be good and solid,” Ennis said.
Menu items will include a line of salads and flatbreads at lunch, for example, when tourist traffic is expected to be heavy.
At dinner — when Ennis expects to be cooking for more locals than tourists — main courses might include pan-roasted wild striped bass with preserved lemon, capers and raisins; or pinot-braised short rib osso bucco with whipped potatoes and chard.
Dinner starters will range from $8 to $12; flatbreads from $11 to $13; and main courses from $12 for pasta to a bone-in pork chop or large steak just over $30, Ennis said.
Stacy Feli said the elevated food would distinguish the restaurant from other entertainment-theme concepts, such as Hard Rock Café, which also operates an outlet in the Hollywood & Highland center.
“We’re the opposite of that,” she said. “We’re not doing chicken fingers and fries.”
Feli said they are conservatively estimating sales of $6 million the first year. If it does well, the group will look at taking the concept to New York and other cities.
“It definitely has legs,” Feli said. “You’ve got music all over the world, and Rolling Stone is all over the world.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story included incorrect information about the roles of Stacy Colbert Feli and Salvatore Feli in Rolling Stone Restaurant and Lounge. Stacy Feli is chief marketing officer and Salvatore Feli is chief operating officer, but neither is a partner in the restaurant.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
