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Lisa Jennings
LOS ANGELES Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck on Wednesday was scheduled to open his newest restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, offering a new take on an upscale bar-and-grill concept.
Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill is one of several dining venues within the new L.A. Live entertainment complex, home to the Nokia Theatre where the finale of “American Idol” was also being staged on Wednesday. The complex is next to the Staples Center sports and concert hall, which draws thousands for large events throughout the year.
The 8,000-square-foot, 140-seat restaurant was designed by Tony Chi and is similar to Puck’s bar-and-grill concepts in Las Vegas, Detroit and Atlantic City, N.J. The restaurant's menu features a range of both casual and more refined fare, officials said.
“Over the past two years, we’ve opened numerous restaurants across the country, but it is most exciting to open my newest restaurant in Los Angeles, a city I consider my home, at this one-of-a-kind entertainment location at L.A. Live,” Puck said. “It’s great to be a part of downtown Los Angeles’ revitalization by offering a new fine dining experience to our guests where they can find our quality cuisine at an affordable price in a casual setting.”
John Lechleidner, a nine-year veteran of the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group, is executive chef of the new restaurant. Main courses range from Puck’s signature wood-oven-baked pizzas to a prime rib-eye steak with roasted shallots and Argentinean chimichurri. Desserts are by Sherry Yard, the group’s executive pastry chef.
Prices range from $10 to $16 for starters; $12 to $20 for pastas and pizzas; and $18 to $38 for main courses.
Though the group has opened fine-dining restaurants in other cities in recent years, this is the first to open in Puck’s hometown of Los Angeles since the debut of Cut in 2006 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Puck also opened Red Seven in West Hollywood in 2007, but that venue is operated by the chef’s catering division. Puck's other L.A.-area restaurants include his flagship Spago and Chinois.
Puck recently was inducted into Nation's Restaurant News' MenuMasters Hall of Fame.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].
