Take Lulu, the new restaurant at UCLA’s Hammer Museum. It’s the first LA dining experience from the legendary Alice Waters, seen by many as the mother of the local food movement (Or, as Eater calls her, “a food luminary and international culinary icon”). The restaurant, which is currently only open for lunch and makes use of a lovely courtyard (and LA’s year-round mild climes), has an ever-changing menu making use of only the most seasonal ingredients. “It’s one of those places that can only exist in LA,” an actress friend of mine told me recently. “And it’s off the beaten track, perfect for health-obsessed celebs who want to power lunch in a low-key, TMZ-free place.”

And then there’s Manuela, another al fresco-ish gem, this one housed in the same industrial-chic building as Hauser & Wirth in LA’s downtown Arts District. It’s the perfect weekend brunch spot and, under the watchful eye of executive chef Kris Tominaga, offers up everything from smoked salmon spread and beignets to french toast and quiche (not to mention a hearty cheeseburger). Put your name in and roam the gallery and gift shop while you wait, or have a drink in the charming adjacent garden where Manuela pulls some of its fresh produce and herbs. And, though the gallery may be closed, Manuela’s dinner menu is equally as enticing. Art hounds, make sure to peek at the wall decor — they’re commissions from Paul McCarthy, Mark Bradford and Raymond Pettibon.

“It’s actually become a bit of a fashion spot,” said an employee of a nearby design house (Amiri, Fear of God, and Kanye’s Yeezy offices are all nearby). “And now that Soho Warehouse is down there, the cool kid quotient has definitely gone up.”

There’s plenty of other museum-adjacent restaurants in the city — the hot spot Otium is basically part of the modern art museum The Broad while the pandemic see-and-be-seen French joint Gigi’s, in Hollywood, is a stone’s throw from Jeffrey Deitch’s gallery (and, as such, hosts a ton of cool kid art types sporting tatts and mullets). And some places just get that art world allure despite being dislodged from a museum or gallery. Take LA’s hottest ticket Horses, along a lonelier stretch of Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood, which Vanity Fair recently called “catnip for status-obsessed art world denizens”. A food publicist I know said it’s the reservation to get right now, and it’s not easy. According to its co-chefs/co-owners Liz Johnson and her husband Will Aghajanian, they were looking to recreate a modern cafe society vibe, á la the New York art world watering hole, Lucien.

A recent Thursday afternoon proved the point. The restaurant hosted buzzy podcast hosts, some high-ranking film studio publicists, and the obligatory celeb sighting (Bette Midler), which is the closest thing to cafe society that LA can muster — so it appears to be working.

LA'S ART AND FOOD SCENE IS CREATING A NEW CAFE SOCIETY

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LA'S ART AND FOOD SCENE IS CREATING A NEW CAFE SOCIETY