With their third location of Badmaash — and the first to open in eight years — the Mahendro family is evolving their vision for modern Indian cuisine. The downtown restaurant Badmaash helped shape how Angelenos enjoy Indian food, and with a new, reimagined version in Venice, they’re changing the narrative again.
In late March they opened the doors to the sleekest iteration of Badmaash yet, where the setting is low-lit and the menu includes cocktails such as gin with house-made chai orgeat and new dishes like steak frites under masala-spiced au poivre.
At Badmaash Venice a new cocktail program complements the restaurant’s modern and traditional Indian dishes, such as the Dahi Poori, a chaat of yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Venice has “pulled us into the next steps,” said co-founder and CEO Nakul Mahendro. “We’re thinking more about what oil we use, what ingredients we use and who we’re sourcing from. I’m really thankful for that. It’s evolved me in the best way. It hasn’t evolved me like, ‘Oh, let’s open a restaurant and make it fancy and take more from their pockets.’ It’s like, ‘How am I affecting the world?’”
Badmaash Venice seats nearly 100 across two dining rooms, a cave-inspired back room, a 10-seat bar and the forthcoming patio along Abbot Kinney.
Nakul runs the restaurant with his brother, Arjun, and their parents. Their father, Amritsar-raised Pawan Mahendro, is executive chef. After decades of operating Indian, French and Italian restaurants in Bombay, Toronto and New York, he helped his sons pursue their own dreams of opening Badmaash.
Downtown debuted in 2013, followed by Fairfax in 2018. When they launched, chai was just entering mainstream culture across the U.S. The Mahendros offered their more traditional recipes alongside fusion flavor bombs like chili cheese naan, chicken tikka poutine and fried butter chicken sandwiches.
“It was like, ‘OK, let’s slow-step people into Indian cuisine,’” Nakul Mahendro said. “I remember within the first few years, I was seeing garam masala on menus at Redbird and in other other places, and seeing dry mango powder on beverage lists. Badmaash became white hot, and we were sharing our cuisine and culture with a lot of other chefs.”
But the last few years proved difficult to maintain restaurants, especially in Los Angeles. The Mahendros opened their fast-food spot, Burgers 99, in March 2020. At the end of April they’ll close the doors in order to focus on Badmaash. It won’t spell the end of their burgers and butter chicken burritos though. Burgers 99 will live on via delivery, orderable online and through apps.
Badmaash’s Venice location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The downtown and Fairfax Badmaash locations will also adjust, eventually incorporating some of the Venice dishes and cocktails. Director of operations Steve LaFountain, formerly of Horses and Little Prince, designed the Venice beverage program and will help to implement these changes.
The shift in Venice also mirrors how Nakul and Arjun now eat; they’ve incorporated more produce into their diets and more frequent trips to the farmers market.
They’re leaning into seasonality like their Venice neighbors Travis Lett and Ian Robinson of RVR. A luxurious korma incorporates lamb neck in a nod to Ori Menashe’s popular Bavel shawarma, while a new saffron pistachio tres leches utilizes olive oil made by rapper, host and cookbook author Action Bronson, who also presented them with a large painting that now hangs prominently in the new restaurant.
Ultimately, they say they wanted to build a version of Badmaash that reflects L.A. “We believe that every great neighborhood,” Nakul Mahendro said, “deserves a great Indian restaurant.”
Badmaash is open in Venice Wednesday to Sunday from 4:30 to 11 p.m.
1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 310-2580, badmaashla.com
Guests dine at new rooftop bar and restaurant Sushi Samba in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Sushi Samba
One of the world’s most prolific sushi-and-nightlife chains recently touched down in L.A., drawing crowds to a West Hollywood rooftop that features nightly DJ sets, live entertainment like feather-clad samba dancers, and a blending of Peruvian, Japanese and Brazilian flavors.
Sushi Samba debuted in 1999 in New York City, then quickly expanded to Miami, then Las Vegas, London, Dubai, Scotland, Qatar, Singapore, Italy and beyond. In March it opened its first West Coast outpost, which offers nigiri, ceviche, stone-seared Japanese Wagyu, cocktails, grilled skewers and more with a view of the Hollywood Hills.
Sushi Samba CEO Omar Gutierrez said that Los Angeles seemed like a proper homecoming after years of opening international locations — though he knows the competition for L.A. restaurants is fierce, especially when it comes to sushi.
Sushi Samba’s classic ceviche of white fish, sweet potato, cancha, plantain chips and coconut leche de tigre.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“You have to build something beautiful, you have to have the entertainment component, you have to have the marketing component, you have to have the brand, the integrity and the brand awareness,” said Gutierrez. “We check all those boxes, and the food’s really good.”
Corporate chef John Um’s menu includes all of Sushi Samba’s signatures — such as the moqueca mista loaded with shrimp, mussels, squid, cod and chimichurri rice in coconut broth, and the chewy-fluffy pāo de queijo served with honey truffle butter — along with unique L.A. options such as the the Samba LA roll filled with snapper, yellowtail, crab, chile garlic crunch, passionfruit sanbaizu and yuzu oil.
The L.A. location also serves new cocktails featuring ingredients like lychee water, Kobe-fat-washed Japanese whiskey, shiso simple syrup and hibiscus mezcal. The main rooftop dining room has a retractable roof, and a separate bar and lounge has an abbreviated food menu — as well as rooftop views. There is also a glassed-in robata counter and a private indoor dining room. Sushi Samba is open Sunday to Wednesday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
639 N. La Peer Dr., West Hollywood, (213) 444-0424, sushisamba.com
Brooklyn Square is now open in Downey with a counter-service format.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square Downey
A Pasadena pizzeria recently expanded to Downey, bringing square “grandma pies,” by-the-slice options, fried ravioli and large New York-style pizzas to the Gateway Cities.
New York-style pizzas and square pies can be found in a rotation of by-the-slice options near the register in Downey.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square, from a family of New York expats, launched in 2022 with stacked-high sandwiches, wings and pizzas in Old Town Pasadena; now they’re offering most of that menu with a walk-up format in Downey, including massive hot and cold subs; 18-inch New York pizzas in varieties such as spinach ricotta, spicy vodka sauce, and barbecue chicken; antipasto salad; pastas; cannoli; calzones; black-and-white cookies; and the signature square pies, which come crispy-edged and loaded with toppings like meatballs, sausage, honey, ricotta and beyond. By-the-slice options can be found in the glass case at the register, along with garlic knots. Brooklyn Square is open in Downey Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8720 Imperial Hwy., Downey, (562) 302-0071, bksq.com
Nam Coffee owner Vince Nguyen stands outside his new Chinatown coffee shop.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Nam Coffee Chinatown
Popular Vietnamese coffee shop and roaster Nam Coffee recently expanded with a second location, this time launching in Chinatown with a full kitchen.
A pandan iced latte, right, with a banana iced latte and croissant at Nam Coffee in Chinatown.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Vince Nguyen founded Nam Coffee by roasting Vietnam-grown coffee beans and selling phin filters from his Orange County home in 2022, then opened a cafe in East Hollywood where he could sell bags of coffee and specialty drinks that epitomize Vietnam coffee culture and flavor. He’s serving those same concoctions — with signature lattes such as pandan, coconut-and-ube, banana and egg cream — in Chinatown along with pastries. Given that Nam took over the former Minon Cake and Mien Nghia Restaurant space, and thus has its first kitchen, in the coming months Nguyen plans to unveil a menu that will include sticky rice, spring rolls and Vietnamese bao.
“Bringing Nam to Chinatown was one of my dreams to continue my mission to develop Vietnamese coffee culture,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people are coming, not only from California but around the world.” Nam Coffee is open in Chinatown daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
304 Ord St., Los Angeles, (213) 988-7155, nam.coffee
With their third location of Badmaash — and the first to open in eight years — the Mahendro family is evolving their vision for modern Indian cuisine. The downtown restaurant Badmaash helped shape how Angelenos enjoy Indian food, and with a new, reimagined version in Venice, they’re changing the narrative again.
In late March they opened the doors to the sleekest iteration of Badmaash yet, where the setting is low-lit and the menu includes cocktails such as gin with house-made chai orgeat and new dishes like steak frites under masala-spiced au poivre.
At Badmaash Venice a new cocktail program complements the restaurant’s modern and traditional Indian dishes, such as the Dahi Poori, a chaat of yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Venice has “pulled us into the next steps,” said co-founder and CEO Nakul Mahendro. “We’re thinking more about what oil we use, what ingredients we use and who we’re sourcing from. I’m really thankful for that. It’s evolved me in the best way. It hasn’t evolved me like, ‘Oh, let’s open a restaurant and make it fancy and take more from their pockets.’ It’s like, ‘How am I affecting the world?’”
Badmaash Venice seats nearly 100 across two dining rooms, a cave-inspired back room, a 10-seat bar and the forthcoming patio along Abbot Kinney.
Nakul runs the restaurant with his brother, Arjun, and their parents. Their father, Amritsar-raised Pawan Mahendro, is executive chef. After decades of operating Indian, French and Italian restaurants in Bombay, Toronto and New York, he helped his sons pursue their own dreams of opening Badmaash.
Downtown debuted in 2013, followed by Fairfax in 2018. When they launched, chai was just entering mainstream culture across the U.S. The Mahendros offered their more traditional recipes alongside fusion flavor bombs like chili cheese naan, chicken tikka poutine and fried butter chicken sandwiches.
“It was like, ‘OK, let’s slow-step people into Indian cuisine,’” Nakul Mahendro said. “I remember within the first few years, I was seeing garam masala on menus at Redbird and in other other places, and seeing dry mango powder on beverage lists. Badmaash became white hot, and we were sharing our cuisine and culture with a lot of other chefs.”
But the last few years proved difficult to maintain restaurants, especially in Los Angeles. The Mahendros opened their fast-food spot, Burgers 99, in March 2020. At the end of April they’ll close the doors in order to focus on Badmaash. It won’t spell the end of their burgers and butter chicken burritos though. Burgers 99 will live on via delivery, orderable online and through apps.
Badmaash’s Venice location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The downtown and Fairfax Badmaash locations will also adjust, eventually incorporating some of the Venice dishes and cocktails. Director of operations Steve LaFountain, formerly of Horses and Little Prince, designed the Venice beverage program and will help to implement these changes.
The shift in Venice also mirrors how Nakul and Arjun now eat; they’ve incorporated more produce into their diets and more frequent trips to the farmers market.
They’re leaning into seasonality like their Venice neighbors Travis Lett and Ian Robinson of RVR. A luxurious korma incorporates lamb neck in a nod to Ori Menashe’s popular Bavel shawarma, while a new saffron pistachio tres leches utilizes olive oil made by rapper, host and cookbook author Action Bronson, who also presented them with a large painting that now hangs prominently in the new restaurant.
Ultimately, they say they wanted to build a version of Badmaash that reflects L.A. “We believe that every great neighborhood,” Nakul Mahendro said, “deserves a great Indian restaurant.”
Badmaash is open in Venice Wednesday to Sunday from 4:30 to 11 p.m.
1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 310-2580, badmaashla.com
Guests dine at new rooftop bar and restaurant Sushi Samba in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Sushi Samba
One of the world’s most prolific sushi-and-nightlife chains recently touched down in L.A., drawing crowds to a West Hollywood rooftop that features nightly DJ sets, live entertainment like feather-clad samba dancers, and a blending of Peruvian, Japanese and Brazilian flavors.
Sushi Samba debuted in 1999 in New York City, then quickly expanded to Miami, then Las Vegas, London, Dubai, Scotland, Qatar, Singapore, Italy and beyond. In March it opened its first West Coast outpost, which offers nigiri, ceviche, stone-seared Japanese Wagyu, cocktails, grilled skewers and more with a view of the Hollywood Hills.
Sushi Samba CEO Omar Gutierrez said that Los Angeles seemed like a proper homecoming after years of opening international locations — though he knows the competition for L.A. restaurants is fierce, especially when it comes to sushi.
Sushi Samba’s classic ceviche of white fish, sweet potato, cancha, plantain chips and coconut leche de tigre.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“You have to build something beautiful, you have to have the entertainment component, you have to have the marketing component, you have to have the brand, the integrity and the brand awareness,” said Gutierrez. “We check all those boxes, and the food’s really good.”
Corporate chef John Um’s menu includes all of Sushi Samba’s signatures — such as the moqueca mista loaded with shrimp, mussels, squid, cod and chimichurri rice in coconut broth, and the chewy-fluffy pāo de queijo served with honey truffle butter — along with unique L.A. options such as the the Samba LA roll filled with snapper, yellowtail, crab, chile garlic crunch, passionfruit sanbaizu and yuzu oil.
The L.A. location also serves new cocktails featuring ingredients like lychee water, Kobe-fat-washed Japanese whiskey, shiso simple syrup and hibiscus mezcal. The main rooftop dining room has a retractable roof, and a separate bar and lounge has an abbreviated food menu — as well as rooftop views. There is also a glassed-in robata counter and a private indoor dining room. Sushi Samba is open Sunday to Wednesday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
639 N. La Peer Dr., West Hollywood, (213) 444-0424, sushisamba.com
Brooklyn Square is now open in Downey with a counter-service format.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square Downey
A Pasadena pizzeria recently expanded to Downey, bringing square “grandma pies,” by-the-slice options, fried ravioli and large New York-style pizzas to the Gateway Cities.
New York-style pizzas and square pies can be found in a rotation of by-the-slice options near the register in Downey.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square, from a family of New York expats, launched in 2022 with stacked-high sandwiches, wings and pizzas in Old Town Pasadena; now they’re offering most of that menu with a walk-up format in Downey, including massive hot and cold subs; 18-inch New York pizzas in varieties such as spinach ricotta, spicy vodka sauce, and barbecue chicken; antipasto salad; pastas; cannoli; calzones; black-and-white cookies; and the signature square pies, which come crispy-edged and loaded with toppings like meatballs, sausage, honey, ricotta and beyond. By-the-slice options can be found in the glass case at the register, along with garlic knots. Brooklyn Square is open in Downey Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8720 Imperial Hwy., Downey, (562) 302-0071, bksq.com
Nam Coffee owner Vince Nguyen stands outside his new Chinatown coffee shop.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Nam Coffee Chinatown
Popular Vietnamese coffee shop and roaster Nam Coffee recently expanded with a second location, this time launching in Chinatown with a full kitchen.
A pandan iced latte, right, with a banana iced latte and croissant at Nam Coffee in Chinatown.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Vince Nguyen founded Nam Coffee by roasting Vietnam-grown coffee beans and selling phin filters from his Orange County home in 2022, then opened a cafe in East Hollywood where he could sell bags of coffee and specialty drinks that epitomize Vietnam coffee culture and flavor. He’s serving those same concoctions — with signature lattes such as pandan, coconut-and-ube, banana and egg cream — in Chinatown along with pastries. Given that Nam took over the former Minon Cake and Mien Nghia Restaurant space, and thus has its first kitchen, in the coming months Nguyen plans to unveil a menu that will include sticky rice, spring rolls and Vietnamese bao.
“Bringing Nam to Chinatown was one of my dreams to continue my mission to develop Vietnamese coffee culture,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people are coming, not only from California but around the world.” Nam Coffee is open in Chinatown daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
304 Ord St., Los Angeles, (213) 988-7155, nam.coffee
With their third location of Badmaash — and the first to open in eight years — the Mahendro family is evolving their vision for modern Indian cuisine. The downtown restaurant Badmaash helped shape how Angelenos enjoy Indian food, and with a new, reimagined version in Venice, they’re changing the narrative again.
In late March they opened the doors to the sleekest iteration of Badmaash yet, where the setting is low-lit and the menu includes cocktails such as gin with house-made chai orgeat and new dishes like steak frites under masala-spiced au poivre.
At Badmaash Venice a new cocktail program complements the restaurant’s modern and traditional Indian dishes, such as the Dahi Poori, a chaat of yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Venice has “pulled us into the next steps,” said co-founder and CEO Nakul Mahendro. “We’re thinking more about what oil we use, what ingredients we use and who we’re sourcing from. I’m really thankful for that. It’s evolved me in the best way. It hasn’t evolved me like, ‘Oh, let’s open a restaurant and make it fancy and take more from their pockets.’ It’s like, ‘How am I affecting the world?’”
Badmaash Venice seats nearly 100 across two dining rooms, a cave-inspired back room, a 10-seat bar and the forthcoming patio along Abbot Kinney.
Nakul runs the restaurant with his brother, Arjun, and their parents. Their father, Amritsar-raised Pawan Mahendro, is executive chef. After decades of operating Indian, French and Italian restaurants in Bombay, Toronto and New York, he helped his sons pursue their own dreams of opening Badmaash.
Downtown debuted in 2013, followed by Fairfax in 2018. When they launched, chai was just entering mainstream culture across the U.S. The Mahendros offered their more traditional recipes alongside fusion flavor bombs like chili cheese naan, chicken tikka poutine and fried butter chicken sandwiches.
“It was like, ‘OK, let’s slow-step people into Indian cuisine,’” Nakul Mahendro said. “I remember within the first few years, I was seeing garam masala on menus at Redbird and in other other places, and seeing dry mango powder on beverage lists. Badmaash became white hot, and we were sharing our cuisine and culture with a lot of other chefs.”
But the last few years proved difficult to maintain restaurants, especially in Los Angeles. The Mahendros opened their fast-food spot, Burgers 99, in March 2020. At the end of April they’ll close the doors in order to focus on Badmaash. It won’t spell the end of their burgers and butter chicken burritos though. Burgers 99 will live on via delivery, orderable online and through apps.
Badmaash’s Venice location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The downtown and Fairfax Badmaash locations will also adjust, eventually incorporating some of the Venice dishes and cocktails. Director of operations Steve LaFountain, formerly of Horses and Little Prince, designed the Venice beverage program and will help to implement these changes.
The shift in Venice also mirrors how Nakul and Arjun now eat; they’ve incorporated more produce into their diets and more frequent trips to the farmers market.
They’re leaning into seasonality like their Venice neighbors Travis Lett and Ian Robinson of RVR. A luxurious korma incorporates lamb neck in a nod to Ori Menashe’s popular Bavel shawarma, while a new saffron pistachio tres leches utilizes olive oil made by rapper, host and cookbook author Action Bronson, who also presented them with a large painting that now hangs prominently in the new restaurant.
Ultimately, they say they wanted to build a version of Badmaash that reflects L.A. “We believe that every great neighborhood,” Nakul Mahendro said, “deserves a great Indian restaurant.”
Badmaash is open in Venice Wednesday to Sunday from 4:30 to 11 p.m.
1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 310-2580, badmaashla.com
Guests dine at new rooftop bar and restaurant Sushi Samba in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Sushi Samba
One of the world’s most prolific sushi-and-nightlife chains recently touched down in L.A., drawing crowds to a West Hollywood rooftop that features nightly DJ sets, live entertainment like feather-clad samba dancers, and a blending of Peruvian, Japanese and Brazilian flavors.
Sushi Samba debuted in 1999 in New York City, then quickly expanded to Miami, then Las Vegas, London, Dubai, Scotland, Qatar, Singapore, Italy and beyond. In March it opened its first West Coast outpost, which offers nigiri, ceviche, stone-seared Japanese Wagyu, cocktails, grilled skewers and more with a view of the Hollywood Hills.
Sushi Samba CEO Omar Gutierrez said that Los Angeles seemed like a proper homecoming after years of opening international locations — though he knows the competition for L.A. restaurants is fierce, especially when it comes to sushi.
Sushi Samba’s classic ceviche of white fish, sweet potato, cancha, plantain chips and coconut leche de tigre.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“You have to build something beautiful, you have to have the entertainment component, you have to have the marketing component, you have to have the brand, the integrity and the brand awareness,” said Gutierrez. “We check all those boxes, and the food’s really good.”
Corporate chef John Um’s menu includes all of Sushi Samba’s signatures — such as the moqueca mista loaded with shrimp, mussels, squid, cod and chimichurri rice in coconut broth, and the chewy-fluffy pāo de queijo served with honey truffle butter — along with unique L.A. options such as the the Samba LA roll filled with snapper, yellowtail, crab, chile garlic crunch, passionfruit sanbaizu and yuzu oil.
The L.A. location also serves new cocktails featuring ingredients like lychee water, Kobe-fat-washed Japanese whiskey, shiso simple syrup and hibiscus mezcal. The main rooftop dining room has a retractable roof, and a separate bar and lounge has an abbreviated food menu — as well as rooftop views. There is also a glassed-in robata counter and a private indoor dining room. Sushi Samba is open Sunday to Wednesday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
639 N. La Peer Dr., West Hollywood, (213) 444-0424, sushisamba.com
Brooklyn Square is now open in Downey with a counter-service format.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square Downey
A Pasadena pizzeria recently expanded to Downey, bringing square “grandma pies,” by-the-slice options, fried ravioli and large New York-style pizzas to the Gateway Cities.
New York-style pizzas and square pies can be found in a rotation of by-the-slice options near the register in Downey.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square, from a family of New York expats, launched in 2022 with stacked-high sandwiches, wings and pizzas in Old Town Pasadena; now they’re offering most of that menu with a walk-up format in Downey, including massive hot and cold subs; 18-inch New York pizzas in varieties such as spinach ricotta, spicy vodka sauce, and barbecue chicken; antipasto salad; pastas; cannoli; calzones; black-and-white cookies; and the signature square pies, which come crispy-edged and loaded with toppings like meatballs, sausage, honey, ricotta and beyond. By-the-slice options can be found in the glass case at the register, along with garlic knots. Brooklyn Square is open in Downey Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8720 Imperial Hwy., Downey, (562) 302-0071, bksq.com
Nam Coffee owner Vince Nguyen stands outside his new Chinatown coffee shop.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Nam Coffee Chinatown
Popular Vietnamese coffee shop and roaster Nam Coffee recently expanded with a second location, this time launching in Chinatown with a full kitchen.
A pandan iced latte, right, with a banana iced latte and croissant at Nam Coffee in Chinatown.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Vince Nguyen founded Nam Coffee by roasting Vietnam-grown coffee beans and selling phin filters from his Orange County home in 2022, then opened a cafe in East Hollywood where he could sell bags of coffee and specialty drinks that epitomize Vietnam coffee culture and flavor. He’s serving those same concoctions — with signature lattes such as pandan, coconut-and-ube, banana and egg cream — in Chinatown along with pastries. Given that Nam took over the former Minon Cake and Mien Nghia Restaurant space, and thus has its first kitchen, in the coming months Nguyen plans to unveil a menu that will include sticky rice, spring rolls and Vietnamese bao.
“Bringing Nam to Chinatown was one of my dreams to continue my mission to develop Vietnamese coffee culture,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people are coming, not only from California but around the world.” Nam Coffee is open in Chinatown daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
304 Ord St., Los Angeles, (213) 988-7155, nam.coffee
With their third location of Badmaash — and the first to open in eight years — the Mahendro family is evolving their vision for modern Indian cuisine. The downtown restaurant Badmaash helped shape how Angelenos enjoy Indian food, and with a new, reimagined version in Venice, they’re changing the narrative again.
In late March they opened the doors to the sleekest iteration of Badmaash yet, where the setting is low-lit and the menu includes cocktails such as gin with house-made chai orgeat and new dishes like steak frites under masala-spiced au poivre.
At Badmaash Venice a new cocktail program complements the restaurant’s modern and traditional Indian dishes, such as the Dahi Poori, a chaat of yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Venice has “pulled us into the next steps,” said co-founder and CEO Nakul Mahendro. “We’re thinking more about what oil we use, what ingredients we use and who we’re sourcing from. I’m really thankful for that. It’s evolved me in the best way. It hasn’t evolved me like, ‘Oh, let’s open a restaurant and make it fancy and take more from their pockets.’ It’s like, ‘How am I affecting the world?’”
Badmaash Venice seats nearly 100 across two dining rooms, a cave-inspired back room, a 10-seat bar and the forthcoming patio along Abbot Kinney.
Nakul runs the restaurant with his brother, Arjun, and their parents. Their father, Amritsar-raised Pawan Mahendro, is executive chef. After decades of operating Indian, French and Italian restaurants in Bombay, Toronto and New York, he helped his sons pursue their own dreams of opening Badmaash.
Downtown debuted in 2013, followed by Fairfax in 2018. When they launched, chai was just entering mainstream culture across the U.S. The Mahendros offered their more traditional recipes alongside fusion flavor bombs like chili cheese naan, chicken tikka poutine and fried butter chicken sandwiches.
“It was like, ‘OK, let’s slow-step people into Indian cuisine,’” Nakul Mahendro said. “I remember within the first few years, I was seeing garam masala on menus at Redbird and in other other places, and seeing dry mango powder on beverage lists. Badmaash became white hot, and we were sharing our cuisine and culture with a lot of other chefs.”
But the last few years proved difficult to maintain restaurants, especially in Los Angeles. The Mahendros opened their fast-food spot, Burgers 99, in March 2020. At the end of April they’ll close the doors in order to focus on Badmaash. It won’t spell the end of their burgers and butter chicken burritos though. Burgers 99 will live on via delivery, orderable online and through apps.
Badmaash’s Venice location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The downtown and Fairfax Badmaash locations will also adjust, eventually incorporating some of the Venice dishes and cocktails. Director of operations Steve LaFountain, formerly of Horses and Little Prince, designed the Venice beverage program and will help to implement these changes.
The shift in Venice also mirrors how Nakul and Arjun now eat; they’ve incorporated more produce into their diets and more frequent trips to the farmers market.
They’re leaning into seasonality like their Venice neighbors Travis Lett and Ian Robinson of RVR. A luxurious korma incorporates lamb neck in a nod to Ori Menashe’s popular Bavel shawarma, while a new saffron pistachio tres leches utilizes olive oil made by rapper, host and cookbook author Action Bronson, who also presented them with a large painting that now hangs prominently in the new restaurant.
Ultimately, they say they wanted to build a version of Badmaash that reflects L.A. “We believe that every great neighborhood,” Nakul Mahendro said, “deserves a great Indian restaurant.”
Badmaash is open in Venice Wednesday to Sunday from 4:30 to 11 p.m.
1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 310-2580, badmaashla.com
Guests dine at new rooftop bar and restaurant Sushi Samba in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Sushi Samba
One of the world’s most prolific sushi-and-nightlife chains recently touched down in L.A., drawing crowds to a West Hollywood rooftop that features nightly DJ sets, live entertainment like feather-clad samba dancers, and a blending of Peruvian, Japanese and Brazilian flavors.
Sushi Samba debuted in 1999 in New York City, then quickly expanded to Miami, then Las Vegas, London, Dubai, Scotland, Qatar, Singapore, Italy and beyond. In March it opened its first West Coast outpost, which offers nigiri, ceviche, stone-seared Japanese Wagyu, cocktails, grilled skewers and more with a view of the Hollywood Hills.
Sushi Samba CEO Omar Gutierrez said that Los Angeles seemed like a proper homecoming after years of opening international locations — though he knows the competition for L.A. restaurants is fierce, especially when it comes to sushi.
Sushi Samba’s classic ceviche of white fish, sweet potato, cancha, plantain chips and coconut leche de tigre.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“You have to build something beautiful, you have to have the entertainment component, you have to have the marketing component, you have to have the brand, the integrity and the brand awareness,” said Gutierrez. “We check all those boxes, and the food’s really good.”
Corporate chef John Um’s menu includes all of Sushi Samba’s signatures — such as the moqueca mista loaded with shrimp, mussels, squid, cod and chimichurri rice in coconut broth, and the chewy-fluffy pāo de queijo served with honey truffle butter — along with unique L.A. options such as the the Samba LA roll filled with snapper, yellowtail, crab, chile garlic crunch, passionfruit sanbaizu and yuzu oil.
The L.A. location also serves new cocktails featuring ingredients like lychee water, Kobe-fat-washed Japanese whiskey, shiso simple syrup and hibiscus mezcal. The main rooftop dining room has a retractable roof, and a separate bar and lounge has an abbreviated food menu — as well as rooftop views. There is also a glassed-in robata counter and a private indoor dining room. Sushi Samba is open Sunday to Wednesday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
639 N. La Peer Dr., West Hollywood, (213) 444-0424, sushisamba.com
Brooklyn Square is now open in Downey with a counter-service format.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square Downey
A Pasadena pizzeria recently expanded to Downey, bringing square “grandma pies,” by-the-slice options, fried ravioli and large New York-style pizzas to the Gateway Cities.
New York-style pizzas and square pies can be found in a rotation of by-the-slice options near the register in Downey.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square, from a family of New York expats, launched in 2022 with stacked-high sandwiches, wings and pizzas in Old Town Pasadena; now they’re offering most of that menu with a walk-up format in Downey, including massive hot and cold subs; 18-inch New York pizzas in varieties such as spinach ricotta, spicy vodka sauce, and barbecue chicken; antipasto salad; pastas; cannoli; calzones; black-and-white cookies; and the signature square pies, which come crispy-edged and loaded with toppings like meatballs, sausage, honey, ricotta and beyond. By-the-slice options can be found in the glass case at the register, along with garlic knots. Brooklyn Square is open in Downey Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8720 Imperial Hwy., Downey, (562) 302-0071, bksq.com
Nam Coffee owner Vince Nguyen stands outside his new Chinatown coffee shop.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Nam Coffee Chinatown
Popular Vietnamese coffee shop and roaster Nam Coffee recently expanded with a second location, this time launching in Chinatown with a full kitchen.
A pandan iced latte, right, with a banana iced latte and croissant at Nam Coffee in Chinatown.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Vince Nguyen founded Nam Coffee by roasting Vietnam-grown coffee beans and selling phin filters from his Orange County home in 2022, then opened a cafe in East Hollywood where he could sell bags of coffee and specialty drinks that epitomize Vietnam coffee culture and flavor. He’s serving those same concoctions — with signature lattes such as pandan, coconut-and-ube, banana and egg cream — in Chinatown along with pastries. Given that Nam took over the former Minon Cake and Mien Nghia Restaurant space, and thus has its first kitchen, in the coming months Nguyen plans to unveil a menu that will include sticky rice, spring rolls and Vietnamese bao.
“Bringing Nam to Chinatown was one of my dreams to continue my mission to develop Vietnamese coffee culture,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people are coming, not only from California but around the world.” Nam Coffee is open in Chinatown daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
304 Ord St., Los Angeles, (213) 988-7155, nam.coffee
With their third location of Badmaash — and the first to open in eight years — the Mahendro family is evolving their vision for modern Indian cuisine. The downtown restaurant Badmaash helped shape how Angelenos enjoy Indian food, and with a new, reimagined version in Venice, they’re changing the narrative again.
In late March they opened the doors to the sleekest iteration of Badmaash yet, where the setting is low-lit and the menu includes cocktails such as gin with house-made chai orgeat and new dishes like steak frites under masala-spiced au poivre.
At Badmaash Venice a new cocktail program complements the restaurant’s modern and traditional Indian dishes, such as the Dahi Poori, a chaat of yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Venice has “pulled us into the next steps,” said co-founder and CEO Nakul Mahendro. “We’re thinking more about what oil we use, what ingredients we use and who we’re sourcing from. I’m really thankful for that. It’s evolved me in the best way. It hasn’t evolved me like, ‘Oh, let’s open a restaurant and make it fancy and take more from their pockets.’ It’s like, ‘How am I affecting the world?’”
Badmaash Venice seats nearly 100 across two dining rooms, a cave-inspired back room, a 10-seat bar and the forthcoming patio along Abbot Kinney.
Nakul runs the restaurant with his brother, Arjun, and their parents. Their father, Amritsar-raised Pawan Mahendro, is executive chef. After decades of operating Indian, French and Italian restaurants in Bombay, Toronto and New York, he helped his sons pursue their own dreams of opening Badmaash.
Downtown debuted in 2013, followed by Fairfax in 2018. When they launched, chai was just entering mainstream culture across the U.S. The Mahendros offered their more traditional recipes alongside fusion flavor bombs like chili cheese naan, chicken tikka poutine and fried butter chicken sandwiches.
“It was like, ‘OK, let’s slow-step people into Indian cuisine,’” Nakul Mahendro said. “I remember within the first few years, I was seeing garam masala on menus at Redbird and in other other places, and seeing dry mango powder on beverage lists. Badmaash became white hot, and we were sharing our cuisine and culture with a lot of other chefs.”
But the last few years proved difficult to maintain restaurants, especially in Los Angeles. The Mahendros opened their fast-food spot, Burgers 99, in March 2020. At the end of April they’ll close the doors in order to focus on Badmaash. It won’t spell the end of their burgers and butter chicken burritos though. Burgers 99 will live on via delivery, orderable online and through apps.
Badmaash’s Venice location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The downtown and Fairfax Badmaash locations will also adjust, eventually incorporating some of the Venice dishes and cocktails. Director of operations Steve LaFountain, formerly of Horses and Little Prince, designed the Venice beverage program and will help to implement these changes.
The shift in Venice also mirrors how Nakul and Arjun now eat; they’ve incorporated more produce into their diets and more frequent trips to the farmers market.
They’re leaning into seasonality like their Venice neighbors Travis Lett and Ian Robinson of RVR. A luxurious korma incorporates lamb neck in a nod to Ori Menashe’s popular Bavel shawarma, while a new saffron pistachio tres leches utilizes olive oil made by rapper, host and cookbook author Action Bronson, who also presented them with a large painting that now hangs prominently in the new restaurant.
Ultimately, they say they wanted to build a version of Badmaash that reflects L.A. “We believe that every great neighborhood,” Nakul Mahendro said, “deserves a great Indian restaurant.”
Badmaash is open in Venice Wednesday to Sunday from 4:30 to 11 p.m.
1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 310-2580, badmaashla.com
Guests dine at new rooftop bar and restaurant Sushi Samba in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Sushi Samba
One of the world’s most prolific sushi-and-nightlife chains recently touched down in L.A., drawing crowds to a West Hollywood rooftop that features nightly DJ sets, live entertainment like feather-clad samba dancers, and a blending of Peruvian, Japanese and Brazilian flavors.
Sushi Samba debuted in 1999 in New York City, then quickly expanded to Miami, then Las Vegas, London, Dubai, Scotland, Qatar, Singapore, Italy and beyond. In March it opened its first West Coast outpost, which offers nigiri, ceviche, stone-seared Japanese Wagyu, cocktails, grilled skewers and more with a view of the Hollywood Hills.
Sushi Samba CEO Omar Gutierrez said that Los Angeles seemed like a proper homecoming after years of opening international locations — though he knows the competition for L.A. restaurants is fierce, especially when it comes to sushi.
Sushi Samba’s classic ceviche of white fish, sweet potato, cancha, plantain chips and coconut leche de tigre.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“You have to build something beautiful, you have to have the entertainment component, you have to have the marketing component, you have to have the brand, the integrity and the brand awareness,” said Gutierrez. “We check all those boxes, and the food’s really good.”
Corporate chef John Um’s menu includes all of Sushi Samba’s signatures — such as the moqueca mista loaded with shrimp, mussels, squid, cod and chimichurri rice in coconut broth, and the chewy-fluffy pāo de queijo served with honey truffle butter — along with unique L.A. options such as the the Samba LA roll filled with snapper, yellowtail, crab, chile garlic crunch, passionfruit sanbaizu and yuzu oil.
The L.A. location also serves new cocktails featuring ingredients like lychee water, Kobe-fat-washed Japanese whiskey, shiso simple syrup and hibiscus mezcal. The main rooftop dining room has a retractable roof, and a separate bar and lounge has an abbreviated food menu — as well as rooftop views. There is also a glassed-in robata counter and a private indoor dining room. Sushi Samba is open Sunday to Wednesday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
639 N. La Peer Dr., West Hollywood, (213) 444-0424, sushisamba.com
Brooklyn Square is now open in Downey with a counter-service format.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square Downey
A Pasadena pizzeria recently expanded to Downey, bringing square “grandma pies,” by-the-slice options, fried ravioli and large New York-style pizzas to the Gateway Cities.
New York-style pizzas and square pies can be found in a rotation of by-the-slice options near the register in Downey.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square, from a family of New York expats, launched in 2022 with stacked-high sandwiches, wings and pizzas in Old Town Pasadena; now they’re offering most of that menu with a walk-up format in Downey, including massive hot and cold subs; 18-inch New York pizzas in varieties such as spinach ricotta, spicy vodka sauce, and barbecue chicken; antipasto salad; pastas; cannoli; calzones; black-and-white cookies; and the signature square pies, which come crispy-edged and loaded with toppings like meatballs, sausage, honey, ricotta and beyond. By-the-slice options can be found in the glass case at the register, along with garlic knots. Brooklyn Square is open in Downey Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8720 Imperial Hwy., Downey, (562) 302-0071, bksq.com
Nam Coffee owner Vince Nguyen stands outside his new Chinatown coffee shop.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Nam Coffee Chinatown
Popular Vietnamese coffee shop and roaster Nam Coffee recently expanded with a second location, this time launching in Chinatown with a full kitchen.
A pandan iced latte, right, with a banana iced latte and croissant at Nam Coffee in Chinatown.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Vince Nguyen founded Nam Coffee by roasting Vietnam-grown coffee beans and selling phin filters from his Orange County home in 2022, then opened a cafe in East Hollywood where he could sell bags of coffee and specialty drinks that epitomize Vietnam coffee culture and flavor. He’s serving those same concoctions — with signature lattes such as pandan, coconut-and-ube, banana and egg cream — in Chinatown along with pastries. Given that Nam took over the former Minon Cake and Mien Nghia Restaurant space, and thus has its first kitchen, in the coming months Nguyen plans to unveil a menu that will include sticky rice, spring rolls and Vietnamese bao.
“Bringing Nam to Chinatown was one of my dreams to continue my mission to develop Vietnamese coffee culture,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people are coming, not only from California but around the world.” Nam Coffee is open in Chinatown daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
304 Ord St., Los Angeles, (213) 988-7155, nam.coffee
With their third location of Badmaash — and the first to open in eight years — the Mahendro family is evolving their vision for modern Indian cuisine. The downtown restaurant Badmaash helped shape how Angelenos enjoy Indian food, and with a new, reimagined version in Venice, they’re changing the narrative again.
In late March they opened the doors to the sleekest iteration of Badmaash yet, where the setting is low-lit and the menu includes cocktails such as gin with house-made chai orgeat and new dishes like steak frites under masala-spiced au poivre.
At Badmaash Venice a new cocktail program complements the restaurant’s modern and traditional Indian dishes, such as the Dahi Poori, a chaat of yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Venice has “pulled us into the next steps,” said co-founder and CEO Nakul Mahendro. “We’re thinking more about what oil we use, what ingredients we use and who we’re sourcing from. I’m really thankful for that. It’s evolved me in the best way. It hasn’t evolved me like, ‘Oh, let’s open a restaurant and make it fancy and take more from their pockets.’ It’s like, ‘How am I affecting the world?’”
Badmaash Venice seats nearly 100 across two dining rooms, a cave-inspired back room, a 10-seat bar and the forthcoming patio along Abbot Kinney.
Nakul runs the restaurant with his brother, Arjun, and their parents. Their father, Amritsar-raised Pawan Mahendro, is executive chef. After decades of operating Indian, French and Italian restaurants in Bombay, Toronto and New York, he helped his sons pursue their own dreams of opening Badmaash.
Downtown debuted in 2013, followed by Fairfax in 2018. When they launched, chai was just entering mainstream culture across the U.S. The Mahendros offered their more traditional recipes alongside fusion flavor bombs like chili cheese naan, chicken tikka poutine and fried butter chicken sandwiches.
“It was like, ‘OK, let’s slow-step people into Indian cuisine,’” Nakul Mahendro said. “I remember within the first few years, I was seeing garam masala on menus at Redbird and in other other places, and seeing dry mango powder on beverage lists. Badmaash became white hot, and we were sharing our cuisine and culture with a lot of other chefs.”
But the last few years proved difficult to maintain restaurants, especially in Los Angeles. The Mahendros opened their fast-food spot, Burgers 99, in March 2020. At the end of April they’ll close the doors in order to focus on Badmaash. It won’t spell the end of their burgers and butter chicken burritos though. Burgers 99 will live on via delivery, orderable online and through apps.
Badmaash’s Venice location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The downtown and Fairfax Badmaash locations will also adjust, eventually incorporating some of the Venice dishes and cocktails. Director of operations Steve LaFountain, formerly of Horses and Little Prince, designed the Venice beverage program and will help to implement these changes.
The shift in Venice also mirrors how Nakul and Arjun now eat; they’ve incorporated more produce into their diets and more frequent trips to the farmers market.
They’re leaning into seasonality like their Venice neighbors Travis Lett and Ian Robinson of RVR. A luxurious korma incorporates lamb neck in a nod to Ori Menashe’s popular Bavel shawarma, while a new saffron pistachio tres leches utilizes olive oil made by rapper, host and cookbook author Action Bronson, who also presented them with a large painting that now hangs prominently in the new restaurant.
Ultimately, they say they wanted to build a version of Badmaash that reflects L.A. “We believe that every great neighborhood,” Nakul Mahendro said, “deserves a great Indian restaurant.”
Badmaash is open in Venice Wednesday to Sunday from 4:30 to 11 p.m.
1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 310-2580, badmaashla.com
Guests dine at new rooftop bar and restaurant Sushi Samba in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Sushi Samba
One of the world’s most prolific sushi-and-nightlife chains recently touched down in L.A., drawing crowds to a West Hollywood rooftop that features nightly DJ sets, live entertainment like feather-clad samba dancers, and a blending of Peruvian, Japanese and Brazilian flavors.
Sushi Samba debuted in 1999 in New York City, then quickly expanded to Miami, then Las Vegas, London, Dubai, Scotland, Qatar, Singapore, Italy and beyond. In March it opened its first West Coast outpost, which offers nigiri, ceviche, stone-seared Japanese Wagyu, cocktails, grilled skewers and more with a view of the Hollywood Hills.
Sushi Samba CEO Omar Gutierrez said that Los Angeles seemed like a proper homecoming after years of opening international locations — though he knows the competition for L.A. restaurants is fierce, especially when it comes to sushi.
Sushi Samba’s classic ceviche of white fish, sweet potato, cancha, plantain chips and coconut leche de tigre.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“You have to build something beautiful, you have to have the entertainment component, you have to have the marketing component, you have to have the brand, the integrity and the brand awareness,” said Gutierrez. “We check all those boxes, and the food’s really good.”
Corporate chef John Um’s menu includes all of Sushi Samba’s signatures — such as the moqueca mista loaded with shrimp, mussels, squid, cod and chimichurri rice in coconut broth, and the chewy-fluffy pāo de queijo served with honey truffle butter — along with unique L.A. options such as the the Samba LA roll filled with snapper, yellowtail, crab, chile garlic crunch, passionfruit sanbaizu and yuzu oil.
The L.A. location also serves new cocktails featuring ingredients like lychee water, Kobe-fat-washed Japanese whiskey, shiso simple syrup and hibiscus mezcal. The main rooftop dining room has a retractable roof, and a separate bar and lounge has an abbreviated food menu — as well as rooftop views. There is also a glassed-in robata counter and a private indoor dining room. Sushi Samba is open Sunday to Wednesday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
639 N. La Peer Dr., West Hollywood, (213) 444-0424, sushisamba.com
Brooklyn Square is now open in Downey with a counter-service format.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square Downey
A Pasadena pizzeria recently expanded to Downey, bringing square “grandma pies,” by-the-slice options, fried ravioli and large New York-style pizzas to the Gateway Cities.
New York-style pizzas and square pies can be found in a rotation of by-the-slice options near the register in Downey.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square, from a family of New York expats, launched in 2022 with stacked-high sandwiches, wings and pizzas in Old Town Pasadena; now they’re offering most of that menu with a walk-up format in Downey, including massive hot and cold subs; 18-inch New York pizzas in varieties such as spinach ricotta, spicy vodka sauce, and barbecue chicken; antipasto salad; pastas; cannoli; calzones; black-and-white cookies; and the signature square pies, which come crispy-edged and loaded with toppings like meatballs, sausage, honey, ricotta and beyond. By-the-slice options can be found in the glass case at the register, along with garlic knots. Brooklyn Square is open in Downey Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8720 Imperial Hwy., Downey, (562) 302-0071, bksq.com
Nam Coffee owner Vince Nguyen stands outside his new Chinatown coffee shop.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Nam Coffee Chinatown
Popular Vietnamese coffee shop and roaster Nam Coffee recently expanded with a second location, this time launching in Chinatown with a full kitchen.
A pandan iced latte, right, with a banana iced latte and croissant at Nam Coffee in Chinatown.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Vince Nguyen founded Nam Coffee by roasting Vietnam-grown coffee beans and selling phin filters from his Orange County home in 2022, then opened a cafe in East Hollywood where he could sell bags of coffee and specialty drinks that epitomize Vietnam coffee culture and flavor. He’s serving those same concoctions — with signature lattes such as pandan, coconut-and-ube, banana and egg cream — in Chinatown along with pastries. Given that Nam took over the former Minon Cake and Mien Nghia Restaurant space, and thus has its first kitchen, in the coming months Nguyen plans to unveil a menu that will include sticky rice, spring rolls and Vietnamese bao.
“Bringing Nam to Chinatown was one of my dreams to continue my mission to develop Vietnamese coffee culture,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people are coming, not only from California but around the world.” Nam Coffee is open in Chinatown daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
304 Ord St., Los Angeles, (213) 988-7155, nam.coffee
With their third location of Badmaash — and the first to open in eight years — the Mahendro family is evolving their vision for modern Indian cuisine. The downtown restaurant Badmaash helped shape how Angelenos enjoy Indian food, and with a new, reimagined version in Venice, they’re changing the narrative again.
In late March they opened the doors to the sleekest iteration of Badmaash yet, where the setting is low-lit and the menu includes cocktails such as gin with house-made chai orgeat and new dishes like steak frites under masala-spiced au poivre.
At Badmaash Venice a new cocktail program complements the restaurant’s modern and traditional Indian dishes, such as the Dahi Poori, a chaat of yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Venice has “pulled us into the next steps,” said co-founder and CEO Nakul Mahendro. “We’re thinking more about what oil we use, what ingredients we use and who we’re sourcing from. I’m really thankful for that. It’s evolved me in the best way. It hasn’t evolved me like, ‘Oh, let’s open a restaurant and make it fancy and take more from their pockets.’ It’s like, ‘How am I affecting the world?’”
Badmaash Venice seats nearly 100 across two dining rooms, a cave-inspired back room, a 10-seat bar and the forthcoming patio along Abbot Kinney.
Nakul runs the restaurant with his brother, Arjun, and their parents. Their father, Amritsar-raised Pawan Mahendro, is executive chef. After decades of operating Indian, French and Italian restaurants in Bombay, Toronto and New York, he helped his sons pursue their own dreams of opening Badmaash.
Downtown debuted in 2013, followed by Fairfax in 2018. When they launched, chai was just entering mainstream culture across the U.S. The Mahendros offered their more traditional recipes alongside fusion flavor bombs like chili cheese naan, chicken tikka poutine and fried butter chicken sandwiches.
“It was like, ‘OK, let’s slow-step people into Indian cuisine,’” Nakul Mahendro said. “I remember within the first few years, I was seeing garam masala on menus at Redbird and in other other places, and seeing dry mango powder on beverage lists. Badmaash became white hot, and we were sharing our cuisine and culture with a lot of other chefs.”
But the last few years proved difficult to maintain restaurants, especially in Los Angeles. The Mahendros opened their fast-food spot, Burgers 99, in March 2020. At the end of April they’ll close the doors in order to focus on Badmaash. It won’t spell the end of their burgers and butter chicken burritos though. Burgers 99 will live on via delivery, orderable online and through apps.
Badmaash’s Venice location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The downtown and Fairfax Badmaash locations will also adjust, eventually incorporating some of the Venice dishes and cocktails. Director of operations Steve LaFountain, formerly of Horses and Little Prince, designed the Venice beverage program and will help to implement these changes.
The shift in Venice also mirrors how Nakul and Arjun now eat; they’ve incorporated more produce into their diets and more frequent trips to the farmers market.
They’re leaning into seasonality like their Venice neighbors Travis Lett and Ian Robinson of RVR. A luxurious korma incorporates lamb neck in a nod to Ori Menashe’s popular Bavel shawarma, while a new saffron pistachio tres leches utilizes olive oil made by rapper, host and cookbook author Action Bronson, who also presented them with a large painting that now hangs prominently in the new restaurant.
Ultimately, they say they wanted to build a version of Badmaash that reflects L.A. “We believe that every great neighborhood,” Nakul Mahendro said, “deserves a great Indian restaurant.”
Badmaash is open in Venice Wednesday to Sunday from 4:30 to 11 p.m.
1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 310-2580, badmaashla.com
Guests dine at new rooftop bar and restaurant Sushi Samba in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Sushi Samba
One of the world’s most prolific sushi-and-nightlife chains recently touched down in L.A., drawing crowds to a West Hollywood rooftop that features nightly DJ sets, live entertainment like feather-clad samba dancers, and a blending of Peruvian, Japanese and Brazilian flavors.
Sushi Samba debuted in 1999 in New York City, then quickly expanded to Miami, then Las Vegas, London, Dubai, Scotland, Qatar, Singapore, Italy and beyond. In March it opened its first West Coast outpost, which offers nigiri, ceviche, stone-seared Japanese Wagyu, cocktails, grilled skewers and more with a view of the Hollywood Hills.
Sushi Samba CEO Omar Gutierrez said that Los Angeles seemed like a proper homecoming after years of opening international locations — though he knows the competition for L.A. restaurants is fierce, especially when it comes to sushi.
Sushi Samba’s classic ceviche of white fish, sweet potato, cancha, plantain chips and coconut leche de tigre.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“You have to build something beautiful, you have to have the entertainment component, you have to have the marketing component, you have to have the brand, the integrity and the brand awareness,” said Gutierrez. “We check all those boxes, and the food’s really good.”
Corporate chef John Um’s menu includes all of Sushi Samba’s signatures — such as the moqueca mista loaded with shrimp, mussels, squid, cod and chimichurri rice in coconut broth, and the chewy-fluffy pāo de queijo served with honey truffle butter — along with unique L.A. options such as the the Samba LA roll filled with snapper, yellowtail, crab, chile garlic crunch, passionfruit sanbaizu and yuzu oil.
The L.A. location also serves new cocktails featuring ingredients like lychee water, Kobe-fat-washed Japanese whiskey, shiso simple syrup and hibiscus mezcal. The main rooftop dining room has a retractable roof, and a separate bar and lounge has an abbreviated food menu — as well as rooftop views. There is also a glassed-in robata counter and a private indoor dining room. Sushi Samba is open Sunday to Wednesday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
639 N. La Peer Dr., West Hollywood, (213) 444-0424, sushisamba.com
Brooklyn Square is now open in Downey with a counter-service format.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square Downey
A Pasadena pizzeria recently expanded to Downey, bringing square “grandma pies,” by-the-slice options, fried ravioli and large New York-style pizzas to the Gateway Cities.
New York-style pizzas and square pies can be found in a rotation of by-the-slice options near the register in Downey.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square, from a family of New York expats, launched in 2022 with stacked-high sandwiches, wings and pizzas in Old Town Pasadena; now they’re offering most of that menu with a walk-up format in Downey, including massive hot and cold subs; 18-inch New York pizzas in varieties such as spinach ricotta, spicy vodka sauce, and barbecue chicken; antipasto salad; pastas; cannoli; calzones; black-and-white cookies; and the signature square pies, which come crispy-edged and loaded with toppings like meatballs, sausage, honey, ricotta and beyond. By-the-slice options can be found in the glass case at the register, along with garlic knots. Brooklyn Square is open in Downey Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8720 Imperial Hwy., Downey, (562) 302-0071, bksq.com
Nam Coffee owner Vince Nguyen stands outside his new Chinatown coffee shop.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Nam Coffee Chinatown
Popular Vietnamese coffee shop and roaster Nam Coffee recently expanded with a second location, this time launching in Chinatown with a full kitchen.
A pandan iced latte, right, with a banana iced latte and croissant at Nam Coffee in Chinatown.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Vince Nguyen founded Nam Coffee by roasting Vietnam-grown coffee beans and selling phin filters from his Orange County home in 2022, then opened a cafe in East Hollywood where he could sell bags of coffee and specialty drinks that epitomize Vietnam coffee culture and flavor. He’s serving those same concoctions — with signature lattes such as pandan, coconut-and-ube, banana and egg cream — in Chinatown along with pastries. Given that Nam took over the former Minon Cake and Mien Nghia Restaurant space, and thus has its first kitchen, in the coming months Nguyen plans to unveil a menu that will include sticky rice, spring rolls and Vietnamese bao.
“Bringing Nam to Chinatown was one of my dreams to continue my mission to develop Vietnamese coffee culture,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people are coming, not only from California but around the world.” Nam Coffee is open in Chinatown daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
304 Ord St., Los Angeles, (213) 988-7155, nam.coffee
With their third location of Badmaash — and the first to open in eight years — the Mahendro family is evolving their vision for modern Indian cuisine. The downtown restaurant Badmaash helped shape how Angelenos enjoy Indian food, and with a new, reimagined version in Venice, they’re changing the narrative again.
In late March they opened the doors to the sleekest iteration of Badmaash yet, where the setting is low-lit and the menu includes cocktails such as gin with house-made chai orgeat and new dishes like steak frites under masala-spiced au poivre.
At Badmaash Venice a new cocktail program complements the restaurant’s modern and traditional Indian dishes, such as the Dahi Poori, a chaat of yogurt, tamarind and mint chutney.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Venice has “pulled us into the next steps,” said co-founder and CEO Nakul Mahendro. “We’re thinking more about what oil we use, what ingredients we use and who we’re sourcing from. I’m really thankful for that. It’s evolved me in the best way. It hasn’t evolved me like, ‘Oh, let’s open a restaurant and make it fancy and take more from their pockets.’ It’s like, ‘How am I affecting the world?’”
Badmaash Venice seats nearly 100 across two dining rooms, a cave-inspired back room, a 10-seat bar and the forthcoming patio along Abbot Kinney.
Nakul runs the restaurant with his brother, Arjun, and their parents. Their father, Amritsar-raised Pawan Mahendro, is executive chef. After decades of operating Indian, French and Italian restaurants in Bombay, Toronto and New York, he helped his sons pursue their own dreams of opening Badmaash.
Downtown debuted in 2013, followed by Fairfax in 2018. When they launched, chai was just entering mainstream culture across the U.S. The Mahendros offered their more traditional recipes alongside fusion flavor bombs like chili cheese naan, chicken tikka poutine and fried butter chicken sandwiches.
“It was like, ‘OK, let’s slow-step people into Indian cuisine,’” Nakul Mahendro said. “I remember within the first few years, I was seeing garam masala on menus at Redbird and in other other places, and seeing dry mango powder on beverage lists. Badmaash became white hot, and we were sharing our cuisine and culture with a lot of other chefs.”
But the last few years proved difficult to maintain restaurants, especially in Los Angeles. The Mahendros opened their fast-food spot, Burgers 99, in March 2020. At the end of April they’ll close the doors in order to focus on Badmaash. It won’t spell the end of their burgers and butter chicken burritos though. Burgers 99 will live on via delivery, orderable online and through apps.
Badmaash’s Venice location.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
The downtown and Fairfax Badmaash locations will also adjust, eventually incorporating some of the Venice dishes and cocktails. Director of operations Steve LaFountain, formerly of Horses and Little Prince, designed the Venice beverage program and will help to implement these changes.
The shift in Venice also mirrors how Nakul and Arjun now eat; they’ve incorporated more produce into their diets and more frequent trips to the farmers market.
They’re leaning into seasonality like their Venice neighbors Travis Lett and Ian Robinson of RVR. A luxurious korma incorporates lamb neck in a nod to Ori Menashe’s popular Bavel shawarma, while a new saffron pistachio tres leches utilizes olive oil made by rapper, host and cookbook author Action Bronson, who also presented them with a large painting that now hangs prominently in the new restaurant.
Ultimately, they say they wanted to build a version of Badmaash that reflects L.A. “We believe that every great neighborhood,” Nakul Mahendro said, “deserves a great Indian restaurant.”
Badmaash is open in Venice Wednesday to Sunday from 4:30 to 11 p.m.
1616 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 310-2580, badmaashla.com
Guests dine at new rooftop bar and restaurant Sushi Samba in West Hollywood.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Sushi Samba
One of the world’s most prolific sushi-and-nightlife chains recently touched down in L.A., drawing crowds to a West Hollywood rooftop that features nightly DJ sets, live entertainment like feather-clad samba dancers, and a blending of Peruvian, Japanese and Brazilian flavors.
Sushi Samba debuted in 1999 in New York City, then quickly expanded to Miami, then Las Vegas, London, Dubai, Scotland, Qatar, Singapore, Italy and beyond. In March it opened its first West Coast outpost, which offers nigiri, ceviche, stone-seared Japanese Wagyu, cocktails, grilled skewers and more with a view of the Hollywood Hills.
Sushi Samba CEO Omar Gutierrez said that Los Angeles seemed like a proper homecoming after years of opening international locations — though he knows the competition for L.A. restaurants is fierce, especially when it comes to sushi.
Sushi Samba’s classic ceviche of white fish, sweet potato, cancha, plantain chips and coconut leche de tigre.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
“You have to build something beautiful, you have to have the entertainment component, you have to have the marketing component, you have to have the brand, the integrity and the brand awareness,” said Gutierrez. “We check all those boxes, and the food’s really good.”
Corporate chef John Um’s menu includes all of Sushi Samba’s signatures — such as the moqueca mista loaded with shrimp, mussels, squid, cod and chimichurri rice in coconut broth, and the chewy-fluffy pāo de queijo served with honey truffle butter — along with unique L.A. options such as the the Samba LA roll filled with snapper, yellowtail, crab, chile garlic crunch, passionfruit sanbaizu and yuzu oil.
The L.A. location also serves new cocktails featuring ingredients like lychee water, Kobe-fat-washed Japanese whiskey, shiso simple syrup and hibiscus mezcal. The main rooftop dining room has a retractable roof, and a separate bar and lounge has an abbreviated food menu — as well as rooftop views. There is also a glassed-in robata counter and a private indoor dining room. Sushi Samba is open Sunday to Wednesday from 5 p.m. to midnight, and Thursday to Saturday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
639 N. La Peer Dr., West Hollywood, (213) 444-0424, sushisamba.com
Brooklyn Square is now open in Downey with a counter-service format.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square Downey
A Pasadena pizzeria recently expanded to Downey, bringing square “grandma pies,” by-the-slice options, fried ravioli and large New York-style pizzas to the Gateway Cities.
New York-style pizzas and square pies can be found in a rotation of by-the-slice options near the register in Downey.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Brooklyn Square, from a family of New York expats, launched in 2022 with stacked-high sandwiches, wings and pizzas in Old Town Pasadena; now they’re offering most of that menu with a walk-up format in Downey, including massive hot and cold subs; 18-inch New York pizzas in varieties such as spinach ricotta, spicy vodka sauce, and barbecue chicken; antipasto salad; pastas; cannoli; calzones; black-and-white cookies; and the signature square pies, which come crispy-edged and loaded with toppings like meatballs, sausage, honey, ricotta and beyond. By-the-slice options can be found in the glass case at the register, along with garlic knots. Brooklyn Square is open in Downey Sunday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
8720 Imperial Hwy., Downey, (562) 302-0071, bksq.com
Nam Coffee owner Vince Nguyen stands outside his new Chinatown coffee shop.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Nam Coffee Chinatown
Popular Vietnamese coffee shop and roaster Nam Coffee recently expanded with a second location, this time launching in Chinatown with a full kitchen.
A pandan iced latte, right, with a banana iced latte and croissant at Nam Coffee in Chinatown.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Vince Nguyen founded Nam Coffee by roasting Vietnam-grown coffee beans and selling phin filters from his Orange County home in 2022, then opened a cafe in East Hollywood where he could sell bags of coffee and specialty drinks that epitomize Vietnam coffee culture and flavor. He’s serving those same concoctions — with signature lattes such as pandan, coconut-and-ube, banana and egg cream — in Chinatown along with pastries. Given that Nam took over the former Minon Cake and Mien Nghia Restaurant space, and thus has its first kitchen, in the coming months Nguyen plans to unveil a menu that will include sticky rice, spring rolls and Vietnamese bao.
“Bringing Nam to Chinatown was one of my dreams to continue my mission to develop Vietnamese coffee culture,” Nguyen said. “A lot of people are coming, not only from California but around the world.” Nam Coffee is open in Chinatown daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
304 Ord St., Los Angeles, (213) 988-7155, nam.coffee
