Restaurateur Bill Chait

He Wants to Go Where Everybody Knows His Name

Bill Chait is a principal and managing partner of restaurants across Los Angeles, including Bestia and the upcoming Vibiana and Redbird downtown, and Sotto and Picca on the Westside. Before participating in a discussion of what downtown’s rise means for the rest of L.A., he talked Israeli food and fast food, and golf balls and elephants, in the Zócalo green room.

Last Call at the Cat & Fiddle

Remembering Lazy Sundays at a British Pub That Became a Hollywood Icon

Los Angeles is not a city known for dwelling on the past. So if a restaurant or bar can last more than 10 years, it’s automatically designated as a “local …

Is Downtown L.A.’s New Center?

It’s Got the Hype, the Hot New Restaurants, Growing Political Clout, and More and More People on the Streets—and Its Growth Shows No Sign of Slowing Down

This year, GQ called downtown Los Angeles “America’s next great city” and “the cool capital of America,” and The New York Times included downtown on its list of “52 Places …

Breakfast on the Beach with Dad

The Joys of Early Mornings at Perry’s Café, Before Work

Perry’s at the Beach Café has nine locations throughout Santa Monica and Venice, but I only really like one—and won’t bother going after 10 a.m.

My dad first introduced me …

L.A. Greats of Film and Food Jon Favreau and Roy Choi Screen ‘Chef’

The ‘My Favorite Movie’ Series Launches With a Love and Laugh Fest

In 2009, Zócalo was the first L.A. organization to invite Roy Choi—then a restaurant-chef-turned-food-truck-operator who was selling Korean barbecue-filled tacos on the streets of Southern California—to speak on a panel …

Jesse Gomez

The Tattoo-Sporting, Motorcycle-Riding, Princeton-Educated Restaurateur Who’s Bringing Mexican Back

Most of what I know about the restaurant business I learned from Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain’s 2000 tell-all memoir of his life as a high-end restaurant chef, Kitchen Confidential, was rife …