A third Renzo Piano building at LACMA--and this one comes with food
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Move over BCAM and Resnick Pavilion. There’s another Renzo Piano building under construction at LACMA sure to attract Piano fans, or just hungry visitors.
LACMA has confirmed that its new restaurant will open in early 2011, no later than the end of March, just north of the BP Grand Entrance pavilion and across from the parking garage elevators.
But don’t expect another capacious Piano space. According to LACMA spokeswoman Barbara Pflaumer, the restaurant is a 1,140-square-foot ‘concrete, glass and steel box’ that ‘continues the architectural language developed for the campus’ by the Italian architect. There also will be an outdoor bar/lounge.
The restaurant will be called Ray’s and the lounge called the Stark Bar. They were named in honor of film producer Ray Stark (of ‘Funny Girl’ and ‘The Way We Were’ fame) after the Stark Foundation’s pledge of an undisclosed amount to the museum.
Stark’s daughter Wendy Stark Morrissey, a LACMA trustee, told our Image reporter Ellen Olivier last week at the Resnick gala, ‘We want the museum to be a meeting place.’ (Click here for Olivier’s report on the gala.)
As for the menu, expect ‘farm-to-table cuisine based on seasonal, local ingredients’ says LACMA. Joachim Splichal of the Patina Group (which oversees Pentimento, LACMA’s existing restaurant) and Ray’s executive chef (not yet finalized) will develop the menu.
-- Jori Finkel
www.twitter.com/jorifinkel
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