Advertisement
Daily Dish

A new restaurant upstairs at Gjelina: Just don’t call it vegetarian

By Betty HallockDeputy Food Editor 
Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Gjelina chef Travis Lett is working on a new project -- a vegetable-based restaurant above the Venice favorite that he’s planning on opening in a couple months. ‘I’m not a vegetarian,’ Lett says. ‘It’s a place where any carnivore would enjoy eating, but it just happens to be a vegetable-based menu. I don’t want to label it as vegetarian.

‘It’s rustic and earthy and wholesome, the same way cooking at Gjelina is,’ he adds.

Lett describes the intimate upstairs space (a 20- to 25-seater) as ‘very tranquil and airy, a nice change from downstairs, where it’s more like a bustling bistro.’

Advertisement

There’s no name yet, and the entrance may be through Gjelina or via a side door.

Meanwhile, Lett has been working on his rooftop garden. ‘We buy everything at the farmers market for Gjelina.... I’m trying to go the next step and grow our own vegetables. Lately, I’m more inspired by a piece of cauliflower than a lobe of foie gras or pile of truffles.’

-- Betty Hallock

Daily Dish
Betty Hallock

Betty Hallock is deputy Food editor at the Los Angeles Times. She has co-written four cookbooks, including “Bäco: Vivid Recipes from the Heart of Los Angeles,” “Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen” and “Baking at République.” She started her journalism career at the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American in New York, worked on the L.A. Times’ Business desk, and was interim food editor at Los Angeles Magazine. Hallock also helped launch a food and nutrition vertical for wellness app RoundGlass. She’s a graduate of UCLA and New York University.

Advertisement