Snackbar tempts ArcLight addicts in Hollywood

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Attention ArcLight addicts, we have found your new pre-movie meeting place. I recently stumbled across a nice new dinner (or lunch) destination to meet friends before catching a film, and it’s even closer to the Arclight than Magnolia or the Hungry Cat.

And when I say stumbled, I mean it. The place, called Snackbar, open since Dec. 7, is hard to find.

It’s hidden inside the new retail mall Space 15 Twenty on Cahuenga Boulevard, and pedestrians walking by the complex (which takes up half a block between Ivar and Cahuenga, right off Sunset) may not realize eating options await within. The anchor tenant of Space 15 Twenty is an Urban Outfitters, and the outside of the building gives the impression that that’s all there is.

Still, Snackbar is worth finding, with inviting exposed brick and large glass windows looking out onto a courtyard.

Jonathan Makar, the Philadelphia-based owner of the restaurant, says Urban Outfitters executives tapped him to open an L.A. offshoot of his popular café-style spot after eating at his Rittenhouse Square restaurant several times in Pennsylvania.

So what’s on the menu at Snackbar?

Snacks that eat like a meal, naturally. I spied patrons eating burgers, a large chèvre salad, and plenty of grilled and pressed sandwiches.

Makar says Snackbar will likely have a liquor license by February, so expect the Sno-Cones on the menu to have a little extra kick in 2009 (they plan to offer blueberry vodka Sno-Cones).

Nothing on the menu is more than $15, with most items in the $8 to $12 range. Sides and snacks include malt-vinegar French-fried potatoes, $4, and peanut butter and chocolate tramezzini, $4.75.

Snackbar, 1520 N. Cahuenga Blvd., (323) 871-1220

-- Charlie Amter