Eat Like You’re Famous at These Celebrity-Owned Restaurants in LA
The food may not be famous, but the owners of these restaurants are.
If your dream visit to LA includes a celebrity sighting—and, realistically, almost everyone’s does—then that’s an achievable goal. You can hike Runyon (or elsewhere), eat at Catch Steak, loiter around the Calabasas Erewhon, or any number of other, better options. But if you want to bask in celebrity glow in a more specific way, there’s another option—eat at a celebrity-owned restaurant.
If there’s one thing that celebrities like more than hiking, flashy dinners, and overpriced groceries, it’s brand extension. In LA there’s an eternal churn of restaurants opening up with celebrity affiliations, from cafes to ghost kitchens, fast casual chains to live music venues, and more. Lots of them open and shut in the blink of an eye, but there are also some real success stories in this list of the best restaurants in LA that are owned by celebrities. This list isn’t exhaustive, of course, and we’ve tried to highlight restaurants that have an obvious celebrity connection—famous people aren’t just silent investors in these restaurants, they’re founders, ambassadors, figureheads, and inspirations.
To be clear, though, you probably won’t actually see the celebrity faces of these brands at any of their restaurants, but you can contribute a little something to their teeth-whitening funds with every transaction. And isn’t a comingling of funds the real definition of closeness? But you may want to visit soon—these kinds of restaurants do have a tendency toward sudden collapse.
Various locations
Multi-hyphenate star Issa Rae has been holding it down for South LA for a long time, and she’s got a financial stake in the community too—she joined founders Yonnie Hagos and Ajay Relan on the ownership team of beloved local coffee company Hilltop. They now have five locations, one each in View Park-Windsor Hills, Inglewood, Eagle Rock, Downtown, and LAX. The coffee drinks are great, and the food is comforting and well-executed too, meaning this is much better than your typical celeb-fronted restaurant chain.
West Hollywood
According to celebrated restaurateurs Mark and Jonnie Houston, who partnered with musician Anderson .Paak on the new restaurant and venue Andy’s, .Paak was deeply involved in every detail. This has long been a dream of his, and now it’s finally come to life—good food, good drinks, and a low-key place for .Paak and his friends to jam. For more on Andy’s, check out our full story on the new venue.
Hollywood
If you’re checking off celebrity-fronted restaurants like you’re playing tourist bingo, this one could be the center square. It’s right in the middle of Hollywood across from the Chinese Theatre, and unlike some of the places on this list, the famous affiliation is no secret—it’s right there in the name. The fast-casual burger chain is owned by three of the Wahlberg brothers, Chef Paul, Donnie, and Mark, and it was the subject of 10 seasons of reality tv to boot. The restaurant serves largely fine renditions of gastropub essentials, burgers and sandwiches and salads, and for all that Hollywood’s dining scene has improved over the last few years it’s still handy to have something quick and fine with the little glow of a famous name overhead.
Various locations
The other deeply unsubtle celebrity-owned restaurant chain in LA comes from Angeleno icon Danny Trejo. Trejo’s Tacos has four locations dotted around central LA, and there’s also one location of Trejo’s Coffee and Donuts in Hollywood. Trejos Tacos have become quite successful as a quick lunch option, and for good reason—the tacos are consistently good, and perhaps most notably they have several options for vegan proteins including asada-style mushrooms, cauliflower, and young jackfruit. Trejo’s Donuts also has several vegan donuts.
West Hollywood
Reality TV fans have plenty of options to take their fandom into the real world in West Hollywood, thanks to the constellation of Vanderpump restaurants like SUR, Tom Tom, and now Something About Her. The sandwich shop comes from Ariana Madix and Katie Maloney of Vanderpump Rules, though if you went to the website first you’d be forgiven for assuming it was just a clothing brand and not an actual restaurant. The shop itself is certainly lovely, and lends itself well to all of your basest selfie-taking instincts. For more on Something About Her, check out our interview with Madix and Maloney.
Various locations
One of the paths to a successful celebrity restaurant is by keeping things totally straightforward and on message, and nothing could be more on message for Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of KISS than ever-expanding pub chain Rock & Brews. What do Simmons and Stanley know? Rock. And what do dudes who rock like? Brews. It’s as simple as that. There are now more than 20 locations of Rock & Brews spread across the country, mostly in California but also in Florida, Texas, and more. Each location has ‘80s rock & roll decor all over the place, a solid menu of gastropub essentials, and a plethora of local beers.
Various locations
You wouldn’t really know it, but the eternal hotspot Nobu actually has a celebrity founder too, even beyond its iconic chef namesake Nobu Matsuhisa. It was Robert De Niro who became a regular at Matsuhisa in the late ‘80s, and then helped convince the chef to take his place in front of the board at a new venture in 1994. Now there are some 56 restaurants and 36 hotels in their portfolio spread across the world, from Budapest to Cape Town and everywhere else you can imagine. The Malibu location is perhaps the most iconic, thanks to its sweeping views of the ocean, its frequent mention in rap songs, and its well-heeled clientele.
Holy Water and The Woods
West Hollywood
If you’re a fan of gregarious old dudes, boy do we have the place for you—about a year ago the talkative trio of Woody Harrelson, Bill Maher, and John McEnroe went in together on Holy Water, an extremely stylish and intimate cocktail bar in West Hollywood that is more than worth a visit even setting aside the big-name backers. That’s because Holy Water is awesome, but it’s also because it happens to share a wall with The Woods, Harrelson and Maher’s cannabis consumption lounge and takeaway shop right next door. Just note: you can’t cross the streams by bringing alcohol into The Woods or cannabis into Holy Water. Other restaurants on this list may have hotter names attached or flashier concepts, but none of them have a more verbose blunt rotation.
Various locations
Sometimes the world feels a little too tarnished and mean, and you just can’t imagine emerging from your meticulously curated apartment cocoon of crystals, jade, and rectal ozone therapy. But that’s no excuse to spend a whole day without engaging with a famous person’s brand—you can still get all of Gwyneth Paltrow’s best delivered right to your home courtesy of goop Kitchen. There are six locations of the wellness-focused ghost kitchen concept scattered across the Westside, the South Bay, and Orange County, each serving an array of healthy takes on straightforward meals. There are several iterations of things in a bowl, like a Teriyaki Bowl, a Salmon Bowl, and a Taco Bowl, as well as meals built around rotisserie chicken, and an Italian-style section called goop Superfina.
Flavortown aka Burbank Airport
Burbank Airport is a true delight, at least as far as airports go. It’s tiny and charming, easy to navigate and convenient for pickup and dropoff, and you get to walk on the tarmac to board and exit the plane. And even better—it is literally Flavortown. Guy Fieri has four separate concepts across the terminals, including Burgers, Sammiches, and a Highball Lounge. Make it your first stop when you land, your last stop on the way out of town, or ideally both.