Beverly Hills’ legendary La Dolce Vita has reopened under the banner of Los Angeles restaurateurs Marc Rose and Med Abrous of Call Mom. A longtime hangout for VIPs like Frank Sinatra, Tom Ford, and Ronald Reagan, the intimate Italian-American concept has been reborn following a redesign, executed by the owners and Victoria Gillet of We are Dada, that honors its legacy with an eye toward the future.
“As a space with so much history, it was important to us for guests to feel the restaurant’s soul and spirit,” Gillet says. “The design of the space itself is a love letter to Beverly Hills, Italy, and the 1970s. We kept returning to the movie Casino with all the vibrant colors and decadent Vegas lifestyle, which inspired me to turn up the luxe factor a notch.”
The faux brick wall is painted in a muted lilac hue to match the ceiling, while plush emerald fabric further punctuates the space along with burled wood for texture. Large Bordeaux-hued booths remain intact along with the restaurant’s original layout. The incorporation of cheetah print motifs across carpeting, stained glass, and door handles nods to the Old World tradition of Italian restaurants to adopt animals as mascots.
“It was very important for us to embrace the intimate dining room that made this restaurant so special,” Rose adds. “Most Beverly Hills restaurants today are so spacious, with large, open layouts and tons of seating. La Dolce Vita, however, remains a 60-person all-booth dining room—just as it did in the 1960s. With such a warm dining space, we put a special focus on hospitality, to ensure all diners feel just as glamorous as the historic figures and Hollywood starlets that enjoyed this storied restaurant so many years ago.”
More from HD:
The Biggest Trends Driving the Hospitality Industry This Year
4 Panelists Offer a Sneak Peek to HD Expo + Conference 2023
Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s Lincoln Center Restaurant Is Personal
