For lovers of all things F&B, Beverly Hills’s Restaurant Row—A.K.A. La Cienega Boulevard—is as iconic as the Hollywood Hills it overlooks. The Los Angeles dining destination recently saw the opening of yet another culinary piéce de résistance with E.P. & L.P., the latest offering from Australian restaurateurs David Combes and Grant Smillie of Botanical Hospitality Group. The establishment functions as three intermingled concepts—E.P., and the rooftop L.P. and private bar Frankie’s. Though each fulfills its own niche, Australian design studio Projects of Imagination (POI) rolled out a package rooted in cohesive design elements that play off local culture and the restaurant’s Asian-infused cuisine.
“Our objective was to craft an interior with longevity that connects with local sensibility,” says POI co-director Dion Hall. “We approached the restaurant space as an internalized experience, given the rooftop is an entirely open-air layout.”
Guests first enter a small reception area—featuring a scrolling LED art piece—that leads up a dramatic staircase to the 3,400-square-foot, second-level E.P. Asian eating house. Framed by intimate seating options, the primary dining room wraps around three sides of a copper-clad bar and adjacent green onyx chef’s table. The freestanding bar fronts an open kitchen and sits beneath copper screen louvres. Rows of minimalistic pendant lights hang over contemporary black steel and white woven furnishings contained by a perimeter wall featuring planters with lush botanicals and three key materials expressed throughout the whole establishment—copper woven screens, distressed mirror panels, and custom wallpaper featuring a deconstructed flower graphic.
“The open kitchen and bar are the heroic elements activating the energy of the room,” explains Nick Cox, POI co-director. “The placement of each material was imperative, especially the mirror panels, which create extended sight lines to deal with critical dead zones. The rhythm created is important to how the eye moves throughout the space.” These elements, plus a floor-to-ceiling window overlooking Melrose Avenue and La Cienega, enhance the perceived depth of the space, which is punctuated by an artful neon sign to engender an Asian-inspired urban vibe and create an atmospheric effect.
Upstairs, L.P. and Frankie’s draw upon the outside environment. “We wanted the two levels to have only minor connections,” says Cox. “By introducing the green elements of the surrounding landscape to the rooftop, the patron’s eye extends beyond the immediate space to the greater view. This was our take on the Japanese use of ‘borrowed scenery’—the principle of incorporating background landscape into the composition of a garden.”
The expansive 5,500-square-foot rooftop level features a 21-foot-long bar, also set under copper louvres, adjacent to a firepit with communal seating and Frankie’s—a private space that openly flows into L.P. with its own textured finishes, lounge daybed, and 15-foot bar. Bright artificial lighting was minimized in favor of low-lit accents, while a perimeter green edge of topiary and timber creates separation from the glass balustrade and helps frame the space.
Not originally intended as a hospitality venue, the rooftop’s structural constraints prevented the team from installing the full-sized trees originally conceptualized. “We were fortunate the rooftop is blessed with such an impressive view,” says Hall, who envisions it growing into a miniature oasis. “Eventually, there will be no visible wall materials remaining as various plant life adorn these surfaces, allowing us to enjoy nature’s own end-solution.”
