Internet-Favorite Chefs TwayDaBae and Alvin Cailan Open Studio City Mini Food Hall

Local Kitchens opened its first Los Angeles-area outpost on July 2 with burgers by Alvin Cailan (of Chinatown’s Amboy), Vietnamese dishes by Tuệ Nguyen, Mexican fare by cookbook author Rick Martinez, fried chicken by Proposition Chicken, and eastern Mediterranean dishes by Einat Admony. With more than a dozen locations in Northern California and a brief stint in Orange County a few years back, the mini food hall offers the convenience of multiple menus in one venue.

Local Kitchens, like Neighborly in Westlake Village, employs a single kitchen and uses recipes from well-known chefs and food personalities, allowing diners to pick and choose their meals from a Cheesecake Factory-level of options. With this strategy, Local Kitchens can maintain a certain level of consistency and efficiency to improve its profitability (at least in theory) at a time when food service models have to continually adapt to the increased cost of ingredients, labor, and rent. Though Local Kitchens has historically operated a mostly takeout-and-delivery system at its locations in Northern California, its Los Angeles outpost will have on-site seating, cashiers, greeters, and servers. It enters the Los Angeles market just seven months after Neighborly’s debut.

On any given trip to Local Kitchens, diners can get an Oklahoma-style smash burger from Cailan loaded with bacon or chiles, followed by Martinez’s carne asada or chicken adobada rice plates. Nguyen’s broken rice plates come with blackened chicken or braised pork belly, while Admony’s green falafel gets pickled cabbage and sumac red onion. Dishes are priced reasonably at under $20; most hover around $10 before taxes and fees. Dessert options are somewhat limited, with only berry sauce-covered nachos and a molasses chocolate chunk cookie.

Though it remains to be seen how Angelenos will react to seeing food hall dishes branded by well-known chefs, Local Kitchens has had a good run in Northern California, where LA-based Cailan and Nguyen are less known. Competitor Neighborly has already announced new locations in well-heeled neighborhoods in Los Angeles, proving the new-school food hall concept has some momentum.

Local Kitchens is open daily with on-premise dining, takeout, and delivery, and is located at 3960 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 91604.