inside rivera restaurant: opening this friday
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As all eyes shift south in anticipation of Rivera Restaurant’s public debut on January 16, the “modern Latin” eatery was buzzing with an energy usually reserved for those new establishments that will quickly come to define a neighborhood.
On a tour of the restaurant Monday, staff was being given a quick training session on the basics of jicama, a Mexican root similar in texture to a potato.
Chef John Sedlar, whose background is in Southwestern cuisine, has spent over a year spearheading the Latin-Asian spread, with a heavy emphasis on tamales, steaks and fish. Check out Eater LA’s preview tasting for a sampling of what’s on offer. UPDATE: Menu now available.
While a “tequila sommelier” who custom-mixes tequilas for you and your party — then stores the blend in a personalized locker for subsequent visits — may be too much of a hopeful holdover from more flush economic times, the point is the spirit is featured prominently at the restaurant.
At the bar, also look for margaritas, sangria and mojitos.
But the jaw-dropping interior may be a draw in and of itself. Specially designed “tequila chairs” rest on ultra high-gloss floors for a thoroughly fresh look. Finally, three separately defined areas including a “Latin sashimi bar” and tequila tasting room visually break up the space.
Rivera Restaurant’s audience is still undefined, but will most likely end up being a mix of the pre-game crowd, Downtown residents and Westside foodies willing to brave traffic and parking for a new experience. And while Sedlar is still keeping the full menu under lock and key, it should be available soon.
After several broken promises and many delays in the area, South Park is ready for some fun.
Rivera Restaurant
1050 S Flower St
Los Angeles, CA 90017
213-749-1460
Opening Janaury 16, 2009
riverarestaurant.com
27 comments
Any ideas about price points? It looks phenomenal … ly expensive.
If the price is right, I will eat there often.
I don’t care about the price, just make it good and I’ll be there.
What are they doing to draw the crowds at LA Live?
It’s about time for some good looking restaurants in this fucking city.
Current preview site is a bit pretentious, and reservations? Makes me Wary. I like nice places, but perhaps this is just too upscale for my taste.
yea! i’ve been waiting for this to open forever! thanks for the coverage rich. i won’t be able to afford to go here all the time but i like that we have more upscale options in our city. not all restaurants in downtown need to be neighborhood, casual joints. i mean how boring would that be! variety is good!
i recommend starting off with the simple spanish salad and the scallops crudo!
Will it be open for lunch?
Latin/Asian sounds interesting, hope they have a good sake/tequila list, at least Rikyubai, Suminoe, Shigemasu for sake and Casa Noble, Tesoro, Don Julio for Tequila… food is secondary.
This is a good looking restaurant. As long as they deliver on the food end, this place should do well.
The food looks to be a bit fussy for my taste. I hope they do well, though.
Beautiful space but a bit pricey, no? I hope they will consider an affordable happy hour. It is amazing eye candy every time I walk by.
I ate here a few weeks back during their soft opening. The space is truly amazing, great attention to detail and the drinks were fantastic. It was a soft opening so the service wasn’t quite ready. They were not completely familiar with the menu and seemed nervous, but friendly and helpful. The food is gorgeously presented if not a bit contrived. We tried everything on the menu and my favorite was the red snapper. It was fresh tasting and light, If it is still on the menu next time I visit I would order it again.
I am happy we have another dinning option, but with all the new eateries at LA Live, I wonder how this one will fare. It does have a more “in the know” feel to it than The Farm or Fleming’s, but the prices are high, and if they want a loyal, local customer base, they might need to add a couple of items to the menu that are more approachable on a regular bases.
Hopefully this will stimulate better restaurant design.
Los Angeles, especially downtown, is lazy and poor when it comes to interiors for cafes and restaurants. Sad that people cry “pretentious” when interior design falls outside what they’ve seen before.
raise the bar.
I find that LA has well designed restaurants. You have to keep the trendy set happy right?! The restaurants here are way over the top compared to more urban-minimalist styling of say SF. Like them or not, Blue Velvet, Seven grand, Drago Centro, Seven Restaurant and Bar, Patina, edison bar, and other places are very carefully designed spaces. Compare that with places in NYC like Inoteca or Bar Tartine in SF that take a more old-world, simple, authentic, rustic approach to design.
Rivera is personally overly done, and overly sleek for me. It reminds me a bit of BOA, Koi, and Tanzore. Its still very nice, but not my favorite design style in the city. I like more muted designs like Lucques or BLD.
There is a book that covers maybe 25% of the nice looking restaurants (that I know of) around town called “Cool Restaurants Los Angeles”.
Anyhow, I hope Rivera does well
great space, tasty cocktails, intriguing food…located at Met Lofts…dinners only in January, lunches added starting Feb. check it out, support the new guy as southpark continues to fill in…
7grand — well designed?
I beg to differ. Like so many restaurants in LA, including 7Grand, they look like Pottery Barn with hot meals. Stupid furniture. Gimmicky, forgettable interiors.
When I think of restaurant interiors, I don’t think of Los Angeles beyond a couple of exceptions: City (in the 80s), Rex, the Dining Car if you like trains, and that weird wall at Patina. And yeah, Lucques is warm and unfussy and the food never fails. But we’ve never had much of a restaurant scene with balls. Certainly nothing downtown worth writing about in terms of decor.
raise the bar - Check my comment again.
I stated the preview website was pretentious. Nothing about the design of the actual restaurant.
Michael:
wasn’t directed at your comment
ate dinner there last night with 14 friends/colleagues…we really enjoyed ourselves…welcome to Southpark, Rivera.
THIS PLACE SUCKS! THE FOOD IS SMALL AND WAY OVER PRICED. THE STAFF, INCLUDING MANAGER ARE RUDE!!!!!!!!!
#22, you can get $5 foot longs at the Subway in the Shell station a couple blocks away.
raise the bar - okay, however - I’m the only one who used your quoted word…
#22: I’ve met the manager and didn’t find him rude at all. The staff is also very friendly.
This place is NOT good! The flavors and presentation leave a lot to be desired. The waitstaff needs customer service training. The prices are not in line with the food quantity or quality. The drinks are great, but everything else was less than expected. It is sad to state this because it is aesthetically gorgeous and I wanted to like it since I live nearby. Too bad John Rivera Sedlar really missed the mark on this one.
Ate here with the gf a couple months ago. Very pretty decor, but AWFUL food and small portions. My wallet felt like it had been raped. You fooled me with your pretty decor, but ugh, never again.
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