Torrance ER Article: Reinventing The Center On The Edge
By Richard Foss
There’s a half-hidden development in a part of Torrance that many people don’t realize is inside the city limits, but that some high-powered people plan to make a dining and nightlife destination. It’s a big gamble that an upscale clientele can be lured to Hillside Village, where two high concept eateries have gone under in as many years. The development has little curb appeal; only a tiny percentage of the space at Hawthorne Boulevard and Newton is visible from the street, and trees and hedges block the rest.
The largest business was Restaurant Christine, which shuttered in 2015, and nearby Lou’s on the Hill closed earlier this year, leaving only the pleasant but unambitious Misto. Now both of those closed restaurant spaces will reopen, with decidedly different strategies.
The Italian Nightclub Reborn
Lou Giovanetti’s name isn’t on the sign at Primo Restaurant, but what matters to him is that the spirit of the place will match his vision. When this space was Lou’s on the Hill, the Broadway showman turned restaurateur was an enthusiastic presence, but after a short period creative differences surfaced. Lou is a partisan of classic traditions, and arty, expensive “Cal-Ital cuisine” served in tiny portions did not set that mood. When Lou tried to sort things out with the investment group that funded the enterprise, he found that they didn’t really speak the same language.
“In the business today there are things they call 45 minute chairs, other categories that are all about the business side. We can talk about these things, but I like to use words like heritage. Things just weren’t working and I had the opportunity to buy my partners out. I was gone for almost nine months, which was unfortunate, but we worked out the end of that business.”
Lou found a kindred spirit in Allen Sanford, with whom he shares a passion for both food and music. Sanford is best known as a partner in successful restaurants like Abigaile, Dia de Campo, and Rockefeller but his major connection with Giovanetti may be music. Though not a musician himself, Sanford is the founder of St. Rocke music venue and appreciates Lou’s multiple talents.
“Lou is an amazing performer who can sing like nobody’s business and can keep a room electrified. He can do that in a restaurant too, and guys like that are rare as unicorns. I don’t have the same skill set, I’m not an artist, but I’m good at business. I’m not even really a restaurateur, but I can see opportunities to put teams together. I don’t think Lou’s on the Hill was a failure, but we now have an opportunity to make it Lou’s and make it bigger.”
Though Lou has skills of his own in the kitchen, they needed a third partner to handle that side of things, and they found him in chef Michaelangelo Aliarga, who the other partners refer to as Mick. Aliarga was born in Peru, but his father was from Tuscany and it was there that Aliarga began his career. After cooking at restaurants there he moved to stints at Al Angelo and Cecconi’s in Hollywood, then to La Spiga in Palm Springs. Though the young chef was born near Lima, Aliarga takes his guidance from another continent and another generation.
“We are thinking about dishes with a history behind them, things that are in the memories of the grandmas and the grandpas, from the time before Americans started modifying Italian food or making California cuisine. This is the time for me to show these dishes, because in past years people wanted to order the pastas and things that they knew. People are now open minded and will accept old ideas that are new to them.“
Since both Aliarga and Lou had mentioned heritage, it seemed like a good idea to ask Lou which heritage he wished to recreate. Did he have in mind the grand ristorantes of Rome, the homey, unpretentious Italian food he ate with his family, or perhaps the kind of old-school restaurant where there was a straw-wrapped Chianti bottle on every table? He chuckled at the mention of the Chianti bottle, then launched into an impassioned reminiscence of his youth that morphed into a description of his business plan.
“You say Chianti bottles, I say red and white checkered tablecloths. Restaurants like that were where I met my wife, at Chacha’s and Boca de Lupo on Mulberry Street. They had barkers outside and if one place was selling a plate of fettuccine alfredo for $15.95, the guy next door would go to $14.95. That’s where a bunch of Italians were trying to make a buck on the tourist trade. The people in the Italian community, they’d go to Westchester Avenue in the Bronx, where you walked into dark rooms with white tablecloths or beautiful wood tables and you told people what you wanted to eat.
We’re trying to bring that marriage of true European heritage and what those people brought to America. It has been watered down over the years, and Michaelangelo and myself are trying to recreate what I experienced every Sunday afternoon through my youth, whether I liked it or not. And now as a man I wish for those days again. To be there with my mom and my mother in law and those aprons, and flour in the air, and those smells, and how they made the gnocchi, and spaghetti alla chitarra, and all they things they did. We’re doing all of that, and at a price where people can have a beer and a plate of spaghetti alla Norma and walk out feeling like, hey, I got away with something.”
To hear someone describe cooking and dining with such passion reminds you of the profound link between food and culture, as well as explaining why Lou Giovanetti is such an important element of this restaurant. Though carpenters were still working in an adjacent room and a training session was in progress at the bar during our interview, it felt like Lou wanted to welcome guests immediately instead of when the restaurant opens in two weeks. He is serene about success this time, declaring, “Before we were efforting to be something, this time we will just be what we are.”
Primo soft opens this week, so we can all see how that vision works out.
The Modern Bistro
“It’s a C-minus location in an A market,” says John Kaufman of the space that was formerly Restaurant Christine. “We were looking around Del Amo and other spaces, but we decided we really liked this one. We’re enhancing the storefront because curb appeal is important to both us and the landlord. The car traffic that drives by is tremendous, and we feel that we can tap into that.”
Kaufman is the co-owner of Truxton’s American Bistro, an operation with existing locations in Santa Monica and Westchester. Kaufman knows plenty about expanding a brand, having been on the ground floor of one of the most successful restaurant expansions in modern history. In 1986 he became the third employee of the California Pizza Kitchen, and learned everything there was to know about chain operations before teaming up with partner Tim Foley. They opened the first Truxton’s in Westchester in 2006, naming the restaurant after the side street near the airport where it was located. It was the only restaurant near the airport offering upscale modern food and cocktails, and was popular almost immediately. Asked to define what Truxton’s does, Kaufman responds with a description that shows marketing savvy.
“We’re in a category I call polished casual. Our goal is to define the American bistro experience, which is a neighborhood everyday restaurant for the people and businesses that live in that community. Our core business is people who live less than five miles away. It’s an elevated neighborhood eatery where we make everything we can from scratch.”
The Santa Monica location opened in 2013, and though this is a chain operation there were adjustments to fit that clientele.
“We have seen growth in healthful, vegetarian, and vegan options, and that change was based on our conversations with our clientele. We’re also adding breakfast all day. We have some variations from location to location, so that may happen here to. If we see that we want more small plates as opposed to large entrees, more seafood than other items, we do that.”
Truxton’s is scheduled to open in January or February of 2017, though Kaufman sounds a note of caution based on long experience.
“I have opened over 150 restaurants, and very few hit the date that you project; it’s a moving target. The city has rules they enforce for health and safety, and we do our best to work with them.”
Kaufman isn’t worried about competition from Primo, and in fact sounds enthusiastic about a second stylish restaurant in the same complex.
“We know our neighbor Lou’s is also in the middle of remodeling, and I plan on going over there for the opening and meet them. We love synergy and for us more restaurants in the area is a good thing.”
