A new LA hot spot has taken the novel step of announcing its closing date at the time of its grand opening.
Chef-restaurateurs Hans Röckenwagner and Josiah Citrin said this month they’re taking over ’60s-era Culver City, Calif., eatery Dear John’s — where Frank Sinatra was known to hang and even perform. Unusually, the place will open Tuesday with plans to close two years later.
An announcement in the form of a “Dear John” letter explained that the restaurant reboot will serve old-school cocktails and “updated, classic American” fare, but “the bad news is . . . the lease is permanently expiring to make way for a new development. It’s no April fools.”
Expected guests at an opening party on Monday night included Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest, Jodie Foster, Dana Delany and Jennifer Grey. We hear that Curtis even recorded the restaurant’s voice-mail message.
Entertainment exec Patti Röckenwagner — also Hans’ wife and partner in the place — told us that the couple wasn’t initially looking to open a pop-up venture, but when a pal asked them to tour the space: “We felt like it was the coolest clubhouse we never knew we were missing.”
They brought in Citrin, known for LA meat mecca Charcoal Venice. “It’s like one of those unicorn spots that we have updated,” Patti said.